ROBERT HOUDIN’S FAMOUS RABBIT TRICK.
Preparation.—Have a small white, long-eared rabbit hidden in a secret pocket inside the right breast of your coat.
Performance.—On requiring a rabbit for a trick, you select a simple-looking member of the company. On his rising, you stand behind him so as to cover your body with his. Take his right wrist in your right hand as if to keep him steady, by which act you open your coat out naturally to the right. Now flourish your left hand with the arm extended, and bring it round to the level of the back of the party’s neck. Then, at the same time that you forcibly thrust your three last fingers well down within the simple gentleman’s coat collar, you seize the rabbit’s ear or ears between your forefinger and thumb. Now lift up the rabbit, and the simple gentleman will be too much confused by the shock to perceive how the deception was managed. The audience will be equally astonished.
