Fri Jun 4 1999

Vanishing Teeth

Hello, and welcome to 'The Magic of Everyday Illusions'. Today we'll be examining the phenomenon of vanishing teeth. Perhaps you've seen this trick performed by a travelling gypsy, a professional magician or the local barman. No matter what the setting, you've most certainly been stunned and amazed by this feat of conjuring.

As it is commonly performed, this trick involves the magician and an accomplice, whom we shall call Trevor. As the audience sees it, the magician first displays Trevor's brilliant white smile, places him in an empty wooden box, circles the box whilst waving his magic wand, then opens the box to reveal a beautific Trevor with no teeth. Magic? think again.

Let's take a sneak peek behind the scenes to see how this trick is done.

The magician allows Trevor to smile, which is all well and good, and the audience applauds wildly. Trevor is then restrained and guided into the wooden box. The magician takes his magic wand in hand and walks around the box, chanting incantations -- but this is all for show. What the audience don't see is that when the magician is behind the box, he opens a secret door, smacks Trevor in the jaw with a lump of brick (which he had previously placed up his sleeve), and then continues to the front of the box. At this point he opens the the box and a grinning, toothless Trevor waves to the audience.

This feat of modern magic calls for cunning, speed and practiced skill. Although the demand on the accomplice is quite high, the reward of a mystified audience is well worth the high turnover of dedicated, cooperative assistants.