Later Day Tricks
A. Roterberg
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The New Writing Hand
THE trick in which an isolated, imitation hand writes and draws anything the spectators desire, is not exactly new, several methods of performing it being in existence. The lack of popularity of this trick may be accounted for by the high cost and complicated modus operandi of all methods hitherto offered. To Mr. Cuivel of Trieste, Austria, belongs the credit of having invented a very simple, inexpensive and still effective way of performing the trick referred to. The hand, ail ordinary paper mache one, is placed on ail unprepared table without drapery, or what is still better, on a sheet of glass laid across the back of two chairs, Several sheets of blank paper are then placed under the hand, and the spectators are now requested to dictate something, which the hand immediately proceeds to write. The performer then hands the sheet of paper to the spectators with the request to convince themselves that whatever has been
dictated, has actually been written. As has been stated before, the trick is a very simple one, which however if accompanied by the proper mise en scene will not fail to create an excellent effect.
On the table or sheet of glass is placed a heavy inkstand, to which a thread is fastened, which runs through the hand and is led to the assistant behind the wing, who by clever manipulation of the thread, gives the hand a writing motion and also causes the appearance as if the hand dipped the pen into the ink, the penholder being secured to the first finger of the hand by means of a small rubber band. The words dictated by the spectators are immediately copied in large, bold letters on a sheet of paper, similar to the ones under the hand, by the assistant behind the scenes, who, when finished, places this sheet of paper under a blotter of the same size as the paper. Both are then laid on a chair standing near the wings, The performer fetches the blotter, presumably to dry what the hand wrote, but really places the written paper under cover of the blotter on top of the blank ones and with a conjurer's sang froid passes out this sheet as the identical one written on by the spirit hand.
The author leaves it to his readers to find other uses for this is excellent trick, simply suggesting that the hand may prove of advantage in writing the names of selected cards, giving answers to questions, working out sums in arithmetic, etc.
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