Gardner, Martin: Over the Coffee Cups
©1949 1st Edition, Montandon Magic
Paper, stapled, 43 pages

Available as an e-book from Lybrary.com
Over
              the Coffee Cups
Image courtesy eBay seller MagicCastleLibrary

Comment: A fun book with lots of table stunts, gags, and some impromptu-style tricks. "To the Chicago Round Table Gang"

Contents: (numbers are not original page numbers)

2 Introduction: by Martin Gardner

3 Sugar Cubes
3 Cube Levitation: one sugar cube lifts another
3 Steady Hands: a bar stunt
3 Five Cube Pick-Up: another betcha
3 Mysterious Initials: initials on sugar cube transfer to spectator's hand
3 Sugar Penetration: impromptu sugar cube through hand into coffee cup
3 Hand To Hand: bold move has cube in left hand joining cube in right
3 Cubes, Papers, And Coin: yet another betcha stunt

4 Folding Money
4 Tender And Private: an 'adult' bill stunt
4 Striking Match on Bill: strike a 'light anywhere' match on a bill
4 Vanishing Creamer: vanishing glass and newspaper done with creamer cup and dollar bill
4 Berland's Vanishing Bill: two bills are clearly shown and one vanished
4 Mushroom, Key and States: some clever facts about US currency (old)
4 Valuable Paper Wad: Folding a fiver to look like blank paper wad
4 Indestructible Bill: Setting a bill on fire without it burning up
4 Paper to Bill: paper ball changes into a bill

5 Silverware
5 Balancing Knife and Spoon: a stunt
5 Catching the Salt: catching salt on a knife blade (impromptu)
5 Cross of Knives: betcha holding two knives in a cross formation
5 Rotating Knife: spinning a fork and knife, and incorporating into a card trick
5 Diver in the Spoon: a cute stunt with a spoon

6 Paper Matches
6 Floating Match: a lit match floats behind the fingers
6 Grasshopper Matches: how to make a match jump
6 Blowing out the Match: several amusing ways of extinguishing a match
6 Happy Birthday: a simple stunt with matches
6 Have a Light: lit match suspends on finger
6 Kiddie Kar: practical joke
6 Rocket Matches: miniature rocket match (playing with fire!)
6 Match Penetration--1: two matches held at fingertips; one penetrates the other
6 Match Penetration--2: optical illusion
6 Mike and Ike: two matches rise and fall in bottle of water
6 The Three Bears: another practical joke
6 Doc Zola's Magnet Routine: clever gimmicked setup allows matches to penetrates playing cards
6 The Hobo's Prayer: penny to dime using above setup
6 Match Head Amputation: head ripped from a match is restored

7 Napkins
7 Phantom Napkin: a 'hole' is made in the middle of a cloth napkin
7 Spooky Monkey Business: a silly gag
7 Saucy Old Lady: impromptu a toothless woman puppet
7 Stretching the Napkin: quick way to 'stretch' a cloth napkin
7 Lemon Bug: a stunt with a lemon
7 Pull Apart Napkins: two entwined napkins are easily pulled apart

8 Cigars
8 Rising Cigar Wrapper: magician causes cigar wrapper to move
8 Jumping Cigar Band: finger illusion
8 Indian Gift: apparently give a man a cigar, but he doesn't have it
8 Cigar Antics: a few gags

9 Coins
9 Sixteen Coin Puzzle: challenge puzzle
9 Three Stunts with a Dime: three gags
9 Spinning the Half Dollar: with a straw
9 Sucker Bet: a 35 cent bet
9 Penny Puzzle: interesting penny fact
9 Try this on your Ham Sandwich: half dollar penetrates a ham sandwich

10 Glasses
10 I. Q. Test for Waitresses: how to empty an upside down glass
10 Brim to Brim: two puzzles with inverted glass over glass
10 Problem of the Six Glasses: liquid puzzle
10 The Pyramid: pulling napkins from stacked glasses
10 Penny Game: napking, penny, and cigarette game
10 Cross of Pepper: only magician can make a cross out of pepper in a glass of water
10 Match, Nickel, and Glass: betcha
10 Glass and Check: get the bill out from under cup without dropping coin

11 Cigarettes
11 Fireproof Fingers: holding the tip of a lit cigarette
11 Ear Inhale: visual gag
11 Cigarette Pack Gags: 5 gags for cigarette packs (old)
11 Jugglery: face juggling a cigarette
11 Smoke Rings: from a cigarette pack
11 Vanishing Smoke: removing the smoke from an empty whiskey bottle
11 Jumping and Rising Cigarette: cig rises out of pack
11 Buck Teeth: a silly gag

12 Miscellaneous
12 Handkerchief Escape: handkerchief penetrates spectator's finger
12 Stirring Stick Movies: paddle move "movie"
12 Catching the Check: betcha who pays the bill
12 Swizzle Stick Gags: using light refraction
12 Knuckle Popping: cracking your knuckles
12 The Fifty Sponge Balls: a quick sponge ball routine with multiple ball climax
12 Up the Scale: musical straw
12 Financial Spectacles: another gag
12 Mental Prediction: sometimes it misses...
12 Crazy Crackers: horizontal line goes vertical
12 Schoke's Wise Cracker: betcha with a soda cracker
12 Thumb Tip Quickie: visual stunt
12 Sailor and the Doughnut: a joke
12 Ring Vanish: finger ring vanishes under a handkerchief
12 Between the Teeth: yet another silly gag



Previous