Just an Echo

The effect is begun with a few casual remarks about echoes. The audience is surprised and somewhat skeptical when informed that an echo exists not only after a sound has been made, but also before. To substantiate this claim, the performer offers to make a note of a few of the echoes that are now floating around the room, waiting for a sound to give them life.

He takes from his pocket a calling card, and has someone initial the printed side of it for later identification. On the blank side of this he then begins to write, pausing impressively at intervals so that he may have a varied collection of the choicest echoes in the room. This card is then sealed in a small coin envelope and two persons asked to initial the sealed ends.

The performer then asks someone to take a bill from his pocket and read aloud the serial number. This is written on a borrowed business card, the sealed envelope being used as a rest for it. Next, someone calls out about ten letters of the alphabet. (I've been getting a laugh lately by asking someone for his Social Security number.) Four single digits, supplied by four different persons, are now written in a column and added. The envelope is then placed to one side, well out of the reach of any curious person who may wish to examine it.

The business card with all the numbers and letters is now handed to one of the audience, and that favored gentleman is formally invited to act as secretary for the remainder of the performance. Someone now shuffles a deck of cards and selects one. Its name is written on the business card by the secretary. The performer then asks the audience for the name of an automobile, and “Ford V-8” is noted on the card.

After a brief recapitulation of the main points thus far, the performer takes up the envelope, produces a scissors, and permits the one who signed his initials first to snip an end off, reach in, and withdraw the card. The original signature is on the card and identified, and the number, letters, etc., are of course identical with those on the card held by the secretary. The envelope is then cut in half, and the persons who signed the ends permitted to retain the halves as souvenirs. Thus, everything used in the mystery is left with the audience, with the exception of the pencil.