Gillian B : 06 - The Magic Show (f/f)
Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 3:04 am
Gillian B's stories
The Magic Show
Story index at the bottom
By Gillian B
The Magic Show - Prologue
This story is a little bit different. It describes an act that my schoolfriend Janet and I did at our annual school cabaret, just before Christmas 1967 when I was 13 and Janet had just turned 14. Following Jon's convention, "Jill" is me as a child.
The cabaret was a big event in the school calendar. As usual with school performances, there was a lot of time devoted to various school choirs and music groups and different classes put on plays or sketches. Most items were put on or organised by teachers. There was, however, always an opportunity allowed for girls, individually or in groups, to do something of their own. (It had to be previewed and then endorsed by a teacher.)
Janet and I had developed a passion for stage magic (which I still hugely enjoy) and had come up with a short performance. (Which also included our "other" more covert hobby of tying each other up.) We were inspired by Harry Houdini's book "On Magic" which remains to this day one of the great books on stage illusions. We also had a good deal of help, advice and encouragement from my Mum, who was always a constructive critic and Janet's Mum, who was quite a talented amateur actress. (My brother Bob and his friend Jon acted as stage hands during the work-up and rehearsal stages).
My inspiration to post this story was my re-discovery of our original notes and script and some slightly fuzzy production photos, which came to light during a grand clear-out before my recent house move.
I've been wondering how best to tell the story and conclude that I really have to tell it twice: once to describe what the audience saw, once to tell you how it was done.
(If you don't understand theatre directions, you just need to know that "left" and "right" are relative to an actor facing the audience, "up stage" is away from you, towards the back of the stage and "down stage" is towards you. Shhh, the show's starting...)
The Magic Show - What the Audience Saw
The curtain rises on a stage empty except for a chair and a table centre stage. On the table are an old-fashioned bulb horn, a tambourine and a flag. Janet enters stage left, walks to the middle of the stage, faces the audience and bows. Jill enters stage right and walks up to Janet holding a copy of the cabaret programme. Both are in school uniform of black tunic over black tights with a white blouse worn with a school tie. Janet is also wearing a school blazer.
Jill: It says here you're going to show us some magic.
Janet: That's right, I'm ...
Jill (interrupting): Goody! I love conjuring tricks!
Janet: No, not tricks, magic - real magic.
Jill: Real magic? Like what?
Janet moves to the chair and sits on it facing the audience. The table is in front of her as the audience see it. Jill stands down stage and well to the right so as not to mask her.
Janet: Like this. Screen please!
Janet adopts a pose of concentration with her fingertips to her temples.
From stage left a folding hospital-type screen appears. It has 5 sections totalling about 10 feet long and lots of tiny wheels that make a rumbling noise as it is moved. Two first-year girls (age about 11) are propelling the screen - one pulling, one pushing. They are both in school uniform and progress across the stage quite slowly doing a stately processional dance as they do so.
The screen obscures Janet for perhaps 8-10 seconds. While she is hidden, the horn sounds, the tambourine rattles and the flag is waved above the screen. When Janet can be seen again the horn, tambourine and flag are on the table in front of her where we last saw them. Janet's fingers are on her temples as before. The audience is not sure whether to laugh or whether this is just a really bad act.
Jill: You did that!
Janet: It was magic!
Janet stands up and walks down stage beside Jill.
Jill (gesturing towards audience): You don't expect them to believe that do you?
Janet: Why not? Do you want to see more? Ta-da!
As she says "Ta-da", Janet produces a magician's prop bunch of flowers apparently from nowhere and hands them to Jill.
Jill: They were up your sleeve. I'm really not impressed.
Janet moves back up stage and stands in front of the table.
Janet: Right, I'll fix that! Screen please!
The screen is propelled across the stage as before but in the opposite direction. Janet is obscured for 8-10 seconds again.
When Janet is visible again, she is no longer in school uniform. She is now in the school gymastics outfit of a short sleeved green leotard, worn over black tights. The audience gasps then applauds. Janet now has them on her side. Janet walks back to Jill and produces another bunch of flowers which she hands to Jill.
Jill: OK, it wasn't up your sleeve this time.
Janet (walking back to the chair): Nothing at all up my sleeves. Look, I'll do it again. Screen please!
