Christmas Magic James W Baker

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THolidqlr Aaqg ic A3oo/<
MreIC
hylanes|[',Baker
pictures
yleoreverlie
ilinneapolis
Lernerluhlicntionc0ompany
To tny son, Glenn, a joLly elf who enjoys the magic in the air
at Christmas time. As a youn{ster, he was levitated, sawed in
half, and vanished, aLl in the interest of improvin€ my magic
act, and he never once complained.
Copyright O 1988 y Lerner PublicationsCompany

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 inclusiogr of brief quotations in an
acknowledged review.
This book is available in two editions:

Library bi ng by Lerner Publications Company
Soft cover First Avenue Editions
241 First Avenue North
M i n n e a p o l i s , Minnesota 5 5 4 0 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baker, James W., 1926-
Christmas magic/by James W. Baker; pictures by George Overlie.
p. cm.-(The H o l i d a y m a g i c books)
Summary: Explains how to perform ten magic tricks revolving around
a Christmas theme.
ISBN 0-8225-2227-6lib. bdg.)
I SBN 0- 822s- es37- 0pbk. )
1. Tricks'-Juvenile literature. 2. Christmas-Juvenile
literature. 1. Magic tricks, 2. Christmas.] I. Overlie,
George, ll. II. Title . III. Series: Baker, James W., 1926-
Holiday magic books. 88-2703
G V1548. 8333 1988 CIP
793. 8 dc19 AC
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I I 10 97 96 9s 94 93 92 91 90 89 88
,CONTENTS
Introduction 7
A Christmas Spell I
The Magical Ornament 12
The Vanishing Santa 16
Card of Christmas Syrnbols 21
The Floating Christmas Cards 25
The Restored Christmas Tfee 28
Christmas Mind Reading 32
The Magician's Christmas Tree 34
Santa Claus Knows 37
Ten Presents for TWo Daughters 42
Tficks for Better Magic 46
6
INTRODUGTION
At Christmastime, families decorate sweet-
smelling pine trees with ornaments and tinsel.
The smells of cookies and cider and cinnamon
hang in the air. Grandparents and cousins sur-
round a table piled high with food. Carolers sing
under a starry sky.
giving
gifts. Christmas is a time
On Christmas for childrenand
Eve, receiving
throughout
the world wait by a window, hoping to hear the
sound of Santa's sleighbells or catch a glimpse
of a reindeer's glowing red nose.
In the magical spirit of the holiday, you can
present your friends and family with a Christmas
magic show. Learn to perform the magic tricks
in this book, and you can give magical gifts not
only at Christmastime, but throughout the year.
fr4\\%^\
\-@\
@
*Tsw ETrcAE@
Lyrng on a table a-re some pictures associated
with Ctrristmas: Santa, ice, to5rs,reindeel wreattrs,
and lights. You ask a volunteer from the audience
to select one of the pictures. Without telling
anyone which picture she chose, she then turns
around so she can't see what you are doing. The

rest of the audience watches you. You begin
tapping the pictures, saying "Go" with each tap.
The volunteer mentally spells the name of the
picture she selected, one letter for each tap, and
says "Stop" when she reaches the final letter.
She tells the audience which picture she chose,
then she turns around. The entire audience sees
tJrat you are pointing to the picture she mentally
selected.
r6 E
jffgare /,
a<evw TffiMAwzET
Cut out of a magazine or draw six pictures of a
Santa, ice, toys, reindeer, wreaths, and lights
(Figlure 1). Label each picture exactly as listed.
Once you have labeled all six pictures (and know
the secret from the section on HOW TO DO IT)
you are ready to perform this baffling trick.

10
ruewTeffiTT
Note that each picture used in the trick is spelled
with a different number of letters: I-C-E - 3 letters,
T-O-Y-S : 4letters, S-A-N-T-A - 5 letters,L-I-G-
H-T-S : 6 letters, W-R-E-A-T-H-S - 7 letters,
and R-E-I-N-D-E-E-R = 8 letters.
L.Lay the labeled pictures haphazardly on the
table,any
2.Tap notpictures
in the order above.
for the first two taps. Then
tap ice for Number 3, toys for Number 4, Santa
for Number 5, lights for Number 6, and so on.
This will automatically complete the spelling
on the chosen object.
A picture of another object can be substituted, as
long as it has the same number of letters as the
object it replaces, such as SNOW for 4, CANDY
for 5, PRESENT for 7, ORNAMENT for 8, etc.
II
e40e{arffierer
Show a small Christmas ornament to your audi-
ence and explain that it has magical powers.
Then take a sheet of paper and tear it into three
pieces. Have one volunteer from the audience

write "santa Claus" on one piece of paper, a second
volunteer write "Easter Bunny''on another piece
of paper, and athirdvolunteerwrite "Tooth Fairy"
on the last piece of paper. Have the three vol-
unteers fold their papers once and drop them
into a paper bag marked "Santa's Toy Ba$J' Have
another volunteer blindfold you. Explain that
the magical Christmas ornament will help you
find the slip of paper marked "Santa Claus."

t2
You reach into the bag with tJle ornament in your
hand and bring out one of the three slips of paper.

