(Hank) Moorehouse 1934 – 2011 - The Society of American Magicians

QUICK LooK BooK NooK
back to its original rest position on your palm, a slight movement
of the middle finger toward the palm will release the point and
allow the pencil to be freely lifted away. This is a surprisingly
simple action, which is done openly.
Phase ii – the heavy Pencil
This demonstration uses another loop of thread. This is a loop
of the standard clear nylon sewing thread. Some magicians have
told me they use one-and-a-half-pound fishing
line, which is also very light.
Tie the loop in the same manner
taught above. Once again, the thread
must be snug on your finger, without
constricting blood flow. This
loop goes at the crease of the
inner joint of your left middle
finger; and like the first loop,
you will wear it always. When
preparing for the heavy-pencil
test, you squeeze the pencil
under this hidden loop, and let it
lie in a perfectly normal position
on your hand, with the eraser end
pointing to your right.
The loop may rest a few inches past
the point of the pencil.
This works.
However, you may also place the
pencil across your open palm, with
the loop engaged near the center
of the pencil. Turn the pencil so
that the printing on the pencil
faces upward. The print helps to
hide the thread. Even a careful
observer cannot perceive it. But
there is no careful observer in
this routine.
If the woman holds the
eraser end between her thumb
and first finger, the pencil will remain
secure and unliftable. It will take a little
practice to learn how to position it. You
may have to move the eraser end forward
an inch or so to get a secure hold.
When you remove the pencil, do not pull
it rightward to free it from the loop. Rather, use your right fingers
to grasp it, hold it steady and, as you patter, move your left hand
sideways. This cleanly releases the pencil. It’s a small thing, but it
adds to the appearance of total fairness.
58 M-U-M Magazine
Phase iii – the feather test
A few years back, I got a phone call from Chuck Smith, a
brilliant professional magician. He has a reputation for fooling
everyone, even the most knowledgeable magicians.
Chuck asked if I would give him my permission to use the
heavy pencil test in his program.
“Of course,” I said. “It is published and therefore available for
use.” I thanked him for the courtesy of his call. He then asked
for my address, as he wished to send me some of his material.
How gracious, I thought. Before he hung up, he told me how he
used a small feather to “add weight.” This did two things. First, it
completely covered the loop; and it made everyone focus on the
feather. What a clever man Mr. Smith is.
The third phase is much like the second. However, I raise
my left hand to the height of the woman’s shoulders. Her lifting
motion is made more visible to the audience, and it is diminished.
This prevents her tugging strongly upward, since she is forced to
lift with the fingers of both hands, rather than with her arms.
There you have it. It isn’t a spectacular illusion, but it holds
the attention of audiences and directs attention to the unexpected
mesmeric talent of your helper. Best of all, it doesn’t seem like a
trick.
P.S. The hidden loop of thread used for the rising pencil can
also be used to make an ordinary fork rise. This can be done
in a restaurant without any preparation. The thread, though, is
more likely to break, due to the greater weight of the fork and the
thickness of its tines. On the positive side, the fork rises higher
than the pencil, thanks to its curvature, and it does look very
spooky.
The Magician – Summer 2007
symbologic revisited
This routine is one in which the participant is successful in
intuiting the colors of unseen objects. The experiment is done
first with three choices and then repeated with five. The second
matching is the more dramatic and, if desired, can be performed
without doing the first phase.
Effect and Presentation: The performer opens a small purse
and dumps ten quarters from it onto the table. There are round
stickers on the tails sides of all ten coins. These stickers are
colored to make two corresponding sets of coins, each set consisting
of a red, a white, a blue, a green and a yellow coin.
“Marked coins like these are used in statistics courses to demonstrate
how most of us incorrectly estimate the probability of
events. Let me show you an experiment.” The performer pushes
three of the coins to a woman sitting opposite. Assume they are
red, white and blue. He picks up the three matching coins and
hides them from view in his left hand. He next removes one and
places it colored-side down on the table, so that no one can discern
the color.
“Your job is to use your intuition and try to guess the color
on this coin. Simply push one of yours forward to declare your
choice.”
The woman pushes one across the table; say, the white one.
The performer sets it, colored-side down, on top of his quarter.
This procedure is repeated twice, accompanied by some
urging that the woman follow her intuition as she tries to match
the unknown color of each of his coins with one of hers.
The three pairs of coins are neatly stacked, each on the last,