Schindler, George: Magic With Everyday Objects
©1976 George Schindler, Published by Dorset Press
©1976 George Schindler, Published by Stein and Day
Hardcover, small format, 240 pages
ISBN-13: 9780812818970
ISBN-10: 0812818970

Comments: This is a book of mostly beginner's magic with little to no sleight-of-hand needed. While many of the tricks are throw-aways, this is the type of stuff you can always apply while waiting for food at a restaurant and includes many of those tidbits every magician should know, such as the "center-tear" and "magician's choice".

Contents:

13 Introduction

17 Part 1: On the Table
19 Magic With Silverware
19 Swallowing the Spoon: illusion with lapping
21 Cheap Silver: apparently bending a spoon
23 Snap Vanish: variation of swallowing
23 Transformation: spoon rolled into a napkin turns into a knife
27 Flying Spoon: spoon levitates behind a napkin (sort of a Zombie effect)
30 Quick Vanish: of a spoon (sleeving)
30 Rubber Knife: old illusion
30 Musical Knife: sound is only heard when the knife is over a water glass
31 Knife Suspension: knife hangs from the hands apparently without aid
34 Salt Gone: a salt pour needing lots of misdirection
36 Vanishing Salt Shaker: variation of the vanishing glass under napkin
39 Sweet and Go: sugar packet, then pepper vanish (lapping)
40 Run Pepper Run*: cute story with salt and pepper and a good lesson in patter
42 Mystic Shaker: salt shaker raises at the fingertips (toothpick)
45 Osmo-Salt: an impromptu paddle trick
48 Sodium Chloride*: A knife blade attracts salt like a magnet
49 Dot's Dot: another paddle effect
51 Three Quick Ones: separating pepper from salt, instant separation, ice cube suspension
52 Sugar Floats: in a cup of coffee (needs sugar cubes)
53 Soft Spot: a wrapped cube of sugar penetrates the table
54 Slap it Through: variation of above
56 Sugar Transfer: writing appears on the spectator's palm
57 Transfer Variation: spectator's own writing appears on his palm
58 Sugar Quick Tricks: catching your lumps, burning a cube, turnover
60 Light Bread: Dinner roll Zombie
62 Easy Come, Easy Dough: coin in dinner roll
64 Once In a Knife Time: knife from dinner roll
65 Clinging Breadstick: suspends from hand
67 Cracker Story: arrow on cracker points up/down/left/right in line with a story
70 Bread Gags: hard rolls, biting a finger (breadstick)
71 Spooky: end of napkin comes alive
74 Knotty But Nice: shaking a knot into a napkin
76 Persian Puppet: make the napkin into a puppet
76 Transpo-Knots: knot transposes from one pair of napkins to another
80 Utility Napkin: an olive is vanished in a napkin
82 Out From Under: glass vanishes from under a napkin (uses as confederate)
84 Torn and Restored: napkin (with lap vanish)
86 Teleportation: Chink-A-Chink with napkins and paper balls
90 Producing a Rabbit: created from a handkerchief
90 What Does It Look Like? A Gag where a napkin is folded to look like a bra, but put on the head before anyone can say it, and they are Mickey Mouse ears!
94 Napkin Betcha: Magician gives the spectator a quarter for ripping a napkin into 4 (a quarter of the napkin)
94 Strong Paper: a twisted napkin can only be torn by the magician
94 No More Gravity: a glass of water is turned upside down with just a napkin over it and water does not spill
95 Watch It Go!: sailing a napkin
95 Comedy Vanish: a brief version of Slydini's Paper Balls Over the Head
97 Plates, Glasses, Cups, and Other Table Props
97 A is for Ashtray: a comedy routine similar to the concept in comedy vanish, but using an ashtray
99 B is for Beer: salt appears to rise in a glass of beer
99 Coffee Money*: a nickle on a saucer under a glass multiplies
101 A Dry Bet: stunt using the above principle
102 Mesmerized Glass: spectator can't lift a glass of water off the menu
104 Problem Solving: stunt with matches and 2 glasses
105 Only One Move: puzzle with 6 glasses and water
106 Bottoms Up: spectator can't duplicate your moves of turning glasses up & down
107 No Place Like Home: a quick coin to glass with two shot glasses
108 Balancing Glass: glass balances on edge of plate or card
111 Freeze It!: Apparently instantly freeze a glass of water
112 Three Guesses: a silly gag about what's on the paper
113 Glass Through Handle: Magician can "push the glass through the handle" of a coffee cup
113 Hatfull of Water: cup removed from water and water is poured in...whoops! forgot the cup. Cup is put in and all is well


