8. A DOUBLE PRODUCTION
For this very effective feat you will require two derby hats, one being a size larger than the other. Cut the brim from the larger hat and in the middle of the crown out a semicircular slit, making a flap which can be pulled down (Fig. 3). Press the flap back into place, and inside the crown place a tambourine coil. Thus prepared, place this crown part, mouth upwards, on a small shelf at the back of your table. The smaller hat you entrust to a friend in front.
In due course you ask for the loan of a hat and your friend hands you the derby. Proceed to make various productions from it, using the methods already described or others devised by yourself. In any case, at the end of the last production you must have a second tambourine coil in the hat. Some of the articles produced from the hat you have placed on your table; announce that you will replace them in the hat and return the lot to the owner. Hold the hat, crown downwards in your left hand, at the rear edge of the table immediately above the duplicate loaded crown on the shelf.
Lower the hat into this and proceed to fill it with the articles on the table. No suspicion will be aroused by the action, for the hat is mouth upward and the brim does not go out of sight; however, when you lift the hat you bring away the loaded crown attached to it, the appearance of the hat not being altered in any way.
Finding it impossible to get all the articles back into the hat, take out those you have put in and declare that the hat is still full. In order to empty it more quickly ask permission to cut a hole in the crown. Without waiting for an answer, pick up an open penknife from the table, push the point into the cut already made, and pretend to cut the flap; pull the flap down, take hold of the end of the tambourine coil between the two crowns, and start it unwinding from the center. Take the wand and whirl out the coil from inside the hat in the usual way. The effect of the paper ribbon streaming out from the crown and the mouth of the hat is a sure-fire hit with any audience (Fig. 4).
When the coils are exhausted, dump the hat on top of the pile on the floor and try to push the other pile into it. It is then an easy matter to detach the false crown and conceal it in the paper ribbon. Failing to get the mass back into the hat, you say you will have the goods parceled and returned to the owner after the performance. Rub the crown of the hat, tap it with the magic wand, show that it is whole again, and return the hat.
With regard to the whirling out of the paper coil with the wand—if you move the wand round always in the same direction, the paper will inevitably tangle on the wand instead of coming out in large, free circles. To avoid this tangling, every new and then reverse the motion of the wand (whirling first from right to left and then from left to right) and you will find you can keep the whole mass of paper whirling freely in the air with very pretty effect. It is surprising how few performers who use the coils know this. Instead of getting a continuous production they have to stop to disentangle the wand, and this spoils the effect entirely.
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