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CreativityTranscript
00:00 You walk through, you can peek around, do all sorts of crazy things.
00:03 Let me close it up and if you ladies would be so kind,
00:05 why don't you just turn it around so the audience can check the back too.
00:08 Alright? Ordinary old book?
00:11 Yeah? Fine.
00:12 If I say the magic words, magic will happen.
00:14 Ladies and gentlemen, Mark Wilson!
00:16 [applause]
00:21 I thank you, sir.
00:22 [music]
00:29 [music]
00:39 [music]
00:49 [music]
00:59 [music]
01:08 Hello, this is Mark Wilson.
01:10 I've spent my entire career presenting all kinds of magic all over the world
01:14 under all kinds of conditions.
01:16 Now in the past, famous magicians presented basically the same show
01:20 over and over again, bringing in a new audience for every performance.
01:25 Today, particularly on television, you have basically the same audience every week.
01:30 So you must change the show every week.
01:33 It means more magic and in our case, more illusions.
01:37 I've also determined that the cost of an illusion does not say
01:41 whether it will be entertaining or not.
01:44 Just because a trick is expensive doesn't mean that it is necessarily good.
01:48 So on this tape, I'm teaching you how to build and perform some great illusions
01:53 that we've presented many times, done with props that you can build inexpensively.
01:58 [music]
02:01 Now another thing I've determined, any success I've had is because of the wonderful,
02:05 talented people who've helped me, both on camera and off.
02:09 And my main helper was my beautiful wife, Nani Darnell.
02:13 Nani was my co-star on almost all of my shows over the years.
02:17 I think she's been in and out of more different illusions than anyone else in history.
02:24 Now here's Nani as she appeared in a few of those performances.
02:28 [music]
02:37 Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?
02:48 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
02:57 Why do stars fall down from the sky every time you walk by?
03:08 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
03:18 On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true.
03:27 So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair, and gold and starlight in your eyes of blue.
03:37 That is why all the guys in town follow you all around.
03:48 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
03:58 [music]
04:08 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
04:18 On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true.
04:28 So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair, gold and starlight in your eyes of blue.
04:37 That is why all the guys in town follow you all around.
04:48 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
04:58 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
05:08 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
05:18 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
05:28 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
05:38 Just like me, they long to be close to you.
05:45 The first illusion is Jen Grant's Arabian Tent, as we performed it on one of our very first television shows in Dallas.
05:54 [music]
06:22 With the $50,000 hand, the Scott Grant Tape Sorcerer himself, Mark Wilson!
06:29 [applause]
06:35 [chimes]
06:40 Now the Arabian Tent can be made out of cardboard, as you see here, or any other inexpensive material.
06:46 But the principle always remains the same.
06:50 That's right, and we're going to explain that principle now.
06:53 Here's how the illusion works.
06:55 Now the person who's going to appear, in this case, this lovely wooden doll,
07:00 we'll just use this to show you how it works, is hiding behind the roof, like so.
07:06 Okay, now the other sides and the front and back are shown.
07:10 These happen to be hinged together like this in one piece, like the two pieces hinge together in one piece.
07:16 Alright, now, when this is set up, it overlaps the roof a little bit,
07:20 so the person that's back there sneaks from behind the roof, over here, behind the front and the side.
07:30 Then the other front and side are put on, shown empty, put on like this,
07:35 and the girl, you see, is already inside.
07:37 Now the roof is put on, now you add a little magic.
07:40 Ooh, hey!
07:42 And sure enough, look what happened.
07:44 Take the roof off, sure enough, there is the young lady appears, as if by magic.
07:49 The rest of the stuff can be struck right away.
07:52 The stage is clean and you've done a very nice illusion.
07:56 Now, that's the way, usually, the Arabian Tent works.
08:00 Now let us show you how we adapted the Arabian Tent to the Magic Circus Show.
08:05 Here we go.
08:07 [Applause]
08:13 We made up an Arabian Tent, as you see, out of canvas stretched on wooden flats.
08:19 It makes it very light and easy to use.
08:22 It tied in with the illusion that we were doing, which was the Gorilla Cursing.
08:26 The tent is shown empty by the two girls and Rebo the clown.
08:29 And by the way, Rebo was played by the very, very good Bev Bergeron
08:34 in all the Magic Land of Al-Kazam and Magic Circus Shows.
08:37 Okay, they put it all together, then the trapeze comes down with the puppet on it.
08:43 Trapeze goes into the tent and then changes into the lovely Nani Darnell,
08:51 who flies out of the tent.
08:53 And that's how we did the Arabian Tent on the circus.
08:59 [Applause]
09:03 We even used the Arabian Tent for the opening of our first shows in mainland China.
09:10 [Applause]
09:15 [Music]
09:21 [Music]
09:27 [Music]
09:32 [Music]
09:42 [Music]
09:54 If you're performing for television where the audience is in a space just this big,
10:01 you can do this illusion without any angles.