Janet sits in her attitude of concentration again. The screen is propelled across the stage again. While Janet is obscured, the horn and tambourine sound and the flag is waved as before.
Jill: Come on, that's not real magic!
Janet (still sitting with fingers to temples): I'm not using my hands, you know.
Jill (turning to audience): Let's make sure of that! Come here, Janet.
Janet moves the table to stage left and Jill takes her by the hand and leads her to the front of the stage. Jill claps her hands twice loudly. One of the helpers we saw moving the screen dances on from stage right and places a wicker basket (actually a school waste paper bin) next to Jill then dances off again.
Jill (to Janet): Arms out!
Janet is standing to attention facing the audience. She stretches her arms out sideways. Jill takes two school scarves from the basket and ties one round each of Janet's wrists, so the centre of each scarf forms the knot round her wrist.
Jill (to audience): Can Miss Powell come on stage please. I need an expert to check the knots.
Miss Powell was the guide leader of the school Girl Guides company. She is waiting ready and comes on stage to polite restrained applause.
Miss Powell: Yes, they look like good clove hitches to me.
Jill (to Miss Powell): Please wait, I will need more help in a minute.
Jill (to audience): More help please. Can the hockey and lacrosse captains come on stage please?
The sports captains are two very large 18 year olds who tower over Jill and Janet. Jill leads them behind Janet. Jill crosses Janet's arms in front of her and takes the ends of the scarves round behind her back, handing them to the sports captains.
Jill: Now you two captains pull the scarves as tight as you can behind Janet's back and Miss Powell, would you tie the ends together please?
The sports captains pull and Miss Powell knots. Janet makes a loud "Oof!" sound. The audience laugh, a little nervously.
Jill: Thank you all. And a big hand for my helpers.
The helpers troop off stage to applause.
Jill: Now Janet, go and sit down again please.
Janet goes back to her chair. As she turns to go the audience can see the scarves knotted behind her back. Jill takes two more school scarves from the basket. She ties Janet's ankles to the legs of the chair with them.
Jill (reproachfully): What have you got in your mouth girl?
Janet has a whistle in her mouth, which she blows. It's one of those small metal ones with a fan inside that goes "Whizzzzz". The audience laugh.
Jill: Give!
Janet spits it into Jill's hand. Jill stands behind Janet, facing the audience. She produces a white handkerchief and cleave gags Janet with it. Jill places the table in front of Janet and walks down stage again.
Jill: Now let's see. Screen please!
The screen is propelled across the stage once more. As before, Janet is obscured for 8-10 seconds and as before, the horn and tambourine sound and the flag is seen waving above the screen as it passes. When Janet is visible again, she is still tied up and gagged. The audience gasp then applaud.
Jill: Screen again please!
We see a repeat of the trick, the screen goes across, the horn and tambourine sound, the flag is waved and when Janet is visible again she is still tied and gagged. More applause.
Jill unties Janet's ankles. Janet stands up and turns right round to show she is still securely tied. They both go down stage and bow, Janet's arms still tied and gag still in her mouth. The curtain comes down.
The Magic Show - How we Did it
(If Penn and Teller can give their secrets away - so can I!) There are actually only two major illusions in the whole act - the rest is just scene setting and padding (rather like my stories).
The first time the screen crossed the stage Janet just picked up the props and honked, rattled and waved as you would expect.
The first bunch of flowers was indeed up Janet's sleeve. The flowers themselves are a standard prop available from any magic shop.
Big trick number one was the quick change. Obviously, Janet had her leotard on under her school uniform. The trick was in the preparation of the uniform. The blouse was not buttoned at all, but the top button fastening was held closed by a loop of white thread. The cuffs were held closed in the same way. Her school tie was actually two school ties, knotted together in a tie knot at the front, with the other ends hanging down her back between blouse and tunic. The zip fastener at the back of the tunic was not done up at all and its fabric belt was held by an elastic band at the back. The blazer covered all this mess up. All the layers of clothing were fastened to each other with safety pins. (It took about 20 minutes to get her dressed like this.) All Janet had to do when the screen obscured her was to snap the thread at cuffs and collar, pull the tie knot down and then slip all her clothes off at once over her head. The hard bit was making sure nothing went above the top of the screen or onto the floor as she did so. The clothes were then hung on a hook on the back of the screen.