It is the one marked "Santa Claus." It has been
located by the magical Christmas ornament.
e<evw TryM.ATEET
For this trick, you will need a small
ornament, a sheet of paper, a pencil, a Christmas
paper bag
marked "Santa's Toy Bag," arrd a scarf for a
blindfold.
\__
l3
/? ,*#e*
tau\''
34eqw Tffi@@ TT
The "magical" Christmas ornament has nothing
to do with locating the slip with "Santa Claus"
written on it, but is used only for what magicians
call misdirection, which takes the minds of the
audience off the real method for doing the trick.
1. When you tear the sheet of paper into three
pieces, you will note that the center piecg has
two rough edges while the top and the bottom
pieces (Figure 1).
have only or?e rough edge
t4
2. Hand the center piece (with two rough edges)
to a volunteer from the audience and tell him

to write "Santa Claus" on his piece of paper.
3. Hand the other two pieces of paper (with only
one rough edge) to the other two volunteers
and tell them to write "Easter Bunny" and "Tooth
Fairy" on their sheets.
4. Have the volunteers fold their sheets and drop
them all into the bag.
5. When you reach into the bag you can easily
tell which sheet is marked Claus" by
"Santa
feeling for the piece of paper with the two rough
edges. You have to be a good actor when doing
this trick, making the audience believe that it
is the magical Christmas ornament-and not
you-that is finding the "Santa Claus" paper.
15
F<AWET g,eeref
At the beginning of the trick, a clear water glass
is upside-down on a sheet of white paper. You
cover tJre glass with a cone-shaped paper Santa
Claus hat. Place a small picture of Santa Claus
on the white sheet of paper alongside the glass.
Then lift the glass together with the cone-shaped
Santa Claus hat and place both over the small
picture of Santa Claus (Figure 1).

l6
You say the magic

word "Doog Leorr"-
Good Noel- and

backward spelled
lift
t h e co n e -sh a p e d
Sa n t a C la u s h a t ,
le a vin g t h e g la ss
upside-down over
the small picture of
Sa n t a C la u s. T h e
p ict u re h a s va n -
(Figure
ished 2).
Again placing the Santa Claus hat over the glass,

you lift both the hat and the glass and the small
picture of Santa Claus reappears (Figure 3).
The secret is in the glass, although the audience