10:04 No angles.
10:05 No angles.
10:06 That's good, because the entire audience is right there and the television wins.
10:10 Right?
10:11 So, you know, you don't get just five or ten or fifteen people there.
10:14 You can get literally millions within that very small space.
10:18 Now look, watch as we perform the Arabian Tent on one of our television shows.
10:24 Okay.
10:25 Here we go.
10:26 [Music]
10:30 [Music]
10:57 [Applause]
11:00 So you see, Greg was the person, a very young Greg,
11:11 who magically appeared from the Arabian Tent this time.
11:14 Let me show you exactly how that worked.
11:16 We'll run it again for you.
11:18 Now at the start of the trick, Greg is hiding behind the roof, so you can't see him.
11:23 That front and the side are set up. Greg creeps around behind the front and the side.
11:29 The other, the back and the other side are put on.
11:32 The roof is put on. Greg is already inside.
11:35 Then now you do put a little gesture and magically there is Greg Wilson.
11:39 He has appeared.
11:41 [Applause]
11:48 Now here is another use of the Arabian Tent principle, which is not just production.
11:54 We shot this back in Dallas. It's in black and white.
11:57 But it will show you exactly what I'm talking about. Watch closely.
12:01 One, two, three, up.
12:04 [Music]
12:07 Thank you very much.
12:09 I'll just slip into this.
12:11 Chinese magicians quite often wear long robes like this.
12:16 Oops. Occupational hazard. There we are. Get in there.
12:22 You snap it up at the top and I'll snap it down here. There we go.
12:31 And I'll put on some gloves like this.
12:35 Now to make it complete, I'll put on this band.
12:45 [Music]
12:50 Now what I'm going to do is build a house, a Chinese house, instead of the tent that we built before.
12:56 And we'll see what's going to happen. Watch.
12:59 [Music]
13:08 [Music]
13:29 Hey, what happened?
13:31 [Applause]
13:34 Why is not even on there?
13:38 So I'm going to show you right now.
13:45 Of course, the Chinese magician wouldn't wear the type of clothes that I have on.
13:48 He would wear a Chinese robe. And here's one right now.
13:52 So as you see, the show is for Scotch Band cellophane tape, the product of the 3M company.
13:58 Now the curtain opens and reveals the costume, which I put on. Chinese costume.
14:04 If you do this trick this way, you must have a costume that completely covers the magician.
14:09 From top to bottom, like so.
14:12 Now we button up the front of the costume, covering it all with pattern that you just heard.
14:19 Explaining the costume, this is a Chinese trick.
14:23 Gloves are a good thing to have, as you will see in just a moment, because of the switch.
14:28 So that it hides the hands of the magician.
14:31 Now the head is covered as well, in this case with a complete mask.
14:36 Making the Chinese magician complete.
14:41 Now watch what happens here.
14:45 I'm going to go off and get the house.
14:49 And that's where the switch takes place.
14:52 Now when I walk off stage on camera left, like this.
14:58 It's not me that comes back out pulling the house.
15:01 That is Nani. Nani is inside a duplicate costume.
15:04 She opens the lid and puts it over the side of the opening on the stage.
15:09 You see there's a little overlap.
15:11 Now the front, the back and the sides are all together in one piece, which Nani puts.
15:15 So that I, taking the costume off, have crawled out from backstage.
15:19 I have snuck into that house.
15:21 And sure enough I appear.
15:23 And then we discover that the Chinese person is Nani.
15:27 And that's how you can do the trick.
15:33 Now we'll show you exactly how that Arabian Tent principle works as a switch.
15:39 Watch closely, because this is one of our instructional tapes.
15:42 First you'll see the effect of this ghost house.
15:45 And then you'll see exactly how it's done.
15:50 Here are the remains of a ghost house.
15:52 I'm going to assemble this house.
15:54 In order to do it I should have the proper evening attire.
15:58 What do you wear to a haunted house?
16:04 Of course.
16:07 [Music]
16:11 [Music]
16:15 [Music]
16:18 [Music]
16:24 [Music]
16:35 [Music]
16:44 [Music]
16:47 [Music]
17:09 [Applause]
17:13 Hi.
17:16 It's Nani Darnell.
17:19 Now I'm going to show you exactly how that trick works.
17:23 You'll see as you watch it from behind.
17:26 Here we go.
17:28 [Music]
17:32 [Music]
17:35 [Music]
17:44 [Music]
17:54 [Music]
17:57 [Music]
18:04 [Music]
18:10 [Applause]
18:23 One of the very few drawbacks of the Arabian Tent Illusion
18:26 is that there are angles where a secret person can be seen.
18:30 Wow. Well, how do you handle a trick with bad angles?
18:34 Well, we'll tell you.
18:36 Now, how do you handle a trick with angles?
18:41 Well, one of the first things you need to do when you put on a show in any new location
18:46 is to have a couple of your people sit in the worst seats in the house
18:51 when you rehearse the show.
