DISCONTINUED Mary's Notebox
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Mary`s Note Box by Keith Arlen Lack Effect: The performer relates the following story: "There once lived a young woman named Mary who kept a small jewelry box under a tree at the end of the long road which led to her house. Mary lived during the times just following the Civil War." The performer displays a small wooden jewelry box with a lid on top tied with a ribbon, and sets the box on the table. The story continues: "Mary had a twin sister, Anna. Mary, it seems had a true love and every afternoon she would travel down the long road to place a love note into the box under the tree for her fancy. Little did she know that her twin sister also loved the same boy, and would follow Mary to the box, then secretly destroy the notes and place her own inside. Every night, the boy would check the box only to find Anna`s notes. After some time, the boy decided that Mary loved him no longer and was overcome by Anna`s words of love. The boy and Anna were soon wed one fine spring day, leaving Mary to grow into a lonely, old spinster. So heart-broken was Mary that she took her own life later that year. One day, soon after Mary`s death, Anna found a note inside that little box under the tree...it was from Mary. The note explained that she knew what Anna had done, but by the time she had found out it was too late. It went on to state that life without her true love was not worth living and therefore Mary had ended her life. Mary`s note further explained that Anna would now have to live with herself and what she had done to here only sister for the rest of her life. Upon finding the note, Anna immediately destroyed it as she had all the others. When Anna went to check the box the following day, she found the same note penned in her dead sister`s hand. Franticly, she destroyed the second note only to find that it would appear in the little box day after day after day until it finally drove her insane and in the end Anna, like her sister, took her own life.Curiously, Mary`s notes stopped appearing after Anna`s death but the little box was found to be anything but ordinary. The little note box was handed down through the sister`s family over the years until it ended up in my keeping. And I find it to be quite curious indeed. Let me demonstrate."The magician then aska a spectator to write something on a small piece of paper, anything at all. Once done, the folded paper is handed to the performer and lit on fire by the spectator. The viewers actually see the note destroyed right in front of their eyes. Once the paper is nothing but ash, the magician picks up some of the ash and sprinkles them over the little note box. He picks up the box that has been in plain sight all along and asks a spectator to untie the ribbon and remove the lid. Once opened, the spectator`s note is seen inside! The box is then tipped over and the contents poured into the spectator`s hand. Once unfolded, the spectator is amazed to find that it is their original note as they penned it just moments earlier! "I guess that Mary is still around after all, explains the magician."This fine gimmicked box is hand made out of Italian Poplar and finished in ebony. Gold leaf vinyl graphs adorn the front and back of the box.Comes with enough parchment paper to perform the effect many times (icluded instructions also explain where to find more or customize the gimmick for use with different paper).
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Arlen Studio
