The Question Is (Willi Wessel Collection) by Alan Warner

For more details on Willi Wessel’s unique Alan Warner collection click here.

This is one of the smaller Alan Warner items but it is still effective with a simple, but convincing selection process and an amusing patter story. Even for his simpler items Alan still manages to squeeze a lot out of them. For example in this effect the spectator will remember that they were able to change their mind at the end (which is 100% true), but although there is still a force and a great multiple out at play the routine seems very straight forward and clean with nothing contrived.

Effect: The performer shows a spectator the perfectly plain reverse side of four wooden tablets and explains (without turning the tablets over) that on the other side of each of these tablets there is a symbol which is similar except for its colour. The spectator is then invited to make a selection from the tablets and given an opportunity to change his mind if he so desires. The chosen tablet, which the performer keeps face-down, is placed beside a small wooden box that is standing on his table. Picking up the box, the performer removes the lid and then replaces the box back on the table in front of the spectator’s chosen tablet.

In the bottom of the box there is a small square tablet, in the centre of which is a coloured spot. ‘The Question is,’ says the performer, ‘what connection is there between the coloured spot in the box and the tablet you have chosen?’ The performer then turns the chosen tablet over to reveal (a) that the coloured symbol on it is the top half of a question mark which has now been completed by the spot in the box, and (b) that BOTH HALVES OF THE QUESTION MARK MATCH IN COLOUR!

‘The question is,’ the performer now says to the spectator, ‘do you believe that the symbols on the other three tablets are in different colours and that you have achieved a magical colour match with the spot in the box, or are they all the same colour as the one you have selected? The performer then turns the three discarded tablets over to reveal that THE SYMBOL ON EACH ONE OF THEM IS A DIFFERENT COLOUR!

THE SPECTATOR CAN CHANGE HIS TABLET SELECTION AND YET THE CHOSEN SYMBOL AND THE SPOT IN THE BOX WILL ALWAYS MATCH IN COLOUR.

BEAUTIFUL HANDCRAFTED APPARATUS:

• The box is handcrafted in teak and measures approximately 5 x 5 cms.
• The wooden tablets, measuring 5 x 3.8 cms, have a coloured lacquered symbol representing the top half of a question mark cut into them.

Complete with a routine giving two presentations of the effect, the catch phrase, ‘The Question is’, being used constantly throughout both routines and making this a thoroughly entertaining and amusing effect.

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