Water Wizardry: A collection of tricks in which water is the chief agent

by Arthur Ainslie

Care must be taken in pouring the water into the cylinder; if it is poured on to the top of the lid there will be a visible splash above the top of the cylinder, which would give the trick away.

Your assistant, having rehearsed the trick with you, knows just what you are going to do, and, therefore, when you dip your hand into the cylinder for the third time to get at the first flag she tilts the cylinder slightly towards you and holds it in such a way that you can lift the lid quickly.

Another cylinder for producing the same effect has the secret compartment in the centre. The compartment is a round tube closed at the mouth with an india-rubber cap. This cylinder usually has a foot to it, and this makes it more convenient for the assistant to hold. Besides, knowing that the secret compartment is in the centre the conjurer does not have to be over careful as to the way in which he pours in the water; as long as the spout of the jug is near the edge of the cylinder he knows that he is safe. I used one of these cylinders at St. George's Hall some years ago.

It is advisable to produce a flag in the first place, because you are then able to get away with the india-rubber cover behind it; the cover can easily be pulled away and hidden afterwards as you put the flag down.

It is a good plan, after the production of the first flag, to take out a number of compressible things. If you are performing to children they will like nothing better than two or three bundles of carrots. These imitation carrots are made with springs inside them, and they can be packed in a very small compass. Imitation flowers, sausages, balls and other things are also made in such a way that they can be packed in a very small space, but when they are produced they expand to the usual size. If you adopt this plan you apparently take out of the tube far more than could possibly be put into it. These things can be followed with a few "throw-outs," as they are called—little coils of bright tissue paper ribbons; the conjurer gets hold of the end and throws the coil away from him when the ribbons spread out, making a good display. After these can come a large number of silk handkerchiefs of bright colours, and finally the flags.

Care should be taken in displaying all these things after they are produced. You lose half the effect of the trick if you merely dump them down in an untidy heap. One flag can be hung on the assistant's arm, another over a chair, and another in front of the table, and so on, the object being to leave the audience with some kind of a "spectacle."

The one drawback to this very easy, but very effective trick is the anti-climax produced by the water being poured out of the vase at the end of the trick. You really want the end of the trick to be the production of the big Union Jack, and yet if you do not have the water poured out you lose some of the effect of the trick.

You can get over this difficulty by producing the Union Jack in another way, and this will give you a little more room in the vase for other flags. Let the last of these be a Union Jack of the same size as the others and drape it with the others over the back of a chair. Then have the water poured out of the vase and the audience will think that you have come to the conclusion of the trick and will begin to applaud—or it is to be hoped they will! Then take several of the flags from the back of the chair and produce a large Union Jack on a flagstaff; this makes an excellent finish to the trick.

The flagstaff is a telescopic one; the flag is pleated and rolled up, and the staff is concealed in a little bag hung behind the chair over which you drape the flags. To cause the staff to open, grasp the handle tightly and "shoot" it out with its point towards the floor for a moment; this is a very important point, because if you are performing in a room you may, in the excitement of the moment, do someone a serious injury if you merely "shoot" out the flag towards the audience. The flagstaff should be of the kind known as "self-locking"; that is to say, when every joint is out the staff can immediately be raised to a vertical position without any fear that the staff will collapse; it will remain rigid until you wish to close it. Wave the flag, allowing the other flags to fall from your hands to the floor, and if you do not finish your performance to loud applause the fault will not be yours.