ROBERT-HOUDIN’S METHOD
When you come forward you have a coin (a half dollar is commonly used nowadays) in the right hand, in the thumb palm, and seven other coins in the left trousers pocket. Borrow a hat and, in turning to receive it with the right hand, take the seven coins from the pocket with the left hand. Then take the hat in the same hand, so that the coins, covered by the fingers, lie flat against the inner lining of the hat. Pretend to catch a coin from the air with the right hand and produce the palmed coin at the fingertips. Show this coin and pretend to place it in the hat; in reality, at the moment that the hand enters the hat palm the coin in the thumb palm and drop one of the coins from the left fingers. If these two movements are simultaneous, the illusion is perfect and the spectators believe that the coin just shown in the right hand has really dropped into the hat.
Go amongst the spectators and pretend to find coins in various places—in a lady’s handkerchief, under the collar of a gentleman’s coat, in a child’s hair, and so on—each time making the pretense of dropping the coin into the hat, but really dropping one from the reserve in the left hand. When the left hand has released the last coin, affect to find one more and drop this one into the hat openly.
Finally take the eight coins from the hat, count them into the left hand, and then pretend to take them in the right hand by means of the tourniquet. Affect to give them to a spectator and, as you lean to place them in his hand, with your right side turned to him, put them in your left pocket. Tell him to rub them briskly, and bring your two hands together and rub them one on the other. When the spectator opens his hands he finds them empty, and you congratulate him on being able to do the trick as well as you do it yourself.
Such was the original method, undoubtedly a very pretty effect.
MODERN METHODS
In order to give a full explanation of the modern methods, it will be necessary to take each part of the feat in detail.
The coins. For parlor or club work real half dollars should be used, for a great part of the glamour of the feat is the fact that the magician materializes real money from the air. If imitation coins are used at close quarters, the spectators soon discover that they are not real half dollars and their interest quickly evaporates. For stage work, however, the palming coins sold by the magic stores possess several advantages. They are thinner and lighter than half dollars and, therefore, a greater number can be used in a load; the edges are deeply milled, making them easier to handle. Even in this case a special load of real half dollars should be used if the magician goes amongst the audience in the course of the trick. The spectators being allowed to handle some of these will conclude that all the coins are the same.
The receptacle. The passing of the silk hat (deeply regretted by magicians) has compelled the use of other articles to receive the coins. In spite of this, Nelson Downs clung to the use of the “topper” to the end of his career and for good reason. The hat he used was his own and was always handed to him by one of the musicians. It was so constructed that in passing it from hand to hand he could secrete his load of coins under the curve of the brim and was thus enabled to place the hat, with the load, crown downwards on his table, while he turned his sleeves back and showed his hands empty. It would be ridiculous to imagine that this could be done with any borrowed hat, but this fact was carefully omitted in his book explaining his methods.
In the place of a silk hat many performers use a champagne bucket, a small china or glass bucket, or a child’s sand bucket. This last serves the purpose very well, particularly if it is suitably painted and used to hold a bouquet until it is required for the trick. All these articles have the great advantage of making the sound caused by the dropping of a coin audible to everyone. If, on occasion, an ordinary hat has to be used, a small plate or saucer should be placed inside it for the same purpose.
The reserve load. This is the first difficulty to be surmounted. As we have seen, the original method was to secure the load from a pocket, technically known as a pochette, but the use of special pockets has gone out of fashion. The load can be placed in the left trousers pocket and obtained by casually thrusting the hand into the pocket, but a pile of twenty coins makes a rather too obvious bulge. A better plan is to place the coins on the table behind a crumpled silk handkerchief and on top of a small round disk of blackened cardboard to raise them a little and so provide for a clean lift when you seize them. To obtain possession of the pile secretly, first show the bucket, then put it on the table in front of the silk in such a way that it will hide the coins when the handkerchief is removed. Take the silk and use it to wipe your hands; then pull back the sleeves, showing your hands empty. Pick up the bucket with the right hand at the same moment that you replace the silk and steal the coins with the left hand. This operation is rendered easier by tying the coins crosswise with a weak thread that can be broken easily.
A very novel idea is to have the pile underneath a small bell, one with a clapper. In this case the bucket is put on the table just in front of the bell, the sleeves are pulled back and the hands shown, then the bell is taken and rung with some appropriate remark to arouse the spectators to special attention. The bell is then replaced with the left hand, which secretes the coins while the right hand takes the bucket.
Again, the load may be on a small wire support or shelf at the back of the top rail of a chair, the bucket being placed on the chair seat. Then in moving the chair back, or to one side, the left hand gets possession of the coins.
