How did he do it?
December 29, 2008 3:07 PM Subscribe
Almost ten years ago, I saw a "mentalist" perform a trick on the spot after a show. I've never been able to figure out how he did it. Magic aficionados - how might one make a small object move without touching it?
This took place at an incredibly small college about ten years ago. I was waiting with a friend (someone who I know wasn't "in" on the trick) for some other members of our party to get back from the bathroom. The show was held in a large cafeteria, and the performer probably had access to the room beforehand. The stage area was being broken down, and most of the audience had left awhile ago, so the Mentalist came over to talk to us for a little while.
We were sitting around one of those brown cafeteria type tables. It was surrounded by some plastic chairs. We were already at the table location when the bored-looking performer came by to chat us up, so it's pretty unlikely that we just happened to be sitting at a table that he rigged up for the purpose beforehand.
My friend was wearing a pair of very thin wire frame glasses. The performer asked my friend to take them off and place them on the surface of the table. He asked us to stand around the table and hold out our hands over the glasses. I was pretty surprised to see the glasses jump around all over the table. They moved both towards and away from the performer. As you can tell, I have a pretty good memory of this because it stumped me at the time.
To clarify, we were standing right next to this guy. I can verify that he didn't touch the glasses or the table, and maintained a pretty good distance from them. Nothing came out of his sleeve, and his hands were clear. I've never seen glasses of this kind (my now-husband wears them) move in reaction to magnets, and if they did, it would have to be a really really powerful magnet, as he maintained a spatial distance of at least a foot from the glasses themselves. We, of course, checked under the table and inspected his hands afterwards.
I'm sure there is a pretty silly and easy explanation for this, but googling hasn't turned anything sufficient up. Most the easy ways for this to be done would be clearly spotted due to the proximity of the performer. Some of the other "tricks" the performer did during the actual show (if it helps to narrow down the type of magician/mentalist): levitation of a person from the audience and psychic information (you have a purple keychain in your backpack that was given to you by your mother type stuff, which was all correct, of course).
This took place at an incredibly small college about ten years ago. I was waiting with a friend (someone who I know wasn't "in" on the trick) for some other members of our party to get back from the bathroom. The show was held in a large cafeteria, and the performer probably had access to the room beforehand. The stage area was being broken down, and most of the audience had left awhile ago, so the Mentalist came over to talk to us for a little while.
We were sitting around one of those brown cafeteria type tables. It was surrounded by some plastic chairs. We were already at the table location when the bored-looking performer came by to chat us up, so it's pretty unlikely that we just happened to be sitting at a table that he rigged up for the purpose beforehand.
My friend was wearing a pair of very thin wire frame glasses. The performer asked my friend to take them off and place them on the surface of the table. He asked us to stand around the table and hold out our hands over the glasses. I was pretty surprised to see the glasses jump around all over the table. They moved both towards and away from the performer. As you can tell, I have a pretty good memory of this because it stumped me at the time.
To clarify, we were standing right next to this guy. I can verify that he didn't touch the glasses or the table, and maintained a pretty good distance from them. Nothing came out of his sleeve, and his hands were clear. I've never seen glasses of this kind (my now-husband wears them) move in reaction to magnets, and if they did, it would have to be a really really powerful magnet, as he maintained a spatial distance of at least a foot from the glasses themselves. We, of course, checked under the table and inspected his hands afterwards.
I'm sure there is a pretty silly and easy explanation for this, but googling hasn't turned anything sufficient up. Most the easy ways for this to be done would be clearly spotted due to the proximity of the performer. Some of the other "tricks" the performer did during the actual show (if it helps to narrow down the type of magician/mentalist): levitation of a person from the audience and psychic information (you have a purple keychain in your backpack that was given to you by your mother type stuff, which was all correct, of course).
Thread between his hands?
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:27 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:27 PM on December 29, 2008
These kinds of things are easy to figure out...it can't be magic, so it's either got to be something physical acting on the glasses, or something like a magnet.
