I used to perform with this prop. It was a torn and restored gimmick. It had little red and white squares and restored into one piece. It looked like one of those red and white table cloths in an Italian restaurant. This is my routine.



The Little Red and White Tablecloth
A Professional Routine For Motivational, School and Library Programs

Copyright 2000 - 2009 John Cesta


Now, let me tell you a story. It's called, "The Little Red and White Tablecloth."


Introduction ...

[ACTION: pick up the prop and casually display the red and white pieces]

It's a story about perseverance, focus and goals. It's about a family in Italy. They owned a tiny little tablecloth factory, making tablecloths over 500 years.

While they worked very hard they had no focus, no goals, dreams; nothing to work toward, so they never made anything real special. They were a little disappointed about that.

The idea ...

One day they decided to create a table cloth that would be forever unique and memorable. One that would be seen on every table in every restaurant.

This became their goal.

Now they could focus.

Color was first.

They looked for the best possible colors. Colors that were familiar and colors that everyone would recognize. After much debate they settled on simple Red and White. The color experts said that the color red would CERTAINLY attract attention.


Next was the design.

They looked at triangles and circles but decided those shapes were too complex and to difficult to sew together. How about a simple rectangle ... they all agreed. They cut each rectangle to the exact shape it needed to be. This was a very difficult process but they never gave up. They persevered.

Finally they created hundreds of red rectangles and an equal number of white rectangles. They discovered a way to connect them together so every other one was a different color and the tablecloth was an exact rectangular shape.

Ending ...

All of us, by the way, just like the tablecloth, are unique and memorable. We all have unique sizes, shapes, personalities, dreams and goals. When we combine them all together, like the tablecloth, we become complete and a special gift to the world.

[ACTION: Pause …]

Oh, by the way, this is what the tablecloth looked like.

[ACTION: Open it up and reveal the restored tablecloth]


I thank you for being part of The [name your show here] Show today. Don't forget to get your library card and please give a special thank you to the folks here at the library for allowing us to have a lot of fun today!

THE END

NOTES

Recently I have added books to my reading show. In this routine I have an Origami book and a book called Story Sparkers.

In the beginning I say,

I’ve had these red and white papers hanging around my house for ever. I knew I wanted to create a magic trick with them but I never knew what.

One day, while I was in the library, I found this book about Origami. Origami is an ancient Japanese art of paper folding. It’s really amazing what you can make with paper.

By learning a little Origami I turned these pieces of paper into a trick.

But you can’t perform magic without a story. So, I went back to the library and found this book called “Story Sparkers.” It’s all about creative ideas on how to create and tell stories. With the help of this book I created a story called, “The Little Red and White Tablecloth.”

Here it is …