"Milk-Eau."
A Surprise Opening Effect.
By J. F. Orrin, A.I.M.C.

Effect--
The performer fills a tumbler three-parts full with milk, drinking a little to prove that it is the real thing. He then places the glass of milk on a plate and covers it with a cardboard cylinder. Placing one hand beneath the plate and the other on top of the cylinder, he suddenly turns the whole lot upside down--then removes the plate and spins the cylinder on his wand. The glass and milk have vanished. The vanish is so sudden and unexpected that, if worked as an opening effect, it cannot fail to make a deep impression on the minds of the spectators.

Method--
The apparatus may seem rather formidable considering the simplicity of the effect, but a good opening trick is worth a little trouble and I have reason to believe that it is justified in this case. The items required comprise: a plate, a plate-stand, two tumblers (one faked as described later) and a cardboard "Ghost" tube.

The plate is unprepared. The plate-stand is made of wood, shaped as illustrated, and is designed to hold the plate in a perpendicular position. One of the tumblers is unprepared but the other is faked. In the first place it is bottomless; in addition the inside is covered, to within about one and a half inches of the top, with cream coloured paper, which is pasted on; lastly, sundry stains are painted on the inside of the tumbler, above the paper, with Chinese white water-colour paint. One of these stains comes right up to the top of the tumbler. At a distance of a few feet this fake cannot be distinguished from a tumbler of milk from which someone has just taken a drink. See Fig. 2. It looks very real indeed and it is no exaggeration to say that I have been taken in by my own fake more than once.

The last item--the "ghost" tube, will be familiar to most readers. The illustration, Fig. 3, shows that it is composed of two tubes; the space between them is just large enough to take the faked tumbler comfortably.

Preparation and Working--

The faked tumbler is placed on the table on the performer's right, immediately in front of a black art well. The plate-stand, containing the plate, is stood in front of the fake, thus hiding it from the audience. See Fig 1. The tube stands on the table to the right of the plate. On another table is the ordinary tumbler and a small jug of milk.

The performer enters, picks up the tumbler and fills it three-parts with milk. He then drinks a little, thus making a stain on one side of the tumbler, to correspond with the fake. Taking the tumbler of milk in his right hand he walks over to the table containing the plate. He then deliberately drops the tumbler into the well, immediately afterwards permitting his right hand to rest on the faked tumbler behind the plate; at the same time he picks up the plate with his left hand. As far as the spectators are concerned he has simply placed the glass of milk on the table.

After calling attention to the plate, the performer picks up the faked tumbler, places it on the plate and covers it with the cylinder, first showing the inside of the latter to the audience. He then places his left hand under the plate and his right hand or} top of the cylinder.

It will be observed that up to the present the performer has done nothing which could possibly give rise to suspicion. The dénouement is swift and startling. The performer, as quickly as he possibly can, turns the whole apparatus upside down, removes the plate and places it on the table, takes the cylinder in his left hand, picks up his wand in his right, and finally spins the cylinder on his wand. This last can be done quite easily as the faked tumbler is jambed in between the two walls of the "ghost" tube.

It is as well that, until the dénouement is reached, the performer's movements should be as leisurely as possible; this considerably adds to the surprise.

Patter and Working Notes--

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. For my first experiment I use a glass of milk. (Pour milk into tumbler.) I am going to drink a little, just to prove that it really is milk--or at any rate, as near as we can expect to get to it in these enlightened times. As I am rather nervous this evening, it is quite possible that I shall choke, but if that should happen I want it to be distinctly understood that it is not part of the trick. However, here goes! (Drink a little milk and make a wry face.) Yes, that's milk all right--milk-eau in fact--with the accent on the eau--eau being French for water. (Drop glass of milk into well and pick up plate.)

"I also use this plate. Quite an interesting piece of old china. I've had it ever since it was a saucer. Oh yes, and this cylinder, too. This is just a piece of nothing with itself all round it.

"Now I would like you to watch very carefully. First of all I place the glass of milk on the plate and then I cover it with the cylinder, so. Now we come to the trick--well really it's a sort of puzzle. The puzzle is to remove the glass of milk without anyone seeing me do it I will do it by numbers. One! (turn plate, etc., upside down). Two! (remove plate and place on table.) Three! (show cylinder and twirl it on wand.) --and it's gone!"