Okay, I admit it. This one, well it is just weird. I sincerely hope that each and every one of you goes out and tests drives this piece of pretzel prestidigitation at least once. After that, you may go back to your regularly scheduled Four Ace Routines. Deal?
Effect:
The magician uses his mind to visibly take a bite out of a pretzel stick.
Needed:
A bag of pretzel sticks. When choosing the correct pretzels, the thicker, the better. I have found that the ideal brand to use is Snyder’s Of Hanover Dipping Sticks Pretzels. Each pretzel is about 3 inches in length and is about twice the thickness of your usual run-of-the-mill pretzel sticks. Feel free to do a field test of your own to find the appropriate pretzel that you personally need.
Preparation:
None
Performance:
Reach into the bag with your left hand and cigarette palm a pretzel, while at the same time, grabbing a second one and holding it in your left hand fingertips (fig. 1).
Explain that there are “Three ways to eat a pretzel. A lit- tle bit at once…” as you transfer the exposed pretzel to your right hand and take a bite out of the middle of it. Hold it up horizontally, so that the spectator can see the bite mark clearly (fig 2).
Allow the pretzel to settle onto your outstretched right hand, in position to be held in cigarette…I mean pretzel palm. Perform a shuttle pass with the right hand pret- zel, switching it in for the one being palmed in the left hand. This is executed by holding the right hand pretzel
in place with your right thumb as you turn it over, pre- tending to dump it into your left hand. Your left hand raises its pretzel up so that it is now eye level. Keep the majority of this switched in pretzel concealed behind your left fingers, so that only the tip of it is visible. It is important that the audience does not see that there is no longer a bite mark on it.
Continue on explaining that “the second way to eat a pretzel is all at once…” as you shove the entire left hand pretzel into your mouth and chew it up. The bitten pret- zel is now concealed in right hand finger palm.
Reach into the bag with your right hand and pretend to take out another pretzel, but really just bring out the concealed, bitten pretzel. Hold it in your right hand, between your right thumb and forefinger. Your thumb should be uppermost and the bite mark should be fac- ing the ground (fig. 3).
Fig.1
Fig.2
Throwing SHADE
By Jonathan Friedman
The Self-Eating Pretzel Stick
Okay, I admit it. This one, well it is just weird. I sincerely hope that each and every one of you goes out and tests drives this piece of pretzel prestidigitation at least once. After that, you may go back to your regularly scheduled Four Ace Routines. Deal?
Effect:
The magician uses his mind to visibly take a bite out of a pretzel stick.
Needed:
A bag of pretzel sticks. When choosing the correct pretzels, the thicker, the better. I have found that the ideal brand to use is Snyder’s Of Hanover Dipping Sticks Pretzels. Each pretzel is about 3 inches in length and is about twice the thickness of your usual run-of-the-mill pretzel sticks. Feel free to do a field test of your own to find the appropriate pretzel that you personally need.
Preparation:
None
Performance:
Reach into the bag with your left hand and cigarette palm a pretzel, while at the same time, grabbing a second one and holding it in your left hand fingertips (fig. 1).
Explain that there are “Three ways to eat a pretzel. A lit- tle bit at once…” as you transfer the exposed pretzel to your right hand and take a bite out of the middle of it. Hold it up horizontally, so that the spectator can see the bite mark clearly (fig 2).
Allow the pretzel to settle onto your outstretched right hand, in position to be held in cigarette…I mean pretzel palm. Perform a shuttle pass with the right hand pret- zel, switching it in for the one being palmed in the left hand. This is executed by holding the right hand pretzel
in place with your right thumb as you turn it over, pre- tending to dump it into your left hand. Your left hand raises its pretzel up so that it is now eye level. Keep the majority of this switched in pretzel concealed behind your left fingers, so that only the tip of it is visible. It is important that the audience does not see that there is no longer a bite mark on it.
Continue on explaining that “the second way to eat a pretzel is all at once…” as you shove the entire left hand pretzel into your mouth and chew it up. The bitten pret- zel is now concealed in right hand finger palm.
Reach into the bag with your right hand and pretend to take out another pretzel, but really just bring out the concealed, bitten pretzel. Hold it in your right hand, between your right thumb and forefinger. Your thumb should be uppermost and the bite mark should be fac- ing the ground (fig. 3).
Fig.1
Fig.2
Casually, display both sides of this pretzel by utilizing the ever-popular paddle move. For those few out there that are unfamiliar with this golden nugget of a move, it is performed as follows: As you turn your right hand palm down, roll the pretzel a half revolution to the right. This will allow you to show the same non-bitten side of the pretzel as both sides, essentially hiding the bite mark from view. The larger movement of turning the hand palm down conceals the small rolling of the pretzel. It is imperative that you do not over abuse this move. One or two displays are quite enough.
Explain to your ever-growing hungry audience “ and since so much of what we consider to be delicious hap- pens in the mind…not the mouth, the third way to take a bite out of the pretzel is by using nothing more than your carb-starving brain”.
To make this happen, snap your left fingers, while at the same time, allowing your right fingers to roll the bite mark into view. This audible snap does quite a lot to cover this rolling of the bite mark into view. You can further simulate the sound of a bitten pretzel with your mouth. It takes very little lip movement to get a good “biting” sound. Hold it in between the right fingertips and thumb, so that the bite mark is visible from above (fig. 4). Resist the urge to hold the bitten pretzel at eye level, as you did before. That might just remind the spectator that this is the same one that they saw a mo- ment earlier.
Once you have made your magical point, shove that pretzel into your mouth, grab yourself a drink, and plot your next great move.
Well, that is it. I know some of you are saying “Why not just place a duplicate bitten pretzel in the bag and just take that one out instead of the shuttle pass business? Well, I admit that is fine if you have the opportunity to set up in advance. Learn it this way and you can really do this anytime you see an appropriate bag of pretzels. And yes, you can use baby carrots, stale French fries, and a host of other edible stick-like foods. Use your imagination and bite away.
V
Casually, display both sides of this pretzel by utilizing the ever-popular paddle move. For those few out there that are unfamiliar with this golden nugget of a move, it is performed as follows: As you turn your right hand palm down, roll the pretzel a half revolution to the right. This will allow you to show the same non-bitten side of the pretzel as both sides, essentially hiding the bite mark from view. The larger movement of turning the hand palm down conceals the small rolling of the pretzel. It is imperative that you do not over abuse this move. One or two displays are quite enough.
Explain to your ever-growing hungry audience “ and since so much of what we consider to be delicious hap- pens in the mind…not the mouth, the third way to take a bite out of the pretzel is by using nothing more than your carb-starving brain”.
To make this happen, snap your left fingers, while at the same time, allowing your right fingers to roll the bite mark into view. This audible snap does quite a lot to cover this rolling of the bite mark into view. You can further simulate the sound of a bitten pretzel with your mouth. It takes very little lip movement to get a good “biting” sound. Hold it in between the right fingertips and thumb, so that the bite mark is visible from above (fig. 4). Resist the urge to hold the bitten pretzel at eye level, as you did before. That might just remind the spectator that this is the same one that they saw a mo- ment earlier.
Once you have made your magical point, shove that pretzel into your mouth, grab yourself a drink, and plot your next great move.
Well, that is it. I know some of you are saying “Why not just place a duplicate bitten pretzel in the bag and just take that one out instead of the shuttle pass business? Well, I admit that is fine if you have the opportunity to set up in advance. Learn it this way and you can really do this anytime you see an appropriate bag of pretzels. And yes, you can use baby carrots, stale French fries, and a host of other edible stick-like foods. Use your imagination and bite away.