50 Tricks With A Thumb Tip (Milbourne Christopher)

Description

Originally written by Milbourne Christopher with Hen Fetsch in 1948, Dariel Fitzkee’s review said, “It’s the best book on thumb tip magic I’ve seen.” Magic in this excellent compilation ranges from productions, vanishes, changes and restorations to thumb ties, spirit raps, billet work, a bank nite routine, and much more – all clearly explained in Christopher’s breezy writing style.

Paul Fleming (1890-1976) had this to say about the book: The thumb-tip has been exposed so often in books, pamphlets, magazines, and even newspapers, that one might suppose that its usefulness was about ended. But its continued ability to render service, in the face of mistreatment both in print and on magicians’ thumbs, is a clear indication of the vitality of this good old fake, which, according to Milbourne Christopher, made its first appearance on the magic scene around the middle of the 1880’s. Used skillfully – which means, as Mr. Christopher points out, keeping it out of the audience’s view as much as possible – it will doubtless be a standard piece of conjuring equipment for decades or centuries to come. A good magic fake dies hard, and the thumb-tip is unquestionably good.

Any doubts the reader might have on this score will be promptly dispelled by a careful examination of “50 Tricks with a Thumb Tip”. Here he will learn that the thumb-tip may be employed in burning and restoring a handkerchief, in producing a half-dozen dollar bills, in producing “spirit rappings,” in performing The Thumb-Tie Trick, in producing a vanished dollar bill from a selected banana, in transforming a cigarette into a piece of string, in burning and restoring a marked dollar bill, in producing a silk handkerchief, in stretching one’s thumb, and in doing many other queer things in which the modern wizard takes delight.

Since fifty tricks are dealt with in twenty-four pages of text, many of the explanations given in this booklet are necessarily short; and yet they are quite clear, for Mr. Christopher has the knack of making a few lines of print speak volumes, as readers of his page in Hugard’s Magic Monthly are well aware. Occasionally, as in the feat called Burning a Handkerchief, he profligately gives a whole page to one trick; but even when he crowds three or four items on a single page the explanations are surprisingly complete and informative.

Contents include:

Introduction
Thumb Tip Magic
Burning A Handkerchief
Making Money
Ribbons From Nowhere
Burning A Napkin
Burning A Tablecloth
Fire Proof Thumb
Conjuring Up Candy
Living Or Dead
Cards Controlled
Vanishing A Dime
Indestructible Match
Spirit Rapping Hand
Thumb Tie With Rubber Bands
Chapman’s Taped Thumbs
Dollar In Banana
Bill In Soft Roll
Bill In Hard Crust Roll
Reimer’s Ribbon Cut
The Severed String
Spirit Knots
The Mysterious Cord
Cigarette To String
Silken Dollars
Inflated Money
Waterproof Greenback
Waterproof Variation
Burning A Dollar
Spots That Pass
Bill In Nested Envelopes
Solid Sugar
Silk Switch
Quick Change
Hen Fetsch’s Bank Night
Annemann Move
The Vanishing Card
The Vanishing Cigarette
Full-Sized Cigarette Vanish
Flash Tip
Silk Production
Confetti To Silk
Allen’s Tie Trick
A Tannen Tip
Knots Untied
The Cut Restored
Bill In Purse
Amazing Prediction
Thumb Stretching
Bill In Shot Glass
Bill In Egg
Sealed Envelope Reading
Inflated Money
The Magicians Code
Cigarette Through Handkerchief