Читать книгу Modern Coin Magic - J. B. Bobo - Страница 31

What would you do if you accidentally dropped a coin, or missed one of your vanishes? Would you pick up the coin and apologize for your carelessness, then continue with something else, or would you take advantage of this little mishap and do some unscheduled effect?

The better prepared we are to get out of such difficulties, the more capable we become. Of course, we should be able to perform our tricks so well we do not make mistakes. There is no excuse for a fumble, but mortal man is never perfect. So, why not try to turn a fumble to advantage?

The following are tried and tested ideas that have served many close-up workers well. If you are not familiar with them, here they are for your edification.

For one reason or another you have dropped a coin. Prepare to pick it up by straddling it—that is, the coin is lying on the floor about midway between the feet. Bend down, or rather squat over the coin and pick it up with the right hand.

Now comes a bold move.

Immediately toss the coin backwards between the legs, catching it in the left hand, Fig. 1. The throw should be made just as soon as the right hand removes the coin from the floor, the body and the legs concealing the maneuver from the spectators. Then raise yourself up, pretending to hold the coin in the closed right hand. While attention is on the right hand the left sleeves the coin. Both hands are shown empty.

If working without a coat the coin can be disposed of in the left hip pocket. However, if you have sleeved it and would like to reproduce it, use one of the methods described in Chapter VII, The Art of Sleeving.

Here is another way of disposing of a coin which has fallen to the floor:

Bend down and pick up the coin with the right hand. Immediately toss it into the left trousers cuff. Do this quickly and without hesitation as you straighten up. You are supposedly holding a coin in the closed right hand. Pretend to place it in the left. Blow on the left hand, then open it to show coin vanished.

Or, you could do this. Bend down and apparently pick up the fallen coin. Actually the coin never leaves the floor. The right hand reaches for it and as the fingers touch the floor in front of the coin they instantly close. This action propels the coin inward along the floor and it slides underneath the right foot which raises slightly, becoming wedged between the toe end of the shoe sole and the floor, Fig. 2. The coin travels inward only three or four inches and is hidden in its flight by the right hand.

This getaway can only be done on a rug-covered floor. On any other surface the sliding of the coin creates a sound, which would be a “give-away.”

You straighten up and pretend to vanish the coin from the right hand.

Of course, the coin must be recovered—not left there on the floor. To get it, show a second coin and apparently place it in your left hand, retaining it in the right. Slap the left hand on top of your head, remarking that you will cause the coin to penetrate your body, the hard way. Show the left hand empty. Move the right foot to one side exposing the coin on the floor. With your left side toward the spectators bend down to pick up the coin with the left hand. The right hand secretly disposes of its coin in the right trousers cuff on the side away from the audience.