Chapter III: Handkerchief Tricks

Among the articles which the spectators are in the habit of entrusting to conjurors for the execution of their tricks, handkerchiefs, both silk and cambric, play a prominent part.

I propose to give, in due course, a description of the various tricks in which handkerchiefs are specially concerned, such as the _Orange Tree_, the _Handkerchief Cut up and Restored_, the _Instantaneous Combustion_, etc.[20]

Here is, meanwhile, a pretty little trick (as yet unpublished) performed with a handkerchief, and which I used at my séances as a kind of interlude. I can recommend it as producing a very great effect.

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_The Handkerchief which Vanishes in the Hand._--“The magicians of old,” you remark, “were not subject to any of the minor inconveniences of life. They felt neither cold, hunger, nor thirst, so long as they were engaged in their mystic rites. Their close relations, however, with the fiery potentates of another sphere exposed them pretty frequently to a very high temperature, the effect of which showed itself in copious perspiration.

“The wizards, thus playing with fire, were much troubled by water, which streamed from their countenances; but they removed it by wiping their faces with their handkerchiefs, just as ordinary mortals do.

“One of their number, who, I suppose, found this troublesome, hit upon a curious expedient for shortening the task of drying himself; he caused his handkerchief, after having discharged its duty, to go back of its own accord into his pocket. I have discovered the secret of his cabalistic process, and, if agreeable to yourselves, I will repeat it in your presence.

“Let us suppose that, for the reasons I have suggested, I find it necessary to wipe my brow. I take my handkerchief from my pocket for that purpose. Here it is, you see.”

You wipe your forehead, and gently fan yourself with the handkerchief; then clapping your hands, with the handkerchief between them, it instantly vanishes.

“Do you know, gentlemen, where the handkerchief is? No? Then I will tell you. It has gone back into my pocket.”

You again take the handkerchief out of your pocket, and make it vanish a second time.

“You see, gentlemen, how much time this arrangement saves; you have only to take your handkerchief out of your pocket. You have no occasion whatever to put it back again.”

This amusing little interlude served the double purpose of gaining a few moments in my performance, and of affording a relaxation to the spectators.

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The trick is performed as follows:--

1. Attach a handkerchief by its centre to a piece of string.[21]

2. Carry the free end of this string up your right sleeve, pass it behind your back and bring it down the left sleeve.

By pulling the string in the direction of the left wrist, the handkerchief is drawn up the right sleeve, The question is, how to manage this imperceptibly to the spectators.

To that end, fasten the free end of the string to the left wrist The precise length of the string is regulated as follows: The arms being straightened and fully extended, the cord should be drawn tight, and the handkerchief completely hidden in the sleeve.

It will be readily understood that, if you hold the arms slightly bent and close to the body, the string becomes loose, and allows the handkerchief to be drawn down out of the sleeve. By extending the arms with a forward movement, the cord is drawn tight, and the handkerchief flies up the sleeve with lightning rapidity.

When you first come forward, the handkerchief is in its place of concealment; you place your hands behind your back, as though merely to take it out of your pocket, but really in order, with the aid of the left hand, to pull it out of the sleeve.

When you bring the arm forward, the handkerchief is held crumpled together in the right hand, thereby disguising its secret fastening.

After the handkerchief has done its duty, you extend and elongate the arms, at the same time smartly clapping the hands one against the other; and these combined movements not only cause the handkerchief to retire up the sleeve, but completely disguise the _modus operandi_.

The experiment may be repeated, if desired. You have only to put the hands behind you, ostensibly to take the handkerchief out of the pocket.

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This trick, I repeat, is extremely striking in effect. It may, perhaps, appear somewhat difficult, but let not the student be discouraged; with a very moderate degree of practice, it should readily be conquered.

FOOTNOTES:

[20] These promised explanations were never given. The effect of the “_Orange Tree Trick_,” as described by Robert-Houdin himself in his “_Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur_,” was as follows:--

“I borrowed a lady’s handkerchief. I rolled it into a ball, and placed it beside an egg, a lemon, and an orange upon the table. I then passed these four articles one into another, and when at last the orange alone remained, I used the fruit in question in the manufacture of a magical solution. The process was as follows: I pressed the orange between my hands, making it smaller and smaller, showing it every now and then in its various shapes, and finally reducing it to a powder, which I passed into a phial in which there was some spirits of wine. My assistant then brought me an orange-tree, bare of flowers or fruit. I poured into a cup a little of the solution I had just prepared, and set fire to it. I placed it near the tree, and no sooner had the vapour reached the foliage, then it was seen suddenly covered with flowers. At a wave of my wand, the flowers were transformed into fruit, which I distributed among the spectators.

“A single orange still remained on the tree. I ordered it to fall apart in four portions, and within it appeared the handkerchief I had borrowed. A couple of butterflies with moving wings took it each by a corner, and flying upwards with it, spread it open in the air.”

Without professing to give precise details, it is easy to form a general idea of the working of this very artistic trick. The borrowed handkerchief is of course exchanged for a substitute, and the original “passed off” to the assistant, who places it in position for the _dénouement_, and then brings forward the orange-tree. Meanwhile, the performer, partly by sleight-of-hand and partly by the aid of traps, causes the successive disappearance of the substitute handkerchief, the egg, and the lemon. (See the “Secrets of Conjuring and Magic,” pp. 284 _et seq._, and “Modern Magic,” pp. 437 _et seq._). The orange is then changed for others of smaller size in due succession, and finally vanishes altogether. (For description of similar effects in the _Crystal Balls_, see “Modern Magic,” p. 426.) The supposed solution of the orange in the spirits of wine is, of course, merely a part of the _boniment_ or _mise en scène_. The orange-tree, which is a marvel of mechanical ingenuity, is constructed as follows: The oranges, with one exception, are real, and are stuck on small upright spikes, and concealed by hemispherical wire screens, covered with foliage, which, when released by the upward pressure of a piston, make a half turn, and so disclose the fruit. The flowers are hidden behind smaller screens, similarly covered; in this instance, however, the screen does not revolve, but the flower rises above it. A single orange, near the top of the tree, is artificial, and made to open in four portions; while two butterflies flutter out one on each side of the tree, and draw out of the orange the borrowed handkerchief. The butterflies are attached to the upper extremities of two light arms of brass, at the back of the tree, working on a pivot at their lower ends. A mechanical arrangement compels these arms to rise up behind the tree, at the same time spreading apart, and so causes the butterflies to appear.

The _handkerchief cut up and restored_ has been worked, in various forms, by successive generations of conjurors. (See “Modern Magic,” pp. 246-249.) Doubtless, the method adopted by Robert-Houdin bore (as indeed did everything he touched) the stamp of his original genius; but unfortunately we have not been able to obtain any note of his special working.

The _instantaneous combustion_ was probably produced by means of what is now known as a “flash” handkerchief, _i.e._, a handkerchief so treated with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid as to transform the fabric, in effect, to gun-cotton. A handkerchief of this kind held to a lighted candle, or merely touched with a hot glass rod, disappears with a flash, leaving not even a shred of tinder behind.--ED.

[21] In making this attachment, you must carefully avoid creating any impediment which might interfere with the passage of the handkerchief up the sleeve. This difficulty is best avoided by _sewing_ the string to the handkerchief.--R.-H.