does not realize this.
1. You must prepare he glass ahead of time. Glue
or paste a circular white paper disk to the top
of the glass.Trim the edgesof the paper so that
it does not extend beyond the rim of the glass
(Figure 4). When the glass is turned upside
down on another piece of white paper the paper
disk becomes nvisible.
l8
2 . Glu e a p ie ce o f
red construction
paper in the shape
o f a co n e . Ad d
a strip of white
paper to the bot-
'--.-,-/ tom of the cone
ffiEwrt rr,iitjiiK:iiz;- a n d a b a ll o f
':dz co t t o n t o t h e
E: .,
Za':ii,1:i. ",];'ii\:
'r-Diti;l j$'
point to make a
Santa Claus hat.
This hat should be
big enough to just
cover the glass.
3 . D ra w a sma ll
picture of Santa
Claus on a piece
of paper smaller
than the top of
the glass.
19
?<EWWTffiffiTT
You will see that when you place the glass with
the paper disk over the small picture of Santa
Claus, the picture immediately vanishes because
it is coveredby the white paper disk pasted over
the mouth of the glass. The cone-shaped Santa
Claus hat over the glass hides the paper disk as
you pick up the glass. When you lift the glass
(with the Santa Claus hat) from the paper again,
the small picture of Santa reappears.
20
e{#W EY E-eL>K*q
Show a mysterious-looking card of Christmas
symbols to your audience. Then, without
letting the audience see what you are writing,
write a prediction on a piece of paper, fold it,
and put it on a table in full view of the
audience.
2l
Ask a volunteer to call out a number from I to
16. Hand
Ask him tohim
turntJre
thecard
cardofsoChristmas s5nnbols.
that the Christmas
tree with his number on it is at the top of the
card. Starting at the top, have him count the
symbols from left to right, top row to bottom
row-just as he would read a book-until he
counts to his number. After he sees the symbol
he landed on, have him read the prediction you
wrote down at the beginning of the trick. You
have correctly predicted
land on, even though youthehad
symbol he would
no idea which
number he would choose.
E4eW Teee.ewEET
For this trick, you will need a pencil, a piece of
paper, and the card of Christmas symbols (Figure
1). Trace the card of Christrnas symbols or redraw
it exactlv as shown.
22
5/28/2018
6
002-ChristmasMagic-JamesW.Baker -slidepdf.com
23
ry@qwT@ffiTT
The
that card of Christmas
all 1-6symbols looksymbols is No
different. designed so
one will
notice that four of the symbols-although not
exactly the same-are Christmas ornaments. When
you make your prediction write "You will choose
Christmas ornaments" on the slip of paper. No
matter what number is chosen from L to 16 the
volunteer will always land on one of the four
symbols of Christmas ornaments.
24
=-/>-+=
// T---1-"';
ti . -/ :
eqow ETrceE<F
You place your hand flat on a table, palm
down, and slide eight or ten Christmas cards
underneath your palm. You then wave a ma€iic
Christmas wand and slowly lift the hand with
the Christmas cards under it. The cards rise
with your hand, defying gravity.
E<ew TffiM.AWzET
1. You will
magic need to wand
Christmas makeby
a
rolling some rather stiff
flry( -," Christmas wrapping paper
around a pencil and taping it
in place (Figiure 1). Remove
the pencil.
2. You will also need eight or
ten Christmas cards,a tooth-
pick, is
what and a ring
loose that finger.
on your some-
ryewT#ffiTT
1. Secretly slide the toothpick
under your ring on the palm
side. Slidethe first two Christ-
mas cards under your hand
and above the toothpick to
secure them (Figure 2).
26
2. Slide the rest of the Christmas cards between

your hand and the first two cards.
3. When you have slid all of the cards under your
hand, slowly raise your hand, palm down. The
cards will rise, clinging to your hand as if by
magic. Next, slowly lower your hand to the table
and remove the Christmas cards one by one.
4. Ask someone in the audience to examine the
cards. While attention is focused on the Christ-
mas cards, casually put your hand in your pocket
and get rid of the toothpick.
e(aw ETLeoE{s
Show a letter-size envelope to the audience and
then seal it. With a pair of scissors, snip off the
two ends. After showing a Christmas tree of
green construction paper to the audience, push
it into one end of the envelope until the top of
the tree emerges from the other end. You then
apparently cut the envelope and the tree inside
in half, but when the Christmas tree is pulled
out, it is obviously uncut.
28
T<epw T&MAT7FT
1. Before you present this trick, and unknown to

the audience, cut two slits in the back of the
envelope (Figure 1).
.frgwrt " 2 stfR-catn

?backaf,eftaelofle
- irly -<-)
2. You will also need to make a

long, thin Christmas tree out
of green construction paper
(Fi gure 2). It woul d be a
good idea to glue two pieces
together so the tree is stiff.
Make sure that it is not too
wide to go through the two
;frgate
slits in the envelope.
29
;ftgrwre3.
./az 4 o | ( \
(w@qleMrils alew)
E<eWT@@@z-u\ endssnfujedof
1. Show the envelope,seal t, and snip off the -7two
ends (F.igure 3).
2. Insert the Christmas tree in the envelope.Make
sure it comes out of one slit and goesback in the
other instead of going straight through.
;frgwre
30
3. When you cut the envelope in half, bend the