18:53 Have one person sit in the front row there, that's right,
18:57 the farthest seat to the left,
18:59 and the other in the front row, the farthest seat to the right.
19:03 Now, if you're doing tricks with angles and they show,
19:06 your friends will spot the problem.
19:08 Sometimes the elimination of just three or four seats in a theater
19:12 will take care of all of your line of sight problems.
19:16 Now, there are a number of other ways to overcome bad angles.
19:20 One, of course, is to move the illusion with the angles further upstage,
19:24 farther from the audience.
19:26 The farther away from the audience, the better the lines of sight.
19:30 Another method is to change the angle of the trick itself,
19:33 reposition the illusion a little bit,
19:35 or put something on the illusion to block the view.
19:39 Another way, you can close the curtains a bit,
19:43 the front curtains are good to do that, close them maybe a couple of feet,
19:46 blocking the lines of sight, or you can have an assistant or two
19:50 standing in the proper positions at exactly the right time during the trick.
19:56 Now, the last method for overcoming a bad angle on an illusion
20:01 is to change the illusion.
20:03 Do something else, which brings us to the tip-over box principle.
20:08 [music]
20:10 [music]
20:30 [applause]
20:42 That was the tip-over box, which we showed empty,
20:46 and then the beautiful Nanny Darnell magically appeared.
20:49 And there are many different possible sizes you can make the tip-over box from.
20:53 Here's one from Kellogg's Cereal, where Mark used a much smaller box.
20:58 Wells Fargo Stagecoach Strongbox.
21:02 Strongbox, that's just what I need to keep my tinder puffs of gold in.
21:07 Gold and Kellogg's sugar pops, I mean.
21:10 Now, there's supposed to be an outlaw in these parts.
21:13 Rip-roaring Rebo is what they call him.
21:16 [gunshots]
21:18 Oh, hi, Rip-roaring Rebo. We were just, uh...
21:22 What is it you want?
21:23 [gunshots]
21:24 Sugar pops.
21:26 The Strongbox is empty, sir.
21:28 I hope the magic word works this time.
21:31 Kellogg's.
21:33 Can't blame him. Sugar pops do taste poppin' sweet, don't they?
21:39 They're so fresh and crunchy, everybody likes 'em.
21:43 Let's say the magic word again. Kellogg's.
21:46 There they are, with happy little sugar pops feeding his sugar popper on the front.
21:51 Get some for yourself, 'cause you know, top hands get poppin' with sugar pops.
21:57 Now, to show you exactly how the tip-over box works,
22:02 here it is from volume four of our video, "Course in Magic."
22:06 You'll see first the effect, and then the secret.
22:10 Now, here's an illusion that you can make inexpensively,
22:14 and it's a good one. Watch.
22:16 A box.
22:20 A box is empty.
22:23 Nothing there.
22:25 And yet...
22:28 When you add a little magic, one, two, three, hup!
22:33 Sure enough, a beautiful young lady appears.
22:38 The name of the illusion is the tip-over box.
22:42 It's a classic in magic.
22:44 The reason it's so inexpensive is because it's made entirely, in this case,
22:48 out of corrugated board.
22:50 So you go to your local box store and you can buy all the parts
22:53 for a few dollars and make this up.
22:55 Now, here's the way it works.
22:57 Look inside. Let's tip it over this way first, honey.
23:00 Look. There's no bottom.
23:03 But the audience knows and all that because, look here.
23:07 This is another piece of corrugated board
23:12 that's hinged down at the bottom, down here, down at the base.
23:16 Now notice that there's a lip here on top, on the left,
23:20 and there's a lip on the bottom like this, about two inches.
23:25 Alright?
23:27 Now, when Karen is inside,
23:31 and she's in there, of course, from the very start,
23:35 like so.
23:37 Now, watch what happens. We're going to tip it over for you again,
23:43 but we'll leave the lid open so you can see exactly what's going on.
23:47 Here we go.
23:49 Now Karen is hidden behind
23:54 that extra piece of board, like that.
23:59 And after it's tipped all the way, she's back in the back.
24:04 Say hi.
24:06 Okay.
24:08 Now, all we do, and remember,
24:11 this lid is closed so the audience doesn't see this.
24:15 We hinge it back up.
24:17 Karen is hidden behind that back piece there.
24:21 Then all you have to do is go one, two, three,
24:25 a la kazam,
24:28 and you get a beautiful young lady.
24:31 In written form, this is covered in Mark's book,
24:34 "Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic,"
24:37 which shows exactly how to build a tip-over box.
24:40 Here's another way to use the tip-over box principle.
24:43 Mark will show it to you.
24:45 Now, here comes Rebo the Clown with the great magic hat.
24:48 Hi, Rebo.
24:50 Now, Tim, you know, whenever you see a magician's top hat,
24:57 what do you expect to see come out of it?
24:59 A rabbit. Exactly right.
