"Too Perfect" Revisited with Faucett Ross
Posted: February 17th, 2002, 4:39 pm
While looking through the Faucett Ross book tonight, I ran across this good story from the chapter "Faucett Ross Remembers", pp 160 - 161:
STILL TOO GOOD
I remember doing a show in a rural High School some years ago and one of the tricks I featured was the familiar 'Coin in the Ball of Wool'...
On this particular occasion, I asked for the loan of a half-dollar. A gent volunteered, so I asked him to mark his half dollar with his pen knife, look at the date on it, etc., so he would be sure to know it again.
I wrapped the coin in a handerchief, asked him to hold it, then caused it to vanish...
I asked him to unravel the ball of wool, at which time I walked away from him.
So he unravelled the ball of wool and on the inside found two nested little nickel-plated boxes. The innermost one was locked and I handed him a key so that he could unlock it himself.
I said, "Will you look inside the box, Sir?...Do you find a half dollar in the box?" He said, "I do."
"I want you to look at that half dollar carefully, then tell the audience if it is the same half dollar that you lent me."
Well, he removed the coin from the box, looked at it very carefully and said, "I'm sorry, brother, but it's not the same half."
I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, there was a half dollar in the box but it's not the same one I lent you." [As much as I tried, he would not admit it was the same coin.]
[After the show, I asked him why he said that.]
He looked at me and said, "Look, I'm not going to argue with you but I know positively that it wasn't the one I lent you. My commonsense tells me that you do not have supernatural powers and are not a miracle man...that half dollar vanished out of the handkerchief - you walked completely away. I unravelled the ball of wool with my own hands - you weren't even close. I picked up the boxes, unlocked the inside box with my own hands. You had no opportunity of doing any sleight of hand and, brother, it would take a miracle to have my coin inside that box! My commonsense and logic tell me it couldn't be the same coin, so I could not conscientiously admit that it was. Furthermore, I won't argue about it!" And he walked away.
That was the end of that!
I remember an old timer once told me, "Never make tricks look too marvellous." Well, if that experience meant anything, the old timer must have been right!
[Steve H]
STILL TOO GOOD
I remember doing a show in a rural High School some years ago and one of the tricks I featured was the familiar 'Coin in the Ball of Wool'...
On this particular occasion, I asked for the loan of a half-dollar. A gent volunteered, so I asked him to mark his half dollar with his pen knife, look at the date on it, etc., so he would be sure to know it again.
I wrapped the coin in a handerchief, asked him to hold it, then caused it to vanish...
I asked him to unravel the ball of wool, at which time I walked away from him.
So he unravelled the ball of wool and on the inside found two nested little nickel-plated boxes. The innermost one was locked and I handed him a key so that he could unlock it himself.
I said, "Will you look inside the box, Sir?...Do you find a half dollar in the box?" He said, "I do."
"I want you to look at that half dollar carefully, then tell the audience if it is the same half dollar that you lent me."
Well, he removed the coin from the box, looked at it very carefully and said, "I'm sorry, brother, but it's not the same half."
I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, there was a half dollar in the box but it's not the same one I lent you." [As much as I tried, he would not admit it was the same coin.]
[After the show, I asked him why he said that.]
He looked at me and said, "Look, I'm not going to argue with you but I know positively that it wasn't the one I lent you. My commonsense tells me that you do not have supernatural powers and are not a miracle man...that half dollar vanished out of the handkerchief - you walked completely away. I unravelled the ball of wool with my own hands - you weren't even close. I picked up the boxes, unlocked the inside box with my own hands. You had no opportunity of doing any sleight of hand and, brother, it would take a miracle to have my coin inside that box! My commonsense and logic tell me it couldn't be the same coin, so I could not conscientiously admit that it was. Furthermore, I won't argue about it!" And he walked away.
That was the end of that!
I remember an old timer once told me, "Never make tricks look too marvellous." Well, if that experience meant anything, the old timer must have been right!
[Steve H]