insert the scissors between the
envelope
Christmasand
tree and the envelope so that the tree
remains undamaged (Figfure 4 and Figlure 5)'
Practice this in front of a mirror until you are
certain the audience cannot see the tree as you
cut the envelope.
(wngicfu^ ierQ
scissorsnseiel gn,lg Clorfstrwasree
31
e$jw EF E-&&Lu**
You put a Christmas card, a Christmas orna-
ment, and a Christmas candle on a table and
invite a volunteer from the audience to touch
one of the objects while you are out of the roorn.
When you return, you take the person's hand
and say something like "Please concentrate on
the item you touched." Close your eyes. "I am
beginning to pick up your thoughts." You open
your eyes and touch the object that she touched
while you were out of the room.
.to
E<ew TeM,ewEET
Fbr this trick, you will need a Christmas
card,
an ornament, a candle, and the secret described
below.
ryCaryT@@err
A confederate is what magicians call a friend who
helps you with the trick unknown to the audience.
(Note: As a magician, the occasional use of a
confederate is all right, but you should not over-
use this method, or your audience might suspect
that you always use a confederate.) In this trick,
your friend, the confederate, signals to you which
is the proper object.
1. He touches his left ear if the selected object is
to his left.
2.He touches his right ear if the selected object
is to his right.
3. If the object that was touched is in the center,
he doesn't touch either ear.
hdgw E{ E#eE<*q
Tell a story something like "It was Christmas
time. One farnily in town was too poor to buy a
Christmas tree. Along came a rnagician who
created a magiical Christmas tree for them from
a roll of old newspapers." As you tell the story,
show a batch of old newspapers all rolled up.

With a pair of scissors, make four cuts in one
end of the roll. Pull the center of the news-
papers up to form a "Christmas tred'that is over
six feet (2 m) tall.
.1+
5/28/2018
E<evw T&MAWEET
Paste seven full sheets

six or together end-to-
of newspaper
end to make one long strip of
newspaper.Roll this long strip
loosely into a tube abou t two -fu*r
inches(5 cm)in diameter.P ut f-inch ctils
a rubber band around each
end of the tube to keep it from
unrolling (Figure 1).
40aryTe@@TT
1. As you tell the story from
rubber
the section on HOW IT
banr{
LOOKS, take the rubber
band off the top of the roll

of newspapers.
2. With the scissors, make 3ftgure2"
four six-inch (15-cm)cuts n
the top of the roll (Fig3ure ).
35
5/28/2018 3. Bend the torn parts over,
letting them fall outside

the tube (Figlure3).
4. Reach nside the tube with
your fingers and slowly pull
up the center coils a little
at
of anewspapers
time, holding the roll
steady as
you do. Gradually work the
center of the coil up and up
until you havea "Christmas
tree" that is about six feet
(2 m) high (Figlure4).
lfrgwre
-.'::a -li_, /
e{ow ET l{,#4>,<6'<-i -t-"'' ".-'t '
trlace pictures of a Christmas tree, a snowrnan,
a Christmas candle, and a Christmas ornament
on a large picture of Santa Claus. Have a vol-
unteer from the audience select one of the

four pictures. When the volunteer turns the
large picture nf Santa over, she finds ttrat Santa
Claus had predicted ahead of time which of
the four pictures she would select"
5/28/2018 z<ew T#M.ArcEET 002-ChristmasMagic-JamesW.Baker -slidepdf.com
1. Santa
For thisClaus
trick, on
youa will
pieceneed to draw a picture
of construction of
paper
(Figure 1). The picture should be at least eight
inches (20 cm) high. On the back of the Santa
Claus, print: "Ho. Ho. Ho. I knew you would
pick the snowman. Santa Claus."
38
5/28/2018 2. From white paper or
002-ChristmasMagic-JamesW.Bakermake
cardboard, four little
-slidepdf.com
round disks about two inches (5 cm) across.On

one draw a Christmas tree, on another a snow-
man, on the third a Christmas candle, and on
the last a Christmas ornament (Figurc2).
kq@wwTewTT
1. Place the picture of Santa Claus on the table,
making sure no one sees what is written on
2. the
Mix back.
up the four round pictures and place one
on each of Santa'seyes, one on his mouth, and
one on the ball at the end of his cap. It doesn't
matter which one goes where.
5/28/2018 the volunteer
002-Christmas to select
Magic-James thb snow-
W.Baker -slidepdf.com
way you tell her what to do.

her pick up any two of th round
the two pictures she picks is the

remove the other two ictures
aside, saying "We won't these."