25:01 But instead of having a rabbit come out of this hat,
25:04 you know what we're going to do, Rebo?
25:06 We're going to put a cub scout into it,
25:08 and then we'll see what happens, okay?
25:10 Now, let's put Tim in it this time, all right?
25:12 Yeah, we'll put Tim in the hat.
25:14 You help me put him in, okay? You ready?
25:16 Give us a big smile before you go. There you go.
25:19 Good. There he is.
25:21 All right. Good.
25:23 Now, Tim, I'm going to put this claw over you.
25:27 Here we go. Here comes the claw.
25:30 Watch him.
25:34 There he is under the claw.
25:36 Rebo, my hands are both busy here.
25:38 Why don't you wave the magic wand for me, would you?
25:40 We're going to wave the wand.
25:42 He went down into the hat. Did you see that?
25:47 He went down in the hat.
25:49 Now, Rebo, you've got to be very careful with the magic wand.
25:52 You know, if you don't know how to use that magic wand,
25:54 we'll tell him what will happen.
25:56 Do you know how to use it?
25:58 Well, you know what we're trying to do is make Tim disappear.
26:01 Turn the hat around quickly, one time.
26:04 All the way around. That's it.
26:07 All right. Now, let's see what happens.
26:10 Let's see if Tim disappears, okay?
26:12 Wait a minute.
26:21 What happened to Tim?
26:23 Look, he didn't disappear.
26:25 He turned into a rabbit.
26:27 Can you see this, Jeff?
26:31 This is your old buddy, Tim.
26:34 But he's a rabbit now.
26:37 Rebo, you made a terrible mistake.
26:40 You pointed at... You must have put the wrong end of the wand.
26:42 You put the end that makes the rabbit come out of the hat
26:44 instead of making people disappear.
26:46 Well, I'm awfully sorry, Jeff, but you can take Tim home with you
26:49 and you can show him to all the other fellas in the pack
26:52 and I'm sure he'll have a lot of fun.
26:54 He'll be able to jump higher than any other Cub Scout in the business, right?
26:57 Hi, Tim.
26:59 And now he'll be able to wiggle his ears.
27:01 He couldn't do that before, but...
27:03 Would you like to take him home?
27:05 Yeah?
27:06 I wonder what his mother would say if you walked up and said,
27:09 "Okay, here's Tim."
27:11 That wouldn't be so good, would it, Jeff?
27:14 No.
27:15 Well, look, maybe we better try and turn him back into a Cub Scout by magic.
27:19 All right? All right, good.
27:22 Let's turn the hat back up again so we can put Tim back in.
27:26 Tim, we're going to try to bring you back to a regular Cub Scout again, all right?
27:30 Okay, good. Here we go.
27:32 Down in the hat like this.
27:34 Rebo, this time I'm going to wave the magic wand.
27:38 I'm going to come back here and I'm going to wave the wand
27:41 and let's see what happens.
27:44 There's something under the cloth.
27:49 There it is. There's Tim.
27:51 [applause]
27:54 Now, you can even produce an automobile using the tip-over box principle.
27:59 On the second year of The Magic Land of Al-Khazam,
28:02 we made an automobile and Rebo the Clown vanish.
28:05 Now, vanish will be covered in a future lesson, but watch this.
28:10 [magical sound]
28:13 Come on, Rebo!
28:15 [music]
28:21 [car engine]
28:24 Now, be careful, Rebo!
28:30 Don't drive so fast!
28:32 [laughter]
28:35 Rebo, your car is beautiful. It's running very well.
28:38 [car engine]
28:40 What happened?
28:42 A little engine trouble?
28:49 [laughter]
28:52 [click]
28:56 [laughter]
29:01 [click]
29:02 [laughter]
29:05 I think that's all we've got to do this race.
29:09 Take the car and drive it into this little cage.
29:12 [click]
29:13 [click]
29:17 [click]
29:18 [click]
29:22 [car engine]
29:25 [car engine]
29:42 [car engine]
29:45 Thank you, Donnie.
29:50 Now, Rebo has driven the car into this small cage,
29:57 just large enough to contain the car.
30:00 And now I want you to watch because we're going to lift Rebo and the car high in the air.
30:06 Here you go, Rebo!
30:08 [car engine]
30:11 Now I want you to watch very closely because I'm going to count to three.
30:23 When I get to three, a very strange thing is going to happen.
30:27 Here we go.
30:29 All set?
30:32 One...
30:34 Two...
30:36 Three!
30:38 [car engine]
31:05 [applause]
31:08 Rebo vanished in the Rebo-mobile.
31:12 Now this is the garage where he keeps it.
31:14 We haven't been able to find him.
31:15 Let's see if he's driven it back to the garage.
31:18 I don't see it.
31:24 Let's put the garage back like it was before.
31:32 And now let's see if we can bring Rebo back.
31:36 Wait a minute, I think I hear something inside the garage.
