We’re going to look at some well-made apparatus from my good friend Larry Wilfong!

BLOCK, BOLT & COIN:

This is a very
clean penetration
by a borrowed
coin
through a standard hardware store bolt.
A block of wood has a slit cut through
the center width and a hole at either
long end just large enough to accomodate
an ungimmicked bolt. The bolt is
secured in the center of the block with
a standard ungimmicked nut. The
block has no sliding partition as in
other versions. At the end, all parts
may be examined—no switches. From
Mel Babcock $27.50

Don Alan’s Ranch Bird &
Larry’s Frightening Frankie

Back in the early 1960’s Don Alan was
just coming into his own as far as being

recognized by the Magic Community
as an up and coming star. Frances Ireland’s
shop at 109 N. Dearborn in Chicago
was selling his “hot material” to
enthusiastic Magicians.
On one of my Saturday treks one of the

 demonstrators in that cramped little shop showed me
the latest from Don Alan his Ranch
Bird as seen on his weekly T.V. show
Don Alan’s Magic Ranch. A mechanical
wind-up birdie would walk around
in the center of a group of face down
cards and stop at one card> that would
be your previously elected card.
WHATA TRICK! I plunked down my
$3 and was happy as a lark J. Frances
made a point to tell me that the trick
was so new that the instructions from
Don Alan himself were not printed yet,
but would be soon. She asked me if I'd mind taking the generic instructions
that were available now and she promised
to send me the “Professional” version
from Don as soon as she’d received
them. Of course, I agreed (who could say no
to Frances?). I didn’t really expect to
receive the special instructions from far
away Chicago, but in a couple of weeks
an envelope arrived from Frances...you
guessed it> I had my Professional Instructions
by Sir Dono himself! I’ve
kept that envelope all these years—it’s
probably worth more than the bird.
Fast-forward about 15 years and I’m
co-sponsor of the Nu-Mystic Magic
Club, a young persons’ (3rd grade
through high school) twice-monthly
social and teaching group. Over the
years I’d continued to use the Ranch
Bird and had also become enamored of
The Pecking Bird handling in Peter
Warlock’s Book of Magic. The Warlock
routine and set-up was one of the
most popular effects with our students
each year.
 

At an out of the way novelty shop I
stumbled across a wind-up Frankinstein
toy that would turn round and round
(no wheels!) and looked a little silly,
too. This toy became my new Ranch
Bird. At Magic gatherings I would explain
that “most Magicians take bits
and pieces of old tricks and make new
tricks. I work a little differently—I
take bits and pieces of old Magicians
and make New Magicians—ladies and
gentlemen, say hello to Frankie!” One
of my older students really fell in love
with the Frankinstein routine, so I gave
him one of my spare figures. To my
surprise, at our next meeting, he gifted
me the wooden coffin for Frankie that
you see in the picture. He had made
two in his shop class as a special project

and was very proud that he and I
were the only Magicians in the World
to have this special Frankie Trick. I am
very proud, too!
 

TRANSPARENT RICE BOWLS

You’ve gotta love Grant’s thinking...this is typical of his finding a simple solution to a baffling piece of Magic...here’s his TRANSPARENT RICE BOWLS> “Why use the old rice bowls when you can use these?”

One of the most inspired inventors/manufacturers of the 20th century was without a doubt U.F. Grant. In the late 1950’s to early 1960’s it was often stated and agreed that “...there is probably more Grant apparatus in actual use in the world of magic that that of any other manufacturer. It would seem that some tricks are made to be used, while others are made to be collected and put upon shelves.

 Grant magic is definitely of the type destined for use...” Let’s take a walk to that special shelving unit in the Magic Closet just off the bedroom and take a look at a sampling of U.F. Grant’s unique take on a few Classics of Magic. Here’s 2 pictures showing you Grant’s BRAK-A-WAY PHANTOM TUBE. “ This is the first improvement in the Phantom Tube since it was invented.” The foot long metal tube is shown empty by separating it into halves (it’s hinged in the center!) and letting the audience see clearly through both empty halves. The empty halves are brought together again and the ends capped with tissuepaper. The magic word is spoken, the paper is broken and silks produced, not just from one end, but from both ends!

The Chinese Gong Illusion was improved by manufacturer/performer Clint Reidel. The effect is a piece of paper is cleanly shown on both sides and placed between two wooden rings (ala embroidery hoops). This assembly is suspended on a skeletal framework and a huge silk production follows. Reidel’s improvement is that at the conclusion all parts of the apparatus may be displayed and even examined with no clue as to the method.

