The Right Way to Do Wrong Read Online Free PDF Page A

allow yourself to “go stale” on your act. Keep up your enthusiasm! There is nothing more contagious than exuberant enthusiasm, and it is sure to “get” an audience.
    A SIMPLE RELEASE
    This is perhaps the oldest release known to the Conjuring profession, the effect being to release the hands when they are tied behind the back in the ordinary way.
    Although simple it is by no means easy, and will require considerable practice in order to escape in the limited time allowed by impatient audiences, but it is avery necessary part of the escape artist’s education and should be thoroughly mastered.
    It is accomplished by bending the body forward and working the arms down over the hips until the hands are just behind the knees. This will seem impossible at the first trial, but keep at it and you will get the knack after a while. When the hands are in position back of the knees, sit down on the floor and cross the legs, the left above the right, work the left arm down over the left knee and withdraw the left foot and then the right from the looped arms. This brings the knotted wrists in front of the body and the knots may then be untied with the teeth.
    For this tie new sash cord should be used, for two reasons, first, because it is impossible to tie very tight knots with it, and second, because its smooth surface facilitates the slipping over the hips.
    THE CLOTHESLINE TIE
    This is a very showy tie, and is well adapted to close a rope act. About fifty or sixty feet of sash cord is used, and the statement that it is a seventy-five foot clothesline is never disputed.
    The whole secret lies in the fact that it is quite impossible to tie a man while in a standing position, with such a length of rope, so that he cannot squirm out of it with comparative ease, if the tying BEGINS AT ONE END OF THE ROPE and finishes at the other.
    At the beginning of this test you should hold the rope coiled in the hand, and the first move is to uncoil the rope and have it inspected by the committee.
    Then explain that there seem to be a few skeptics still, and for that reason you will give the committee “plenty of rope” and let them tie you in any manner they please. During this speech you again coil the rope, at the same time explaining to the committee quietly, that in this form it will be more easily handled, passed through the knots, etc., the object of this being to force them to begin the tying at one end. Some performers have a slipknot already tied in the end of the rope, but this is not necessary, and is rather suggestive of preparation.
    It is the experience of all who have used this tie, that the first few knots are carefully tied, but after a time it will be found that the rope is being used up very slowly, and they will begin winding it around the body and making very few knots. A hint to “hurry up, as the audience is getting restive,” will also induce less careful knotting, and, as they are following no regular method, and several are handling the rope, they are bound to work more or less at cross purposes.
    If the committee happens to be very much in earnest, and begin to make more knots than suits you, it will be well to swell the muscles, expand the chest, slightly hunch the shoulders, and hold the arm a little away from the sides. After a little practice you will find that such artifices will enable you to baulk the most knowing ones. You should always wear a coat when submitting to this tie, as that will be found to be an added help in obtaining slack.
    It is an excellent idea to practice with a couple of assistants who know the game. Let them try their best tosecure you and you will get a great deal of needed experience. The actual escape is always possible, but practice is necessary in order to acquire speed in execution.
    A sharp knife with a hook-shaped blade should be concealed somewhere on the person, as it may be found useful in case some of the first, carefully tied knots, prove