31:39 It is! One, two, three, here he is!
31:44 [whistles]
31:46 [applause]
31:48 Rebo, you're back!
31:50 Watch out there!
31:57 Now let's look again and I'll explain everything about the tip-over box as we go through.
32:03 Okay, you'll notice the box is big enough to hold the car.
32:08 We tip the box over and then we open the front.
32:12 And because of that tip-over box principle, there's nothing inside.
32:16 We also had extensions of the driveway on the front and the back of the box to cover some of the bad angles.
32:23 We close the front, we tip the whole thing back, and then the car, which fortunately started, and I was worried about that,
32:31 came out with Rebo inside.
32:34 The giant tip-over box worked perfectly, and we were far enough upstage not to worry about the bad angles.
32:41 And which brings us to the main drawback to the tip-over box in its present form.
32:46 Sometimes it can have bad angles.
32:49 Unless the box is particularly wide or the audience is directly in front of you, those angles could be deadly.
32:56 Now, we'll explain how you can overcome bad angles with a revised tip-over box.
33:02 Look at this.
33:04 Now this is a clever principle created by Alan Wakeling, in which the tip-over box can be done anywhere, anytime.
33:13 And we'll use these two cardboard boxes to show you exactly how it works.
33:16 Now this is the tip-over box, but we've added an additional box to the outside.
33:22 So you have a big box, inside is a little bit smaller box, with the tip-over principle on the inside box.
33:29 So the outer box fits around the smaller box like this.
33:33 Now watch what happens.
33:35 Suppose I'm doing this on stage, and maybe somebody would come to me and say, "Oh, there's a delivery just arrived."
33:41 And I'd say, "Oh, let's open it and see what it is."
33:43 Now I open the top and the front of the outer box.
33:47 The audience can see the inner box.
33:49 "Wow, it's in two boxes. It must be valuable."
33:52 Let me look inside.
33:54 Now the inner box is tipped away from the outer box, and all can see that the inner box is empty.
34:01 But the bad angles of the tip-over box are covered from the sides by the larger box, as you see here.
34:09 Using Alan Winkling's principle for this double boxes affair here,
34:14 you eliminate all the bad angles of the trick, and it can even be performed surrounded if you wanted to.
34:20 Now you could even make this up as a giant box if you wished,
34:24 and produce a car as we did on the magic land at Valakazam, or whatever.
34:28 The tip-over box principle is one that you can use in many different ways.
34:33 It's a very effective illusion.
34:36 Now another inexpensive, very effective illusion that you can do is the mummy wrapping.
34:43 Let me show you how mummy wrapping looks to an audience. Watch.
34:48 [magical sound]
34:52 "We must hide him in the darkness. I know, we'll dis-drop him."
34:56 "Hide him? We'll do so shortly."
34:59 [laughter]
35:04 "Well, what are you hesitating for?"
35:06 "I don't know whether to wrap it east or north, or west or south."
35:09 "Oh, come along."
35:11 [magical sound]
35:14 "I think we should throw him to the poisonous snakes."
35:17 "Yes, certainly."
35:19 "Ah, indeed, my foot's been watching for hours."
35:22 "And now, little man, see what good your bark wills and does you."
35:26 "He's hollow!"
35:28 [applause]
35:31 "Your witch's broom doesn't work so well, E-Villow."
35:34 "There must be two, Mark Wilson."
35:36 "No, all of your magic is used up, E-Villow."
35:39 "This isn't Mark Wilson. This is Christopher Haringley."
35:44 [applause]
35:46 Now, mummy wrapping is a wonderful principle, and it's very easy to do.
35:50 And for the wrapping up the cloth, you can use whatever you happen to have on hand.
35:54 You can make a special cloth to match the show, you know, to fit in as you just saw.
35:59 Or you can even use a bedspread, if you like.
36:01 Just anything that's big enough to wrap a person in.
36:04 But to explain exactly how the trick works, just watch,
36:07 because here is a clip from the video course in magic, Volume 5.
36:12 Illusions. Spectacular magic tricks that involve someone in addition to the magician.
36:20 Grand illusions. And the one I'm going to show you is particularly grand
36:24 because it's very inexpensive.
36:27 But let me show you how it works.
36:29 Nanny Darnell. You must have a beautiful girl assistant in order to do illusions.
36:34 Right? Good. Okay.
36:36 Now, you're going to be wrapped up like a mummy.
36:39 We're going to show you how to wrap a mummy. Alright?
36:41 Good.
36:42 Okay. Here.
36:43 Want this cloth?
36:44 Thank you. Yes, we have some to wrap the mummy in.
36:46 Good. Alright.
36:48 Now just twist yourself around, Nanny, so that you're wrapped up in the cloth.
36:54 Okay. Now, that's the mummy.
37:00 Here's the magic.
37:01 One, two, three. Look.
37:03 It's not Nanny at all.
37:06 It's Greg Wilson.