 Shades of Harry and Bess! The illusion made famous by Compeer Houdini performed close-up and personal with Harry being represented by the King (what else?) and Bess by the Queen. In this instance the cards instantly visibly change places even though Bess is securely locked in the trunk and Harry placed into the bag. AMAZING!

Nest Of Bean Boxes:

 A wonderful self-contained, no bad angles and easy-to-do gem. A marked coin vanishes and re-appears inside a tiny box buried in a box full of coffee beans, navy beans or marbles (John Mendoza’s routine) etc. This box full of beans with the smaller box buried inside is locked and contained in a larger outer box which has been in full view before the trick begins.

Of course, the marked coin mysteriously reappears inside the smallest (buried in beans) box. This apparatus was originally manufactured by Stillwell. Later Arturo (Glen Babbs) built some when he worked for Grant’s and when he worked for Abbott’s. More recently Mel Babcock has manufactured beautiful sets in both natural wood and painted/decaled Oriental finishes. The set pictured is an early one from U.F. Grant

You may remember from an earlier Kollector’s Korner that The Accumulation is home to a variety of Hippity Hop Rabbits and their cousins.

This past Christmas Mrs. Claus (Gail) adopted a new member into our little magical family. I’d like to introduce you to Chance Wolf’s mini Hip-Hop Magician.

This isn’t really a “mini” apparatus (refer to the card box in the picture), but it is much smaller than the conventional sets. It’s also available in a large stage size from the manufacturer. There are a couple of major improvements to the original approach to this effect. First of all, instead of kiddie pictures of rabbits, one piece is a cut-out picture of a Magician and the other is a picture of his Beautiful Lady Assistant with the Magic Rabbit hiding at her feet (he’s been a bad boy!). This all fits in with the story presentation.

Another improvement, an idea borrowed from Vienna Magic, is the elimination of the awkward clips on the gimmicks. The Hip-Hop Magician apparatus uses magnetic material both on the gimmicks and in the covers. Handling is easy. The climax is different, too. Instead of the sometimes offensive sucker bit of leading the audience members to ask the Magician to turn the rabbits around and then showing the audience to be completely wrong, the Magic Rabbit appears when the pictures are turned around and completes a very PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION of this classic effect.

MIKAME
CARD CASE:

This is an overlooked
GEM in
the Mikame lineup.

An attractive
wooden card case with an opening in
the lid just large enough to permit one
card to exit is shown. The performer
removes a deck of cards from the box
(deck can be of your choosing/box is
empty) and has spectator select one
card. The selected card is lost in the
deck, deck shuffled and spectator cuts
the deck in half. Spectator chooses one
half (no force) and discovers his/her
card is not in the chosen half. The remaining
half is returned to the wooden
card box after you have spectator verify
the chosen card is not on the top or the
bottom. For the first time the spectator
is asked to name the selected card; immediately
with no sleight-of-hand or
fumbling at all, the card box is shaken
and the chosen card comes through the
tiny slit in the lid. This is soooooo
clever you’ll chuckle to yourself everytime
you perform this goodie. Available
from Your Favorite Dealer for
$37.50.

DOUBLE LOCKED BOXES:

The quality of
Magic apparatus
manufactured
in India
varies greatly.
This particular
item is an exceptional
value.
It’s a standard Lippincott-approach to
the classic nested boxes theme. The
basic effect is a borrowed item (watch,
ring, bill or ?) vanishes and reappears
in the innermost box of a set of locked
boxes. This set isn’t the quality of
Owen’s Brothers by any means (they
would charge at least $400 to $500 for
a set ), but it is a good serviceable piece
of equipment and it looks pretty good,
too. $39 at Your
Favorite Dealer

    MR.CREEPY

There’s no better Magic than when olde tried and true principles are applied to a
modern themed presentation. The folks at the toy company Pressman capitalized
on this fact somewhere in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s with their MR.
CREEPY line of Magic Sets.

Under the direction of Mark Setteducati
and Anne Benkovitz (the same creative team that developed the “First-Ever
Self-Performing Book of Illusion” The MAGIC SHOW where the interactive
book can read your mind and perform Magic Tricks that will astound the participating
reader AND is designed with an ingenious reset mechanism to allow the
reader to physically reset each effect without learning the secrets) there were at
least 3 versions (sizes) of this cartoon-style collection of magical goodies.

