Later Day Tricks
A. Roterberg
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The New Vanishing Eggs
AFTER having magically produced a number of eggs, the artist places them in a borrowed hat which he covers with another hat, also borrowed. The eggs are now commanded to disappear and after removing the upper hat, the lower one, which contained the eggs, is found to be perfectly empty. Both hats are then returned to their owners.
After borrowing the hats, the performer secretly introduces in the lower one a hair net which he had palmed. In the outer edge of the net is run a stout thread or fine cord, one end of which is tied into a sliding loop around the thread proper, so that by drawing on the other end of the thread, which is allowed to rest on the brim of the hat, the net may be closed like a bag. While placing the first egg into the hat, or rather into the net, the performer spreads the latter out and places all the eggs into it. When this is done, he draws the string taut, thereby closing the net, and then places the second hat, mouth downwards, upon the lower one. In removing the upper hat a few moments later, he seizes it by the rear of the brim, at the same time obtaining possession of the thread, then lifting the upper hat so that its opening is turned toward himself. The net containing the eggs is thereby removed from the lower hat and now lies concealed in the upper one, out of which it is secretly dropped into a bag servante.
Instead of covering the lower hat with another hat, a handkerchief may be used instead of the latter. The secret removal of the eggs is performed in the very same manner, while the dropping of the net out of the handkerchief is easier and perhaps more natural than if a hat were used.
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