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Birthday magic *lU 1
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DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS FROM POCKET
1

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA 46802

You may return this book to any agency, branch,

or bookmobile of the Allen County Public Library.

 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012

http://archive.org/details/birthdaymagicOObake
^Holiday ^M org/ zEc^g&^Jkg^
MAGIC
di/ James Oaker
pictures by George Overlie

krnerPuMications Company v=7 Minneapolis

To my fellow magician, Frank Clinton, an
friend and
inspiration over the years made the world brighter for
who
the thousands of people he entertained with his wit and
legerdemain.

Copyright Q 1988 by Lerner Publications Company

All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever
without permission in writing from the publisher except for the
inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baker, James W., 1926-
Birthday magic/by James W. Baker: pictures by George Overlie,
p. cm. — (The Holiday magic books)
Summary: Explains ten magic tricks revolving around a birthday
theme.
ISBN 0-8225-2226-8
1. Tricks— Juvenile literature. 2. Birthdays— Juvenile

literature. [1. Magic tricks. 2. Birthdays.] I. Overlie,

Doom, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Baker, James W., 1926-
Holiday magic books.
GV1548.B33 1988 88-2717
--dcl9 CIP
Manufactured in the United States of America AC
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90 89 88
 2
6

CONTENTS
Introduction 7

Climbing through a Birthday Card 8

Birthday Mathematics 1

The Birthday Necklace 1

The Correct Birth Date 20

A Card for Your Birthday 23
The Year of Your Birth 28
Circus Birthday Present 30
A Magical Happy Birthday 34
The Age of Magic 39
A Magic Birthday Cake 42
Tricks for Better Magic 46
INTRODUCTION
One day, many years ago, you were born.
Every year since, on the anniversary of that day,
you have celebrated your birthday. Birthday cele-
brations are times to have a party, eat cake and
ice cream, throw confetti, and play games like
musical chairs and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.
Many people give presents to friends and
family members on their birthdays. Gifts may be
practical or fun, from clothes to toys to cards and
homemade cakes. Some take their friends out to
dinner, to the park, or to the circus for their
birthday.
To give your friend a birthday present, you
can perform a magical birthday trick. Or to thank
your friends and family for the presents they gave
at your own birthday party, you can combine a few
tricks to create a whole magic show!
CLIMBING
BIRTH

HOW l T LOOfK^
Show your friend a birthday card and tell him that
you can cut a hole in the card and climb through
it. After your friend tells you that you are crazy,

cut a hole in the birthday card and climb through.

For this trick, you will need a birthday card made
from a single, folded piece of light cardboard or
heavy paper, and a pair of scissors.

1. With the card folded, cut a sliver out of the fold,

stopping about V2 inch (1 cm) from each edge of
the card (Figure 1).
 With the card still

folded, cut a num-

ber of lines through
both halves with
the scissors, about
V2 inch ( 1 cm ) apart.
Again, stop each
cut about V2 inch
(1 cm) before the
edge (Figure 2).
Turn the card
around and cut
between each of
the cuts you have
made, stopping
before you come
to the folded edge
(Figure 3).

10
4. Carefully open up the card and very carefully
pull out the ends (Figure 4). The birthday card
will stretch out a surprisingly long way, and then
you can slowly, carefully step into it and wriggle
it up over your head. You have climbed through a

birthday card.

11
 BIRTHM^ATtfEMATICS

Hpw rr udok^
Ask a friend to write down certain numbers and
todo certain math problems with those numbers.
When she gives you her answer, tell her the exact
date of her birth and her age.

For this trick, you will need a pencil and a piece

of paper.

12
1. Have your friend write down the month in which
she was born in number form: 1 for January, 2
for February, 3 for March, etc., without letting
you know what it is.
2. Again without telling you, have her write down
the day on which she was born in two digits:
03 for the third, 10 for the tenth, etc. Have her
write the day next to the month to make her
birthday number: 219 for February 19, 603 for
June 3, 1015 for October 15, etc.
3. Next, ask your friend to multiply her number
by add 5 to the result, multiply the sum by
2,

50, add her age, and tell you her final answer.
4. Tell her the exact date of her birth and her age
by subtracting 250 from her final answer.
For example, if your friend was born on August 26
and is 9 years old, her birthday number would
be 826.