117 Part 2: Mind Reading and ESP
119 Mentalism
119 Telepathic Sensitivity: Magician determines which finger a spectator is thinking of by touching them
121 Out of Sight: Magician determines the object selected (confederate)
122 Mental Speller: variation of above
123 Money Mental: Coffee cup is placed over a coin, magician can tell the value of the coin (confederate)
126 Thought Transference: 2 person code
130 Brain Power: a subtle signaling code as confederate touched temples
131 Sixth Sense: another signal for which of 5 items are chosen
132 Magician's Choice: forcing 1 of 3 items (can't repeat)
134 Choice Predictions: choice of 1 of 5 with multiple outs
136 Pencil and Paper Wizardry: think of an odd number with 2 digits, both odd
137 Psychological Quickies: Five quick, non-foolproof experiments based on averages
139 A Symbol Trick: Confederate helps pick an ESP symbol
140 Psychothesia: center tear principle
142 Wristwatch Prediction: Restaurant magic. Any waiter sets the time on a spectator's watch. It matches the prediction.
145 Past and Present Presidents: Audience names presidents as magician writes them down. One paper is randomly selected and matches prediction
146 Keep Ahead: one ahead system
148 Magic With Numbers
148 The Number Nine: mathematical trick almost always results in 1089, with an out for the times it doesn't
150 Menu Countdown: using above principle to predict a menu selection
151 Menu Telepathy: variation of above
153 The Missing Number: another 9 principle put into action
155 A Penny For Your Thought: Ten pennies; a number taken away (determined by the 9 principle) always leaves one
156 Multiplying Fun: a fun math stunt
157 Age Old Prediction: prediction matches the results of an addition of an apparently unpredictable set of numbers
158 Rapid Calculator*: Spectator write a number, a 2nd spectator writes a number, and the magician writes a number. The magician's assistant adds the numbers in a flash! Can be repeated.
159 Leonardo's Numbers: similar to above, using Fibonacci series
161 Watch Your Thoughts: magician knows what number is stopped at on a clock face
162 Calendar Magic: Magician can determine what 4 dates are circled
164 Number Games: I Win, 2 Challenges, and Final Arrangement


167 Part 3: Pocket Prestidigitation
169 Money Magic
169 Penetrating Coin: through handkerchief
172 Escape Artist: Coin escapes a handkerchief even though trapped by a smaller ring
174 Coins Through the Table: a fistful of coins penetrates the table
176 Knotty Affair: coin ends up in a knot in a handkerchief
179 Quick Coin Vanish: in a napkin (curious fold)
180 Coins In the Water: Coin audibly dropped in a glass under a napkin vanishes
181 Elbow on the Table: Coin is pressed through the table and vanishes
183 Coin Gags and Stunts: Nickle Through (small hole in business card); A Head for Money (coin on forehead gag); Coine Balance (on hand); Inflation (quarter cries); Balancing Stunt (dime on edge of dollar)
185 Money From Money: a quarter drops out of a dollar
187 Clean Getaway: a coin fold with a dollar
189 Transposition: routine combining the two above tricks
190 Two Bills To One*: a cleverly folded bill looks like two
193 Instant Cash: Six bills from nowhere (pull up sleeves)
194 Torn and Restored Bill: Bill apparently torn into two is restored
195 Producing the Tip: tip money produced from a napkin
196 Dollar Bill Gags and Stunts: Breaking Bread (with a dollar); Delicate Balance (balance a glass on a dollar between two other glasses); Pure Corn (see money in-creases); A Safe Bet (name 3 numbers in a serial number); One to Five (Make $1 into 5)
198 Miracles With Matches (not recommended for children)
198 Matchbook Divination: Determines which matchbook was opened by a spectator
199 Ghost Match*: match ripped out of a book returns (can even be burnt)
201 Decap*: follow-up to the above. Rip the head off the match and it is restored in the spectator's hand
202 Full Pack: Math trick to determine how many matches were ripped from a book of matches
204 Invisible Dice: Match is burnt to reveal the same number as an invisible dice toss
205 Match Gags, Stunts, Betchas: Which is Heavier (lighter); Two for One (match lit splits into two); Dollar Light (light match on a dollar bill); Blowout (match is blown out through a glass); Match Betcha (light match under water); Off With His Head (match head flies off in time with a story); Through the Sleeve (match blown out by blowing into sleeve)
207 Cigarette Things
207 Perky Cigarette: through a napkin (possible color changing knife move?)
209 A Little Static: static charged finger moves a cigarette or a straw
210 Cig Go!: vanishing cigarette (to the ear)
212 Rising Up: Cigarette rises from the pack
213 A Dozen Foolers: Knotting Cigarette; Huff and Puff (self-smoking cigarette); Not So Hot (hold the hot end of a cigarette); Rings of Smoke (from cigarette pack); A Little Balance (one cigarette on another); Save Your Lungs (inhale but no smoke); A Lighter Gag (make cigarette pack "lighter"); Another Gag (unlit cigarette smoke); Jumping Cigar Band (fingertips); Both Sides Lit (illusion of smoking both ends of a cigarette); Quick Light (self-lighting cigar); Rising Up (rising cigar from tube)
219 Pot-Pourri
219 Suspension: Bottle half-filled is turned upside down without a spill, then empty bottle is lifted with a straw
220 Another Beer?: Inverted bottle on a dollar, the dollar is removed
220 Candle Magic: blow out thru glass; dime from flame; match light
222 Drinking Straws: Static roll; worm paper; and true static trick
222 Rubber Bands: Elmer (rubber band moves like it is alive); Snap & Jump (jumps fingers when hand is opened)
224 Linking Paper Clips: on folded dollar
225 My Card*: Clever fold to lift a salt shaker with a business card
227 Comes the Check: challenge spectator to catch the check as it is dropped (impossible)


229 Part 4: Let Us Entertain Them: How to Entertain, patter, take over, keep it simple, etc.

237 Bibliography
238 Index



Magic with Everyday Objects is an easy-to-follow how-to manual for novice magicians or those interested in picking up a few easy tricks to entertain at a moment's notice.

This is a book of mostly beginner's magic with little to no sleight-of-hand needed. While many of the tricks are throw-aways, this is the type of stuff you can always apply while waiting for food at a restaurant and includes many of those tidbits every magician should know, such as the "center-tear" and "magician's choice".