The Magic Vanishing Birdcage

The Magic Vanishing Birdcage

The famous vanishing birdcage magic trick is well known for its visually stunning effect. A magician holds a solid birdcage between his palms and shows it to the audience. People are allowed to touch the cage and prove that it is real. But then they are reminded to pay close attention to the cage and do not blink because it happens in a split second. The magician counts one, two and three! The cage is vanished in front of people's naked eyes without a trace. Magician Clarence Slyter was known for making this amazing trick even better in terms of the handling.
Slyter uses the arm pull. But he has a spring heavy reel attached to the strap on his left wrist. Before he is ready for the vanish the cord is sufficiently long to be easily attached to the cage. When the cage is in his hands he spreads his arms sufficiently to release the catch on the reel. This takes up the excess cord until it is sufficiently short to make the vanish in the usual way. A catch on the cord itself, entering the reel, prevents the cord from being pulled out under the force of the vanish. There are reels made which have sufficient strength to pull the cage into the sleeve or beneath the clothing when released.
For objects smaller and lighter than a cage, a props commonly used by magicians is an elastic pull. One popular model is called the 'Raven'. In fact, David Blaine used it to vanish a coin on the back of the audience's hand. The secret of it is an elastic cord fixed inside his jacket with another end attached to a magnet. At the beginning of the trick, David Blaine holds the magnet in his right hand secretly with a small fish string. A coin is placed on the back of the audience's hand. As David Blaine's hand is waved over the coin, the magnet attracted the coin and at the same time he releases the string so that the coin and the magnet fly back inside his jacket. His both hands can then be shown empty and the coin vanished into thin air.
A variation of the cord pull has been used for The Chimney Vanish. The handkerchief is hooked into a loop of catgut, as it is stuffed into the cylinder. The cylinder is held between the palms. The handkerchief is plainly visible through the glass. One moment it is there. The next, it is gone.
Many pulls were invented to vanish objects. In this trick, a so-called Flash Pull is used. The pull is a mechanical device powered by a strong spring. A retraction reel is used to retract some loops of string. The string can be pulled out from the reel and is automatically retracted upon release. Usually a button is also built in to hold the string at a certain length. And when needed the button is pushed and the handkerchief attached would fly back to the reel, which is usually hidden inside the sleeve.
This pull principle is used in many other tricks besides the vanishing birdcage. For most of the time, special props constructed in disguise of some ordinary objects. These are used according to the need of the theme of the trick. I have seen lamps, dolls, umbrellas and other large objects vanished with this technique. Usually they are made collapsible.