Blackstone Detective - Vanishing Pearls

0:00The Magic Detective, starring the world's greatest magician, Blackstone. He tells you the inside story of the vanishing pearls. Right after the story, Blackstone will explain tricks that you yourself can perform. Reveal the guarded secrets of the world's greatest living magician. And now, stand by for Blackstone, the Magic Detective.

1:08There's another one. Quick catch it, Rhoda. No, I've got it. There goes a little bowl with the edit. How many help with their Rhoda? Four. And I'll get a couple more. Why don't you start on your doing waving that fish bowl around Blackstone? He's fishing, Don. Oh, don't give me any of that. He's standing right in the middle of the room. He's not fishing. There's nothing around him, but air. You ought to know by now, Don Hancock. The Blackstone is a very unusual man. Anybody can catch fish in water. That's simple. But I catch fish out of the air. Look, I think you do all kinds of tricks, but this is too much. Oh, I see. A doubting comment, huh? Catch a fish for him, Blackstone. All right. Here goes. There. I got him. Why? Why, it's a goldfish. Your live goldfish. What was I telling you? Pick it, Rhoda. Put him in the bowl with the others. No, I got him. There. See, Don? There are five fish in this bowl now, and Blackstone cups them all. Let's catch another one, Blackstone. I'm going to keep my eyes on the bowl, all right?

2:10How do you like this one, Don? Great. Got another one, and you didn't take it from the bowl, either. Of course you didn't. You're doing aerial fishing. Well, how do you do it, Blackstone? Uh-uh. No, no, Don. That's magic. Oh, you mean it's another of the magician's secrets, but you won't explain. That's right. Well, it's quite a trick. It certainly is. Telling about the time you used it to trap a thief, Blackstone. Well, there's a story connected with it? Yes, there is, Don. A Mrs. Fitzroyal asked me to perform at a party she was giving out of that country pay. Rhoda and I got there a little early, so we could run through the eggs. And after we were through the rehearsal, we were sitting out in the patio. There was a fishing pond in the center of the cauldron, and Rhoda was tossing bits of food in there. My, these fish are hungry. Look at the way they snap up these bits of bread. There are rare species of carp, Rhoda, and they're kept hungry on purpose. Why? That seems sort of mean. As a matter of fact, it isn't. They're healthier when they're on the face. Oh, admiring.

3:10Oh, I caught this bread? Yes, I was, Mrs. Fitzroyal. They're lovely. I'm very fond of them. They're rare variety. I'm posthummed. Oh. Who are those men over there carrying that apparatus into the house? It looks like an X-ray machine. Is somebody else? Oh, no. Nothing like that. They're testing my toes. Testing your pearls? What do you mean? It was a few years ago my husband gave me a pearl necklace, and I never had it in short. Silly of me, I know, but my husband always attended to that sort of thing. If he died shortly after giving me the pearls, I had just let it fly. But what does an X-ray machine got to do with ensuring the pearls? You're trying to find out if the pearls are real or cultured, isn't that it? Yes. A cultured pearl, Rhoda, is made by inserting a tiny bit of oyster shell into the oyster. The pearl forms around it. Under an X-ray machine, the bit of oyster shell will show up. Oh, and real pearls haven't got that little speck in the center. And that's right. I have no idea of what my husband pays for the pearls.

4:11Always assumed they were real, but the insurance company wants proof. Well, you can't blame them when you consider a difference in value. You're only about $45,000 at least. Oh, that's some difference. It says it is. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, we're ready now to make the test. Thank you, Benton. Miss Benton, my secretary, Benton. How do you do it? This is a blackstone, Miss Benton. How do you do things like that, I know you. Would you be interested in watching the test, Miss Beckstone? Thank you. I'd love to. Let's go in, shall we? May I have the pearls, Mrs. Fitzroy? Here you are. Oh, fine, they're beautiful. I'll put them here under the machine. And now, if you turn out the lights, please, Miss Brent. The switch is over there by the door. And Mr. Blackstone, will you please draw the curtain?

5:12What a beautiful view the patio seems ashamed to draw the shade. Thank you. Now I'll put the pearls in this tiny spot of light. Oh, look. They're absolutely perfect. There isn't a single spec in any of them. Your husband was right, Mrs. Fitzroy. Those are genuine pearls. There's no mistake about that. Look at that hand in the light. Somebody's grabbed the pearls. The pearls are gone. Lights roted. Turn on the lights. I'll open the curtains. Someone in this room has those pearls. Oh, they're gone. Well, there's a man coming over the patio wall. Oh, let's go after him. Stay here. Call the servants and have them go after him. We must be searched. Jason, Steven, come here. Somebody bumped into me as I was going over the door. It switched the lights on. I don't know who it was, but it... But no one left the room, Rhoda. Somebody did bumped into me, though. I swear. Someone could have entered the room after the lights went out, I suppose. Yeah, and so on the pearls and made it get away before the lights went back on. Is that man the bet we saw? Would that definitely be our trophy or maybe it's the Blackstone? The servants are hunting the grounds now. They'll probably catch the power too.