13
Her birthday number is 826
Her math is x 2
1652
± 5
1657
x 50
82850
± 9
To get her final answer 82859

You take her final answer 82859

- 250
To get your answer 82609

The last two digits in 82609 — 09 — tell you your

friend's age. The first digit — 8 — tells you she was
born in August, and the second two digits — 26 —
tell you she was born on the 26th of the month.

I i
 \

Confusion only happens in this trick when the

first two digits of your answer are 10, 11, or 12 and

the answer is five digits long. If the first two digits

are 10, the month of her birth is either October
or January. If they are 11, the month is either
November or January. And if they are 12, the month is
either December or January. For example, if the first
three digits were 129, your friend was born either on
December 9 or January 29. So you would say some-
thing like: "Mind-reading is not always perfect. I

know you were born either in December or January.

I am not sure which." If she
tells you December, you
say, "Yes, that's right. > ~>x.

December 9." If she , — Cfe^ I

tells you January,
you say, "Yes,
that's right.
January 29'.'

15
 BIRTHDAY
ECKLACE

I \n\
\n
HPW IT 1jOOK&
As you show a plasticsoda straw and a yellow
shoelace to the audience, tell them a story some-
thing like "a girl received a beautiful gold necklace
for her birthday. Here is the necklace." Hold up
the yellow shoelace. "And here is the case in which
the necklace was kept." Hold up the soda straw.

if,
Thread the shoelace into the straw. The ends of
the shoelace should hang out of the ends of the
straw. You continue with "a witch tried to destroy
the gold necklace by cutting it in half." With a pair
of scissors, cut completely through the soda straw
and apparently through the shoelace. "But then, a
wise magician waved his fingers in the air," as you
wave your fingers, "and, lo and behold, the gold
necklace was restored." With this, show the audi-
ence that the shoelace has not been cut in half but
is whole.

— -} /
17
To prepare you will need a yellow
for this trick,

shoelace, a soda straw, and a pair of scissors. In

advance, cut a slit about two inches (5 cm) long in
the soda straw (Figure 1).

l.Tell the story from the section on HOW IT

LOOKS.
2. After threading the shoelace through the soda
straw (Figure 2), bend the straw in the middle
and hold it in your left hand. With your right
hand, pull down on both ends of the shoelace.
This will pull the middle of the shoelace right
down through the slit (Figure 3).
3. Insert the scissors above the shoelace and cut
only the straw.
4. After making the cut with the scissors, hold
the two halves of the straw together and pull
out the uncut shoelace — completely "restored."
18
 X /
tw0~ inch slit

shoelace slides
down into
sM andcut of
sight behind

19
>f ow rr uooh^
Hand an index card to your friend and ask him to
write his correct birth date on it— the month, the
date, and the year. Hand him two other index
cards and ask him to write a different date on
each - month, date, and year. He hands you all
three cards behind your back so you cannot see
them. Ask him to concentrate on his birth date.
As he does, hand him the index card with his
birth date written on it.

HOW T&mJU^Tr
For this trick, you will need three index cards, a
pencil, and a ballpoint pen.

20
The fact that your friend con-
centrates on his correct birth
date has nothing to do with
your selecting the correct
index card. It is all done by
touch.
1. Before you perform this
trick, take a ballpoint pen
with its point retracted.
Push the end of the pen on
the corner of one of the
index cards (Figure 1). This
will not make a mark, but
it will leave a little bump
on the card that you can
barely see even though you
can easily feel it with your
fingers.

21
*s J

2. Hand the marked card to your friend first, and

tell him to write his correct birth date on it.

3. Once you have the three index cards behind

your back, feel the corners. The card with the
little bump in one corner is the one with his
correct birth date.

22
A CARET/?; ^ffiOTR YOUR BIRTHDAY

Pick a volunteer from the audience and tell him

you will be celebrating his birthday. Ask the
volunteer to choose his "birthday card" from a
shuffled deck. Without letting the audience see
what card he has, he writes it down on a piece of
paper. Then he returns the card to the deck. You
then cut the deck to lose his "birthday card," and
place the deck in a styrofoam coffee cup. The
volunteer tells you the date of his birth. Suppose
he says July 19. Begin removing cards one at a time
from the back of the deck in the cup, spelling out his
birthday, one card for each letter: J-U-L-Y-N-I-N-E-
T-E-E-N-T-H. When you remove the card on the
last letter of the world "nineteenth," hold it up
for everyone to see.

23
The volunteer then reveals the name of the card
he wrote down. You have accurately selected his
"birthday card" by spelling out his birthday.