Being a good little Accumulator, I purchased two sets: one left in the shrink-wrap and
one to open and enjoy. Pictured is a SNAPPER TRICK made in the image of a
bloody finger with its tip cut-off, an EERIE EAR contributed by Vincent that assists
the performer in reading minds, a GRANDMOTHER’S NECKLACE effect called
Head Case where the cords run in one ear and out the other in a comically evil-looking
shrunken head, a CARD BOX-type effect made in the form of a set of grandpa’s false
teeth and a threatening looking FINGER CHOPPER that has been engineered so it’s
100% safe for the kiddies to use. (You cannot cut anything with it even if you try.)
There are nine other effects in this particular set, which is the middle-sized of the
three. The illustrated instruction booklet is very complete and easy to understand.

U.F. Grant, like most manufacturers of the day, loved producing apparatus with a pseudo “Oriental” decorative flare. I don’t know where the conceptfor large supposed Chinese Checkers came from, but here’s one of the Grant classics known as SING TOY

See that small metal cage over there? Long before every dealer was selling the latest and greatest gimmicked dove cage U.F. Grant had created BIRD ON A ROPE.

EFFECT: A rope displayed to be quite ordinary suddenly becomes rigid and stands upright. A live canary is put into a tissue paper sack that is hooked to the top of the rope. The performer shouts, “Watch!” and there’s a puff of smoke and flash of fire as the bird and bag vanish and the rope falls to the floor. Remember this was at a time when you could buy canaries for a couple of dollars and a separate cage to make the little guy reappear

The Davenport Cabinet

Over the past 23 years I have been privileged to know Ed Rosenthal both as a Collector and Teacher of Magic and as a good Friend. Pictured is a beautiful example of Thayer Quality Woodworking’s interpretation of apparatus described in Modern Magic as The Davenport Cabinet. The Cabinet is just 5 inches tall and 3 inches square. Any object that is deposited into the drawer is secretly delivered into the Magician’s hand the moment the drawer is closed. Thanks, Ed. This is a wonderful piece!

The Tomb Of The Pharaohs

Pictured is “The Tomb Of The Pharaohs”. This is a (6 ½ inches long at the base, 4 ½ inches tall and 3 ½ inches wide at the base) treatment of the classic Colored Block Release. The spectator selects any two colors. All of the blocks are placed inside the tomb and secured by thrusting the sword through the holes in each block and through both ends of the tomb. The door is closed and all the colored blocks can be seen through holes.

Ring Tower

This is a delightfully clever handling that far surpasses other manufacturer’s attempts to duplicate; primarily because the apparatus itself is so attractive.

Magician may borrow a ring or use his own (no dupes) and places same into a jeweler’s display rack and seals the ring in place by placing a clear case over it. The tall Castle Tower with a removable top is displayed (both may be examined), placed over the secured ring in the case and a wand is threaded in one side and out the other of the assembled Tower. Upon uttering the appropriate incantations the Tower is raised and it is evident the ring is no longer in the secure case. The performer smiles and removes the top of the Tower showing the audience the ring is now imprisoned on the wand inside the Tower even though the ends of the wand have been in sight 100% of the time. It’s a double mystery> how did the ring escape the secure case AND how did it find its way onto the wand? (Yes, the wand can be examined, too!)

 The Lady Vanishes:

 I honestly believe I love the trick so much because I clearly remember Mark Wilson performing the very same trick (with the very same lightening bolt) on the Saturday morning Magic Land of Alakazam television show. The now well-know effect is that the secret to vanishing a jumbo playing card is explained to the audience from the “backstage” view. When the Magician performs the trick again and the audience sees it from the front, the card REALLY DISAPPEARS and the audience is completely fooled. Properly presented, it’s a “sucker-type” effect that doesn’t offend the spectators. This trick has suffered being manufactured by importers and others using the name BACKSTAGE. I also have a super-delux version made by George Robinson at Viking a few years ago, but the Abbott version pictured is still my favorite!

Val Evans
(improved)
STOP
TRICK:

KOLLECTOR
Here’s another
finely
made piece of
apparatus from Viking. An attractive
wooden houlette (card holder) with
brass trim is introduced. The deck
(ungimmicked) is shuffled by anyone
and a card selected (no force) and returned
to the deck, deck shuffled etc.
A ribbon is draped across the top of the
houlette and the deck is returned to
same so the ribbon is around the deck.
(The ribbon is used to be certain no
switches can be made at the end.) One
at a time a card is removed from the
deck until the spectator says, "stop".
At that point the deck is cleanly removed
from the houlette by lifting the
ribbon—the performer does not touch
the deck. When the spectator looks at
the card at which he freely stopped it is
the chosen card! From Viking Magic
or YFD $45

BALL
THRU HAND:

