The Beatles Frolics

by Jim Kleefeld

This routine was designed especially for children’s magic shows with a music theme,
making it perfect for 2018 “Libraries Rock” shows. It basically follows the Farmyard
Frolics plot created by Edwin Hooper of Supreme Magic.
You show a folder with the Beatles logo. You remove four cards and set the folder
aside.
Next you show the cards, each depicting a Beatle standing still, while you name them
for the audience. After you show the last Beatle, Ringo, you turn his card around, show
it and ask for that Beatle to be named. You now turn over the card and the audience
discovers that Ringo has vanished from the face of the card.
You offer to make Ringo reappear and set the Beatles cards aside and show the folder
again. This time when you open it, the audience sees a full street scene with three of the
Beatles walking across Abbey Road in the manner of the iconic album cover. But where
is Ringo?
Suddenly Ringo appears, popping up from behind the scene. You place him onto
Abbey Road with the other three figures and have the kids applaud the Fab Four
musical heroes.
Props
You will need to make a simple folder, five double-sided Beatles cards and a Cut-Out
Ringo. The art for all parts of the trick are included here. The construction is very
simple. All you are going to do is print the images, glue them to cardboard and add a
little tape. Just follow along step by step. Note: At close inspection, the images are
slightly pixellated because I had to render them at lower resolution, otherwise the files
would be too large to send to you over email. But they read fine from a couple of feet
away and will work well with any seated audience.

Printing Supplies
You will need to print all of the images from this file onto heavy paper or card stock.
You will also need some plain cardboard. Regular card stock is too thin and brown
corrugated cardboard is too thick. What works best is Magazine Size Comic Book
Backing Boards, like these:
https://www.amazon.com/BCW-BBMAG-Magazine-Backing-Boards-White/dp/
B002JQY0NG/ref=sr_1_1?
ie=UTF8&qid=1524177998&sr=8-1&keywords=magazine+comic+boards
Magazine Size boards are 8.5x11, the same size as common printer paper.
I also recommend you glue the parts together using a thick glue stick or better yet,
3M 77 Spray Adhesive like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Super-Multipurpose-Spray-Adhesive-AB-530-4-77/dp/
B0131SZ660/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1524178127&sr=8-5&keywords=3m+77

Beatles Cards
You need five cards with Beatles figures on them, set up as shown in the illustration
below. I strongly suggest you print these on regular letter-size card stock, available at
any office supply store. Card stock is much easier to glue and handle than floppy paper
sheets, plus it adds weight and thickness to the end product.
Print 4 Beatles figures. Print a duplicate Paul figure. Print the Vanished Ringo picture.
Print four Card Backs.

 Next glue the four card fronts (the top row above) to cardboard. Turn the four cards
over and glue the Card Backs to the other side of the cardboard. Be sure to glue the
duplicate Paul to the back of Ringo and the fourth Card Back to the back of the
Vanished Ringo card.
After you finish gluing the 10 card stock sheets to cardboard to make the five cards,
cut out each card along the thin black line. Your finished cards will be 6x9 inches.
Discard the scraps from around the edges.

Cut-Out Ringo
This is a flat cardboard piece showing Ringo walking in stride (as he
does across Abbey Road). Print this on card stock and glue it to
cardboard. Then cut it out along the thin black line. It slips inside the
pocket on the rear of the folder. Glue a small piece of sandpaper on the
back of this card so you can grip it to push it up easily.

Abbey Road Folder

The inside of the folder is designed to show Abbey Road as it is photographed on the
Beatles iconic album cover. The outside shows a smaller version with no figures and a
Beatles Logo.

Folder outside Folder Inside

To make the folder, first hinge two pieces

of cardboard together with wide clear
packing tape. Again, this works well if you
use Magazine Size Comic Book Backing
Boards which are already the exact size you
need.

 Next, print the Abbey Road Left and Abbey Road Right on
card stock. Use spray glue to adhere one to each side of the
folder, covering the tape. Let dry.
Close the folder and print the Abbey Road Cover file. Glue
that to the outside front of the folder.
Now turn the folder over onto the back, which will be blank.
Cut a strip of cardboard about 4 inches high and 8.5 inches
wide. Run a thin line of white glue along the bottom, left and
right edges of this piece and glue it to the bottom rear of the
folder. This will make a pocket which will hold the Cut-Out
Ringo.

Performance Preparation
Place the five Beatles figures cards in order
with Vanished Ringo last, Ringo second to last
and Paul on top.

