Ed Massey invented this clever and original effect. The initial version of Squeeze Away Block first appeared in Blackstone’s Annual of Magic c. 1929 in a contribution written and illustrated by Massey. Commercial versions started appearing c. 1946.
This is Conjuror’s Workbench (Jack Ruda) beautiful close-up version of it where you visibly make the solid center block disappear right in front of their eyes only to have it show up in a hat or somewhere else.
Made from solid black walnut, hand rubbed furniture-grade finish, top and sides are doweled with brass pins and the bottom is attached with screws for strength. The blocks are solid maple and the gimmick is made of brass and aluminum. There were only 12 of these made.
As much as I love the mechanics of the larger versions of this effect, they do have some real angle issues. The close-up versions are much easier to perform and this version from Jack Ruda is perfect to perform.
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