THE CIGARETTE CHASE—CATCHING LIGHTED CIGARETTES IN AIR
This is the act which has elevated the manipulation of cigarettes to the dignity of a stage illusion. The routine is very elastic and every performer should arrange a sequence to suit himself. I have already indicated the use of dummy butts; three other routines follow.
1st Routine. The production of a number of lighted cigarettes, full size, without the hands approaching the body.
This method is the simplest possible and is suitable only for the opening of an act. You have five lighted cigarettes thumb palmed in each hand. Make your entry from the right-hand side and catch the five cigarettes in the right hand first, taking a puff or two from each one and then throwing them to the floor.
Make a half turn to the left and produce those in the left hand in similar fashion.
Various vanishes and productions can be interspersed between the productions and, if one cigarette be retained in the right hand, the last one in the left hand can be used for the passage through the knees and other passes.
Expert manipulators will probably disdain such a simple method, but I have seen professional magicians obtain great success with it.
2d Routine. The magician shows his hands empty and produces a lighted cigarette. This is manipulated and multiplied to four, all lighted; four more are produced in the other hand and finally a full-sized lighted cigarette appears in his mouth.
Preparation. A rubber cigarette with a red foil tip is held in the mouth; four lighted cigarettes are put in a tank on the coat on the left side, a dummy un-der the left side of the vest; one lighted butt in a tank in the right vest pocket, another lighted butt in a tank at the foot of the trousers, and one more lighted butt on the finger clip on the middle finger of the right hand.
Method. Enter from the left side of the stage and show the hands empty, the palms to the front. Catch the butt from the clip in the air, detach it, and place it in the mouth with the left hand. Puff on it as the right hand drops to the side and disposes of the clip by pushing the pin into the trousers back of the hip.
Take the cigarette in the right hand and puff on it again, retaining some of the smoke. Vanish it from the left hand, and recover it from behind the right knee with the right hand as the left hand steals the dummy from the vest.
Place the lighted butt in the left hand between the third and fourth fingers and at the same time steal the dummy from that hand with the right fingers. Catch this dummy from the air, place it in the mouth, and puff out the retained smoke.
Push it into the right ear, thumb palming it, and take the lighted butt from the tank in the right vest pocket. Puff on it and retain some smoke in the mouth, then put it between the left second and third fingers.
Catch the dummy in the right hand from the air, place it in your mouth, and puff out some of the retained smoke. Push it into your chin and pull it out of your ear; then puff on it, exhaling the rest of the smoke. Push it into the top of the knee and produce the lighted butt from the tank at the bottom of the trousers leg. Puff on this, again retaining some smoke, and place it between the left first and second fingers.
Catch the dummy from the air, puff out the retained smoke as if coming from it, and place it between the left thumb and first finger. Turn to the right, displaying the four cigarettes between the left fingers, and steal the four lighted cigarettes from the tank on the right side, taking them in the thumb grip.
Produce these from the air one by one, pulling on each one and taking them from the mouth between the right fingers. The first two go between the third and fourth and the second and third fingers. Produce the third, place it in the mouth, puff on it, and leave it there for the moment. Produce the fourth from the air between the second and third fingers; then take the one from the mouth with the thumb and first finger, first taking a deep mouthful of smoke and retaining as much as possible.
Display the four lighted cigarettes in each hand and let the rubber cigarette pop out of the mouth between the lips. Exit puffing the retained smoke from it.
3d Routine. The routine that follows will require a good deal of practice; but it is well worth the practice, for a more effective series of manipulations would he hard to devise.
Effect. The performer enters smoking a butt. He throws this openly to the floor and another instantly appears between his lips. He smokes this and throws it down, shows both hands empty, and catches another. After several more productions of lighted butts, he catches six full-sized lighted cigarettes in rapid succession, then four more without the hand nearing the body. Finally he produces a large pipe from the air and exits smoking it.
Preparation. Place a tank for three full-sized lighted cigarettes under the edge of the coat on each side; at the back of the right hip a tank for four full-sized lighted cigarettes in position to be taken in the thumb grip, all four at once.
In your mouth you have three lighted butts. To keep these alight, breathe through the lightly parted lips to give them air. They will burn longer if you light them beforehand and let a little ash form on the ends, then let them go out. Light them again when ready for the act.
Finally you have a fourth butt in your mouth and enter smoking it. Inside the coat, on the right-hand side, fasten a large straight stem pipe in a rubber-band holder by the stem. Fix it so that the bowl can be taken hold of by bending the top joints of the fingers under the edge of the coat.
Method. After entering, pull several times on the butt in the mouth, attracting attention to it. Show your hands casually; take the butt and throw it to the floor, pointing to it. Bring one of the three butts in the mouth between the lips, puff on it, and then point to it. This production can be made without the cover of the hand, since all eyes are attracted to the butt on the floor.
Puff on this one several times, retain some smoke, and then throw it down. Puff out the retained smoke; reach into the smoke with the right hand; pretend to catch a cigarette and place it in the mouth, really bringing the empty hand to the mouth and pushing out the second butt under its cover.
Take several puffs; remove the butt with the left hand, pretend to throw it to the floor, really palming it in the left hand and at the same time making a three-quarter turn to the left, pretending to crush the butt with your left foot. At the same moment push out the third butt between the lips. Turn to face the spectators, puffing it.
Pretend to take this butt from the mouth, really tonguing it; then, with the arms outstretched to each side, pretend to throw it from the right hand to the left hand, which produces the palmed butt. Take this in the right hand and throw it to the floor.
Pretend to catch another with the right hand and put it in the mouth, really bringing the tongued butt between the lips under cover of the hand.
Take a handkerchief from your pocket, at the same time stealing a thumb tip on the right thumb; spread the handkerchief over the left hand; make a well with the right thumb, leaving the thumb tip inside it. Take the butt from the lips and pretend to push it into the well; but really put it into the thumb tip, which you steal away on the thumb.
Shake out the handkerchief to prove the vanish of the butt; replace it in the pocket, getting rid of the butt at the same time; with the left hand steal a lighted cigarette from the tank on the left side. Puff some of the retained smoke toward the left, then turn to the right and puff the remainder to that side as you steal a cigarette with the right hand from the tank on that side. Produce the left-hand cigarette from the air.
Place it in your mouth and puff on it; take it in the right hand and throw it down, while the left hand steals another. Immediately after the throw, produce the cigarette palmed in the right hand. Puff on it, take it in the left hand and throw it to the floor, and catch another with the left hand as the right hand steals one.
Continue in the same way until all six have been caught. The various passes— through the knees, into the ear, and recovery from the mouth, etc.—should be introduced between catches.
While the left hand makes a last move with the last cigarette, rest the right hand casually on the right hip, in a natural position, and quietly steal the four cigarettes from the holder on that side in the thumb grip. Do this while your Whole attention is fixed on the left hand and without any perceptible movement of the right fingers. Catch these four in rapid succession and place them between the fingers of the left hand. Display them, turn the right side to the front, put one cigarette in the mouth with the left hand, puff deeply on it and exhale the smoke; at the same moment steal the pipe with the right fingers, bending them over the bowl so that the stem lies back along the hand and the wrist. Puff again but retain as much smoke as possible, take the cigarette from the mouth with the left hand, reach out with the right hand, and produce the pipe. Place it in your mouth and exit puffing out the smoke you retained in the mouth.
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