Quick search, i reckon these are the likely suspects..
posted by ashaw at 3:30 PM on December 29, 2008
Quick search, i reckon these are the likely suspects..
posted by ashaw at 3:30 PM on December 29, 2008
Best answer: When I was a kid I bought a $5 kit at a flea market. It contained all the magic necessary to do this kind of illusion with a pen or pencil, then make the pencil disappear. It was some sticky putty, invisible thread (nylon monofilament), a clothespin and a piece of elastic cord to be concealed in a sleeve. (Not relevant to your query but when the elastic cord, which was attached to one end of the invisible thread, was stretched sufficiently it would make the pencil fly away quickly enough to "disappear", and then continue flying up my sleeve to stab me in the ribs.)
Anyway, in most lighting conditions the thread is all hard to see. In ideal lighting conditions it is aptly named and (all but) invisible. For my version of the trick I had to stick the putty on to the pencil or pen, so that part of the setup was probably different but I can imagine snagging the legs, hinges or nose pieces of the glasses easily enough, even from a distance, with a long piece of the thread.
That or he was a Jedi. Were those the droids you were looking for?
posted by KevCed at 3:34 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
Anyway, in most lighting conditions the thread is all hard to see. In ideal lighting conditions it is aptly named and (all but) invisible. For my version of the trick I had to stick the putty on to the pencil or pen, so that part of the setup was probably different but I can imagine snagging the legs, hinges or nose pieces of the glasses easily enough, even from a distance, with a long piece of the thread.
That or he was a Jedi. Were those the droids you were looking for?
posted by KevCed at 3:34 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
The problem with a piece of string is that it would have taken some pretty deft maneuvers to move the glasses away from himself with something that flimsy.
posted by Night_owl at 3:39 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by Night_owl at 3:39 PM on December 29, 2008
Was he sitting at the table? You say he kept his hands away from the glasses, but if he was sitting with his legs under the table and the tabletop was thin enough, he could have used a magnet on his thigh, under his pants, to move the glasses around.
posted by pluckemin at 3:40 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by pluckemin at 3:40 PM on December 29, 2008
Best answer: Thin mono-filament attached between both hands running under the glasses, with a see-saw motion he can move the glasses left and right moving his hands forward and backward in relation to himself moves the glasses in the same way
posted by kanemano at 4:13 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by kanemano at 4:13 PM on December 29, 2008
Best answer: IANAMagician, but I'm pretty sure it's done with a loop of microfilament thread that's held in both hands. You can moves something "away from you" in short jerks by pulling it to one side of your body and then jerking quickly on the opposite thread so that the object sort of rolls towards the middle and forward.
Also, you should never, ever discount the possibility that a magician has pre-rigged a situation to make a magic trick easier. That's, like, the second thing I read in some magic book when I was a kid.
posted by muddgirl at 4:23 PM on December 29, 2008
Also, you should never, ever discount the possibility that a magician has pre-rigged a situation to make a magic trick easier. That's, like, the second thing I read in some magic book when I was a kid.
posted by muddgirl at 4:23 PM on December 29, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far! A couple relevant updates: we were all standing around the table. I'm pretty positive that we would have noticed if he nudged the table, especially given that he kept the things going (in more than one direction) for at least 30 secs. I guess it's always possible that there was some kind of mono-filament attached to his hands that we didn't notice. Can a good magician really use something physical like that on his hands and have two people standing right next to him not notice?
I'm sure the answer is yes, but it just seems so unlikely to me that I wouldn't have seen it. From a stage, definitely, but I guess my brain is tricking me into feeling confident in my powers of perception because he was literally two feet away from me. Lighting was fluorescent overhead and fairly bright. Also, it is totally within the realm of possibility that he pre-rigged the table, but given that we chose the table out of dozens in the cafeteria, he would have to either rig them all or have been really lucky.
posted by theantikitty at 5:13 PM on December 29, 2008
I'm sure the answer is yes, but it just seems so unlikely to me that I wouldn't have seen it. From a stage, definitely, but I guess my brain is tricking me into feeling confident in my powers of perception because he was literally two feet away from me. Lighting was fluorescent overhead and fairly bright. Also, it is totally within the realm of possibility that he pre-rigged the table, but given that we chose the table out of dozens in the cafeteria, he would have to either rig them all or have been really lucky.
posted by theantikitty at 5:13 PM on December 29, 2008
Best answer: Can a good magician really use something physical like that on his hands and have two people standing right next to him not notice?