For this trick, you will need a deck of cards, a piece

of paper, a pencil, and a styrofoam coffee cup.

1. Shuffle the cards and spread them out for the

volunteer to make his choice. Without showing
you, have him write the name of the card he
chose on a piece of paper and put the paper
in his pocket.

2. Close up the pack of cards, holding them in the

palm of your left hand. Lift about half of the
pack with your right hand, and hold out the rest
in your left hand so the volunteer can put his

card on top of those.

24
3. Bring the cards in your right hand on top of the
cards in your left hand. As your hands come
together, secretly insert the tip of your little
finger so the cards in the right hand go over your
fingertip (Figure 1).

4. Press down on top of the pack with your left

thumb to keep the front edges of the pack closed
(Figure 2). This looks like you have lost the
"birthday card" in the middle of the pack. But
your left little finger keeps a break in the pack
right above the "birthday card."

25
5. Cut the deck by lifting off about half of the
cards above your little finger with your right
hand and placing them on the table (A). Then
lift off the rest of the cards above your little

finger and place them on top of the cards already

on the table (B). Now put the rest of the pack
down on the others (C). This leaves the selected
"birthday card" on top of the pack.
6. Pick up the entire deck and place it in the styro-
foam coffee cup, facing the audience. Because
the cup is tapered, the deck will not go all the
way down but will stick out of the cup. As you
place the deck in the cup, push the top card —
the one in the back — far down into the cup.
This keeps the card down in the cup until you
need it.

26
 7. Ask the volunteer to
tell you his birthday.
As you spell it out, take
one card from the back
of the deck for each
letter. Let the audience

see each of these cards

as you drop them on
the table. As you say
the last letter, pull out
the card you pushed
down in back.
8. Ask the volunteer to
show the audience the
paper on which he
wrote the name of the
card he selected. The
last card you picked
down into arp h ehini out is his freely selected
"birthday card."

27
THE YEAR (H

HOW IT UOOK^
number on a piece of paper, fold the paper,
Write a
and place it on the table. Only you know the
number you wrote. Ask your friend to write down
the year of her birth, the year she started first
end of the present year, and
grade, her age at the
the number of years since she started first grade
without letting you know. Ask her to add those
four numbers together. When she shows you her
answer, show her what you wrote on the slip of
paper ahead of time. She will discover that you
predicted her answer.

28
For this trick, you will need two pieces of paper
and a pencil.

l.The answer will always be twice the number

of the present year. Thus, if you do the trick in
1988, your answer will be 1988 x 2 = 3976.
2. Assume your friend was born on June 26, 1977,
and is or will turn 11 years old in 1988. Here is

what she would write down:

The year of her birth 1977
The year she started first grade 1983
Her age end of this year
at the 11
Years since she began first grade + 5
Total 3976

29
HOW IT lA>OK^
Tell a story something like "I was a magician who
worked One day, Bobo the clown came
in a circus.
to tell me it was the identical twins' birthday and
she wanted to give them birthday presents." You
pick up a long strip of newspaper which has been
pasted to form a loop and cut it with scissors,
splitting it into two loops.

30
 "Igave the loops to Bobo, telling her they were
identical belts and would make ideal presents for
the identical twins. Bobo rushed off to give the
identical belts to the identical twins, but soon
she returned. She had made a mistake. It was the
Siamese twins' birthday, not the identical twins'."
Again, you cut a long loop of newspaper, splitting
it into two identical loops, or belts. This time the

two belts are linked together, like Siamese twins.

"Bobo rushed off to give the two linked belts to
the Siamese twins, but came back once again.
She had made another mistake. It was not the
Siamese twins' birthday, but the circus fat lady's."
i Once more, you split a long loop of newspaper.
But this time, instead of two separate identical
loops or two linked loops, you have one huge
single loop — a perfect belt for the circus fat lady.

31
tfpfW TO %?UU^& TT
1. You will need a few sheets of newspaper, paste,
and a pair of scissors.
2. To make each of the three big loops of news-
paper, paste two or three strips together end to
end. Each strip of newspaper should be about
IV2 inches (8 cm) wide. Each of the three loops
is made a bit differently, but the audience will
not notice the difference.
3. The first strip is pasted together in a regular
loop (Figure 1).

4. Before pasting the second strip together, give

one end of the strip of paper a full twist (Figure
2). This will produce the two linked loops.
5. Before pasting the third strip together into a
loop, give one end of the strip a half twist (Figure
3). This will produce the large single loop — the
belt for the circus fat lady.

