Andy Martin

This clever effect was invented by Glen Gloye whilst still a student at Elmhurst College and expertly crafted and marketed by Mazda Magic.  It has shades of Joe Berg’s No-Fake Card Frame but uses a very different method.

I particularly like to show the cabinet fully empty at first as it makes for a more convincing appearance later on. You can vanish  the watch using sleight of hand, a devil’s Hank or other approaches.  I added a small drawer box (which you can see in the video and I do include in this lot) to keep everything 100% mechanical and clean.

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This is a beautiful and almost certainly one-off version of Englishman Harry Leat’s wonderful Run Rabbit Run. I am not sure of the builder, however, there is a chance it was made or commissioned by Harry Leat himself. I came to this conclusion because Harry talks about his good friend Maurice Garland (another English magician) who was one of the Queen’s Guards and performed sentry duty many times outside of Buckingham Palace (Forty Years in & Around Magic pg. 24, Harry Leat, 1923).

It seems quite possible that the inventor of Run Rabbit Run who had a good friend in the Queens Guard could have had this made.  I don’t know this for sure, but it is as good a starting place as any.  If you have any more information on the creator of this unique prop please contact me.

The mechanism works very well and it easy to operate.  The guard moves on a circular arc which means you can get a lot of motion from the guard for a small amount of motion from your thumb – this is a nice touch.  The hand-painting on this prop is adorable and very detailed.

There is a slight part of the guard that can be seen when he is to either side, but this can hardly be noticed close-up let alone in a live performance – particularly from below where the children would normally be watching from.

Their is quite a lot that could be done with the patter for this item due to the intrigue that children have with the The Queen, Buckingham Palace, and The Queen’s Guard.  And painting Garland the Guard as a bad guard who should never leave his post seems like a natural theme.

I find it hard to believe that I’m still finding cool and novel Run Rabbit Run variants but that is what happens when you create the greatest children’s effect in history 🙂

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Here is Vol. 1 of Keep the Wheels Turning collection. Now you can read the story of Carl Owen, the man whose magical artistry and mechanical inventions were the foundation of quality magic.

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Here is the long anticipated Vol. 2 of Keep the Wheels Turning collection. Now you can read the story of Floyd Thayer too in this fabulous companion volume.

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There is no doubt the title of this clever effect from N8 Quality Magic is very apt.  If you look at the test conditions that surround it, it does seem truly impossible for the chain to penetrate the bolt.  And amazingly everything can be minutely examined with no switches or magnets.

However, the downside is that this will take a little practice to get smooth – it is not difficult but it does take a knack.  If you put in a little time you will have an effect that is always ready to roll and will fool them for sure.

There are a few angle issues and this can only be performed with spectators in front of you.  Don’t get me wrong it is a clever method and I’m not sure you could ever figure it out if you didn’t watch the explanation video, but it will take some practice to get it smooth.

This is the Deluxe version made from Mahogany with a brass spike rather than the cheaper standard version with painted tube and wooden spike seen in the video.  They were made in limited quantities.

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Magic Hands have a very good track record with their Silk Pistols.  They released their first one c. 1974,  this amazing beauty c. 1979, and their final one c. 1984.  So when I finally sat down to understand how this worked I was quite excited to see what they had achieved.

Well although the pistol looks amazing and is very collectible as it is,  I don’t think this blunderbuss style is even close to the functionality of their other two pistols.  It is designed to work with another product released by Magic Hands called: Gorden’s Silk in Balloon II where you can supposedly  shoot not one but two silks from the pistol into a balloon.  That sounds great but as a Silk Pistol this actually only vanishes one silk and the second one is done by subterfuge.   Worse the first silk is not actually vanished either a switch is made so that instead of vanishing a full silk just a small corner is vanished. So rather than actually vanishing two silks this pistol actually vanishes a small corner.

To add insult to injury I am unable to set this up so that it even vanishes the corner 🙁

As it stands this pistol vanishes nothing let alone two silks!

The way it is supposed to work is:

• You show the pistol.  Load the first silk down into the barrel of the gun and supposedly let a small part of the corner of the silk hang out (this is in fact the switched corner). The switch is easy enough to do (you simply push in the first silk and let fall out the fake corner in its place), but the vanish is a far cry from a full silk vanish as with other silk pistols.
• This corner is attached to a thread inside the barrel and when you fire the gun the first time the thread is meant to be pulled up and vanish the silk corner and of course then the silk appears in the balloon. 
• Then you load the second silk – there is not even a pretense at hanging out from the barrel this time just load it in the barrel and fire.
• And the second silk appears in the balloon.

So even if this works perfectly as designed at best it would only vanish a single silk corner.  Could it give the impression of vanishing two silks – yes I think so as long as the appearance into the balloon looks effective it could.  However, there is no doubt to the spectator where the silks are as the audience saw you push them inside the barrel and of course you cannot look inside the barrel.

But if you purchased thinking you’d be vanishing two or even a single silk as you would with other silk pistols (as I did), you are going to be disappointed.

Bottom line this is deceptive magic advertising at its best 🙁

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A high quality silk Pistol that is very reliable and looks and sounds like a real pistol. This was the first design by Magic Hands and was changed later to this style.  As long as you use a 9″ silk it works perfectly and it easy to set.  I have tried 12″ silks and the diagonal cut ones but 9″ is definitely the best and most reliable to vanish.

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I was born in England in the 1960’s and it wasn’t until 1990 that I emigrated to America so much of my early magic dealer experience was with Ron MacMillan, Supreme Magic Company, Jack Hughes, and Alan Warner.  I hadn’t really heard of U.F. Grant or MAK magic before I came to America. But it didn’t take long after I arrived in Texas before I started to purchase the classic MAK and U.F. Grant magic.

I found the DVD’s talking about Grant very fascinating and particularly enjoyed the various Demos that Grant performs in various formats.  It is clear U.F. Grant was doing Speed Demos decades before I began 🙂

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This effect was invented by Jack Hughes’ c. 1947 as The Lady Vanishes.  Jack based it upon an earlier similar effect with a glass he also invented called Back Stage Beaker Vanish c. 1946. Both of these effects have been widely copied over the years with the names often switched (as in the case of the Viking release).

Sometimes the manufacturers have credited Jack Hughes (for example Abbott’s), but often not. Viking’s instructions say that this effect is based upon Aldini’s Backstage c. 1975, but Aldini’s effect is clearly the same as Jack’s The Lady Vanishes.

That being said I don’t think there is a prettier or better made version than the Viking release – bright colors, smooth vanish and easily attached drape.

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This beautiful item was created by Owen’s c. 1973 as a limited edition. It is a truly beautiful prop and an amazing production item. In essence this is a oversize version of the classic Bran Vase first described by Ponsin c. 1853 and later described in Professor Hoffmann  c. 1876 (The Bran and Orange Trick). The effect was improved by Paul Fox c. 1930 as the Paul Fox Candy Bowl.

The challenge for me was not only finding some suitable confetti and a sensible load but also finding a container that I could reach into to add the confetti. Due to the size of the bowl you need a fairly large container to hide the action.  I settled on a 12″ x 12″ x 12″ black gift bag which packs flat when not being used and provides plenty of room to load the confetti and doesn’t look out of place in your act.

I have included instructions for a Bran Vase routine from Tarbell and Thayer but now that I have gone to the trouble of getting the necessary equipment it is easy to piece together from my Demo.  The Speed Demo should be here soon. 

You’ll probably never perform this but it will look amazing in your magic collection 🙂

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