Backstage with the Magician Illusions have been
around since at least 1919, when British comedian George Robey
premiered the idea as a skit in his London review called
“Round in Fifty.” About 1950, Jack Hughes invented his Sucker
Beaker Vanish. Shortly afterwards (c.1960), Aldini, working
on the Jack Hughes idea of the tray with a drape, came up with
his Backstage, vanishing of a jumbo playing card
concealed between two plaques. Jim Gerrish takes it from there,
showing how to make the usual flat panel backstage vanish, and
then adapts it to three dimensional vanishes including lots of
rubber duckies (Where do the Duckies go?), a Toy Plastic Elephant
vanish, and finally several versions of live Rabbit Vanishes with
a Backstage theme.
The usual routine:
The performer offers to teach his audience how to vanish an
Elephant. He displays a draped tray, a picture of an Elephant,
and two boards to "cage" the elephant. He now turns his
back to the audience, and performs the effect for an imaginary
audience in front of him, while the real audience has a backstage
view of the working.
The two boards are placed on the tray. The Elephant Card is
displayed, and dropped between the two cards. The Cards are then
removed, and freely displayed on both sides, to show the Elephant
has vanished. The real audience however, has seen how the effect
is accomplished, because they have seen the Elephant Card drop
through a slot in the tray into a ribbon harness under the tray.
The Elephant is not visible from the front, being concealed by
the drape.
After some remarks to the effect that when performed with a real
Elephant one would require, a much larger trap on the stage than
the slot in the tray, and a much stronger harness, the performer
offers to repeat the effect, this time with the real audience to
the front.
The two boards are again placed on the tray, and the Elephant
drops between them. The boards are removed and freely displayed
on both sides. The Elephant has vanished. The performer explains
that there may be a few wise people in the audience who, may
figure out that the Elephant is behind the drape. As he says
this, he turns the tray around, so that the audience sees the,
Elephant hanging in the ribbon harness behind the drape.
If this happens, the performer continues, he has no recourse,
except to use some "real magic". The tray is turned,
drape side again facing audience. The performer gestures
dramatically to make the Elephant vanish, then peels away the
drape to show the elephant has indeed vanished. Both the drape
and tray are freely shown all sides, with no trace of the
elephant.
* * *
Jim shows you how to make this standard flat
version, complete with templates for the cards, but then he adds
a third dimension and shows you how to perform the effect with
lots of little rubber duckies (Dollar Store items), with a
plastic toy elephant (Dollar Store), and then ups the ante to
give you several versions that can use livestock, like live doves
and bunnies.
HDDTB2-09 $5.00
Buy all 10 articles of Book 2 of Jim
Gerrish's
"The Hardboard and Duct tape Magic Show"