The second bunch of flowers arrived hidden on the back of the screen. Janet's leotard had a length of elastic round its waist as a belt, so she hid the bunch of flowers (in its collapsed state) by tucking it through the belt behind her back, then whisked it out and opened it when needed.
Big trick number two was the escape trick. The trick was entirely in the tie up. Janet was tied in a "Kellar Tie" - beloved of fake mediums. Tied like this, you can quite easily free yourself, by working one wrist up to shoulder level then swinging your arm across, so your head goes below the arch of your elbow. More importantly, you can re-tie yourself by reversing the moves. Janet's tying was less secure rather than more so by having three people on the job - poor Miss Powell had hardly any room to work and, although the sports captains did their best, they had their fingers between the scarves and Janet's back, leaving slack when they let go. Janet was wearing a leotard so there was nothing to snag the bindings as she freed herself. So, all Janet had to do was to free one arm as soon as the screen hid her, honk, rattle and wave the props, then quickly re-position the free arm. Inevitably, the bindings don't go back in quite the same place, but when I untied Janet's ankles, I just reached round and pushed them back down.
And lastly, the whistle. I had it in my hand as I led Janet to the front of the stage and passed it to her then. She transferred it to her mouth when the audience's attention was focussed on my assistant bringing the basket of scarves on stage.
And that was it - our five minutes of fame. (And our chance to air our "other" hobby in public!) When we met up again at University, Janet and I discussed reviving the partnership and did some rehearsal, but without the full team of both our Mums (and Bob and Jon), it wasn't nearly as much fun and we only ever got around to putting on one performance (without any tying up).
__________________________________________________________________________
Gillian B's stories
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section
The Magic Show
Story index at the bottom
By Gillian B
The Magic Show - Prologue
This story is a little bit different. It describes an act that my schoolfriend Janet and I did at our annual school cabaret, just before Christmas 1967 when I was 13 and Janet had just turned 14. Following Jon's convention, "Jill" is me as a child.
The cabaret was a big event in the school calendar. As usual with school performances, there was a lot of time devoted to various school choirs and music groups and different classes put on plays or sketches. Most items were put on or organised by teachers. There was, however, always an opportunity allowed for girls, individually or in groups, to do something of their own. (It had to be previewed and then endorsed by a teacher.)
Janet and I had developed a passion for stage magic (which I still hugely enjoy) and had come up with a short performance. (Which also included our "other" more covert hobby of tying each other up.) We were inspired by Harry Houdini's book "On Magic" which remains to this day one of the great books on stage illusions. We also had a good deal of help, advice and encouragement from my Mum, who was always a constructive critic and Janet's Mum, who was quite a talented amateur actress. (My brother Bob and his friend Jon acted as stage hands during the work-up and rehearsal stages).
My inspiration to post this story was my re-discovery of our original notes and script and some slightly fuzzy production photos, which came to light during a grand clear-out before my recent house move.
I've been wondering how best to tell the story and conclude that I really have to tell it twice: once to describe what the audience saw, once to tell you how it was done.
(If you don't understand theatre directions, you just need to know that "left" and "right" are relative to an actor facing the audience, "up stage" is away from you, towards the back of the stage and "down stage" is towards you. Shhh, the show's starting...)
The Magic Show - What the Audience Saw
The curtain rises on a stage empty except for a chair and a table centre stage. On the table are an old-fashioned bulb horn, a tambourine and a flag. Janet enters stage left, walks to the middle of the stage, faces the audience and bows. Jill enters stage right and walks up to Janet holding a copy of the cabaret programme. Both are in school uniform of black tunic over black tights with a white blouse worn with a school tie. Janet is also wearing a school blazer.
Jill: It says here you're going to show us some magic.
Janet: That's right, I'm ...
Jill (interrupting): Goody! I love conjuring tricks!
Janet: No, not tricks, magic - real magic.
Jill: Real magic? Like what?
Janet moves to the chair and sits on it facing the audience. The table is in front of her as the audience see it. Jill stands down stage and well to the right so as not to mask her.
Janet: Like this. Screen please!
Janet adopts a pose of concentration with her fingertips to her temples.
From stage left a folding hospital-type screen appears. It has 5 sections totalling about 10 feet long and lots of tiny wheels that make a rumbling noise as it is moved. Two first-year girls (age about 11) are propelling the screen - one pulling, one pushing. They are both in school uniform and progress across the stage quite slowly doing a stately processional dance as they do so.
