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Page Twelve
-THE BOWL OF FIRE-
OR,
"HOT SOUP" 
Mephisto's "soup bowl", cover, and spoon. After 20 years, they are holding up fine.
This is one of the few stunts I like to include in my shows on a regular basis that actually is not what it seems at all, and is a very good example of what I mean when I say that a good fire show requires a degree of acting.
Here is what it seems to be, from the audience's viewpoint:
A soup bowl is filled with liquid, which is then lit on fire. This flaming liquid is then spooned out and into the Fire-Eater's mouth. Two, three, or four spoons full of this flaming liquid are successively spooned out and eaten like soup. At the end there obviously is nothing in the performer's mouth to be spat out or secretly taken away, and it all has apparently been swallowed. -Truly EATING the fire!
First, I must point out here that this is not entirely trickery. You actually do put fire into your mouth and like any other fire-eating stunt, it can cause serious injury or fire damage if not done properly. But besides that, improper presentation can also ruin the effect and make it seem like your whole show is faked. This is why good, effective presentation is vital. So PLEASE, if you are going to do this one, make sure you have the moves right before presenting it to an audience. It does take a bit of nerve or "chutzpah" and you must be able to convince the crowds that what you seem to be doing is, indeed, what you actually are doing. Don't try to explain your moves. Just let them assume what they think they are seeing.
The bowl you use must be fireproof, of course. But it must also be heat-proof and well insulated one way or another because it's going to get very hot in a hurry. My own bowl is stainless steel, but Pyrex® or crockery could also be used. I prefer stainless steel because it can be cleaned off quite easily, and if for any reason it should be dropped, it won't break. It should also be quite shallow.
The spoon should preferably have a long handle, like the ice cream spoons in restaurants used with malts and shakes. The "soup" is the same liquid used for your torches -white gas or Coleman fuel. You may want to say that it is oil, "soup from Hell," "Brand X Soup," hot sauce, hot soup, or some other such thing, but never tell anyone what it actually is. I sometimes pour mine out of a Campbell's® soup can (Chicken Broth label, but it can be doctored to say anything you like).
The real fakery here is that you are not actually gulping down this flaming liquid as you appear to be. Normally, you shouldn't even get any of the liquid in your mouth at all. What actually happens is that you simply touch the bottom surface of the spoon to the burning liquid, wetting it well, and raise it as if it were filled. The audience sees a flaming spoon, but even up close they cannot see through the flames to see if the spoon actually holds anything. Bring this to your mouth and put it right in as if it were a burning torch. As you close your mouth on it, you smother the flame, just as if you were smothering a torch in your mouth.
Now, as I've said, you are actually putting fire in your mouth and putting it out in your mouth. No question about that. Basically it is simply a variation of the torch. But it must be done correctly to create the illusion of something else. When you go through the motions of wetting the spoon, you want to be sure that you only wet the bottom, and never actually scoop up any burning fuel. If you do, you're in trouble. You have the choice of standing there like a fool, waiting for it to burn itself out, or actually taking the stuff into your mouth, then having to either swallow it and accept the very real health risk, or get rid of it (preferably by spitting it into a napkin under cover of wiping your mouth). But before you can get rid of it, you're going to have to do something with the flaming bowl in your hand that is getting hotter by the second. And in that time the fuel in your mouth is working its way down your throat.
The spoon-wetting motion must appear to the audience as a scooping-up motion, and inserting the flaming spoon into your mouth must appear as spooning something in. Don't tip your head back like you would with torches, but keep it erect, as you would if you were actually eating soup. Practice these motions in front of a mirror with a bowl and spoon, both dry and with water, till you get the feel of wetting the spoon's underside, while appearing to dip, and pantomiming the eating of soup with an empty spoon. Smack your lips as if this was a really enjoyable meal! (A faked burp is not out-of-place at this point!)
