Talk:Metamorphosis (illusion)

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So how is this one done? --ZeroOne 19:13, 5 September 2006 (UTC) I saw a programme that told me.

In the one I saw, the box was 'tied shut' (without a back and the assistant inside). The magician raised and then partially lowered the curtain twice (whilst flirting with his assistants), before raising it for real, and swapping with the assistant inside (who was already tied up in a big sack). After the first time he rose it, the assistant got out of the bag (which had a zip at the bottom) and pulled the box's lid partially off, and he stepped in with one foot. After the second time he put the other foot in. On the third time, he went all the way into the box, while the assistant got out, shut the lid and sat on top of the box. The curtain was lowered, and during the ensueing kerfuffle the magician got into the bag. (However, he did not zip it up.) His assistants opened the box and then untied the bag, and hey presto! the magician was in there. The magician stood up, but of course the unzipped zip could not be seen because of the walls of the box.

Jake95 18:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Problem - duplicate articles

There appear to be two seperate articles on Metamorphosis

• this article (Metamorphosis (illusion))

and

• Metamorphosis trick

These need to be merged into one. I will do this in a couple of days unless anyone comments otherwise. Circusandmagicfan 18:33, 11 March 2007 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan

[edit] Content moved from "Metamorphosis trick"

Subsequent to the above, I have now turned Metamorphosis trick into a redirect to this article. The texts of the two were very similar indeed (main difference was this article was slightly more recent and had section headings and a reference). The other main difference was the following text at the end of the other article, which I have moved here to talk rather into the body of the article.

Spoiler warning: The following section reveals a magic secret.

The Metamorphosis uses a device known as the substitution trunk, which has a secret panel that allows its occupant to sneak out. Having extricated himself from the sack in which he was tied, Houdini would climb out of the hidden door and crouch behind a curtain lifted by his wife. The two would quickly change places, Houdini appearing behind the curtain as Bess disappeared into the box. Bess would then emerge from the box and sack wearing a different costume.^{[citation needed]}

In a variation on this method which is slightly more easily performed, the sack is in fact an open tube of hessian attached at one end around a hole in the back panel of the trunk. The magician steps into the tube (which appears to be a normal sack sitting inside the open trunk), and the sack is chained or otherwise sealed. By this point, the magician has slid out the tube and is hiding behind the rear of the trunk. The trick proceeds as normal from this point, with the assistant entering the trunk via the back rather than the hidden hatch.^{[citation needed]}

I have placed the text here because it is not sourced and the publication of methods is contentious. My view is that methods should not be published without solid sourcing as per WP:Attribution - see WikiProject Magic talk page.

Circusandmagicfan 15:33, 14 March 2007 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan