Billy Blockhead
By Jim Gerrish By Wiz Kid Marquise

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, or better yet, pay them money to work for you. Like Spellbinder in his Blendo Ropes, I was making a new version of a Jimmy King Vanishing Block trick, when Wiz Kid Marquise stepped in and began adding his two cents here and there. Pretty soon his ideas were taking over the effect, so like Spellbinder, I stepped aside and let him do it his way.

Effect:

“Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Get ready to see with your own eyes the most daring, fearless, trapeze artist in the entire circus world! Here he is, a chip off the old block, Billy Blockhead!”

Playing the part of a circus barker, Wiz Kid Marquise introduces the little wooden block. The block is first tied onto a rope and set to swing out over a safety net. Suddenly the block penetrates the rope and falls safely into the net. Next, Billy Blockhead is hypnotized into believing he can disappear. He hides inside his circus trailer (looking suspiciously like the 1965 Jimmy King Vanishing Block Box, but newly made with a few enhancements). But poor Billy only thinks he has disappeared. The kids can see him inside the trailer. Then Billy tries hiding behind the sliding doors. Finally, he makes a last effort and vanishes from the box, leaving only a silken banner that says "Look in the Net!"

The kids figure out the meaning of Billy's "note" and he is discovered back in the safety net.

Includes construction plans for the revised block, circus trailer, and the safety net.

(7/23/08) Billy Blockhead just got better! Jim Gerrish and Wiz Kid Marquise have been working together to improve the routine each time it is performed. Their new extension includes the appearance of Betsy Blockhead, who has her own bit of magic to perform. Then the little Blockheads begin to make appearances from Marquise's Plush Top Hat. More and more, faster and faster, until he dumps out a whole laundry basket full of little Blockheads for the finale.

Wiz Kid Qua-Fiki demos a short routine with Billy Blockhead

Back to Wizards' Journal #16 Contents - Back to All Journals Contents - Back to The Magic Nook