Good Morning - I am working on a two man comedy magic routine that I can take a member of an audience and destroy their iphone and then produce it in a piece of fruit that was on stage already. Any advice or tips would greatly be appreciated as I have seen and read on making money/watches/ etc inside of small fruit. I was thinking of possibly hollowing out a pineapple half and then cutting another one and leaving it "untouched on the top" but gorrila glueing the pieces together for the cut open and cell phone. That is just an idea. Any suugestion on a particual fruit and/or way to gimmick it.

THanks

While it's not fruit, but a variation on Grant's Bean Box, you might find the techniques involved in transporting a cell phone to a clear container filled with wrapped candies to be relevant to your situation. You'll find my "Holiday Candy Box" in the Mini-Mysteries Book 3 at The Magic Nook.

Sure way to make friends. This is the kind of tricks that works well, until a guy punches you in the face for breaking his phone, his girlfriend's...
Whether it's doable or not is not questioned. Whether it is a good idea to do it or not, is what you should ponder...

P!

I agree with Ado. While it may strike you as very funny, it may not look that way to an audience member. If you're going to mess with something expensive and personal, you will need to build up a lot of trust. A magician once used my wife's wedding ring for Ring Flite before I knew what it was. The only reason I didn't jump him when the ring vanished was that I saw the key case.

Ed

My version, mentioned above, does not destroy or damage the phone. It is more like a hunt for a phone that suddenly vanishes, but can still be heard ringing right up until it reappears in the unexpected location. I wouldn't use fruit because too many cell phones have been damaged by dropping them in liquids. The transparent container filled with wrapped candies seems harmless enough to cell phones so that it doesn't cause phone anxiety.

Thanks for the tips. Yes it would deff have to be done in a way that the person on stage new no harm would be done. We are doing a comedic type magic act so we should have the stage set at that point they know we are doing it as "part of the act". I will have to check into the phone appearing in the box. Jim- is there a limit to the size of the phone vs the box with your trick?

I think it's fine to apparently destroy something under certain conditions. If you've already done enough magic to have credibility, then most audiences will be comfortable playing along. Don't do it to drunk audiences.

That being said, if the receptacle for the phone gets damaged and some fruit juice gets on it, expect hell to break loose. Even as big a magic fan as I am and as non-confrontational as I am, I'd probably be holding the magician down after the show until he paid the damages. As long as it's fool-proof, I think it can work. But your presentation needs to be strong and you need to have credibility.

I think an ipad would be a bit large, but most handheld phones would fit. You would probably have to decide on a certain average phone size to look for when borrowing a phone just so you don't have to add too many variables to your presentation.

Penn and Teller have a "phone in a fish" trick which is along the same lines. A cool thing they do is have the volunteer turn on the video recorder on the phone so they can see exactly what happens to the phone when it disappears (you can see videos of the trick and the phone videos on YouTube.) It's a stage trick, so they have people to make the magic backstage -- but you might peek how they protect the phone - if it can survive a fish, it can survive a fruit (I assume they put it in a plastic bag.) World love to see your effect when it's finished, please share!

Learn a good convincing vanish for a cellphone first.

I'm thinking of using an egg bag, and smashing it with a hammer. There needs to be some hope that the phone still exists if the audience can't see it.

Yeah when Penn and Teller do their phone in fish trick the phone is very cleared sealed in a plastic bag so that nothing actual gets on the phone but the effect of a phone in an impossible location is still accomplished without you tinting the spectators phone with the scent of fish for the next week. This is something I strongly suggest you do if you decide to go with the pineapple idea just to be on the safe side.