Having successfully—that is, secretly—obtained the reserve coins in the left hand, the next step is to get them into the bucket in the proper position and without arousing any suspicion on the part of the spectators. To do this, turn your right side to the spectators; show the inside of the bucket with the right hand, holding it by the rim, the left hand being naturally at the side of the body. Turn the mouth of the bucket toward your body and bring it over to the left about waist high; at the same time raise the left hand, back outwards, to meet it and seize it with that hand, the fingers and the load inside and the thumb on the outside of the rim. At once tap the bottom of the bucket with the knuckles of the right hand to prove that it is not prepared in any way and to cover any accidental sound caused by the contact of the coins with the metal, though this can be avoided by careful handling. As you tap the bucket, press the coins against the inside so that they lie in echelon under the left fingers (Fig. 35). Thus the top coin can be pushed forward by the middle finger until it is held at the extreme edge by the tip of the finger, the other coins being held in position by the first and third fingers.
At the moment when the right hand apparently places a coin in the bucket, this particular coin can be allowed to fall by merely lifting the second finger. Immediately afterward the next coin is pushed forwards and held in the same way in readiness for the supposed deposit of another coin.
The first coin. As we have seen, Robert-Houdin held one coin palmed in the right hand on entering. Other performers have begun with two coins palmed in the right hand, producing one and openly dropping it into the receptacle, then catching the second and placing the hand inside as if to deposit it but really palming it and dropping a coin from the reserve in the left hand.
The objection to both these methods is that the hands cannot be shown perfectly empty before the trick is begun. To overcome this difficulty some performers begin with the right hand empty and merely pretend to catch a coin and place it in the holder, the left hand dropping a coin simultaneously. Again the hand is shown empty and the move is repeated. Then, pretending to overhear an objection that the coins are not real, the operator takes the two coins out and shows them. He then drops one openly and makes a pretense of dropping the second, really palming it and dropping one from the left hand.
Nelson Downs began his act, in the same way, with the imaginary catching of two coins, then taking them out to show them. He dropped the first openly; but in placing his hand into the hat to deposit the second, he swiftly seized and palmed two coins from the reserve in the left hand. One of these he produced from the air and then dropped it into the hat; the other served for the repeated catches. This method is very difficulty, great skill being required to take the two coins from the left hand and palm them rapidly.
The best solution is that of M. Gaultier. As before, two coins are supposed to be caught and dropped, the left hand letting a coin fall each time; immediately afterward this hand pushes forwards two coins and holds them in readiness with the tip of the middle finger. In order to show that the coins are real, the right hand is thrust into the hat, the two coins in it are palmed instantly, and the two under the tip of the middle fingers are seized and brought out at the tips of the thumb and fingers of the right hand. These are shown, and also the interior of the receptacle; then one is dropped in from a height of about six inches, and the second also but with the hand a little nearer to the mouth of the receiver. One of the palmed coins is then produced from the air, and this also is dropped openly from the hand held immediately above the receptacle. The second palmed coin, having been produced, is shown and apparently deposited; but this time the right hand goes inside, just out of sight, and palms the coin while the left hand drops one from the reserve.
As they have seen three coins actually dropped into the receptacle, the repetition of the same gesture and the sound of the falling coin will convince the spectators that the rest of the coins really are deposited in the same way.
Various maneuvers. The coins are caught—sometimes in the air; sometimes behind the arm, the elbow, the knee, the shoulder; sometimes from the leg of
the artist’s trousers, the flame of a candle; etc., etc.—but from whatever point they are produced, the operator must first pretend to see a coin at that very spot and then catch it. It has a good effect to pretend that you are about to catch a coin, then stop and say, “Not worth while. It’s only a penny.”
Standing with your right side to the front, you may vanish a coin by pretending to throw it in the air and palming it; follow its imaginary flight with your eyes, step a pace or two to the left, hold out the bucket, and let a coin drop from the left hand at the precise moment when your gaze rests on the bucket. A little later you may repeat the maneuver; but this time pretend to have missed the catch and turn away with the remark, “I missed it that time.” A moment later let a coin drop from the left hand. With a surprised start you say, “No, there it is after all.”
Pretend to place the coin in your mouth, blow it in the direction of the hat, and let a coin fall in the usual way. Again, make a pretense of rubbing a hole in the side of the bucket with the edge of the coin and then throw it through the hole from a distance. Or hold a coin against the side of the receptacle between the tips of the right thumb and fingers and apparently push it right through, really sliding the fingers over it. Or you may appear to make it pass through the bottom by showing the coin at the finger hold, the palm of the hand to the front and the fingers vertical, and passing it to the rear finger hold; in each case the left hand drops a coin simultaneously.
In the older version of the trick the coins were always produced with the back of the hand toward the spectators; by using the new sleights, they can be caught just as easily with the palm of the hand to the front. For example, in turning to the right, pass the coin to the rear finger palm or the rear pinch, reach into the air with the palm of the hand to the front, and produce the coin at the fingertips. By bringing the bucket over to the right side of the body, the coin can be deposited in it, apparently, with the palm of the hand to the front, by back palming it under cover of the bucket and bringing the hand out the same way; then, with the palm still toward the spectators, the coin is again produced at the fingertips. This method should be used several times in the course of the trick, for it goes far to convince the most skeptical that the coins really are caught in the air.
