How to Do the Put a Dollar in an Orange Magic Trick

How to Do the Put a Dollar in an Orange Magic Trick. In the "Put a Dollar in an Orange Magic Trick," you borrow a dollar bill from an audience member and make the money appear to vanish from underneath a handkerchief. You then make it reappear inside an orange. Although this trick requires some careful preparation, it is a good way to include your audience in your show.

Set up your trick by cutting a piece of paper to the size of dollar bill. Roll it into a cylinder and sew the cylinder into a corner of a handkerchief with a small flap of fabric.

Write the serial number of a one-dollar bill onto a note card and place it face down on the bottom of a stack of black note cards. Cut the navel off an orange and poke a pencil through the top of the orange, going nearly all the way through. Take care not to break through the peel on the other side.

Slip the dollar bearing the serial number you've written down inside a hole in the orange. Place the navel over the opening and secure it using rubber cement or clear glue. Place the orange with the paper inside into the bowl on top of the other two oranges and put the bowl on the table. You are now ready to perform your trick for the audience.

Ask to borrow a dollar from an audience member. Pick up a blank note card from the stack and hand it to the person whose dollar you've borrowed. Ask him to write the dollar's serial number on the card. Take the card back and put it on the top of the stack, face up.

Pick up the stack of note cards and stroll across the room. As you walk, casually flip the stack over so that the card you've prepared is on top. Hand that card to another audience member sitting far from your earlier participant. Ask him or her to hold onto the card. Place the rest of the note cards out of sight, either in your pocket or behind the table.

Stand in front of your original volunteer and roll up his dollar bill. Hold the rolled bill between your thumb and forefinger, and then cover your hand with the trick handkerchief that has the paper sewn inside. While your hand is under the handkerchief, finger palm your volunteer's dollar, holding instead the piece of paper you've rolled up beforehand.

Ask the volunteer to hold the "dollar" through the handkerchief (they will actually be holding onto the rolled up paper). Reach below to pick up the knife. While you're doing this, drop the dollar you've finger-palmed.

Wave your knife over the handkerchief, which the volunteer still holds. With your other hand, grab the hanky by a corner, lifting it so that the audience cannot see the rolled paper. Ask the volunteer to pick up an orange. They usually will go for the one on top.

Cut open the orange, revealing the dollar bill inside. Hand the dollar bill to your volunteer and ask the audience member holding the note card to read off the serial number, which will match that of the dollar found in the orange.