Three Magic Tricks
©2010 Edward Glassman

The following tricks are taken from my book...
"Family Magic I & II: 105 Easy-To-Do Tricks For My Family."
They are so easy to do that I, a grandfather of 14 do them well enough. 
So will you.

Magic Trick #1. ‘Magnetic Banana Split’



Consider this startling and confusing magic trick. I hold up 3 large brown-spotted bananas in a bunch. A spectator-volunteer helps me select one randomly, and I remove it from the bunch. 

I state that I cannot eat such a large banana, and that I will cut it into four quarters. I remove a penknife from my pocket and announce that this magnetized knife will do the job. 

I say that I intend to cut the banana with the magnetic field that surrounds every magnetized object. This field doesn’t have the strength to cut through the banana skin, but I can bypass the skin and cut only the insides.

I open the penknife. I make fake cutting movements about half way down the banana, and two more motions on either side of the first ‘cut’ intended to sever the banana into quarters. 

I ask the volunteer to peel the banana and serve the cut sections. The audience sprouts looks of incredulity. Yet when the volunteer peels the banana, the insides fall into four pieces. Amazing wonderment results. 

THE SECRET

Before the trick started, I straightened a large paper clip and pushed one end through a natural dark spot on a banana, about half way between the top and the bottom. I moved the straightened paper clip so it cut the insides of the banana in half. I carefully avoided piercing the skin of the banana. 

I made two more similar intrusions on brown spots between the first cut and both ends of the banana, cutting its insides into 4 quarters. The punctures of the banana skin remained undetectable unless you know exactly where to look. I left the banana attached to the bunch to reduce suspicion that I had tampered with it.

I made sure we picked the correct banana from the bunch when I started the trick, and all’s well that ends well. So simple. 

Trick #5. ‘Teaching A Magic Trick’

Consider this generous and easy magic trick. I tell a spectator that he has magical talent. To test my idea, I ask him to do a trick with my coaching.

I give him the deck and request that he ask me to select a card. I do so and put it back into the deck. I ask the spectator to ask me to cut the deck completely and put the cut deck on the table.

I suggest that he ask me the identity of my card. I tell him, say, the 3 of clubs. Now I suggest he says that he will attempt to reach into the deck with his mind and reverse my card, the 3 of clubs, so it faces the opposite way of the rest of the cards in the deck. I offer to help.

He puts the deck on the table and puts his finger on top of the deck. We both close our eyes and ‘enter’ the deck with our minds to reverse the 3 of clubs. After a moment I suggest he look through the deck face-up to see if we succeeded.

Sure enough, we find a card upside down, the 3 of clubs, the card I told him I had picked. I ask him not to reveal how he did it.

THE SECRET

Before I suggested this trick to the spectator-volunteer, I secretly turned over the bottom card of the deck (say, the 3 of clubs), memorized it, and placed it second from the bottom. 

The trick flowed smoothly, and later, when asked the identity of my card, I answered the 3 of clubs, not the card I chose. We found the 3 of clubs reversed in the deck. I suggested he not tell anyone how he did it. 

Trick #25. ‘Kissing Cousins’

Consider this enigmatic & puzzling trick. I give the deck to the spectator-volunteer and ask her to pick a card, memorize it and place it on the top of the deck. I ask her to pick another card, show it to me without her looking at it, and push it back into the deck, still without looking at it. I then request that she cut the deck completely.

I tell her the identity of the card she showed me, and I ask the identity of her Chosen card. I tell her these two cards like each other and want to snuggle.

I request she look for them in the deck. Sure enough, the two cards are together.


THE SECRET

Before the trick started, I peeked at the bottom card. Instead of telling her the identity of the card she showed me, I later told her the identity of the bottom card. Thus, when she cut the cards, the bottom and the top card, her Chosen card, came together, and when she looked for them, she found them snuggling next to each other. Sweet.