Where the trick is performed before a very large audience, a single bottle would not contain sufficient liquor to answer all the demands upon it. In this case it is necessary to change the bottle, sometimes more than once in the course of the trick. This is most frequently done under cover of a chair or table; but where the trick is performed on the stage, a more elaborate expedient is sometimes employed. The bottle used has in this case an outer shell or casing of tin, open at the bottom, the actual receptacle for the liquids being within this. When the bottle is exhausted, the performer with apparent carelessness places it upon a small table, standing against the side scene, pending the arrival of more glasses, or under any other convenient pretext. The bottle is, in truth, placed immediately over a small round trap, the performer being guided as to its proper position by a couple of small pins projecting upwards from the surface of the table, against which pins he pushes the bottle. The moment it is so placed, the assistant behind the scenes, who has his eye to a hole in the partition, and his arm extended within the table, opens the trap, pulls down the empty interior of the bottle, and instantly replaces it with a full one, which he holds in readiness, and at the moment when the performer again grasps the bottle to continue the trick (and thereby furnishes the necessary resistance), pushes it sharply up into its place.
Fig. 207. Fig. 208.
The Bottle and Ribbons.—This is another favourite bottle trick. The bottle is in this case also of tin, with an enclosed space round the sides to contain wine, commencing about an inch and a half from the lower end, and terminating just within the mouth. (See [Fig. 207].) The bottle has no bottom, and there is thus a passage, in the shape of an inverted funnel, extending through its whole length. A cylindrical base or stopper (see [Fig. 208]) just fits into the space at the bottom of the bottle, and on this are fixed six or eight small reels or bobbins. On each of these is wound a yard or so of ribbon, each of a different colour. An upright wire rod springs from the centre of this base, terminating just within the neck of the bottle in a little flat piece of metal, perforated with as many holes as there are ribbons; and one end of each of the ribbons is brought up through one of these holes, and a little knot made upon it to prevent its slipping back again.
The ribbons being in position, and the space in the bottle duly filled with wine, the performer brings it forward, and, after pouring out a glass or two, asks some lady present which is her favourite colour, and on receiving an answer, gently taps the bottle with his wand, and immediately draws out with the tip of his forefinger from the neck, and presents to her, a ribbon of the desired colour. More wine is produced, alternately with fresh ribbons, until all are exhausted.
The above is the drawing-room form of the trick. Upon the stage, it is slightly varied. The same kind of bottle is used, but the internal provision of reels and ribbons is removed, so that the bottle remains a simple tin bottle, open at the bottom, with the funnel-shaped passage already mentioned extending through its entire length. The performer, having poured out a glass or two of wine, places the bottle on a stool or table, through the pillar of which is a hole or passage communicating with a corresponding hole in the stage. Beneath this is stationed the performer’s assistant, who is provided with a large number of various coloured ribbons, and a thin rod of three or four feet in length, with a small point or blunt pin at the top. The performer takes care always to repeat in an audible voice the name of the colour called for. This is a signal to the assistant to hitch one end of the ribbon in question on the top of the rod, and hold it in readiness beneath the stage. He does not, however, push it up through the bottle until warned by the sound of the tap of the wand on the bottle that the performer is ready to receive it. The performer, on his part, takes care, before tapping the bottle, to place his thumb upon the mouth, so as to prevent the rod passing too far. Sometimes a combination of colours is asked for, as, for instance, the tricolour, or any other national group of colours.
Alter having produced a reasonable number of ribbons, an effective finish may be made as follows:—A last colour or combination of colours having been demanded, the performer does not draw the ribbons, as hitherto, completely out of the bottle, but leaves them hanging down loosely on each side of it. He now announces that, at the word of command, the ribbons shall, of their own accord, return into the bottle. The assistant takes his cue accordingly, and at the third tap of the wand draws the ribbons smartly down again; their instantaneous disappearance within the bottle being exceedingly effective.
The New Pyramids of Egypt, or the Wine and Water Trick.—This trick may be very well worked in conjunction with either of the bottle tricks already described, and we therefore notice it in this place. Its effect is as follows:—The performer pours out a glass of wine and a glass of water, finally transferring both to a small decanter. Placing the decanter on a small round stand, and the empty glasses on similar stands on either side of it, he covers each with a pyramidal cover, and announces that at his command the mixed wine and water will again separate, and pass into the empty glasses, the spectators being allowed to choose into which of the glasses each element shall pass. The choice having been made, he fastens a tape or ribbon to the centre pyramid, and thence to each of the side ones, giving the audience to understand that, by a mysterious kind of capillary attraction, the wine and water will travel along this ribbon to their respective destinations. A few moments having elapsed, the ribbons are untied and the covers removed. The decanter is found to be empty, and the wine and water to have respectively returned to the glasses designated by the audience.
Fig. 209.