Yes.
I've seen it many times. I once saw a guy sell a filament-based magic trick on a street corner in broad daylight. He did the trick and tons of people were so amazed that they paid him for the secret. The people were all standing just a few feet from him.
(a) magicians are experts at hiding things in plain sight; (b) it's easier to hide things from "observant" people than from non-observant people; (c) invisible thread is invisible (or near invisible) in many lighting conditions.
Occam's Razor should lead you away from him pre-rigging the table. That's not required.
posted by grumblebee at 5:28 PM on December 29, 2008
Yes.
I've seen it many times. I once saw a guy sell a filament-based magic trick on a street corner in broad daylight. He did the trick and tons of people were so amazed that they paid him for the secret. The people were all standing just a few feet from him.
(a) magicians are experts at hiding things in plain sight; (b) it's easier to hide things from "observant" people than from non-observant people; (c) invisible thread is invisible (or near invisible) in many lighting conditions.
Occam's Razor should lead you away from him pre-rigging the table. That's not required.
posted by grumblebee at 5:28 PM on December 29, 2008
This girl is doing magic really badly. But look how close the camera gets without seeing the filament.
posted by grumblebee at 5:31 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by grumblebee at 5:31 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Well, I guess the consensus must be right. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity, even though the truth is much less sexy than the trick itself.
posted by theantikitty at 7:12 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by theantikitty at 7:12 PM on December 29, 2008
Real magic is, of course, much more sexy that trickery. Too bad it doesn't exist.
But trickery is sexy if you focus on the right parts of it. What's fascinating about magic tricks is not the technology (the filaments and false walls). What's fascinating and sexy about it is the psychology. The truth is, there probably was a risk that you and your friend might have seen the trick's method. But the performer manipulated you into not seeing it. That might have involved distraction; it might have involved subtly maneuvering you -- without you feeling maneuvered -- to stand in a particular place. Or both.
posted by grumblebee at 7:28 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
But trickery is sexy if you focus on the right parts of it. What's fascinating about magic tricks is not the technology (the filaments and false walls). What's fascinating and sexy about it is the psychology. The truth is, there probably was a risk that you and your friend might have seen the trick's method. But the performer manipulated you into not seeing it. That might have involved distraction; it might have involved subtly maneuvering you -- without you feeling maneuvered -- to stand in a particular place. Or both.
posted by grumblebee at 7:28 PM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
IANAMagician, but I'm pretty sure it's done with a loop of microfilament thread that's held in both hands.
IAAMagician and this is pretty much it.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 8:26 PM on December 29, 2008
IAAMagician and this is pretty much it.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 8:26 PM on December 29, 2008
That little wormy thing in the video grumblebee linked to is the perfect example of how undetectable a filament line can be. Those things are totally convincing, even from up close, and they are like $3 at all the tourist shops around here. The only "trick" to the trick you described is getting the line attached to the glasses.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:51 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by Rock Steady at 8:51 PM on December 29, 2008
But wait, did he handle the glasses at all?
posted by apetpsychic at 8:58 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by apetpsychic at 8:58 PM on December 29, 2008
Or is the filament already on the table where the glasses are then placed?
posted by apetpsychic at 9:00 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by apetpsychic at 9:00 PM on December 29, 2008
I do this trick. Its just a thin nylon thread and spirit gum. I cant see the thread myself most of the time and I know where it is. It cost me 20 dollars at a magic store in Austin.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:34 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:34 PM on December 29, 2008
You can also get the "invisible thread" tricks on a reel system hidden in a sleeve or inner coat pocket, which makes a clean show after the trick dead simple (Look, nothing in my hands). And as it has been stated, that thread is really, really hard to see.
posted by shinynewnick at 10:41 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by shinynewnick at 10:41 PM on December 29, 2008
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