Needle-through-arm is a magic effect that was popularized by comedy actor/magician Harry Anderson. The trick can either be performed as part of a stage magic or a parlor magic routine. As the name would suggest, needle-through-arm relies on shock value to be a comedic effect.

In presentation, the magician produces a hat pin, 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 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.

By most accounts, the trick was invented by Bruce Spangler in the 1950s. It was sold under the name "You Do Voo Doo". Several versions of the trick are sold today, arguably the most popular being the version licensed by Anderson.

Method

The needle-through-arm effect uses a gimmicked needle and stage blood as well as a small quantity of rubber cement. The bead at the end of the hat pin is hollow and made of rubber so that it can hold a small charge of stage blood. The needle is hollow and has a small hole in its side, roughly three inches from the opposite end through which the "blood" will flow when the rubber "bead" is squeezed.

The trick relies on the fact that rubber cement sticks to itself when dry. When "cleaning" his arm with "alcohol", the magician is actually coating his arm with a thin film of rubber cement. When the magician is supposedly inserting the needle through his arm, he is actually folding 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. Even from very close-up, the trick appears genuine. The stage blood flowing out of the needle lubricates the "wound" so that the needle can be slid back and forth. Clean-up is accomplished with rubber cement solvent.

Magic tricks