"PERFECT POCKET-WATCH"
(Boretti/Ted Lesley)
Mr. Boretti has a magic mail-order-business
in Neustadt/Germany and I was and still am very
enthusiastic about the effects he sells, which
are mostly his own inventions. One of his marketed
mental tricks is "Perfect Pocket-Watch" and
I'm very grateful that he granted me permission
to share it.
EFFECT:
With its lid closed, a pocket watch is set by
a spectator to a time he doesn't even know.
The mentalist, with a kind of "out of body experience",
is able to tell the audience the exact time
the watch was set at by the spectator! Sounds
familiar? Yes! There is a very expensive "Stull
type watch" on the market, which doesn't withstand
close examination by the spectators. So Boretti
"hit" on the idea to do a similar effect with
a normal, unprepared watch! Interested? Read
on:
PROPS:
You need for the performance:
- Not one, but two pocket watches of the spring
cover-type preferably with a chain. Both watches
must look identical. It is essential, that
the clockworks of both watches have run down.
(If they are modern-day watches that only
"look" old, simply make sure the battery is
removed.)
- A small note pad;
- A normal grocery bag.
TO PREPARE:
Open the cover of one of the watches and set
it on a time, which you must remember. Put this
watch, minus its chain, into your left inner
jacket pocket. The second watch is attached
by its chain to your pants or your vest in the
time honoured manner. Have the folded grocery
bag, a pen and the notepad in an appropriate
pocket of your suit.
TO PERFORM:
Approach a spectator in your audience and demonstratively
detach the watch from its chain. Demonstrate
how it works: Push on the button of the stem
and the lid will open. Then pull out the stem
and show the spectator and the audience, that
the time can be set by turning the stem in either
direction.
Hand the spectator the watch and ask him to
turn the stem. This makes sure that he sees
the hands on the watch moving. To implant this
in the minds of the whole audience, you ask
him if the hands move as he is turning the stem,
and he will agree with a loud "Yes!".
Now tell him he should close the lid of the
watch and when he has done so, he should turn
the stem to his hearts content and push it in.
The watch is now set on a certain time, which
nobody knows.
During this you take the grocery bag out of
your pocket, unfold it and hand it to the spectator
and ask him to drop the watch in it. It's a
good idea, to turn your head away when he is
doing this. Take the bag with the thumb and
forefinger of your right hand, go to the stage
and set it on the floor.
Take the notepad and the pen out of your pocket,
patter along an "out of body experience" or
"X-ray eyes" theme and write the time you have
memorized from the first watch on the top sheet,
fold it and hand it to another spectator. Put
the notepad and the pen into your left inner
jacket pocket and grab the watch at the same
time putting it into the opening of the left
sleeve. The left hand is holding the left lapel
to steady this move. This looks absolutely natural.
The watch will slide to your elbow. Now approach
the bag and straighten the left arm downwards
and the watch will fall into the slightly curled
fingers of your hand. Pick the bag up with the
fingers of the right hand and plunge your left
hand with the palmed watch into the bag, apparently
taking the watch out of it. You bring out the
palmed watch of course. This in turn is handed
to a spectator with the request, to open the
lid and read out the time the face of the watch
shows. The other spectator is asked to unfold
the piece of paper and read out the time you
wrote on it beforehand. Both match! You have
done the impossible! As all attention is focussed
on both spectators in the audience, fold the
grocery bag containing the other watch carefully
and put it into a pocket of your suit.
As the effect is over take the watch from your
assistant from the audience attach it to the
chain and put it into the pocket in which it
was at the beginning of the performance.
TED LESLEY'S TIPS, HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS:
To enhance the routine it's a very good idea,
to do another experiment with the watch before
you start the one described above. I use the
age-old "Argamasilla" effect
as an introduction. Argamasilla was, as you
may know, a "spirit medium". He became famous
at Houdini's time and he used a technique for
"seeing through the cover of a cased pocket-watch",
which during a performance was discovered by
Harry to rely on nearly the same method I use
for the trick. It's essential that the performer
is blindfolded for this particular routine.
I use a simple rolled hanky, always dark in
colour, for the blindfold-part of my act. The
"peek" is taken down the nose.
TO PERFORM:
Detach your watch from the chain as already
described in the first effect and hand it to
a spectator with the request to set the hands
secretly on a full hour and after he has done
so, he is instructed to close the lid. In the
meantime you have put your blindfold on (you
must act accordingly, because presumably you
can't see!). Ask the spectator to hand you the
watch back and receive it with your left hand.
Shift it into the palm of this hand in such
a way, that the button to release the lid rests
against the end of the second joint of your
ring finger. The thumb is held loosely over
the cover. Take a few steps back to the stage
and it is at this time, that you take your required
"peek"! Thus:
Move your left hand near your tummy and at
the same time the ring finger pushes on the
button of the stem and the cover will slightly
open. When you move your thumb away a little
the lid opens a bit more and you are able to
see the watch's face. As soon as you have seen
the set time, move the left hand far to the
left and at the same time push the button once
more as you close the lid again. This push on
the button is absolutely essential, because
if you don't do it this way, the closing lid
will make a clicking noise. For this reason
the hand must be moved far to the left if an
accident occurs in closing the cover. The hand
holding the watch must be far away from your
wireless mike which in fact will amplify the
sound!
As soon as the cover is back in place mime
"concentration" but seemingly you're unable
to see through the lid. Hand back the watch
to the spectator who knows the set time. Go
on with your "seeing with your fingertips" or
"X-ray eyes" demonstration and after a couple
of successful tries, go back to the spectator,
who holds the watch. He is instructed to put
it into his closed fist which he should move
behind your back. Then, and only then reveal
the time you have peeked. With proper showmanship,
this can be an absolute sensation!
After the applause subsides, do Boretti's routine,
but blindfolded! Perform it a little bit "clumsy"!
This will cover up a lot of the necessary simple
manipulations and you don't have to worry about
them. If you do both tricks forget about the
notepad and the pen. Do it as a "prediction"-
or "control the spectator's actions"-type of
demonstration. Put the prediction into a sealed
envelope, which in turn is placed with the watch
into your left inside jacket pocket. Your prediction
must be written with a broad marker on a letter
size sheet of paper in bold print. Remember,
the whole audience must see it when the time
on the watch face is called out by the spectator!
AN "AFTERTHOUGHT" FROM MARK GARETZ:
I have an idea to present this with a railroad
theme since these watches are common with conductors.
The idea is just a spark, but the basic idea
is that you start off with the fact that your
father (or grandfather, uncle, etc.) was railroad
conductor and left you this watch when he died.
This relative used to tell you stories about
how a conductor's watch would always return
to the last time of the last stop of the last
train that conductor took before passing on.
You get the idea. The prediction can be an old
train schedule (a real one!) - you set the watch
to the last time on the schedule. I also have
the idea to use a conductor's hat as "the bag"
- it would have to be gimmicked somehow to retain
the watch. Or some other piece of train paraphernalia.
Obviously a lot more work to do, but I think
this has potential as an eerie performance piece.
|
