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full view of the audience. A square
box is next shown on all sides, and
is opened; a lid in front drops down
and one on top opens upward; the
box may be shown freely, without
allowing it to be handled. A solid
wooden die of a size that will just
fit inside the box is handed out for
examination; then both lids of the
box are opened and the die is
dropped in at the top, so that the audience see it plainly. Then the box is closed. The performer wa-
ves his hand over it and commands the die to leave the box. This is opened at once and is found to
be empty. Then the hat is handed to its owner, and to his surprise the die is seen inside of it.
*
European magician born in what was then Moravia (later Czechoslovakia) in 1873. His family moved to Vienna in
1883. He was a student of Heubek, pupil of the famous Vienesse magician Hofzinser. in 1898 he began managing
the famous Katky-Baschik Theater of Magic in Vienna. This he did until 1911. In the 1920's he became a magic
dealer, also in Vienna. Ottokar Fischer was a highly respected name in magic, having rescued through his research
a great quantity of the unrecorded and forgotten tricks of Hofzinser. He died in 1940, a sad man, having suffered
under the Nazis because of being married to a Jewish woman.
**
British magician, most famous as a magic dealer and author/editor of magic books and magazines. His real name
was Wolf Goldstone and he was born in 1848. He performed magic and a black art act under the name of Carl De-
vo. Goldston was the manager of the magic department at Gamage's, a general department store. In 1914 he sta-
blished his own magic business in London, Will Goldston, Ltd. which lasted until his death in 1948.
97
Magician's Tricks: How They are Done
The accompanying illustrations show that the box is fitted with a spring roller curtain A; at the
front opening. An eye is sewed to the back of this curtain so that when the die is dropped into
the box it lowers the curtain. This has the same number of spots painted on it that are on the side
of the die presented to the audience as it drops into the box. A hook, C, catches the eye of the
curtain at the bottom of the box, and holds it until the performer releases it. The bottom of the
box B, which is held over the inside of the hat when exhibiting the trick, has a spring trap which
allows the die to drop into the hat, the front lid hiding this. The illustrations, Fig. 161, which Mr.
Goldston sends are so clearly drawn that there ought to be no difficulty in following the details
of the trick.
Girl Produced from Empty Boxes
by Will Goldston
TWO large boxes are standing, side by side, on a platform, when the scene opens. The sides,
back, and front of each box, together with the lid, are hinged together, and are kept in place by
spring catches, and may be opened out flat. Taking one box at a time, the performer spreads it out
on the stage. When the audience is satisfied that there is nothing concealed, the boxes are replaced
on the platform; the small box is dropped into the large one, and the boxes are closed. Immediately
after the lids fly open and a young woman springs out. See Fig. 162.
At the beginning the girl, in a crouching position, is concealed behind the small box as shown in
Fig. 163. When the large box is replaced on the platform, after the performer has opened it out for
the audience it is stood close to the other which gives the girl an opportunity to pass behind it and
to enter it through a trap. The bottom of the small box is of black paper instead of wood, enabling
the girl to go through it, as it is dropped into the large box. The trick is very effective and a favorite
with some of the best conjurers.
98
Miscellaneous Tricks
The Nest of Boxes
ON THE stage stands a chair with a cane back. This back is lined with a piece of stuff of the same
material and color as that of the curtain or screen at the back of the stage.
Hanging on the back of the chair is a bag the mouth of which is held open by a ring of tempered
wire that does not bend readily, and lying over the back of the chair is an open newspaper. From the
"flies", or the ceiling, hangs a nest of four boxes, the outer one being about 12 x 14 x 20 inches. In the
smallest or innermost box is a small, white rabbit. Around its neck is tied one end of a ribbon, six or
seven inches long, and on the other end is a snap-hook, such as is used on the end of a watch-chain. In
closing the boxes, care is taken always to keep this ribbon hanging outside, so that when the largest
box is reached at least two inches of ribbon will remain outside. Fastened to the front side of the box,
over which the ribbon hangs, is a small hook. This side is kept away from the audience. Finally, the
boxes have small holes bored in many places, so as to give the rabbit air. These preliminaries are, of
course, arranged before the curtain goes up, and the audience knows nothing of them.
When the performer comes on the stage, he begins by asking for a watch, and as he steps down
among his audience to borrow one, he stops before some gentleman and, excusing himself, takes
from under the man's coat a rabbit, exactly like, in size and color, the one in the box.
This rabbit the performer has concealed under the front of his waistcoat. As he steps up to the
man from whom he is to take it, he seizes the lapel of the man's coat with his left hand and, stoo-
ping slightly, takes the hidden rabbit with his right hand, thrusts it under the man's coat for an ins-
tant and withdraws it almost immediately, holding the rabbit high in the air. Then he borrows the
watch, and returns to the stage. When the stage is reached, the rabbit is placed on the seat of the
chair. Turning toward the audience, the performer comments on the watch:
"I see our watch is a second-hand affair. Most watches to-day are made that way". Here he looks
at the watch. "I've seen better-now don't misunderstand me-I've seen better tricks done with
watches than with any other small article. Now watch this". He throws the watch in the air once or
twice, and finally makes a motion of throwing, but retains it in his hand, holding it there by clas-
ping the ring between the thumb and forefinger, and as he stands with his right side to the audien-
ce, and only the back of the hand is seen, they imagine it has disappeared. Afterward he slips the
watch into his vest pocket.
"Now for the rabbit", he says. Picking it up by its ears, he remarks: "Plucky little creature! It ne-
ver complains, no matter how much you hurt its feelings. An American, I should say from its pluck.
No Welsh rabbit about that. " Standing at one side of the chair, the rabbit in his left hand, he opens
the newspaper over the back of the chair, and laying the rabbit on it draws the front of the paper
toward the left hand so as to cover the rabbit, and as he reaches down as if to take up the
overhanging part of the sheet at the back of the chair, the rabbit is dropped into the bag (see Fig.
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