A Rabbit Vanish
That is Also a Production
by David Ginn
SUMMER of 2012 I spent 28 days in July at home on purpose. I did no lectures
and attended no magic conventions and contained my performances to five library
shows. Why? My answer is simple: I decided to START finishing the big magic book
I started in 2005—the one about children and magic with animals.
Not just live animals like doves and rabbits, but also stories and pictures of animals,
animal toys, stuffed animals, spring snakes and puppets. There is a big chapter of dove
magic in the book and a bigger chapter of magic with live rabbits, plus all kinds of
advice on using them.
So let me share with you one of my favorite live rabbit tricks that I haven’t used in
a while. I shot the photos you’ll see in September 2012, the day I wrote this article.
What is this trick? It’s called—
The Rabbit Wringer
YES, here’s a magic trick that is both a vanish and a production, if you want to
work it that way. The Rabbit Wringer, models made by several dealers, allows you to
place a live rabbit in a box and using a crank, run him out the front of the box as A
FLAT RABBIT!
Figure 1 shows my rabbit Harry sitting atop
the trick. It is a mirror box with a wringer made
into the removable front door. This wringer is
the type used in old time washing machines to
“wring” the water out of clothing before you
hung it to dry.
Many magicians do the trick of changing a
live rabbit to the flat one, then take the flat cloth
Figure 1
rabbit, put it inside another rabbit production, and cause the rabbit (a second one,
actually) to reappear.
In my case, I used this for a year in my “Magic of Hawaii” show to return the rabbit
to his original self. Here’s how it went:
I announced to the audience kids near the end of the show that my rabbit Harry
had gotten dirty back stage. “He has sand and dirt all over him. I guess I’ll just have
to stop and WASH MY HARE!” I said that loudly, those three words, and clapped
my hands to the sides of my face like McCauley Culken in Home Alone. You either
understand this, or you haven’t seen the movie!
“Don’t worry,” I told them, “I have my new electric washing machine right here!”
I turned on the music, then brought out live rabbit Harry, made him dance around
as I like to do because the kids love it. Then I sat him atop the box as in Figure 1. I
encouraged the children to clap their hands to the music, then picked up the rabbit
and did my hypnosis trick with him (more laughs from the kids). Next I lived the lid
of the box and put him inside.
Now I joined the kids encouraging them to clap
their hands more. While they did this, I started turning the crank on the side of the box—and out came
the flat rabbit as in Figure 2.
Figure 2
I pulled the flat rabbit out and held it up for the
kids to see, music still playing. I acted shocked. What
to do? I put the flat rabbit down on the table, and immediately unlatched the front door of the box, then
removed it to show the box empty.
See Figure 3.
Due to the slanted mirror, the box appeared empty. The truth is that Harry was sitting quite comfortably in the back of the box behind the mirror,
quiet in the dark. He’s used to doing this, of course.
But to make sure he doesn’t decide to pop out prematurely, I always put the box front flat down on
top of the box.
I stopped the music.
Figure 3
“Oh, no—look at Harry now!” I held up the flat cloth rabbit.
IMPORTANT: Never did I gesture to the box or stay anything to the effect
that the box is empty. They could see that the box was empty. You don’t have to do
overkill by reminding them. It is visibly EMPTY. Instead, I put all the attention on
the flat rabbit.
“Harry, you look deflated! You look rundown! What am I going to do with a FLAT
RABBIT? How can I fix him and get him back to his old self ?”
Then I pretended to hear kids telling me things:
“What? Put him back inside? Well, I guess I could put the front back on the box,
like this.” I did that, then picked up the flat rabbit and inserted his ears in the rollers,
like Figure 3. “And what did you say? ROLL HIM BACKWARDS? You mean back
into the box? Okay, let’s give it a try, and I’m sure it will work better with the music!”
Back on with the music, encouraging the kids to clap hands again. Then I stepped
behind the box and turned the crank handle BACKWARDS, rolling the flat rabbit
back into the box and out of sight, where I left it until
the next performance.
Figure 4
I waved my hands magically over the box three
times, PAUSED for effect, then opened the top door
as in Figure 4, and pulled Harry the Rabbit out into
sight again. Of course, the kids went wild in applause
upon seeing the bunny return. I closed the top lid, sat
Harry back on the box, and turned off the music.
“Well, there he is—Harry the Magic Rabbit, and he’s all clean and back to his old
self. And do you know what? If Harry could talk, he’d say you boys and girls were a
great audience today, and before we go you should stop and give yourselves a great,
big round of applause!”
And they did.
As many of my regular readers know, I no longer vanish a rabbit or dove in
a children’s show without bringing it back. More often, I close the show with the
appearance of a live rabbit.
In the original “Magic of Hawaii” show, I used Supreme’s Rainbow House to
produce the rabbit very early in the show, then closed with the Rabbit Wringer. This
allowed me to use the bunny twice in different tricks,
but making him reappear was easy and logical.
And I’ll admit one last thing: I made my day to
wake up and realize that in two or three shows that
day I’d get to speak one of my favorite lines to the
kids:
“I’m going to have to stop this show and WASH
MY HARE!”
Hey, I loved it, and so did the children.
Magic of Hawaii
David Ginn, September 2012
Harry the Magic Rabbit