The screen obscures Janet for perhaps 8-10 seconds. While she is hidden, the horn sounds, the tambourine rattles and the flag is waved above the screen. When Janet can be seen again the horn, tambourine and flag are on the table in front of her where we last saw them. Janet's fingers are on her temples as before. The audience is not sure whether to laugh or whether this is just a really bad act.
Jill: You did that!
Janet: It was magic!
Janet stands up and walks down stage beside Jill.
Jill (gesturing towards audience): You don't expect them to believe that do you?
Janet: Why not? Do you want to see more? Ta-da!
As she says "Ta-da", Janet produces a magician's prop bunch of flowers apparently from nowhere and hands them to Jill.
Jill: They were up your sleeve. I'm really not impressed.
Janet moves back up stage and stands in front of the table.
Janet: Right, I'll fix that! Screen please!
The screen is propelled across the stage as before but in the opposite direction. Janet is obscured for 8-10 seconds again.
When Janet is visible again, she is no longer in school uniform. She is now in the school gymastics outfit of a short sleeved green leotard, worn over black tights. The audience gasps then applauds. Janet now has them on her side. Janet walks back to Jill and produces another bunch of flowers which she hands to Jill.
Jill: OK, it wasn't up your sleeve this time.
Janet (walking back to the chair): Nothing at all up my sleeves. Look, I'll do it again. Screen please!
Janet sits in her attitude of concentration again. The screen is propelled across the stage again. While Janet is obscured, the horn and tambourine sound and the flag is waved as before.
Jill: Come on, that's not real magic!
Janet (still sitting with fingers to temples): I'm not using my hands, you know.
Jill (turning to audience): Let's make sure of that! Come here, Janet.
Janet moves the table to stage left and Jill takes her by the hand and leads her to the front of the stage. Jill claps her hands twice loudly. One of the helpers we saw moving the screen dances on from stage right and places a wicker basket (actually a school waste paper bin) next to Jill then dances off again.
Jill (to Janet): Arms out!
Janet is standing to attention facing the audience. She stretches her arms out sideways. Jill takes two school scarves from the basket and ties one round each of Janet's wrists, so the centre of each scarf forms the knot round her wrist.
Jill (to audience): Can Miss Powell come on stage please. I need an expert to check the knots.
Miss Powell was the guide leader of the school Girl Guides company. She is waiting ready and comes on stage to polite restrained applause.
Miss Powell: Yes, they look like good clove hitches to me.
Jill (to Miss Powell): Please wait, I will need more help in a minute.
Jill (to audience): More help please. Can the hockey and lacrosse captains come on stage please?
The sports captains are two very large 18 year olds who tower over Jill and Janet. Jill leads them behind Janet. Jill crosses Janet's arms in front of her and takes the ends of the scarves round behind her back, handing them to the sports captains.
Jill: Now you two captains pull the scarves as tight as you can behind Janet's back and Miss Powell, would you tie the ends together please?
The sports captains pull and Miss Powell knots. Janet makes a loud "Oof!" sound. The audience laugh, a little nervously.
Jill: Thank you all. And a big hand for my helpers.
The helpers troop off stage to applause.
Jill: Now Janet, go and sit down again please.
Janet goes back to her chair. As she turns to go the audience can see the scarves knotted behind her back. Jill takes two more school scarves from the basket. She ties Janet's ankles to the legs of the chair with them.
Jill (reproachfully): What have you got in your mouth girl?
Janet has a whistle in her mouth, which she blows. It's one of those small metal ones with a fan inside that goes "Whizzzzz". The audience laugh.
Jill: Give!
Janet spits it into Jill's hand. Jill stands behind Janet, facing the audience. She produces a white handkerchief and cleave gags Janet with it. Jill places the table in front of Janet and walks down stage again.
Jill: Now let's see. Screen please!
The screen is propelled across the stage once more. As before, Janet is obscured for 8-10 seconds and as before, the horn and tambourine sound and the flag is seen waving above the screen as it passes. When Janet is visible again, she is still tied up and gagged. The audience gasp then applaud.
Jill: Screen again please!
We see a repeat of the trick, the screen goes across, the horn and tambourine sound, the flag is waved and when Janet is visible again she is still tied and gagged. More applause.
