A magician's ring trick

Title

Year

1940

Subject

Magic tricks

Magicians

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

310 THE YOUNG CITIZEN August, 1940 WORK AND PLAY SECTION A MAGICIAN'S RING TRICK Do YOU want to learn to be a magician? Then make a start by learning to do this ring trick. The one move of sleight-ofhand in this trick is comparatively simple, but it .must be practiced enough so that there is not the slightest hesitation in performing it. Practice it at least one full hour before showing it even to the family. of the audience and a few feet away from them. Have a chair· to the left of you. On the seat of the' chair throw the rubber band, and across the back of the chair place the handkerchief you are going to use. Borrow as distinctive a ring as possible, so that the audience can easily xx - identify it when they see it on your right hand. Here is the trick as viewed by the au~ience: A ring is borrowed and placed in the performer's 1 ef t hand. Th e hand is covered with a handkerchief by the owner of the ring. A strong rubber band is placed around the performer's wrist over the handkerchief, thus leaving no openings through which the ring might be extracted. Yet it does escape-right before the watchful eyes of the owner-and is found on the little finger of the magician's right hand. Of course the owner is able to identify the ring as _A ... shows nffllemttnt of ,-i9/,t lumtl When you have the ring, take your position a foot or two to the right' of the chair. Ask the person who loaned you the ring to come up and assist you for a moment. Have him stand to the left of the chair. Have him place the ring on your open left palm and then ask him to cover it with the handkerchief. Do not close your hand yet, but let them see the, ring to the last moment. The assistant holds the handkerchief up by two adjacent corners as a screen, so that the hand is concealed to the spectators but not to the assistant; 'When 11'/flttl/4,,,/ rc,;chtts po;nt X n"f 13 rc/us~ll 4tul cav<:Af uf XX his own, and when the other hand is uncovered it is found empty. Now let's find out how to do the trick: Borrow a ring from some one in the audience; also a handkerchief and a rubber band. You should perform the trick in front the assistant should then gently lower the hankerchief over the hand. As the handkerchief nearly touches the hand,. you start closing the fingers, and just as it touches the hand you make one IIJOre move that the assistant should not (Please turn to page 318.) 318 THE YOUNG CITIZEN MAGICIAN'S TRICK its circle and the bottom of (Continued from page 310) the hanging handkerchief, see. You turn the hand over it opens for a moment, to the right so that the little catches the falling ring, and finger is nearest to the floor continues on its way withand the thumb is on the top. out the slightest hesitation. The handkerchief should The circle should be made come up over your wrist about two inches away from and onto the coat' sleeve so the hand kerchief; just that the position'of the hand touch the bottom edge so cannot be .detected by the that the ring wilr not have wrist. The reason for this to fall through the air unchange of position is that covered. when the iime comes you Perhaps you see why it is will be able to drop the ring necessary to pract~ce this undetected. · trick very much. If your Now for the :inove that hand doesn't get ther.e soon does the trick! Say to your enough, the ring will fall to assistant, "Will you take the floor, and if it gets there that rubber band (which too soon, you will have to is lying on the chair) and wait for the ring and the wrap it around my hand so movement will be detected~ that it will hold the hand- ·-There must be absolutely no kerchief down close around pause in the movement of the wrist." As you mention the right ·hand. the rubber band ,point to it After you have the ring with the right hand,. and in your right hand,. drop when you say "handker- that hand to your side, letchief" point to the hand- ting it fall well back. Then kerchief bringing the right hand about an inch away from the base of the left palm. When you say "close around the wrist," make a circle around the left hand with. the right as though you were showing the assistant how you want the 2 band put on. When the hand gets halfway around, you drop the ring with the 3 left hai;id, and as· the right hand reaches the bottom of CROSS-WORD PUZZLE (Answers from page 311) .l 3. p I G I c E G E T August, 1940 take a step forward with the left foot, holding the left hand up as if to give the audience a better view of it. This will bring the left side of your body to the audience. Now slip the ring onto the little finger of the rig!J.t hand. When the assistant has finished with the· rubber band, bring your right hand into view and point to the left, saying, "You are sure now that you would know this ring if you ever see it again." The ring at this time should be visible to the spectators but not to the helper .. When he says he is sure, you go on pointing to the left hand again but bringing the ring into his view this time. As he sees the ring on your little finger he knows it can't be, so he usually looks foolish, and says it ought to be1 there. Then have him remove the rubber band and the handkerchief from the left hand and satisfy himself that the ring is really gone. One final warning: Y 0u will be tempted at first to make the circle around the left hand too rapidly when you pifk up the ring. The movement should be perfectly natural. The audience will be muc.h less conscious of a deliberate moderate movement than they will of a very rapid one.

pages

310, 318

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