37:07 Hello, Greg.
37:08 Hey, Dad.
37:09 Welcome to the show.
37:10 Thanks.
37:11 Hey, you know what happened?
37:12 We wrapped your mummy up in that cloth.
37:14 You don't have to do that, folks.
37:15 We wrapped your mummy up in the cloth, and it changed into you.
37:19 So all you need is a cloth, a magician, and two friends.
37:22 Yeah.
37:24 Alright. Here's exactly how you do this beautiful illusion.
37:28 Now, Nanny was here with the cloth, right?
37:31 Ah, but you didn't know this.
37:33 Behind this drape was Greg hiding, just so they can't see you. Okay?
37:38 Right.
37:39 You know, if you don't have a curtain or a wall to hide behind,
37:43 you can hide behind a table that has a cloth over it,
37:45 or anything that's just big enough to hide behind.
37:47 Okay.
37:48 Okay.
37:49 Good. Alright. So you're back there.
37:50 Now, Nanny and I held up the cloth like this,
37:56 and I overlapped the drape here with this part of the cloth.
38:02 Greg sneaks out from behind.
38:06 Alright. I'm holding it down low so you can see.
38:09 He takes over the end of the cloth from Nanny,
38:12 wraps himself like this, so forth.
38:16 Then I said, "Here's the magic."
38:19 And the drape fell away, the cloth, and there he was.
38:22 And he changed into Nanny.
38:24 Now, remember, you had to hold the cloth up high enough over here
38:27 so that the other person can sneak off into the wings,
38:30 or back behind that table.
38:31 Right.
38:32 And for a big spectacular finish, if you like,
38:35 the person, if you can do it, the person that went off on the side like this,
38:39 can run around and come in through the audience, like that,
38:43 for a big spectacular finish.
38:45 Yeah.
38:46 For the mummy wrapping.
38:47 Yeah. And one other thing, it's a big help if you put buttons in the corner of the fabric
38:51 so that you know where to hold on to.
38:53 That's what Mom always does for me.
38:55 Yeah. And me too.
38:57 Okay. Hope you like it.
39:01 As you see, that was with the help of our son, Greg Wilson.
39:06 Now, the mummy wrapping is a terrific trick,
39:09 and it has a great ending if you want it to.
39:11 Remember the effect, you wrap one person up,
39:14 when you unwrap it, it's somebody else.
39:16 Now, that first person can, if you want, run around the auditorium
39:20 and appear in the audience at the end of the effect,
39:23 which makes it very good.
39:25 Makes for a strong ending to the mummy wrapping.
39:30 Here is another basic magic trick.
39:32 This is often one of the first illusions owned by many magicians.
39:36 It certainly was the first we ever had.
39:39 We still have it, and here it is.
39:41 Nani and I bought the dollhouse from Fred Henschen,
39:45 who designed and built it.
39:47 We were living in Dallas at the time.
39:49 We drove up to Oklahoma, where Fred's shop was,
39:51 and made a deal for the illusion,
39:53 which cost us $100.
39:56 A lot of money in those days.
39:58 We brought the illusion back to Dallas.
40:00 Nani and I set it up in the living room of the apartment where we lived,
40:03 and we practiced it.
40:05 As you see, it all comes apart,
40:07 and almost everything goes together without the use of pin hinges,
40:10 except for a couple of places inside the main house.
40:14 We used the dollhouse on many, many shows.
40:17 And here it is.
40:19 We used it on the very first show of The Magic Land of Alan Kazam,
40:23 which debuted on CBS on October 1, 1960.
40:27 And here it is.
40:29 [applause]
40:32 Here's a couple of young ladies from our audience.
40:38 This is Carolyn. What's your name?
40:40 >>Cinda.
40:41 >>Cinda and Carolyn, we're going to show you now the enchanted dollhouse.
40:47 And inside there's some furniture.
40:50 Let's see. Here's a chair.
40:52 You may have that.
40:54 And here's a four-poster bed.
40:57 And let's see, downstairs, there's another chair.
40:59 You've got all the chairs.
41:01 And there's a table with a leaf in it.
41:04 And over here is another chair.
41:06 Let's see if there's anything in the backyard.
41:09 You suppose there might be something in the backyard?
41:11 Let's look and see. Let's turn it around.
41:14 I don't see anything there.
41:16 Turn it all around, girls.
41:18 Nothing in the front.
41:20 Turn it around a little more, and I'll take out the second floor.
41:25 Nothing there either.
41:26 Let's shut the doors.
41:28 Carolyn, Cinda, there was a lot of furniture in this house.
41:31 Let's turn it all around.
41:32 There was a lot of furniture in this house,
41:34 but do you remember the one thing that was missing from this dollhouse?
41:39 There was furniture and chairs.
41:41 What do you think was missing?
41:43 What?
41:44 A doll? That's right. Somebody said that's right.
41:46 There wasn't a doll in the dollhouse, was there?