Jill unties Janet's ankles. Janet stands up and turns right round to show she is still securely tied. They both go down stage and bow, Janet's arms still tied and gag still in her mouth. The curtain comes down.
The Magic Show - How we Did it
(If Penn and Teller can give their secrets away - so can I!) There are actually only two major illusions in the whole act - the rest is just scene setting and padding (rather like my stories).
The first time the screen crossed the stage Janet just picked up the props and honked, rattled and waved as you would expect.
The first bunch of flowers was indeed up Janet's sleeve. The flowers themselves are a standard prop available from any magic shop.
Big trick number one was the quick change. Obviously, Janet had her leotard on under her school uniform. The trick was in the preparation of the uniform. The blouse was not buttoned at all, but the top button fastening was held closed by a loop of white thread. The cuffs were held closed in the same way. Her school tie was actually two school ties, knotted together in a tie knot at the front, with the other ends hanging down her back between blouse and tunic. The zip fastener at the back of the tunic was not done up at all and its fabric belt was held by an elastic band at the back. The blazer covered all this mess up. All the layers of clothing were fastened to each other with safety pins. (It took about 20 minutes to get her dressed like this.) All Janet had to do when the screen obscured her was to snap the thread at cuffs and collar, pull the tie knot down and then slip all her clothes off at once over her head. The hard bit was making sure nothing went above the top of the screen or onto the floor as she did so. The clothes were then hung on a hook on the back of the screen.
The second bunch of flowers arrived hidden on the back of the screen. Janet's leotard had a length of elastic round its waist as a belt, so she hid the bunch of flowers (in its collapsed state) by tucking it through the belt behind her back, then whisked it out and opened it when needed.
Big trick number two was the escape trick. The trick was entirely in the tie up. Janet was tied in a "Kellar Tie" - beloved of fake mediums. Tied like this, you can quite easily free yourself, by working one wrist up to shoulder level then swinging your arm across, so your head goes below the arch of your elbow. More importantly, you can re-tie yourself by reversing the moves. Janet's tying was less secure rather than more so by having three people on the job - poor Miss Powell had hardly any room to work and, although the sports captains did their best, they had their fingers between the scarves and Janet's back, leaving slack when they let go. Janet was wearing a leotard so there was nothing to snag the bindings as she freed herself. So, all Janet had to do was to free one arm as soon as the screen hid her, honk, rattle and wave the props, then quickly re-position the free arm. Inevitably, the bindings don't go back in quite the same place, but when I untied Janet's ankles, I just reached round and pushed them back down.
And lastly, the whistle. I had it in my hand as I led Janet to the front of the stage and passed it to her then. She transferred it to her mouth when the audience's attention was focussed on my assistant bringing the basket of scarves on stage.
And that was it - our five minutes of fame. (And our chance to air our "other" hobby in public!) When we met up again at University, Janet and I discussed reviving the partnership and did some rehearsal, but without the full team of both our Mums (and Bob and Jon), it wasn't nearly as much fun and we only ever got around to putting on one performance (without any tying up).
__________________________________________________________________________
Gillian B's stories
- 01 - Jill's Revenge (fF/mm)
- 02 - Murder at the Vicarage (ff/f, f/F, f/ff)
- 03 - Gillian's Birthday Present (*/mf)
- 04 - Peter and Paul (mm/F, F/mm)
- 05 - Tying Myself up in Knots (f/self)
- 06 - The Magic Show (f/f)
- 07 - Tying Myself up in Knots (Again) (f/self)
- 08 - Trouble with Tim (f/m, f/self, m/f)
- 09 - The Great Biscuit Robbery (mf/F, F/mf)
- 10 - The Lamp Post (m+f+/f+)
- 11 - Teacher Torture (or: Ol’ Soggy) (ff/FF)
- 12 - Anna's Story (ff/f, F/ff)
- 13 - A Game of Soldiers (mm/f, Ff/mm)
- 14 - A Good Old Fashioned English Hanging (f)
- 15 - Kidnapping Cathy (f/m, m/ff, ff/m, f/f)
- 16 - A Surprise Party (fff/f)
- 17 - Challenging Mum (F/mf, mf/F)
- 18 - Getting Tied Up in my Studies (f/f, ff/F)
- 19 - Money for Old Rope (M/F)
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section