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DOCTOR B's LIT CHANDELIER

EFFECT: The magician produces a lit chandelier from under an empty foulard. This production is guaranteed to fool everyone and get "Ohs" and "Ahs" from the audience that magicians love to hear.

PREPARATION: Modify a night club table to hide the chandelier as shown in FIGURE ONE. Cut a semicircle in the top shelf to allow the chandelier to hang freely and place a hook in the top. Purchase a brass chandelier, round frosted 60 watt bulbs, a large cup hook, a toggle switch, two six inch stove bolts and two wing nuts, twelve feet of clear plastic lamp cord with an electric plug on one end, and a duplicate ceiling cover to match the one on the chandelier.

Making sure the covers are lined up, place the them together open side to open side and drill two holes, one inch from the edges, though both covers. Drill a hole and fasten the toggle switch to the bottom ceiling cover. Drill another hole and feed the lamp cord through this hole and attach the plug to the other end. To eliminate the hazard of an electrical short, wrap several turns of electrical tape around the cord where it comes in contact with the metal of the ceiling cover. Wire the cord to the switch and fasten the two covers together with the bolts and wing nuts. Prepare your night club table as shown in FIGURE ONE. Plug in and place the chandelier on the hook inside your night club table.

PERFORMANCE: Produce a large six foot square silk or foulard using your "favorite method". While you and your assistant each hold an upper corner of the silk in front of the night club table, reach inside the table with your free hand and grasp the chandelier. Keep the lights off at this time. As your assistant continues to hold on to an edge of the silk, walk forward, holding the chandelier behind you. While your assistant continues to hold the silk, walk forward, moving through the silk with the chandelier hidden under it. When you are well away from the table, bring the chandelier to the front, and with it still under the silk, turn the lights on. The lights, glowing under the silk, will give the audience the first indication that something magical has happened. Continue to walk forward with the lit chandelier still under the silk, until you are well away from the night club table. This misdirection directs the audience’s attention away from the source of the chandelier. Upon clearing the silk, thrust the lit chandelier into the air.

CURTAIN CALL: The lit chandelier was first marketed by Penguin Magic in the fifties. It was sold with a table containing a well for the chandelier and covered with a false top. Under cover of a foulard, the chandelier was removed from its well along with its false top. The chandelier was lit with an Eveready 90 volt battery, number 490. It easily fits inside the two ceiling covers, however, I found the battery too weak to light anything other than 6 watt Christmas tree bulbs. I do not recommend using a battery, unless you can afford one powerful enough to light the sixty watt bulbs on your chandelier. No one in the audience ever notices the cord leading to the night club table, but if they did, they would have no idea as to its’ purpose.

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