Timing is of extreme importance here, for a couple of reasons. First, the fuel in the bowl or on the spoon is going to burn out fast. You don't want the fire on the spoon going out before it even reaches your mouth. Likewise, it's no good if you light up the bowl, stand there explaining it, and have it burn itself out before you even take your first "spoonful." Second, as you will find out fast enough, that bowl is going to get extremely hot, and unless you are wearing an asbestos glove or using a really thick hot-pad, it will quickly become too hot to hold. You may be able to get away with just leaving the bowl on a table, but the effect is much better if you hold it in one hand, about shoulder-high.
One other reason for holding the bowl in your hand: sometimes you may actually have to tip the bowl a bit not only to get the spoon into the liquid that is rapidly burning out, but to keep it toward the front of the bowl, giving the illusion that there is much more in that bowl than you actually know there is. Disturbing the burning gas will also cause it to burn out quicker. So if you find you've put a tad too much gas in the bowl and it's taking too long to burn out, you can gently swirl it around, creating impressively large flames and getting rid of it faster at the same time.
Keep it quick and smooth, without seeming to be in a real hurry, and you'll be surprised yourself what a great effect this is. -And like any magic trick, keep the actual technique to yourself, please. -Thank you.
My own bowl is the result of several years' trying different types of insulating methods. I use an old stainless steel camping plate. It is actually a sort of cross between a plate and a shallow dish. This is deep enough to give the illusion of a bowl, yet the sides are flat enough that I can dip the spoon to totally cover its underside with fuel easily. I then have a stainless steel plate-warming cover, of the type used in hotel room service. I discovered that this fits perfectly on my "bowl," and it can either be put on the bowl at the exact moment the flames are dying out to give the further illusion of smothering them, or actually used to smother the flames if I still have too much fuel (in which case, I'll have to wipe out the excess after the show).
Under the "bowl" are a cake pan, a pie pan, and then another cake pan, that stack perfectly forming air pockets to insulate my hand. To the audience, they appear to be a single deep bowl. They still get hot, but without something there, whether a stack of pans, a hot pad, or a thick glove, you'll never hold that pan long enough to do the stunt. I've considered lining one of those pans with asbestos, or just adding a bit of water, as a further insulation, but so far have never found this necessary.
My spoon, too, is "rigged," but only just a little bit. It is a standard long ice cream spoon, but I've rough-sanded the bottom surface of it to help it hold the fuel to its surface better. This is not at all noticeable to the audience, and not generally necessary to the effective presentation. It is just an extra step I've taken to ensure the quality of my own show.
No matter what you use for the bowl or what you insulate your hand with, it's good safety practice to also have some type of a good-fitting cover for it. Anything could come up that you may have to snuff out the flames prematurely. You may find a simple saucepan cover at a thrift store that fits your bowl well.
Don't overdo this trick, either. Two, three, or sometimes even four "scoops" of the spoon are all it takes to get the effect across. More, and it simply becomes monotonous to both you and the audience. Plus, remember, that bowl is getting HOT! Don't risk having to drop it and become the buffoon. A bit less than a shot of fuel is all it takes (3or 4 tablespoons). Of course, you can make a little dramatic production of pouring it to give the appearance of pouring more than you actually are.
Another idea for show presentation (and flashiness) would be to have something like a covered gravy-boat on the table with fuel and a ladle in it. You could "serve" yourself several scoops of "soup" out of the gravy-boat, into your bowl; each scoop being only partly filled. Just be sure you cover the gravy-boat to prevent accidents.
With my Campbell's Soup can, I have another, slightly larger can painted red and inverted over the soup can, keeping it totally covered until it's needed. This also saves the can for a surprise laugh when it's time to reveal the "soup."
When not using the soup can, I generally use a small silver espresso pitcher. This is like a small teapot. It has a long spout and hinged cover.
As with all flammables on your stage table, this container MUST be kept covered. One pass over it with a flaming torch, or a wayward spark, and the fumes escaping that container could explode, showering the stage -and maybe the audience- with flaming fuel.
One other word of warning...Outdoors, a breeze can whip the flames from this bowl down and around the hand that is holding it. Be prepared for this, and ready to cover the bowl and smother the flames if necessary.
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