Place these cards inside the folder, backs

outward. Place the Cut-Out Ringo in the pocket
on the back of the folder, facing towards the
audience.

The Beatle figure cards are printed on 8.5x11

and trimmed to 6x9, so your cover folder does
not have to be exactly 8.5x11. It can be smaller
and they will still fit nicely inside. If your home
printer dos not offer borderless printing,
yourAbbey Road images may come out with a
1/4 inch white border on several sides. Just print
them on card stock, cut off the white border, then
trim your hinged cardboard folder to the proper
size before gluing the artwork on it.

Performance
Display the folder to your audience. Point out the cover of the Abbey Road display
for a moment, calling attention to the narrowing road, the white crosswalk stripes and
the few cars in the background. You could say that Abbey Road looked like this before
the Beatles began crossing the road for the picture they took to put on the cover of their
album.
Close the folder and set it on a card stand or display rack in plain view. Pick up the
five cards with the Beatles pictures. Turn the stack around and hold the cards with the
fronts facing the audience. Paul should be on top.
Show them all together for a moment and explain that these four men performed
together in the band called The Beatles.
You will now show the face of each Beatle Figure Card to
the audience then remove it from the front and place it in
back of the stack. Each time you show a Beatle, you have a
chance to name him and discuss some of his contributions
to the band.
Keep the stack aligned so no one sees that you really
have five cards. Each time you show a card, hold it
forward, then turn it around and use the back of the card to
point to the next facing card. This helps reinforce that all of
the cards have a front side and a back side. Show Paul and
move him to the rear. Show John and move him to the rear.
Show George and move him to the rear.

Show Ringo but keep him on the front of the stack

because there is a Vanished Ringo card behind him.

Ask if the audience would like to see some magic. Lift up

both of the two front cards together. These will be the Ringo
and the Vanished Ringo. Hold them together as if they were
one card, and turn them both over. The audience will see the
card back design.

 Align the cards and remove the top one. This is the
Vanished Ringo with the Card Back Design showing. Left
behind on the face of the stack will be the Ringo card
with the Paul card on its back showing. The audience
will see Paul and assume it is the face of the card they
already saw, but really, you have switched a Ringo card
for a Vanished Ringo card. Now turn over the front card
and show that Ringo has disappeared.

Offer to make Ringo reappear. Wiggle

your fingers or play some Beatle music. Pick
up the closed folder and open it wide,
showing the Abbey Road scene with three
Beatles figures, but no Ringo.

Act surprised that Ringo did not

reappear. As you react, use your thumb to
push up the Cut-Out Ringo from behind the
folder. Wiggle it around until the kids see it.

Bring Cut-Out Ringo to the front and hold

him in place on the Abbey Road scene. Show
the display, and close by having the audience
give a round of applause to the Beatles.
Music Additions
This is a routine that practically cries out for music. Playing a medley of Beatles songs
as an into to the routine or as an instructional segment while describing the iconic
Abbey Road album will greatly enhance the routine. Beatles music such as Come
Together or Nowhere Man or Here Comes the Sun or Help can be used when the
children cause the Beatle to vanish or reappear.

Here is a listing of the songs from the Abbey Road album:

Side one
1 "Come Together"
2 "Something"
3 "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
4 "Oh! Darling"
5 "Octopus's Garden"
6 "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

Side two
1 "Here Comes the Sun"
2 "Because"
3 Medley
4 "Her Majesty"

Beatles Frolics is a custom built prop by Jim Kleefeld based on Edwin Hooper’s
Farmyard Frolics. Other similar products have been marketed over the years including
include Jam Magic’s Pet Store Pranks, Sammy Smith’s Bookworm, Who’s Who At the
Zoo, Razzamatazz Magic’s Rabbit Rampage and Santa Surprise and my own Halloween
effect called Familiar Cat.

Video of Jim Kleefeld Performing a variation of this Beatles Frolics is available at:

https://youtu.be/44Y9rtqd-Fc

Here are two links to large hi-resolution images of the Abbey Road cover art.

https://neonmoderntimes.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/abbey-road-album-
cover.jpg

http://thekey.xpn.org/2016/09/26/day-music-history-beatles-release-abbey-road-
thom-yorke-releases-2nd-solo-album/


Thank you for buying this Jim Kleefeld product. If you have any questions about the
prop or the routine contact Jim at jim@JimKleefeld.com
Visit JimKleefeld.com for more fine kidshow props, as well as books and DVDs.