Pages from fifteen minutes with a piece of rope

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MINUTES WITH A

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FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH A PIECE OF ROPE That the following effects properly presented will create a sensation in any audience, is a fact well known by the author, and all you need to do to convince yourself of the truthfulness of this statement is to master the various moves and give it a tryout. The acid test of actual performance before hundreds of audiences has already been applied, hence this is nothing of an experimental nature.

The various effects are not claimed to be original in every respect, but originality is claimed for the ROUTINE. Practically every move will have some little different "twist" to it and refinements will be seen cropping out everywhere. To give proper credit for the evolution of these various effects would be extremely difficult. Gladly would I do so if I knew just where the credit belongs. Time after time I have worked out what I thought to be some new rope move, and later have been reminded by some magician; "That is one of Doc Irvin's moves" or again "Is that U. F. Grant's?" Every rope artist has his own method of producing rope effects, and many fundamentals come from the most excellent treatise, "THE TARBELL COURSE OF MAGIC." I am only mentioning these facts that the reader may see how difficult it would be to present a series of Rope Tricks which would be entirely new in every aspect. Such a thing would be next to an impossibility.

At any rate, here goes! And this is in response to scores of requests for just such a work. These various effects are not just written to fill up space, but have been gleaned, as it were, and tested, and every one of them can be depended upon to give satisfaction, if properly mastered and presented. The many refinements that appear here and there should alone, be worth the price of this booklet to the rope worker.

With this booklet comes a most wonderful "hank" of imported rope.* I hope to be able to supply you with this same quality rope from time to time as you need further supplies of it. I feel sure you will be "sold" on this rope after using it for a time. It is larger in size *The imported rope comes with the higher priced outfits, while American made rope comes with the cheaper outfits.

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than the rope usually used, and soft and fine to work with. From this hank two pieces of rope have been cut and prepared as samples showing you how to prepare other similar pieces from time to time as you prepare for future programs.

You will note that these two pieces of rope have the ends (?) tied together, and make sure you do not untie these knots for they can be used for comparison as you will be taught how to tie similar ones.

When you start this routine, you will always have two such pieces of rope on your table, or across a chair back. One of these you will also note is longer than the other. The short piece is about 4y2 feet in length and is unprepared in every respect.

The longer piece should measure about &,feet, and is prepared in the following manner. The two ends are sewed together with a needle and piece of white thread, thus forming an endless loop. There are different methods of sewing these ends together. One way is to take a sharp pair of heavy scissors (Harry Cecil variety) and starting about an inch from each end, just cut diagonally a piece from the rope so that the end will be tapered.

Each end prepared this way, and then these two ends placed together so the tapering ends overlap, and with needle and thread, a few stitches right through both ends will make a substantial joint, and one which can not be noticed at close range unless especial attention is called to it.

Of course another way to obtain the same results, is to use one of the liquid rope cement preparations now on the market for splicing rope together for tricks of this nature. This can be supplied by Max Holden, The Thayer Magic Co., Percy Abbott, and likely from other dealers. A small bottle will prepare many ropes and instructions accompany the cement. Liquid Latex can also be used for this purpose. As no strain is put on this joint, it does not need be particularly strong. Some even use adhesive tape, while others have used the new Scotch Cellulose Tape for binding these ends together and then have applied a little whiting to the surface of it to remove the gloss from the tape. If you use the Cellulose Tape, you will not need taper the ends of the rope, but just overlap the same about one inch and with about 6 inches of the tape, you can bind these two overlapping ends down so that they will only appear as having one thickness. Probably the Rope Cement offers the best possibilities, in as much as it is the most convenient method of preparing the rope.

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