:Y2
1. Have a pair of scissors handy on the table along
with the three loops in the correct order: first,
the regular loop; second, the loop with the full
twist; and third, the loop with the half twist.
2. Tell the story from the section on HOW IT
LOOKS and split the newspaper loops at the
right times in the story.

7*fe. ,-r%

/i i
//
I
l |
ha,

V- 1 twist )

£J

•^
St

33
 MAGICAL HAPPY B1RTHDA

HOW IT UOOKg?
On your friend's birthday, give him a sealed en-
velope and a "magic penny" at school. Also give
him nine index cards with various holidays written
on them in either a color or black. Tell him to take
these things home, leaving the envelope sealed,
and you will call him on the telephone. After
school, call your friend and tell him how to ar-
range the nine holiday cards. Have him place the
magic penny on any holiday written in black and
then make a certain number of "jumps" with the
penny. At the end of each jump — even though you
are calling on the phone and obviously cannot
see where the magic penny ended up —tell your
friend the name of a card it did not land on. Tell
him to turn over that card.

34
After doing this eight times and turning over
eight cards, the one left right-side-up is the
"Happy Birthday" card. Your friend opens the
envelope to see you had predicted that.

1. Write the holidays on nine index cards, using a

black pen and a color pen as shown (Figure 1).

fc£ /)
»%
^
LPEIL

r —i r

'felt
O 1

i cO ~Jjay

] r^^ i

A
1

35
2. On a piece of paper write: "I predict the only
card remaining face up is the Happy Birthday
card. Have a good one!" Put the piece of paper
in the envelope and seal it.
3. You will also need a nice, shiny "magic penny."

At school on your friend's birthday, give him

nine holiday cards, a sealed envelope, and a
magic penny. Tell him to have all of these handy
and you will phone him at home after school.
When you call your friend, tell him to lay the
nine holiday cards out on the table in three rows
of three cards each. The "Happy Birthday" card
should be in the center, the other four colored
cards at the corners, and the four black cards in
between (Figure 1).
3. Ask him to place the "magic penny" on any
holiday card written in black. The choice is en-
tirely his. Explain that you are going to instruct
him to make a certain number of "jumps." A
"jump" means moving the magic penny to the
next card above, below, or on either side, but
not diagonally. Otherwise, your friend can
make all of his "jumps" completely at random.
Again, it is his choice.

37
4. Give your friend these directions:
1. Turn over "April Fools!"
2. Jump four times. Yourpenny did not land on
"Happy St. Patrick's Day." Turn that card over.
3. Jump seven times. You are not on "Happy

New Year." Turn it over.

4. Jump seven times. You did not land on "Merry

Christmas." Turn it over.

5. Jump once. You are not on "Happy Thanks-

giving." Turn it over.

6. Jump twice. You are not on "Happy Hal-

loween." Turn it over.

7. Jump five times. You did not land on "Happy

Easter." Turn it over.

8. Jump three times. You are not on "Happy

Valentine's Day." Turn it over.

5. At this point the only card facing up will be the
"Happy Birthday" card. Tell your friend to open
the envelope. Your prediction is correct.
6. Wish your friend a happy birthday.

38
THE AGE OF MAGIC

Ask your friend to pick a number between 1 and

99 and then do certain math problems involving
her age. When she gives you her final answer,
tell her not only her age, but also the number

she originally chose.

For this trick, you will need a pencil and a few

pieces of paper.

39
iloWTOJMjrr
1. Have your friend choose a number between 1
and 99 and, without telling you what it is, write
it down. Have her set this piece of paper aside.

2. On another piece of paper she will write her

age — again without telling you — multiply it by
2, add 5, multiply the total by 100, divide the
answer by 2, subtract the number of days in a
year (365), and add the number she first chose
to write on the other piece of paper.

3. Without telling your friend, add 115 to her final

answer. The two digits on the right of your
answer will be the number she first chose. The
remaining digit or digits are her age.

For example, suppose your friend is 10 years old

and the number she thought of was 74. Her arith-
metic would be like this:

40
Her age is 10
Her math problems are _x 2

20

^.~> x
25
100
2500-2 = 1250
The number of days in a year - 365
885
The number she first chose + 74
Her final answer 959

You take her final answer 959

+ 115
To get your answer 1074

The two digits on the right — 74 — tell you that the

number she chose was 74 and the two figures to
the left — 10 — tell you your friend is 10 years old.
41
 A MAGIC BIRTHDAY

IfOW IT UOO'iqS'
Show a piece of heavy paper —about 15 inches
(38 cm) square— to the audience and tell them it
is a magic oven. After showing both sides of the
paper, fold it into a cone shape. Drop some sugar,
flour, and salt into the cone. Wiggle your fingers
over the "magic oven," reach in, and produce a
paper birthday cake. When you open up the paper
cone and show both sides of the paper, the ingre-
dients have vanished.

