Needle-through-arm is a magic illusion that was created by Bruce Spangler and later popularized by comedy actor/magician

Harry Anderson Harry Laverne Anderson (October 14, 1952 – April 16, 2018) was an American actor, comedian and magician. He is best known for his role of Judge Harry Stone on the 1984–1992 television series '' Night Court''. He later starred in the ...

. The trick can be performed as part of either a

stage magic Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

or a

parlor magic A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

routine. As the name would suggest, needle-through-arm relies on

shock value Shock value is the potential of an image, text, action, or other form of communication, such as a public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions. In advertising Shock advertising or Sho ...

to have a comedic effect. Although the trick popularized by Anderson is an illusion, other magicians, such as

David Blaine David Blaine (born April 4, 1973) is an American illusionist, endurance artist, and extreme performer. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance and has set and broken several world records. Early life Blaine was born and ra ...

, have apparently performed the trick by actually sticking the needle through a

fistula A fistula (plural: fistulas or fistulae ; from Latin ''fistula'', "tube, pipe") in anatomy is an abnormal connection between two hollow spaces (technically, two epithelialized surfaces), such as blood vessels, intestines, or other hollow or ...

surgically created in the performer's arm.

History

The effect was originally invented by Bruce Spangler, who debuted the trick at the premier of the 1960 movie ''

Macumba Love ''Macumba Love'' is a 1960 American adventure horror film directed and co-produced by Douglas Fowley and written by Norman Graham. The film stars Walter Reed, Ziva Rodann, William Wellman Jr., June Wilkinson and Ruth de Souza. The film cente ...

'' and later sold it under the name "You-Do Voodoo". Harry Anderson popularized the trick in the 1980s, performing it on television on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' in 1982 and selling his own version of the trick.

Presentation

In presentation, the magician produces a

hat pin A hatpin is a decorative and functional pin for holding a hat to the head, usually by the hair. In Western culture, hatpins are almost solely used by women and are often worn in a pair. They are typically around in length, with the pinhead bei ...

, roughly ten inches long, and demonstrates that it is sharp by using it to pop a balloon. He then proceeds to sterilize the underside of his

forearm The forearm is the region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist. The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in anat ...

with alcohol and, holding his arm so that it is not facing the audience, insert the needle through the skin of his arm. From the audience's perspective, this is not very impressive until the magician lowers his arm for the audience to see. The needle appears to pass about two inches under the skin. The new wound then appears to bleed, with the blood dripping down the magician's arm. The needle can be slid back and forth through the wound. After the needle is removed, the magician cleans his arm which can be offered for inspection.

Method

The needle-through-arm effect uses a gimmicked needle and stage blood as well as a small quantity of adhesive, such as

rubber cement Rubber cement (cow gum in British English) is an adhesive made from elastic polymers (typically latex) mixed in a solvent such as acetone, hexane, heptane or toluene to keep it fluid enough to be used. This makes it part of the class of drying ad ...

spirit gum Spirit gum is an adhesive, made mostly of SD Alcohol 35-A (the solvent, or "spirit") and resin (the adhesive, or "gum") originally consisting of mastix, used primarily for affixing costume prosthetics such as wigs, merkins, or false facial hair ...

. The bead at the end of the hat pin is hollow and made of rubber so that it can hold a small amount of stage blood. The needle is hollow and has a small hole in its side through which the "blood" can flow. When the magician appears to sterilize their arm, they actually coat their arm with a thin film of adhesive. When the magician is supposedly inserting the needle through the arm, they actually fold up two sides of skin over the needle that will stick to each other, forming a channel of skin that the needle can pass under. The stage blood flowing out of the needle lubricates the "wound" so that it can be slid back and forth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Needle-Through-Arm Magic tricks