Magical Originalities
Ernest E. Noakes
Previous | Next | Contents
Greenwich ObservatoryHAVING introduced a trick without need of tables or other special props, I now propose giving one or two tricks where either a stand or table is a necessity. The first one I shall mention is adapted from the old obedient ball. I will give the details of just how I worked it under the name of "Greenwich Observatory" during my Crystal Palace engagement in 1907-08 (during which I gave over a thousand performances).
I presented it to the audience as a feat of "magnetism." I had a floor stand, and a metal rod which could be taken out and replaced in position by the usual thumbscrew, illustration. I had the metal rod examined and openly showed the stand to be quite free from any preparation. I now handed for examination the metal ball, which was 8 inches diameter, hollow, and had a tube running through the ball to permit it to glide up and down upon the stem.
Having had everything examined, I placed the ball on the stem, where it of course remained when resting upon the joint of stand. "Passes" were now made over the ball, and I told the ball it was "five minutes to one." The ball, acting upon the magnetic influence, slowly raised itself to the top of the stem. I then told it, "it is now exactly one o'clock"--and the ball quickly descended.
I now asked the audience to request the ball to rise or fall, and to say when it was to stop, and of course the ball did as requested. My readers are quite aware of the "effect" portion. My misdirection consisted of having everything examined, and later on throwing a steel hoop over the stand and ball, whilst the ball worked, and of my being able to walk all round the stand to prove "there was nothing but personal magnetism."
The faking portion of the trick was as follows:--The stem upon which the ball travelled up and down, which was of 3/8 inch plated steel rod, had a small hole about 3/4 inch deep drilled down one end, and the edge of the rod nicely smoothed. After showing the stand and rod, I picked up from my table a piece of steel wire, bent to hook into the opening drilled in the end of the stem, and with an eye at the other end of the wire for a strong thread to be attached. I explained to the audience that the ball in my left hand would be placed upon "this" rod, at the same instant inserting the hook. I now had the ball examined, and then placed it upon the rod, see drawings. The assistant in wings relaxed the thread as the ball was placed on and allowed it to settle at the joint of the stand. At this moment the thread of course was between the stem and the ball, with the working end of the thread in the hands of the assistant. I must mention here that the assistant stood upon a. ladder, so that he could easily ascend whilst working the thread to permit me to pass all round the ball as it was working.
As a "test" of the whole apparatus being quite isolated, I picked up the steel hoop (which I also used for my "Ilia" levitation) and carelessly threw it right over the lot and picked up the stand in my hand; then I replaced the stand for a moment whilst I got hold of the hoop, then standing with the hoop in my right hand and the whole of the apparatus raised in my left, I passed the hoop up and over it, and then cleared the hoop right away--the ball working all the time. A little thought will show the reader how the slacking of the thread by the assistant and allowing it to touch the floor of the stage permits of the moves I have mentioned. The effects cannot be got unless the thread is at a very sharp angle when the performer walks round the stand, and thoroughly slacked at the moment the hoop is thrown over the ball and stand. The effect was certainly in keeping with magnetism, and the audience accepted this explanation of the "power" used.
The stand used in this trick would of course serve for the following tricks in which the table top is the key-note to the trick. All my tables are of nickelled stands, taking a 3/8 inch rod which permits having a table of any height. The end of the stem is prepared with a 3/8-inch Whitworth thread, and after a nut is placed on to form a shoulder, this nut on the stem is placed into the lathe (which has a hollow mandril), and a perfectly true fuse is turned upon the nut. To the table top is screwed a brass flange, also tapped and faced, which screws on to the stem, and when the two true faces come together they are not only self-locking, but ensure the table top being quite "square."
Previous | Next | Contents