42
 The secret is in the way you make the paper from
which the cone is shaped.
1. Glue two identical pieces of paper— about 15
inches (38 cm) square — together with paste or
rubber cement (Figure 1). Note that the two
sheets are not glued together in the shaded
area, which leaves a secret pocket.

wU

tofwnt
secret ca
donottflue
shaded atea

43
 You will need a pack of sugar and a tiny packet
of salt, like those found in restaurants. Draw a
picture of a flower and cut it out. This will be
the "flour" for your cake.
Draw a picture of a birthday cake and cut it

out. Before your performance, fold the picture

and tuck it into the secret pocket of the cone.

44
1. Show both sides of the sheet of paper (really
two sheets glued together) to the audience,
telling them it is a magic oven. Fold the magic
oven into a cone shape, making sure that the
opening to the secret pocket is at the top.
2. Pick up the ingredients, one at a time, and
explain to the audience what each is. Drop the
sugar and salt— still in their packages— and the
picture of a flower into the cone's secret pocket.
3. With the ingredients inside the cone (really the
secret pocket) wiggle your fingers over the top
of the"magic oven." Reach into the cone (really
the secret pocket) and produce the picture of
the birthday cake. Show the opened cone on
both sides to prove that the ingredients have
vanished.

45
TRICKS FOR BETTER MAGIC
Here are some simple rules you should keep in
mind while learning to perform the tricks in this
book.
1. Read the entire trick several times until you
thoroughly understand it.

2. Practice the trick alone or in front of a mirror

until you feel comfortable doing the trick, then
present it toan audience.
3. Learn to perform one trick perfectly before
moving on to another trick. It is better to perform
one trick well than a half dozen poorly.
4. Work on your "presentation." Make up special
"patter" (what you say while doing a trick) that
is funny and entertaining. Even the simplest

trick becomes magical when it is properly

presented.
5. Choose tricks that suit you and your personality.
Some tricks will work better for you than others.

46
 Stick with these. Every trick is not meant to
be performed by every magician.
6. Feel free to experiment and change a trick to
suit you and your unique personality so that
you are more comfortable presenting it.
7. Never reveal the secret of the trick. Your audi-
ence will respect you much more if you do not
explain the trick. When asked how you did a
trick, simply say "by magic."
8. Never repeat a trick for the same audience. If
you do, you will have lost the element of surprise
and your audience will probably figure out how
you did it the second time around.
9. Take your magic seriously, but not yourself.
Have fun with magic and your audience will
have fun along with you.

47
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James W. Baker, a magician for over 30 years, has
performed as "Mister Mystic" in hospitals, orphanages, and
schools around the world. He is a member of the International
Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American
Magicians, and is author of Illusions Illustrated, a magic
book for young performers.
From 1951 to 1963, Baker was a reporter for The Richmond
(VA) News Leader. From 1963 to 1983, he was an editor
with the U.S. Information Agency, living in Washington,
D.C., India, Turkey, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tunisia,
and traveling in 50 other countries. Today Baker and his
wife, Elaine, live in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he
performs magic and writes for the local newspaper, The
Virginia Gazette.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

George Overlie is a talented artist who
has illustrated
numerous books. Born in the small town
Rose Creek,
of
Minnesota, Overlie graduated from the New York Phoenix
School of Design and began his career as a layout artist.
He soon turned to book illustration and proved his skill
and versatility in this demanding field. For Overlie, fantasy,
illusion, and magic are all facets of illustration and have
made doing the Holiday Magic books a real delight.

48
r

Perfect for birthday parties,

Birthday Magic is a magical
birthday treat.

The HOLIDAY MAGIC Books

This unique series combines holiday fun with magic.
Each book contains 10 tricks that focus on a special
holiday and can be combined to make a complete
holiday magic show.
New Year's Magic Birthday Magic
Valentine Magic Halloween Magic
Presidents' Day Magic Thanksgiving Magic
April Fools' Day Magic Christmas Magic

I
0-8225-2226-8