![]() Gravity, without doubt is the first natural law or force of nature we become aware of… often with painful lessons. The magician then secures the bill between his fingers, unfolds it and hands it back to the spectator. ![]() The magician now gracefully waves both hands around the ball floating in mid air. The magician waves his other hand over and under the floating ball to show nothing is attached to it. The paper ball, lying upon the magician’s open palm, begins to rise up out of his hand. The magician lays the bill upon his empty hands and gently crumbles it into a ball. In the floating bill trick, paper currency is borrowed from the audience. The Miser’s Dream earns its place in the three greatest magic tricks because it appeals to this basic human dream, the ability to produce money out of nowhere! The question does, however, reveal something valuable about how the audience’s mind thinks if you really could do magic wouldn’t you just magically make money appear? So when the magician plucked a silver dollar out of the air it was big money! That ability would truly be the dream of any member of the audience!Īs a magician I am often asked, “Can you turn a $1 into a $100?” That is one of those common, silly questions spectators like to ask magicians. Nelson Downs performed his Miser’s Dream on the Vaudeville stage the purchasing power of a silver dollar was approximately $30. Today the value of a dollar coin has diminished greatly. This was a very popular trick in the 19th and early 20th century. For a finale the magician may produce a shower of coins from both hands. The coins are seen and heard dropping into the hat or bucket. Often he will walk into the audience and pull coins off people’s clothing. This occurs as many times as the magician wishes. He then proceeds to pluck silver dollars out of thin air and drops them into a top hat or a wine bucket. In the Miser’s Dream trick the magician shows his hands empty, his sleeves are rolled back. ![]() Producing money from nowhere (The Misers Dream) It is this affect on the emotions that creates the powerful impact of magical effect.ģ. Often times this magical effect appeals to a basic human desire or need. A single trick usually has many different methods that create that one effect. For example, in a trick where a coin disappears from the magician’s hand the effect is a vanish. In magic the effect is what the trick is all about. The question was: What are the three greatest tricks in magic? I will, at the same time, take into consideration the three greatest effects in magic. It’s an intriguing question and I will say a tricky one to answer as well □ sorry about the pun! After 50+ years of professional magic experience my hope here is to submit a response that is both informative and interesting to all readers not just magicians. That was the question posted by a magic acquaintance of mine. What are the three greatest tricks in magic?
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