41:48 Let's see. Wait a minute.
41:50 Would you clap your hands three times for me like this?
41:54 Very good. Let's see what happens.
41:56 There is a doll in the dollhouse.
42:00 Would you hold on to that for me a minute?
42:02 Cinda, good.
42:03 Let's see. Let's shut the doors again.
42:07 Let's revolve the house one more time.
42:09 I'll tell you what, this time, let's try it.
42:11 Would you clap a little louder this time?
42:13 Okay. Clap louder and we'll see what happens.
42:16 Turn around. Clap a little bit louder now.
42:20 Very good. Let's see what happens this time.
42:22 Hey, look.
42:24 Did you clap louder? There's a bigger doll.
42:27 Would you hold on to that for me a minute?
42:29 Very good. Let's see.
42:31 Let's shut the doors one more time and see what happens this time.
42:36 Let's turn it around and this time, instead of clapping our hands,
42:39 let's have everybody in the studio audience say the magic words.
42:43 Everybody say the magic word.
42:45 [Audience cheers]
42:48 Let's see what happens. One, two, three, up.
42:50 [Audience cheers]
42:52 There's a dollhouse.
42:54 [Audience cheers]
42:55 Now, here is how the dollhouse works.
43:01 When the front of the house is opened and you see in,
43:04 you see it looks entirely empty.
43:06 But what you see is the back wall of the house.
43:10 But it's not really the back wall.
43:12 That's really a double wall.
43:14 And the person who's going to appear is hiding back behind.
43:18 So that person has to be small usually and the area is quite small.
43:23 Just big enough to hold the person.
43:25 Now, before she appears, the back wall folds out of the way.
43:30 Like so.
43:32 And the floor folds up like that.
43:36 That means that there are no bad angles for the dollhouse.
43:42 It can be performed surrounded.
43:45 However, what you do need is a secret location off stage
43:50 to put the person in before she appears.
43:53 And that's before the house is rolled on stage.
43:57 [Audience applauds]
44:02 [Music]
44:12 [Audience cheers]
44:15 [Music]
44:19 Now, here's a routine with a new dollhouse
44:29 which was built by Johnny Gawne and used on the Magic Circus.
44:34 Now, as you see, we didn't even put legs on it.
44:37 It was carried by two assistants.
44:40 First, they showed it on all sides and Greg showed that it was empty.
44:45 [Music]
45:09 Greg then produces a fold-out picture
45:12 which is a child's version of a Playboy centerfold.
45:16 [Music]
45:38 Then he magically produces a girl to match the picture.
45:43 The young lady comes out of the dollhouse.
45:46 And for a clincher, Greg reaches into his pocket
45:51 and pulls out a giant lollipop which he gives to the girl.
45:55 [Audience laughs]
45:57 [Music]
46:00 Now, here's a complete dollhouse routine
46:05 which Mark and Greg did for The Magic of Mark Wilson.
46:09 Watch closely.
46:11 [Music]
46:14 Stand by for magic with the incomparable master of mystery, Mark Wilson.
46:19 [Music]
46:22 [Music]
46:27 [Music]
46:30 Now, Greg and I would like you to take a look at this house.
46:40 [Music]
46:43 Now, this is a nice little house, Greg, but it has one problem.
46:55 What?
46:57 It's empty.
46:59 And you see, an empty house is a sad house.
47:09 You know that?
47:11 So let's try some magic, okay?
47:13 Okay.
47:14 Help me turn it around.
47:15 Okay.
47:16 Now, why don't you make a magical gesture?
47:24 Okay.
47:26 Good. Let's see what happens.
47:29 Make the magical gesture. Here we go.
47:32 [Music]
47:35 Hmm.
47:38 To make a bigger magical gesture, you get bigger results.
47:42 [Applause]
47:44 [Music]
47:51 You know, Greg, those dolls were pretty, but I'm just sorry that they weren't real.
47:58 Let's see what happens if we both make a magical gesture, all right?
48:03 One, two, three.
48:05 Now.
48:07 [Applause]
48:10 Here we go, there.
48:13 That's what I call a happy house.
48:16 And as you see, the beautiful Nannie Darnell has appeared again.
48:20 There's a variation on the doll house called the Temple of Bonaires.
48:25 Now watch. This is a show that we shot back in Dallas.
48:28 [Music]
48:31 Many years ago, there lived a great sultan.
48:33 He had a beautiful daughter.
48:35 The sultan said that the daughter could not wed until first.
48:37 He had been fooled by a magic trick.
48:40 Many years went by. The daughter remained unwed.
48:42 And then one day, a prince came and performed a feat that completely baffled the sultan.
48:47 And that's the trick that we're going to perform for you right now.
48:51 But first, I want you to meet the beautiful princess.
48:54 [Music]
48:57 [Applause]
49:01 Now they like beautiful princesses. Down she goes into the temple.
49:05 We see the lovely Nannie Darnell getting into the temple.
