This is a true story and I thought you might enjoy hearing it. This is what really happened.

An old friend of mine was doing a magic show in a theater where they did not have a closed curtain, only a dimly lit opened stage. During the intermission two of his assistants carried out onto the stage a table for the second half of the show.

This table had a vanishing table lamp built into it and as soon as they set the table down on the stage it trip the gimmick and the lamp vanished. The assistants were stunned as a few people in the audience began to applaud.

They carried the table off stage, reset the lamp and once again carried the table out on the stage. Again as soon as they set it down the lamp vanished. This time over half of the audience applauded as the table was carried off stage one more time.

The third time the table was set in it's place on stage the lamp did not vanished much to the relief of the assistants. Of course they laughed and took a quick bow when the whole audience began to applaud.

Nothing was said to the magician who performed the trick flawlessly during the second half of the show. But after the show he commented to his assistants, "I wonder why I did not the normal response from the audience when I performed the vanishing table lamp?"

His assistants shook their heads as one of them said, "Maybe they had already seen the trick?"

Nothing more was said.


Steve Hart

So did you ever tell the magician what happened?


Lyndel

I think you've stumble onto something...let the assistants and stage help in on some of the fun and even make setting the stage part of the act.