Author: reviews

In Vol. 9 of Dr. Albo (pg. 32) it states “the method by which this divination is accomplished was first alluded to in Hocus Pocus Junior in 1624″, though I was unable to find the reference.  A detailed account of how it works can be found in Dr. Albo Vol. 5 (pg. 218).  Ads started appearing c. 1926 in The Sphinx for Floyd Thayer’s elegant wooden version.  The earliest ad that I could find for the more common brass and nickel plated pictured on this page was c. 1929.

These older versions are the best ones, all recent metal ones I have tried are nowhere near as well made or precise.

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The Imp Bottle (or Bottle Imp as it was also known)  was first sold in the United States c. 1873 in the Hartz Catalog.  The Imp Bottle was clearly described in Professor Hoffman’s Modern Magic c. 1876 and more recently in Dr. Albo Volume 9.   The basic idea was advanced considerably by Floyd Thayer when he invented the Mysterious Jug c. 1926 which was the same basic effect with a different and easier to manage method.

Colin’s version is nicely turned and polished and a talking point before the magic even begins. It will stand erect or lay down whatever you want but only if you know the magic secret! This beautiful little pocket trick lends itself to lots of fun and with a nice story line you can even add it to your current repertoire as a novelty.

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Here he is the original Card Duck invented by Laurie Ireland c. 1936: Otto The Automaton Duck 🙂

 I’m so pleased to track this rare find down and particularly one in such good condition and working order!  Otto is a big duck – you can see the difference between Warren Hamilton’s Jo-Anne in the final photo.  He is quite substantial and weighing in at almost 4lbs, Otto is ready to take care of business for sure.

What amazes me about Otto is that even though he was the first duck created he has more features than many later card ducks.  Built very solidly by Ireland Magic he has two modes of picking the cards.  One using the more common approach by moving a lever in the base of the duck and the other by attaching a thread that goes off stage and operating Otto hands off and separate from the performer resting alone on a table. (In the photos you can see the ring that is attached to the string, this doesn’t need to hang out if desired and can be tied off inside the body if you want to hide it completely, but I found it useful where it was.)

I like the beak mechanism too – it looks more like a real beak and operates very realistically.  Also because of the way the neck is balanced it is easy to make Otto nod his head which is used quite effectively in the original patter story below (by Jimmy Trimble, Terre Haute, Indiana).

When I ordered Otto I was not sure what to expect but I was very pleased when he arrived and I took him through his paces.  He looks perfectly at home with all of the other ducks that came after him:

Otto The Automaton Duck – One Duck to Rule Them All 🙂

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The Seven Keys theme was created by Joseph Kolar in 1927, see here for more details.

This has to be my favorite Anverdi effect!  This is the version that has been cleverly updated by Tim Hill with a modern remote control unit.  The changes include:

• The standard key box remote plus a small separate fob remote – either can be used.
• A ten second delay after activating either the key box or the fob remote – this means you can press the button and still use the key for up to ten seconds before it locks.  This turns out to be a very useful feature
• It has been painted black – I’m not sure if this was done by Tim or not, but it looks good.  You can see the difference in the final photo or the original here.

Anverdi’s Key Box has never looked so good and worked so well 🙂

It sill has all the features I love:

It looks like a nice looking petty cash box – in fact I load it up with cash so it IS a cash box. You’ll notice when you open the box there is the cash and a smaller box inside – this holds the 7 keys (and also turns on the unit when removed).

I show the cash and then take out the little box and rattle it ask the audience what do they think is inside – they invariably say coins. So I say no and tip out the keys and locate the one with the purple key fob (you could use a ribbon etc, but I like the idea of a fob as you could also have a prediction on there if you so desired). I give this to the spectator to lock the box – you never need touch it again after it is closed and locked by the spectator.

I then take off the key fob and shake up the keys so that no one knows which key opens the box. Then I tell the spectator they have 6 chances out of 7 to choose the correct key, and if they do they can keep all of the cash. This gets them interested for sure. Each time they chose a key and they try to open the box I ask them to discard the key in the little box so that we know we tried it. They can change their mind as many times as they want and they can try each key as many times as they want – there is no chance that the box will open. But when they finally leave you with one key, they can pick it up and amazingly the box opens.

This is so clean – nothing added or taken away and it just looks as clean as can be. A real miracle!

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The Elusive Rabbits or Hippity-Hop Rabbits was invented by The Great Norman (Norman Hazeldene) c. 1947.

This is one of the best quality versions I have seen.  All wood construction with bright colors and good size of about 11″.  They use a simple and reliable mechanism without magnets, so there are no surprises 🙂

It was created by B.C. Magic Mfg. Co. – a higher-end magic manufacturing company started c. 1977 by Dr. Armand Brodeur and Mr. Robert Chaney.  They began by leasing some space from the original Rings ‘n’ Things on Helen Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri and Mike Brazill endorsed their work.  They were a wholly separate company from Rings ‘n’ Things but Mike helped them by obtaining distribution for them through the RNT network.  From what I can tell they only lasted a few years and closed down c. 1980 when Mike first closed the RNT doors.

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The Color Changing Candle is #5 in the Okito-Williams Replicas of the Masters series made in a limited edition of just 30 units. This is an amazing mechanical device and it was featured in Dr Albo’s first book The Oriental Magic of The Bambergs (pg. 76) and in The Ultimate Okito on DVD 4 Okito’s original version is demonstrated and explained.

The basic idea of a “Color Changing Candle” was invented by Ed Massey, not Okito, however, Okito built the apparatus in his own inimitable fashion including variations with the mechanics which greatly improved the overall handling. Carl Williams included several of his own mechanical improvements without detracting from the Okito design. These improvements have not only made the apparatus more reliable and performable but have done so without compromising the original Okito design.

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This original version of Frozen in Time was created by the Japanese Close-up performer and inventor Katsuya Masuda in 1990. Along with many other clever effects Masuda has been at the forefront of innovative magic for over 30 years. 

I love this effect!  It looks so good and is surprisingly easy to do. There was recently a high-tech version of this effect with remote control released, but frankly this works so well and is easy to do I don’t think it is worth the extra expense or hassle of having one more thing that can go wrong in your show.

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Wow a really unique Haunted Skeleton Key hand crafted from scratch by the amazing Buma complete with a very unique gimmick you’ll really blow them all away with. Takes a little practice to make it look as good as Buma does in the video, but not hard too do.

Just look at the time Buma put in to create such a unique key. Great job Buma!

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This is a very worthy attempt by Jim Sherman’s National Magic Company to create a card box as good as P&L’s stunning Ultra Perfect Card Box. 

My copy is past it’s prime (and it looks like the interior has been repainted), but you can see how close Jim got.  The soldering is not as clean and the overall finish  is a not as shiny (though that could be age).  If you look at the final photos you can see how similar it looks to the Standard Model P&L pictured.  But a very worthy attempt and a nice looking card box for sure.

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Gammatration and Cosmovision was invented by R.W. Hull c. 1935 and was refined and perfectly manufactured by John Snyder c. 1938 and less than fifty of the deluxe version were created. It is a very clever piece of magic combining two basic effects – the penetration of a jumbo card and the visible transposition of the two jumbo cards complete with signature!  And at the end both cards can be minutely examined there are no holes or damage.

The instructions are quite long and confusing but once you understand what is going on the effect is easy to do and basically works itself.  A little practice is important to get the routine smooth but if you spend an hour or two playing with this you’ll have a miracle on your hands that will amaze and amuse all who see it.  This will even fool the boys down the club.

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