Angelo Carbone's

This ebook is to be sold only by DownloadMagic.com

Change that link to your own by getting this ebook branded

Copyright © 2006 by Angelo Carbone and DownloadMagic

Title 17, Chapter 12, Sec. 1202 Report violators here

Shirt Happens DownloadMagic.com

 This ebook is distributed by DownloadMagic.com
Would you like to change that link to your own? click here

Shirt Happens - The original effect

The magician is seen to be wearing either a blazer, casual jacket or

even zip-up top but with no shirt underneath – either bare-chested
or just a simple vest or tank top.

A cloth is slowly raised up in front of the magician. When

lowered, the magician is seen to be wearing a T-shirt underneath
the jacket! The jacket can be removed to prove the T-shirt is really
being worn, and is ordinary in every way!

How it works

(Editors note: The routine as just described requires one prop that
many magicians already own. It's called a Spirit or Seance Cloth. If
you are unfamiliar with this device, you can download a free video
that will teach you how to make an effective Spirit Cloth from
things around the house at this link. Other variations in this
manuscript, including the one performed on television do not
require the Spirit Cloth. They are completely impromptu and will
be described later.)

Shirt Happens 1 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 2 DownloadMagic.com

As well as a Spirit Cloth with a larger and longer cloth than

normal, all you need is a bright colored T-shirt with a fairly loose
and wide opening at the collar.

Put on the T-shirt and then gather

up the front edge of the shirt and
pass it over the top of your head
so it rests gathered around the
back of your neck. Fix your hair
(especially if you have long hair)
as it will be ruffled.

Put on your jacket, which should

be left unbuttoned. The jacket
conceals the T-shirt completely.

If you keep your elbows pressed against your sides, you can grasp
the edges of your jacket and open it up (‘flasher’ pose – not that I
would know…. moving on….) to freely show you are not wearing
anything under the jacket.

Shirt Happens 2 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 3 DownloadMagic.com

The Performance

Present yourself as sporting the new look to hit the streets

according to a recent fashion feature on TV. Great for summer!
However there is a problem in the evening when it can get a bit
breezy and nippy. No problem!

Open up the Spirit Cloth and hold

it at waist level. Raise it above
your head (quite high) and with
your free hand grasp the gathered
T-shirt behind your neck (bend
your head forwards too) and
quickly pass it over your head
and unfold it and adjust it as
necessary by your sides.

Don’t forget to flatten/brush your hair to get rid of ruffled signs. If

your hair is brushed forwards you will not need to fix it as the shirt
naturally passes over your hair in the same direction as it grows.
Perfect!

Lower the cloth and discard it to show a shirt has now appeared on
you. You may remove your jacket, sling it over your shoulder and
turn your back to your audience to reveal a funny message printed
on the back of your shirt if you wish.

Shirt Happens 3 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 4 DownloadMagic.com

Alternate Presentations

Zombie T-shirt
The gathered shirt is already behind your neck. Have a duplicate T-
shirt on a table. Pass the spirit cloth over it and grab the shirt with
your free hand and bob it up and down above the top edge of the
cloth – a la Zombie. Then raise the cloth and stuff the shirt in your
‘Topit’ or ditch it behind a prop and bring the one around your
neck into view before lowering the cloth.

Color Change T-shirt

By wearing two identical T-shirts but of different color, a color
change effect is achieved. The T-shirt that appears at the end of the
effect should not only be a contrasting color but should also have a
lower neck line so as not to poke above the first shirt’s neckline
once you finish wearing both. You can also perform the effect with
no Spirit Cloth. See The Duck.

Vanishing Shirt
By performing the effect in reverse you can appear to vanish the
shirt you are wearing. Show an empty (insert your favourite
production box here) box. Show the shirt you are wearing under
your jacket and duck out of sight to get something. Once out of
sight, pull the shirt over your head as if setting up the effect and
adjust the edges of the gathered shirt under the edges of your
jacket. Come back into view but slightly side on to mask the fact
that the shirt has already gone. Produce a duplicate of the T-shirt
you were wearing from the empty box and turn face on to reveal
the shirt you were wearing has gone and has appeared in the box.

Shirt Happens 4 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 5 DownloadMagic.com

Changing Room
A lot of effort will go into this presentation but the amount of
effort makes it more impressive. It is not performed as an
appearing shirt but as a quick change.

Buy a suitable T-shirt from a store which you know has a changing
room. On a later date you will return to the same store with a
friend but make sure you have set-up the shirt under your jacket
beforehand. You are just out with your friend innocently shopping
– that’s all. It may be necessary to walk around some other stores -
still set-up, to help sell the effect later on of how impromptu
everything appears to be.

Eventually get into the store and browse around and pick up the
same shirt off the hook that you are secretly wearing. Say that you
like it but need to try it on first to make sure. Ask your
accompanying friend or a sales assistant for their opinion and to
wait outside the changing room. Have either of them just stand in
front of the curtained cubical (or cubical door). Tell them you will
just be a second to try on the shirt.

As soon as you are out of sight behind the curtain or door, ditch the
duplicate shirt you are holding somewhere behind something and
bring your set-up shirt into view. Immediately leave the cubical to
show your T-shirt and ask for an opinion.

You have to be as quick as possible obviously and with practice

you should only be out of view for three seconds only. Your friend
outside will be impressed on the speed of you taking off your
jacket, taking off your shirt, putting on the new shirt and then
putting on your jacket. Once you have achieved the reaction you
want go back into the cubical and reverse the process. You can
take a fraction longer if you wish.

