My pal Steve McCarthy sent this picture of the old CBS Radio newsroom, circa 1981, and it brought to mind a magic trick I used to do with those big rolls of paper you see on the wire machines (now, alas, defunct). I describe this trick in detail in my historical novel, The Escape Artist, which is based on Houdini's tour of Russia in 1903. Even at that time these same rolls were used in typewriters.
The rolls were made three-ply, so a roll of carbon paper fit in between two rolls of copy paper. Thus, everything printed would have an automatic copy. But sometimes the rolls seemed to be wound "inside-out." What to do? Until I taught this magic trick to my bosses at CBS News, the usual practice had been to throw out the deficient rolls and get new ones. But using magic was a much quicker, and more fun, solution!
In the scene that follows, Harry has just been enlisted as a spy by the U.S. acting ambassador to Russia, John Wallace Riddle, and President Theodore Roosevelt's right-hand-man, William Loeb, Jr.:
Harry smiled as the coffee tray was brought in. The waiter coughed politely and said to Consul-General Riddle: "Sir, if you would. There seems to be a rather curious problem out in the office. The office manager didn't want to disturb you, but when he saw me coming in he asked me to request your advice."
John Wallace Riddle, Acting U.S. Ambassador to Russia
"What do you mean?" asked Riddle.
"One of those giant carbon paper rolls, sir. It's all – inside-out, I guess. You need to take a look, sir."
"After this meeting," Riddle said curtly.
"We're done here, Riddle," said Loeb. "Houdini will report to you and you to me. You can go ahead. In fact, let's all walk out together."
William Loeb, Jr., President Theodore Roosevelt's private secretary
Loeb, Riddle and Harry followed the waiter into an anteroom, and then into a large office, where a giant three-ply roll of paper was lying on the floor partially unrolled. Perplexed office workers were standing around it, scratching their heads and making vague suggestions accompanied by hesitant body english.
"What's the trouble?" said Riddle.
"Sir, take a look," said the office manager, a junior diplomat with a pencil moustache. "This is one of our carbon-paper rolls, and we were about to thread it into a typewriter when we noticed it was wound all wrong. See, it's supposed to be a three-ply roll, all rolled onto a central cylinder. A continuous sheet of paper on the front, then a continuous sheet of carbon paper in between, and another continuous sheet of regular paper on the back, which becomes the copy."
"Well?"
"Well, you see, sir – this is wound incorrectly. The carbon sheet is on the outside, then the two sheets of plain paper are touching each other. So no carbon copy can be made."
Riddle looked and saw what the man was saying. "As you say – the whole thing is wound wrong. So what are you going to do about it?"
"That's the question. Should we unwind the entire roll – and each roll is the equivalent of two reams of paper, a thousand sheets – then line them up correctly and then try to rewind them back onto the spool? Or should we return them to the manufacturer, which would mean a very long delay in being able to make copies of our vital correspondence?"
"You see the kind of thing a consul-general has to deal with?" Riddle said to Loeb, with a jocular smile. "We got these rolls thinking we would save a lot of time and money. And now it's going to end up costing both!"
Harry took a good look at the paper cylinder. He realized he was looking at a real-life version of the old carnival "belt trick" that had been fooling suckers for centuries.
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| Harry Houdini c. 1900 |
"Sir, if I may," said Harry. "I think I can fix this problem, just by using a little magic."
Riddle laughed. "Houdini, save it for the palace."
"Seriously, Mr. Riddle. Let me try something."
"Well, okay, give it a whirl."
"I'll need some kind of blanket or cloth covering. Have you got something like that?"
One of the workers fetched a large throw rug.
"That should do it," Harry said. "Now...."
He went to the roll of paper, inspected it carefully, tugged a bit at the ends of the paper and the carbon. Throwing the rug over it, he made several magical passes and said: "In the names of Zebedee and Abitibi, I command you to put yourself right."
He slowly pulled the rug off the roll and unrolled about two feet of paper. Miraculously, the entire roll had rewound itself. It was all perfectly smooth, machine-wound, exactly as it was supposed to be. Harry further unrolled the end and pulled a perfect "sandwich" of copy paper: two paper layers, with the carbon in-between.
"May God protect the United States of America," Harry said, with a mock salute, as he left an openmouthed Riddle, a slackjawed Loeb and a raft of incredulous junior diplomats looking down at the paper, then back at him, while he, with the precision of the practiced vaudevillian, made his exit.
(Images via Google Images and Steve McCarthy)
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