6:13Oh, so... Oh, so... Have they caught him, Blackstone? Did the servants find any trace of him? Not a sign of him and they searched everywhere. I can't quite convince myself that there ever was such a fellow. I keep feeling we would have noticed the door opening. But we were so intent on looking at the pearls. True, true. We know that none of us though, the matter of that searching we all went through. Will you... Will you have a couple of teens back then? Oh, thank you, thank you very much. And... A sandwich? Thank you. You're supposed to eat that sandwich, Blackstone, and not feed it to the car. Oh, I am sorry. I was thinking... Rude. I have it. Well, what do you mean? Get me that fishing rod for my equipment.

7:13Oh, what are you doing? Hurry, hurry. Okay, my... But I don't understand, Mr. Blackstone. Do you mean that you've discovered who stole my necklace? Here you are, boss. Thank you. I'm going to do a trick for you, Mrs. Desroyal. A very interesting trick. I'm afraid I'm not accepting the mood for tricks, Mr. Blackstone. I think you'll enjoy this one. I've hurled this fish line around my head like this. And then, best old... Out of the air, I've hooked a magic car. That's right, it's amazing. Bro, take the fish inside and show it to Mr. Desroyal under the X-ray machine. I'm going to get bent. I don't understand what you're driving at, Mr. Blackstone. I've found your toes, Mr. Desroyal. But I'm afraid you'll have to choose between them or your golden car. Well, where were Mrs. Desroyal's pearls, Blackstone? I don't understand what you're driving at, either. Do you remember that I accidentally started peeping bits of my sandwich through the car?

8:14Yes, I remember. The car that had been so ravenous a few minutes before wouldn't even nibble at the sandwich. They've eaten the pearls. What do you remember? I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. What do you mean? It's just that. Benton had stolen the pearls out from under the X-ray machine, broken the cord they were strung on, and tossed them into the fish ponds when he drew the curtain. And the fish were so hungry that they swallowed them. And under the X-ray machine, you could see the pearls? Exactly. But why Benton? Why did he suspect him? He was the only one of us to add a chance to get rid of the pearls before all we were searched. Oh, me darn. But how could you be sure that the carpets swallowed the pearls? You hadn't seen one of them under the X-ray machine. That was a long shot I had to take. But it worked. Certainly there. And there wasn't any other man? No. Benton bumped the interroder in the dark there, so that we'd think there had been another person in the room.

9:15And he did the only one who saw the stranger, saw him in his imagination of course. And anyway, there was no one else who would have stolen the pearls. Mrs. Fitzroyal wouldn't steal them from herself and blacked on an eye, certainly wouldn't. And so another mystery was solved by magic. I say, what's that glass of water doing there, black stone? Are you going to show us a trick with it? He ain't a way to get it. But what I really need for the trick is an ice cube. Oh, here's the whole trailer. Okay. And the ice pack ice cube coming up. No, that's a good one. Drop it in the glass, throw that. There you go. Notice that the glass is very nearly full, so the ice cube is floating almost at the top. Yes, I've noticed that. Why is it just to make the trick easier? Give it easy at all. Now, here's a piece of string about eight inches long. What are you going to do with it? Adjust it. I set the string across the glass, so that the string rests on the ice cube. With the end hanging over the sides of the glass? Yes. Now the trick is to take the end of the string and lick the ice cube right out of the glass.

10:17Well, how are you going to do that? You can't balance a cube of ice on the string. Oh, I know. Tire loop in the string, make a lasso, and snag the ice cube. No, rotor. You're going to leave the string just as it is. Then take the ends of it and lift the ice cube right out. About touching the ice cube with your fingers? Yes. Study that one for a few minutes, rotor. If you don't get it, I'll be back to explain it. Oh, you better be back. This is impossible. And now, Blackstone, make the impossible possible.

11:20You mean lift the ice cube with a piece of string? I mean just that, if you can do it. You think I can? Well. It's really very simple. Hand me that salt shake, rotor. Well, what are you going to do? Switch to another trick? No, I'm just going to sprinkle some salt on top of this ice cube. Like that. Well, what a talk I took away here? Well, it speeds the melting of the ice. Oh, yeah, I can see that. And the string begins to sink into the ice. Give it a little time. Sometimes in order better. Working very fast, this time. Oh, there it is. What good is that, though? Well, if you give the ice a few moments longer, it begins to harden again. After the effects of the salt wears off. We're doing that right now. Oh, I see now. What is it, order? The string is freezing itself into the ice. It's just about ready now, rotor. I take the ends of the string. I lift them slowly. And the ice cube comes up with the string. Right on the go. And I put it here on the table. And the trick is done.

12:22I hope you like that trick, ladies and gentlemen. And now, until next time, this is Blackstone saying good magic. And good time. Be with us next time. When the world's greatest living magician, Blackstone, tells us the story of the curse of the yogi and explains more tricks that you yourself can perform. Listen in again to Blackstone, the world's greatest living magician.