the volunteer to hand eof
s she picked up.
vou the snow
iscard the ot
u turn over t
ith one hand and
in the other.
c. If she hands vou the
that one aside with the ot

pictures and say, "Fine That
the snowman." Then vou turn
of Santa Claus. Either way, San
correctly predicted the snowman.
40
4. On the other hand, if the volunteer does not

pick up the snowman when you ask her to
pick up any two pictures, follow these steps'
a. You say, "OK, we'll get rid of these," as you
set the two pictures that she picked up aside.
Then you have the volunteer pick up the other
two pictures-one of them being the snowman-
and hand one to you.
b. If she hands you the snowman, You tell her
to discard the other picture. Then you turn over
Santa Claus with one hand, holding the snow-
man in the other hand.
c. If she hands you the other picture, set it
aside and say, "Fine That leaves you with the
snowman." Then you turn over the picture of
Santa Claus to reveal his prediction. Either
way, Santa Claus has correctly predicted the
snowman"
4T
42
e<OwaTseeE<x
Tell a story something like "TWo magicians
had two daughters, Holly and Misfletoe. These
parents loved their daughters equally and
always tried to treat them equally as well. One
Christmas, after all the presents were wrapped,
the magicians discovered they had six presents
for one daughter and only four for the other."
You show the audience a picture of presents to
illustrate this. "Being magicians, the par-
ents knew how to solve the problem." You then
demonstrate what they did. With a pair of scis-
sors, cut the picture and rearrange the pieces.
"Now, instead of six presents of one kind and
four of ttre other, there are five of one kind and
five of the other. Magically, the two dau$hters
are treated equally''
43
x-<evw &AuArcEET
In Figure I you see that there are L0 presents
in the picture, six of one kind (the dark ones)
and four of another kind (the light ones). Every
time you do the trick, trace Figure I or redraw
it exactly as shown. You will also need a pair
of scissors.
44
5/28/2018
ruewTe@@TT 002-ChristmasMagic-JamesW.Baker -slidepdf.com
1. Tell the story about the magicians and their

two daughters. As you show the picture, point
out that there are six dark presents and four
light ones.
2. With a pair of scissors, cut the picture into
three pieces A, B, and C) along the horizontal
and vertical lines.
3. Rearrange the three pieces by switching piece
A and piece B.
4. Now count the presents. You will find that,
magically, there are now five dark presents and
five light ones. Even you, the magician, might
not know how this happened.
45
5/28/2018 TRICKS ORBETTERMAGIC002-ChristmasMagic-JamesW.Baker -slidepdf.com
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 vou
thoroughly understand it.

2. Practice the trick alone or in front of a mirror
until you feel comfortable doing the trick, then
present it to an 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
vou did it the second time around.
9. Thke your magic seriously, but not yourself.
Have fun with magic and your audience will
have fun along with you.
47
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
5/28/2018 James W. Baker, a magician
002-Christmas forW.over
Magic-James Baker -30 years, has
slidepdf.com
performed as "Mister Mystic" in hospitals, orphanages, and
schoolsaround the world. He isa memberof the International
Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American
Magicians, and is author of. Illusions lllustrated, a magic
book for young performers.
From 1951 o 1963, Baker was a reporter for The Richmond
(VA) News Leader. From 1963 to 1983, he was an editor
with the
D.C., U.S.
India, Information
Turkey, Agency,
Pakistan, living in Washington,
the Philippines, and Tunisia,
and traveling in 50 other countries. Today Baker and his
wif e , E la in e , liv e in Willia ms b u rg , V irg in ia , wh e re h e
performs magic and writes for the local newspaper, The
Vir{inia Gazette.
ABOUT THE ARTIST

George Overlie is a talented artist who has illustrated
numerous books. Born in the small town of Rose Creek.
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

Christmas Magic James W Baker

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THolidqlr Aaqg ic A3oo/<

Copyright O 1988 y Lerner PublicationsCompany

This book is available in two editions:

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

around so she can't see what you are doing. The

you are ready to perform this baffling trick.

pieces. Have one volunteer from the audience

find the slip of paper marked "Santa Claus."

You reach into the bag with tJle ornament in your

hand and bring out one of the three slips of paper.

2. Hand the center piece (with two rough edges)

to a volunteer from the audience and tell him

picture of Santa Claus (Figure 1).

You say the magic

Good Noel- and

Again placing the Santa Claus hat over the glass,

The secret is in the glass, although the audience

Ask a volunteer to call out a number from I to

2. Slide the rest of the Christmas cards between

1. Before you present this trick, and unknown to

.frgwrt " 2 stfR-catn

2. You will also need to make a

3. When you cut the envelope in half, bend the

show a batch of old newspapers all rolled up.

Paste seven full sheets

band off the top of the roll

letting them fall outside

unteer from the audience select one of the

round disks about two inches (5 cm) across.On

way you tell her what to do.

the two pictures she picks is the

aside, saying "We won't these."

that one aside with the ot

4. On the other hand, if the volunteer does not

1. Tell the story about the magicians and their

Here are some simple rules you should keep in

thoroughly understand it.

ence will respect you much more if you do not

have fun along with you.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

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