Too Clever For My Own Good -

 

The Mak Magic Version of the Magic Tea Kettle

There is an aged old trick known as The Inexhaustible Bottle. There were also versions with Tea Kettles, Punch Bowls and more. The idea was that any drink called for would come forth from the object. It was a wonderful mystery, presented by Robert Houdin, Robert Heller, David Devant, Charles Hoffman and many others.

Then a version came along called simply, 'The Magic Tea Kettle'. I believe it was put out by MakMagic. In this rendition, several different colored liquids were poured out of the kettle and then it was opened to reveal a bunch of dry colored scarves. Honestly, a bit of a let down compared to the original, but with the selling point of 'no skill required' you get what you paid for.

As fate would have it, I got one of these things when I was a kid magician. And I"m not 100% sure it was mine, it may have been my little brothers who for the briefest of time was also into magic. At any rate, regardless of who owned it, not that great a trick.

Fast forward many years to the publication of The Conjuring Anthology by Jim Steinmeyer, and he has a version of the Magic Tea Kettle in the book. He first came up with a routine called Hospitality, which was sold as a separate manuscript. But this newer tea kettle had a very different method and you could pour real drinks, not colored water, from the kettle. I loved the idea and made one up. The trick was called The Accommodating Kettle, on pages 326-332.

As I recall, you could pour, milk, orange juice, cherry drink, lemonade and maybe more. But it began by opening the lid of the tea kettle and pouring in a bottle of soda. So to have this dark liquid go in and then all these different drinks come out, that was pretty impressive. AND you could pass out all the drinks to be verified they are what they are. The routine was based upon a pseudo psychological premise, and was really well constructed.

It all sounds good, right. Well, then I get this 'flash of brilliance' and I decide to add a kicker to the trick (which I will share in a moment). So I'm at a show, I'm doing THIS trick, I'm pouring out drinks, handing out the cups and letting people try them. In this case, because it was an audience of a lot of kids, I thought it best to give the cups to the adults, just to be safe. And each one verified the contents. THEN came the kicker, I poured the orange juice back into the spout and opened the lid...........I then poured out several live swimming goldfish. What a lovely ending I thought.....

UNTIL, I noticed one of the adults. Her eyes were wide as saucers, she was turning a bit green, and any second she would begin to projectile vomit! SHE thought she just drank, 'fish water', lol. I quickly explained, she was safe, everyone was safe, the fish NEVER came in contact with their drink. It took a moment to calm them down, and then they all had a very hearty laugh over it. But it was then that I realized, I was being too clever for my own good. The fish ending was scraped after that. But it made a fun story to share, and I hope you got a good laugh out of it.