Shirt Happens 5 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 6 DownloadMagic.com

Come out with the original T-shirt you ditched and you are now
left with two options:

1) You can either purchase the shirt you apparently tried on. Of
course you don’t want to have two shirts the same so you would
have to return it back to the store on a later date and get a refund.
This is the strongest ending. You would be wise to check on the
returns/refund policy of the store beforehand.

2) You can say although you liked it, you will need to think about
the shirt and maybe get it another time. Or comment on the way it
fitted being not to your liking.

If you intend to perform this presentation, you may feel more

comfortable (in a public place) wearing a thin vest or tank top
under your jacket. Make sure the T-shirt you choose to do the trick
is a contrasting color to your vest by the way.

Dirty Shirt
You are sitting at a table with friends eating your meal. In a most
unfortunate way, you accidentally get food on the front of your T-
shirt and are very annoyed as you clearly verbalise your anger.
You take the napkin beside your plate and dab at the sauce on your
shirt trying to absorb some of it up.

Accidentally again (clumsy you) your elbow knocks your knife to

the floor. You shove your chair backwards so that you can squat
down under the table to pick it up. A lone hand places the knife
back on the table and then you come back into view as you
continue to clean your shirt with the napkin. Uttering some words
under your breath you move

Shirt Happens 6 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 7 DownloadMagic.com

the napkin away from your chest to reveal not only has the stain
completely disappeared but when you open out the napkin, that too
is clean and stain free. Weird!

So how do you do this? Well you need to be wearing two identical

T-shirts. One is gathered up over the back of your neck as in the
standard set-up and hidden by your jacket. On the floor by your
feet you have secretly dropped a duplicate napkin that matches the
one on your table. Paper or cloth napkin – either is fine. The rest
should be pretty much straight forward as long as you rehearse
well in private as acting skills are important here.

Dribble your soup from your spoon at your mouth or let some
spaghetti drop from your fork at your mouth – do anything to get a
stain on your shirt. Shout out “Oh no!” or curse if you like to make
sure your fellow diners have seen what happened. Better still make
sure you are talking when it happens so all attention is on you. Put
down your eating utensil and with your right hand take the napkin
and start removing some of the food and dabbing at the stain. Let it
clearly be seen that even after dabbing, the stain is still there. Dab
as much as possible as you don’t want it to stain the other shirt
going on top of it. Now while holding the napkin close to your
chest let your right elbow nudge the knife off the edge on to the
floor. This is quite easy as your right elbow will naturally be
making nudging movements as you rub your chest. Move your
chair backwards to give you space to squat as you bend down.
Make sure you are out of view. To be sure you could even go
slightly under the table as if looking for the knife. A few things are
going to happen now.

Quickly bring the gathered shirt down - over your head. Find the
knife and place it on the table you’re your left hand without getting
up. Ditch

Shirt Happens 7 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 8 DownloadMagic.com

the soiled napkin and pick up the clean one on the floor and hold it
in front of your chest in the same position prior to ducking below
the table.

Now get back up, sit on the chair and continue to dab at the non
existent stain. Finally when you move the cloth away the stain
seems to have vanished. Finally look at the napkin and open that
too to show the napkin is clean too!

This is a lovely piece of magic and if rehearsed and executed well,

will seem to be an innocent clumsy situation with an unexpected
twist. Sorry about your dirty shirt. Time to get the detergent out…

Back in Time
You could present The Dirty Shirt as going back in time. Instead of
picking the knife up off the floor and putting it on the table, insert
it up your right jacket sleeve. Say you can’t find it and sit back at
the table. Keeping your right arm at chest height apparently
covering the stain will prevent the knife falling out. State that you
wish you could go back in time before you stained your shirt.
Reveal you stain free shirt and napkin. Pass the napkin to someone
at the table. As all attention is on the napkin, lower your right hand
and allow the knife to leave your sleeve as your secretly lay it on
the table in exactly the same position before it fell to the floor.
Then say: “Hey even the knife never left the table!”

Shirt Happens 8 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 9 DownloadMagic.com

Tips

The Duck
You can perform the various shirt effects behind any large object
simply by ducking out of view. Possible ways are by ducking…

…behind a door briefly

...under a table
…behind a cupboard
…behind a pillar
…behind another person

You can also turn your back and bend forwards as if flicking your
hair or taking off your cap but I do not recommend this way as it is
the least effective and could hint at the method.

Baseball Cap
A friend of mine suggested if you wear a tight fitting cap, you can
still execute the over the head move without the cap getting in the
way. This adds another element of impossibility to it (the other
being the jacket).

Bare Essentials
Female magicians will no doubt wear a bra unless the venue you
are performing at calls for the bare essentials. If you workout or
exercise regularly you may opt for the bare essentials or you can
cover up with a vest if you are feeling conscious.

Outerwear
Choose the best jacket to wear. Nowadays it is considered trendy
to wear a suit jacket with a T-shirt. You can also use a cardigan,
zip-up

Shirt Happens 9 DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 10 DownloadMagic.com

sweater, leather jacket or another casual jacket. Find something

that you are comfortable with. The conditions are is that it must be
open fronted and cover up the gathered shirt.

Final Words

Hope you can get mileage out of this effect. Most of you may
already be aware of the principle but no one has put it to magical
effect. When it gets hot in the summer I would casually gather up
my shirt behind my neck. That’s where this effect came from.

Although this effect was given free (reluctantly) to a certain TV

magician, I felt that I too could make some pocket money out of
the effect considering I did not make it any other way.

Thank you… Summer and thank YOU for purchasing this e-book!

- Angelo Carbone

Visit Angelo on the web at RisingCard.com

For more great magic visit DownloadMagic.com

Shirt Happens 10 DownloadMagic.com