Paul Daniels baffles me

October 17, 2009 5:59 PM

Years ago on his Magic Show (80s, UK TV) I watched Paul Daniels pour apparently hundreds of different drinks from a single magic kettle. It freaked me out a little at the time and even now I'd love to know - how does that trick work?
posted by Fiery Jack to grab bag (8 comments total)

I don't know the trick, but my guess, based on your description, would be that it has to involve a hidden tube connected to the different fluids it produced.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 6:02 PM on October 17

My guess is that each time he stopped pouring, it switched to a different vial. It's a little like those things they put on bottles of hard liquor in bars where it pours to exactly a shot, then stops.
posted by Sully at 6:05 PM on October 17

Were they really different drinks, or where they just different colors?

If the water in the kettle contained a broad-spectrum indicator (a mixture of indicators such as is used in pH paper) and if each glass had a little bit of solid soluble crystals already in it such that each had a different pH, you'd get that apparent effect.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:07 PM on October 17

I'd vote with Chocolate Pickle on this one.

Mainly because I've seen similar tricks performed by a chemistry teacher who then, of course, revealed the trick.
posted by Netzapper at 7:08 PM on October 17

IIRC, this trick is done by having multiple little holes in the underside handle, which act as vacuum stops for the various interior concealed vessels of fluid.

You take your finger off a particular hole (or holes), and the appropriate liquid (or color-changing mix of liquids for more variety) flows from the spout.
posted by Aquaman at 7:28 PM on October 17

I just want to note that Chocolate Pickle and Netzapper's answers are not mutally exclusive, and in fact a lot of really successful tricks are based on blending two merely ok ones.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:42 AM on October 18

Thanks all for your efforts. There is no way anyone other than Paul Daniels himself who could know what is right but your suggestions are all sensible.
posted by Fiery Jack at 2:08 PM on October 20

I just saw this trick performed last night live and up close- Steve Cohen does it as part of his Chamber Magic show. He calls it "Think-A-Drink" and traces it back to Think-A-Drink Hoffman.

Part of the trick involved people in the audience (maybe about 50) writing down drinks on notecards, and another person in the audience pulled out some (ostensibly) random ones that he poured- a margarita, a martini, ruby red grapefruit juice with pulp, red wine, and chocolate milk. Each was verified as authentic. It was pretty impressive.
posted by mkultra at 1:20 PM on December 13