Magic Show

file:///L:/Zaubern - Einzeltricks/The recovered thimble.html

Doug vanishes the thimble, then arranges a

surprise reappearance.

THE RECOVERED THIMBLE

By Doug Edwards
During my many wondrous visits to the Cardini home in upstate Gardiner, New York, I was
privy to Richard Cardini's private, handwritten and illustrated notebooks. He had a section on
the magic of Jos Frakson and this thimble vanish and recovery was included. Frakson was a
masterful night club performer who Cardini idolized and later acquired many of the actual
props Frakson used in his act. Swan, Cardini's wife, told me Frakson taught Cardini this easy
thimble move personally. So that this item is not lost forever, I believe it should be preserved
and recorded here.

The magician displays a thimble on the first finger of his right hand. He opens his left hand and
places the extended first finger so it rests on his left palm with the thimble at the top of the
hand.

He slowly closes his left fingers over the right first finger and thimble. The top of the thimble
remains visible at the top of the closed left hand.
He pulls his right first finger out of the left hand and tilts the left hand so the top of the
thimble can be seen by everyone.
He places the tip of his right thumb on the top of the thimble ...

... and pushes the thimble down into his left fist. His right hand moves away, he raises his
closed left hand ...

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Magic Show

file:///L:/Zaubern - Einzeltricks/The recovered thimble.html

... and slowly straightens his left fingers, one at a time, until the open left palm can be seen,
the thimble has vanished completely.
He then extends his right fingers and the spectators see that the thimble has reappeared on
his right third finger.
The Vanish And Reappear Move

The right first finger rests on the open left palm so that the top of the thimble extends out,
slightly above the top of the left first finger.
The left fingers curl into the palm. The left fist revolves towards the spectators, tilting the top
of the left fist so the thimble is fully visible, at the same time this move pulls the thimble off
the right first finger and the right first finger is pulled down and away from the left fist.

The right fingers and thumb spread apart and move up, under the left fist, the ball of the right
thumb goes onto the top of the thimble and pushes the thimble down into the closed left hand.
As the right thumb is doing this, the right third finger curls up and into the left fist from the
bottom. As the thimble is pushed down by the right thumb it is actually pushed onto the right
third finger. This is similar to a John Ramsay steal.

The left hand tilts back from the top of the hand and moves up, the right hand moves down,
the third finger curled in slightly, the back of the right hand towards the spectators, the other
right fingers and thumb extended.
The left fingers open out, one at a time, starting with the left fourth finger, then the third,
second and first, until the left fingers are extended and the hand is seen to be empty.

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Magic Show

file:///L:/Zaubern - Einzeltricks/The recovered thimble.html

The right hand remains in position below the left hand, right first finger extended pointing up
at the left hand.
Pause a beat after the left hand is opened to show the thimble is gone, then, without moving
the right hand, extend all the right fingers out, the thimble is suddenly and unexpectedly seen
on the right third finger.
I've selected the highly polished thimble shown in the photos for its visibility. It came from a
sixty year old thimble set designed by Vic Torsburg of The National Magic Company in Chicago.
The Recovered Thimble 2005 by Doug Edwards. Photographs by Richard Robinson.
Magic Show is 2005 by Robinson Wizard, Inc.

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