The original
Brema
Brasses are
legendary in
the world of Magic, but getting harder
to find and the prices are skyrocketing
into the hundreds of dollars. Fortunately
George Robinson at Viking
Magic has taken it upon himself to continue
to manufacture many of the
Brema items at an extremely high level
of quality while maintaining a reasonable
pricing structure. (Beware of the
cheap imitations that have recently hit
the market—there’s a BIG difference in
the overall precision engineering of
each piece.)
In this presentation a steel ball bearing
is examined and set into a small examined
metal cup. The spectator sets the
cup with the bearing on the back of the
performer’s hand. A “plunger” is
placed on top of the ball bearing and
pushed down into the cup. The steel
ball bearing instantaneously falls
through the performer’s hand. The
plunger is lifted and of couse the ball
bearing is not there. A really well made
“current collectible” at $55.
From Viking or YFD.
Val

       HARRIET The Witch

Now you can’t get any more topical for
Halloween than an astounding Magical
Effect employing a WITCH.
This is a classic handling (and an olde
secret) where a freely selected card is
lost in the pack; cards are delt face
down on the table and HARRIET The
Witch is introduced.
HARRIET is suspended from a key
chain and the performer or the spectator
swings her over the face down
cards. As if by a witch’s spell suddenly
one card attaches itself to this scary
witch and, of course, it is the freely selected
card (no force). All the cards
and HARRIET herself can be thoroughly
examined. (This particular version
originated from P. Cinimod.)

Any one know anything about this one?

Hofzinnser Flower Growth

COLOR BLOCKS or ABC BLOCKS.

The little close-up effect that has appeared in many Magic sets over the years and known as Traveling Block has stood the test of time. Not only has it survived going from metal to plastic, but it’s also grown-up into a full size stage piece. A prime example of this growth is U.F. Grant’s ingenious Strat-O-Spheres using baseball size rubber balls.

This month we’re going to look at a few unique variations on this effect commonly referred to as COLOR BLOCKS or ABC BLOCKS.

First up is a striking set with an attention getting motif. I’m not sure I’d ever perform this version before “real people” because of the obvious negative associations with the design on the blocks.

On the positive side, however, the base, the cover and the blocks themselves are made very well with much more attention to detail than many on the current market. Barry Schor (Presto Magic in Scottsdale) confirmed this set was made by a company known as the SWASTIKA MAGIC COMPANY in Europe. His best guess was circa 1930’s. Of course, this was long before WWII and that crazy guy. If you happen to have additional information about this company please contact me.

Here’s a set that no one has been able to tell me its origin. It, too, is crafted much better than most available today and it has a SECRET GIMMICK! It’s the standard color blocks, but built into the tube is a button/plunger that when depressed will enable the performer to pick-up the shell. It will not pick-up a block

Clark Wirthlin Chop Cup

 Pictured is a superb example of an elegant Classic Chop Cup that is one of only two in existence. I know because Clark only made two and he kept the other one!

 ABBOTT’S MENTO MARVEL

 Pictured is a pre-Himber application of the switch wallet from the old generation of Abbott’s products

ABBOTT’S MENTO MARVEL This is an exceptionally strong routining of 3 distinct stages of pre-cognition, thought projection and perhaps the explosive pioneering application of the Princess Card trick. “Everything is straightforward and there are no tricky moves, yet to onlookers it is unbelievable.” Don’t you LOVE Abbott’s product descriptions?!

Wonder Dice

    Herbie the Mod Duck:

  This plastic version of a Card Duck was available exclusively through Ireland’s   Magic Company in Chicago around the late 1950’s or possibly early 1960’s. Frances said each was hand made by a retired gentleman living in Florida. This particular Ducky was owned by Dick Schick (Ring #55 & Chicago Ring #43) member. Dick performed standard Magic, Gospel Magic, Marionettes and was a licensed Hypnotist in AZ. In addition to being readily accepted by children as a “toy”, the hollowed-out design of the base provides complete cover for the secret movement of your finger when the Magical Duck finds a card.

  Automatic Card In Balloon:

 There’re a number of different versions of Card-In-Balloon in The Accumulation and this is one of my favorites because it is so unique. You know the standard effect: a card is “freely” selected and torn into pieces by the audience helper who retains one piece for future identification. A balloon is inflated and placed at the top of the chromed stand. The pieces vanish, the balloon bursts and there is the restored playing card minus one corner. Of course, the corner retained by the spectator matches perfectly. Ta-Da! (A rare collectible by Mayette/France, this apparatus has a self-contained adjustable pneumatic operated time-delay mechansim so the performer is physically nowhere near the apparatus when the balloon bursts.)

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