1. CATCHING WATCHES FROM THE AIR
The watches used for manipulative purposes are merely imitation watches, which, being lighter than the real ones, are very much easier to handle. A quite satisfactory article can be purchased at the dime stores or at any novelty shop.
Effect. Five or more watches are caught from the air, one by one, and placed in a hat. Finally the hat is shown empty, the watches having vanished.
1st Method. A catgut loop is attached to the keeper of a watch, and your right thumb is inserted in the loop. The watch can then be allowed to hang out of sight at either the front or the back of the hand.
To prepare for the trick you place the looped watch at the top of your vest with the loop protruding. Begin by borrowing a hat and place it, crown downwards, on your table. To get possession of the watch secretly, stretch out your right arm to the right and pull up the sleeve with the left hand. Turn to the left, stretch out the left arm, and at the same time bring the right hand over across the chest; engage the thumb in the loop and carry the watch away, immediately pulling up the left sleeve.
Produce the watch at the fingertips as if caught from the air; approach the table so that the hat is on your left, and dip your hand into it—apparently depositing the watch in it. Bring the hand up, showing the palm empty by resting the thumb on the brim of the hat (Fig. 14). Turn the hand, bringing its back to the front, and thus lift the watch into the palm again (Fig. 15).
Proceed in the same manner for as many catches as you wish to make, each time placing the watch in the hat and secretly withdrawing it. Finally vanish the watch by one of the passes already explained and drop it into a pocket. Take up the hat and make a motion of throwing its contents out to the audience They expect to receive a shower of watches but the hat is empty.
If preferred, you can load a number of watches into the hat when you place it on the table and produce these as being the ones caught from the air.
2d Method. In this method the watch to be caught from the air is prepared by having its back covered with a piece of black cloth, glued onto it, and a small sharp hook soldered to the stem. Thus the watch can be hooked to the clothing, back outwards and will be unnoticeable.
With one of these prepared watches hooked to the inside of your left sleeve, begin by pulling up the right sleeve with the left hand, then the left sleeve with the right hand, at the same time stealing the watch in that hand which produces the watch as if caught from the air. To vanish it you make a pretense of tossing it to a spectator. As the hand reaches the lowest point preparatory to the throw, hook the watch to the trousers, back of the hip; bring the hand forward as if it still held the watch; and make the throw, following its supposed flight with your eyes. The watch will seem to vanish in mid-air.
Such watches are generally used in connection with a stand, on which they are apparently placed as they are caught. The stand is prepared in this manner: It is covered with black velvet and has a number of recesses cut in it, which are also covered with the same material. Each of these is large enough to take a watch easily. In each of them there is a watch, also backed with black velvet so that when they have the backs to the front they are invisible. The working is obvious. When you catch a watch and go to place it on the stand, you simply palm it and, under cover of the hand, turn over the watch in one of the recesses.
The same watch, therefore, is caught over and over again and is placed on the stand only after the last catch.
To vanish the watches you simply turn them in the recesses, bringing the velvet-covered backs to the front as you pretend to take them off the stand. It is the easiest thing in the world to vanish them, either by pretending to pulverize them in the hand or by tossing them in the air. The last watch should be really removed and several passes made with it. Finally pretend to put it in the left hand, really palming it in the right. Reach across to the left shoulder to pull up the sleeve and as the hand passes over the outside breast pocket drop the watch into it in passing. Pull the sleeve back a little, vanish the watch from the left hand, and show both hands empty. It is advisable to have a handkerchief in this pocket to keep its mouth slightly open.
There are a number of different kinds of stands for the production and vanishing of watches, and these should be purchased from the regular magical dealers. Magical apparatus must work with precision, and this is a virtue rarely obtained with home-made articles.
3d Method. This is an interlude with a black-backed watch. Attach a prepared watch to your watch chain and place it in your vest pocket. In the course of your manipulations take it out of the pocket with your right hand and let it hang at the full length of the chain in front of your right thigh. Pretend to take it in your left hand as you pretend to detach it with the right hand but, in reality, turn the watch back outwards and carry the left hand away as if it held the watch. With the right hand grasp the end of the chain and the watch, and put both back into the vest pocket. A moment later vanish the watch from the left hand and bring it out of the pocket with the right hand, showing it is still attached to the chain. You must, of course, turn the watch over in the pocket to bring it face outwards.
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