49:11 Then many swords are inserted into the structure.
49:15 Watch this.
49:17 [Music]
49:21 [Music]
49:24 [Music]
49:40 [Music]
49:43 [Music]
49:54 [Music]
50:07 [Music]
50:10 Now you may wonder how can the young lady be inside the temple with swords going through in all directions.
50:26 Well, I'm going to let you in on the secret.
50:28 Now how did all that happen? Well, I'll tell you.
50:31 She has vanished.
50:33 [Laughter]
50:34 Disappeared.
50:35 [Music]
50:38 Now, ladies and gentlemen, watch.
50:53 [Music]
50:56 [Music]
50:59 Take the swords out and she reappears.
51:23 [Music]
51:26 Now here's how the Temple of Benares works.
51:29 It's very similar to the dollhouse.
51:31 When Nannie gets inside, before the front is open, but we're going to open the front to show you,
51:37 she pulls up that double wall, which is folded down there as you see, and puts that in front of her.
51:43 Now, the temple is designed so that when the swords go in,
51:48 they do not go into that double wall spot in back.
51:52 They all go into the front part of the Temple of Benares.
51:56 All the swords are in like so, and then I can open the front and show that Nannie has vanished.
52:04 Now, to make her reappear, the swords are all removed from the Temple of Benares.
52:11 And after that last sword is pulled out, she folds down the double wall in back,
52:18 but you don't see that because the door is shut when she does that.
52:21 But with those front doors shut, when the top opens, Nannie reappears all back in one piece.
52:27 And that is how the Temple of Benares works.
52:31 There's one more illusion that I know you'll enjoy.
52:34 And Rebo did it on the magic land of Alakazam.
52:37 [Music]
52:40 Hi, Rebo. What have you got there?
52:42 Oh, do it yourself TV set. You're going to make a TV set?
52:46 Within that fragile... Rebo, it's pretty hard to make a TV set.
52:51 TV set is a very complicated thing.
52:54 Oh, here's the cabinet.
52:59 Wonderful, Rebo. You've got the cabinet to start with, but you have to put a lot of things inside.
53:04 See, there's nothing in here. You have to put some parts in. You got the parts?
53:08 And, wonderful, Rebo, I've got to go.
53:13 I've got to go get ready for the show for the magic land of Alakazam.
53:17 And if you hurry and get the set built, maybe you can watch the magic land of Alakazam on this set.
53:23 [Music]
53:52 [Applause]
53:56 Now it's time for the magic land of Alakazam.
54:01 [Music]
54:05 Now here's how you can present this terrific illusion which you can make from two large corrugated boxes.
54:11 When Rebo, played by Bev Bergeron, beautifully as usual,
54:15 brings the boxes on from the camera right side of the picture as you're watching it, the boxes are empty.
54:21 Inside of the outer box, the shipping box, is the inner box, the television set.
54:27 Now you cannot see on the back of the television set because we have a large hole back there
54:33 that you'll see how that works in just a minute.
54:35 Rebo takes parts of the television set out, dumps them on the floor.
54:40 I make an excuse for going off stage and I run off, camera right,
54:46 in front of the television set and the shipping box.
54:49 But as soon as I get off, I get ready to come back on.
54:53 Now watch closely. Rebo takes a part of the television set out of the shipping box,
54:58 which he holds in front of him, blocking your view so you cannot see me come back across right there
55:06 and enter the television set. I am now inside of the television set.
55:10 The piece of the television set goes behind me.
55:13 I reach in my pocket and pull out a flashlight that I've been carrying all along
55:17 and I use that to make a light on the inside of the television set.
55:22 Rebo makes the adjustments. I break through the paper on the front for my appearance
55:26 just in time for the show. And you can do the same thing if you want.
55:31 I see our time is about up, so we'll say goodbye as we did on The Magic Land of Alakazam.
55:38 The Magic Land of Alakazam, starring Marge Wilson, has been brought to you by Kellogg's,
55:46 the best to you each morning.
55:49 K-E-L-L-O-O-Double Good Kellogg's, best to you.
55:57 Oh, Alakazillabeebee. Alakazillabeeboo.
56:02 The Magic Land of Alakazam, where wishes all come true.
56:06 Alakazillabeebee. Alakazillabeeboo.
56:10 The Magic Land of Alakazam is fun for everyone.
56:14 You'll ask your everyone to make your E and your R.
56:18 A welcome in the magic land along with your loved one.
56:22 Oh, Alakazillabeebee. Alakazillabeeboo.
56:26 We'll give you wings and wings and hope you Alakazam you know.
56:30 Alaka, Alaka, Alakazam. Alaka, Alaka, Alakazam.
56:34 The Magic Land of Alakazam.
56:38 Goodbye and happy magic.
56:44 [wind]
56:54 [wind]
56:59 [wind]
57:09 [wind]
57:19 [wind]
57:29 [wind]
57:39 [wind]