Soup Plate and Handkerchiefs

This trick was a favorite of Buatier DeKolta, a famous magician of days gone by.

To DeKolta's original version, Servais LeRoy, prominent magician, added interesting “wrinkles” and used the experiment on his programs for a long time. A number of years ago, Eugene Laurant became fascinated with LeRoy's clever handling of the soup plate and handerchiefs. He varied the effect a little and added it to his program, where it has been a popular number ever since.

Almost every modern magician has had this interesting effect in one of its many versions in his repertoire. EFFeCT:

Performer places a piece of folded newspaper on the seat of a chair and on this an empty soup plate, bottom up.

He picks up two silk handkerchiefs, rolls them up in his hands, and causes them to vanish. Suddenly he lifts up the soup plate-and there, under it, are the two handkerchiefs.