The left hand reserve. When the reserve in the left hand has been exhausted and you do not wish to replenish it immediately, the necessary jingle when a coin is supposed to be dropped can be produced by striking the rim of the bucket rather sharply with the wrist when the pretended deposit is made.
To actually replenish the reserve, you can secure a second load by the same means as the first; or you may take the bucket in the right hand, dip the left hand in and seize a handful of coins and let them drop back into it from above. Repeat this several times and, the last time, retain a certain number of coins in the bend of the second and third fingers, keeping the back of the hand to the front and let the rest of the coins fall as before. Retake the bucket with the left hand and press them into the required position.
It is advisable to load the right hand in this way at least once during the trick, and then produce the coins thus stolen one after the other rapidly and throw them into the receptacle visibly.
Amongst the audience. Nothing arouses an audience to greater enthusiasm than to see a skilled operator producing real coins from the sleeves, collars, beards, hair, pockets, and even the noses of the spectators. This part of the procedure is not only the easiest but also the most effective. The procedure varies according to the needs of the moment; but in general you begin by extracting single coins from different parts of the spectator’s clothing, hair, and so on, then dip the right hand into the bucket, take out a handful of coins and pour them back in a stream. Repeat the action, and the third time retain a number of the coins in the finger palm; produce these rapidly, one by one, really throwing them into the bucket until only two coins remain in the right hand. Thrust this hand into the right coat pocket of one of the spectators, let one coin fall into the pocket, and bring out the other at the tips of the fingers. Thank him and proceed to other catches.
Then return to this person and tell him you will show him how easy it is to catch coins from the air; say that he has only to reach with his hand, close it quickly, and he will get a coin. Make him do this, then hold the bucket just under his fist and tell him to drop the coin into it. He opens his hand and, to the amusement and astonishment of everyone, a coin is heard to drop. Have him repeat the same procedure; the third time tell him he can have the coin and to put it in his pocket. Entering into the joke, he thrusts his hand with the supposed coin in his pocket. Pretending to notice that some of the spectators are skeptical, tell him to take the coin out and show it to everyone. He puts his hand into his pocket and finds there the coin you loaded into it. This interlude never fails to bring down the house. As you are now operating with real half dollars, you take the coin from the spectator, to show it, and then drop it into the bucket.
In the meantime you have had ample opportunity to load both hands with all the coins you require to continue the productions amongst the spectators, and the more boldly and vivaciously you work the better the trick goes. In the same way you can load a person’s pocket with several coins by seizing his handkerchief and pretending to shake a coin out of it. In replacing the handkerchief in his pocket, drop another coin in. A little later you pretend to throw a coin to this same spectator and let him take the coin from his pocket himself.
Finish this part of the routine by producing a stream of coins from a spectator’s nose. Choose a person who is well in sight of the rest of the spectators and be sure to do it in an inoffensive way, with a smile and an “Excuse me, sir, you didn’t know you had all this money.”
The finale. Some performers finish by making all the coins vanish, a difficult operation if done by sleight of hand but easy enough if a table with a special coin trap is used. A more effective finish and one that requires no special apparatus or difficult sleights is this: On your table, behind some small object or on a little wire support, you have a load of twenty-five coins; a similar load is in your left vest pocket. When you have concluded the work amongst the spectators, in returning to the platform, hold the bucket in the left hand and jingle the coins noisily. Profit by your back being turned for the moment to take the load of coins from the vest pocket with the right hand and then transfer the bucket to that hand.
Take your stand behind your table and place the bucket on it. Raise your right hand, closed; push out one coin with the thumb and throw it into the bucket; at the same moment steal the table load of coins in the left hand, raise that hand, thumb off a coin, and bring the hand down—throwing the coin into the bucket as the right hand is raised to produce another coin. Continue in the same way, each hand producing a coin and dropping it, alternately, and gradually increasing the pace until you produce a regular rain of coins. Finally pour the coins from the bucket into a glass dish, regulating the flow until the supply appears to be almost inexhaustible, thus bringing the trick to a compelling climax.
There is no better feat of magic for acquiring ease of manner and showmanship than the study and practice of the Miser’s Dream. As an instance of the possibilities of showmanship, it is recorded that M. Trewey, the famous French magician, was accustomed to perform the trick perfectly without the use of a single coin. So compelling were his gestures and facial expressions that the spectators actually believed they saw him catch real coins; the illusion, of course, was completed by the dropping of coins into a hat by an assistant behind the wing who worked in perfect unison with the magician. The final vanish of the coins was, therefore, a very simple matter. I myself have seen the trick executed faultlessly with the use of three coins only.
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