In all the time that I've been entertaining with magic, I have never performed the classic handkerchief trick - the one where the magician shows his hands empty and produces a handkerchief and then stuffs it into his hand and makes it vanish. There are several reasons why. For one, I guess I always felt that the trick was somewhat below me. I've seen too many outright hacks performing the trick, in particular, bad clowns. The trick has often been exposed and is fairly well known to the public. The most important reason is that I have never thought of a theme or presentation that goes beyond the standard "here's a handkerchief and now it's gone."
Early on when I was developing tricks for my strolling sets, I did experiment for a time with "chameleon silks (also known as "color-changing handkerchiefs)," but the angles didn't work in my crowded venues. New Handkerchief Trick Of course, the reason why I'm writing all this is that I recently learned and worked up an excellent version of the trick - all with the standard method.
The routine is called "Emperor's New Clothes" and it's by Norm Barnhart, a great magician from Minnesota who lectured and taught the trick at the recent KGB conference. Barnhart has created an entertaining routine with three phases. While the first and third involve the standard production and vanish, the middle segment is a chameleon silk phase where the handkerchief changes colors. And in the final vanish, the hands are completely empty. Even if the audience knows what to look for, there's nothing to find.
I thought the routine was clever and it didn't take me long to come up with a presentation that employed some gags that I developed for past routines but no longer use. I probably performed the trick 15 times over the weekend and it received enthusiastic reactions. I plan to continue presenting it, a new addition to my strolling set that packs small, resets when I put it away, features lots of interaction and is always ready to go. This one is a keeper. Thanks Norm.
The above is a review of a trick that can be found on my Cool Magic for Cool Kids DVD check it out Here