#7. Schrödinger's Bottle - presentation
a trick without an ending
Hi everyone,
for this week’s newsletter I want to share with you an original trick that holds a very special place in my heart. A few years ago I wrote a pdf on this and only shared it with few magicians, they all loved it. I have now decided to share it with you as well. Here is the presentation as it was written, in the format of a movie script. Enjoy!
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
The magician gifts the spectator an impossible bottle: a glass bottle that has a deck of cards inside.
She names a number between 1 and 52, and selects a card.
Years later the bottle is broken and the deck opened: the chosen card is at the named number.
I recommend you watch this dialogue between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise, it really shows how to convey the speech:
PRIVATE PARTY - EVENING
MAGICIAN. When you get accepted in the magician’s society I’m in, you receive three of these bottles. They represent the fact that nothing is impossible: the actual method with how these are made is only known by a handful of magicians, and, well… I’m not one of them. We receive these so that we can give them to people who can appreciate some mystery and magic in their life, and I’d like to give this one to you.
CELINE. Thank you.
M. Along with the bottle I’d like to show you a trick, if we want to call it like this, that has something very different from any other.
I want you to name a number between 1 and 52.
C. 27.
M. It’s vitally important that you know that this is your decision, you must be sure that I couldn’t know your number in any way. So, if you desire so, you can change it.
C. Ok, then I choose 24.
M. Ok, now you need to choose one card. Touch one.
Celine touches one card.
M. Just like before it’s vital that you are absolutely certain that this is your choice, that I did not influence you to touch this one in particular. Because in a minute, when all of this will be over you will ask yourself: “what if I chose another card?”. So again, if you want, you can change it.
Celine decides to stay with the card.
M. Well.
(shows everybody the card)
The 10 of clubs.
The magician leaves the deck on the table.
M. This is where it gets different.
(beat)
You chose the number 24 and the 10 of clubs.
(beat)
In the bottle there is a deck of cards. You don’t know the order of the cards, and honestly, I don’t know either.
But there is something that I know is true. And I know it’s true because it has always worked in the centuries our magic society has done this. The 24th card of the deck is your card, the 10 of clubs.
And the obvious conclusion of this trick would be to crack open the bottle now and check if it’s true.
But I don’t want you to do that, not now, and I’ll tell you why.
Jump ahead ten, twenty years. It’s a rainy day. You’re at home looking at all the objects you have collected and you find right behind a pile of books a bottle, this bottle. You see a message attached to it, with your handwriting: it says that you chose a number, the 24, and a card, the 10 of clubs. And that you left the Celine of the future the opportunity to end a magic started many years before, to break the bottle and check if the 24th card is actually the 10 of clubs.
And you decide that it’s the moment. You drop the bottle, and among the shards of glass you pick up the deck, open it and start counting: 1,2 ,3... until the 24th, and you see one of the strangest and most magical moments of your life.
Celine ponders the situation.
M. Or if you don’t believe me, and it is possible, you break the bottle now and satisfy your curiosity. But I assure you, if you do that you would deprive yourself of something much more beautiful...
CELINE’S HOUSE - RAINY DAY - 10 YEARS LATER
Celine is at home with a friend. The friend makes a comment about a strange bottle with a deck of cards inside. Celine tells her the story of the magician and the bottle. They decide to break it: Celine picks up the deck of cards, opens it and starts counting: 1, 2, 3... 23, 24.
She turns over the card.
It is the 10 of clubs.
Method and additional presentation ideas coming next week for premium subscribers.
I would also want to thank Paul Harris for the permission to teach how to make an impossible bottle and Jon Allen for the permission to share a variation of one of his tricks.
What would you like to see in this newsletter?
So it’s been a few weeks since the beginning of this newsletter and I would like to know if there is anything you would like to see in particular in future issues, or any feedback you want to give.
You can just reply to this email and I will be able to read your message.
Thanks for your support, see you soon!
Antonio