5. PREPARED ROPE
The gimmicks shown in Fig. 14 are used in this method, which has become the standard rope-cutting trick. They are painted white, and when slipped on the ends of a white rope they are not noticeable if the rope is kept slightly in motion. They screw together with a single twist of the fingers and make a stable junction.
Prepare a piece of rope (the best kind is white cotton rope, obtainable at any magic shop) about six feet in length, with a positive gimmick on one end and a negative gimmick on the other. Do the same with a short piece about eight inches long; then snap this short piece between the ends of the long piece, making a circle of the rope. At the point opposite the short piece tie another short piece with a single knot, hold the rope in the left hand, and present it as a single piece of rope. Untie the knot in the short piece and hold the rope as in Fig. 15, the ends protruding above the hand. Show the rope thus; then tie the short piece to the rope with a single knot.
Turn the rope round in the hands; cover the gimmicks at each end of the short piece, one with each hand, and have a spectator cut the rope in the middle of this short piece. Take the scissors and cut the ends close to each part of the gimmick, detach these, and put them in your pocket with the scissors and the small pieces. Show the rope apparently cut in the middle, one end in each hand held far apart.
Bring the ends together in the left hand; under cover of this action screw the second pair of gimmicks together and quickly coil the rope round the left hand. Toss the rope into the air, catch it as it falls, and display it again in a circle.
Grasp the gimmick in the left hand, letting the knot hang down. Cut the rope on each side of the left hand and put the piece in your pocket with the scissors, thus getting rid of the second prepared section. Tie the ends and finish as explained in 2.
Finally, care must be taken not to overdo the trick. I have seen a performer begin with a rope about seven feet long and, after repeatedly cutting and restoring it with all sorts of twists and turns, finally toss out a rope about three feet long as proof of having restored the original rope—not a very convincing procedure. If you convince your audience that you really have cut the rope in the middle, the restoration is the climax and nothing more is required. Pass on to some other feat.
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