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joseph Eternal Order Please ignore my 17407 Posts |
I purchased your Hole Collection from Gene Gorden's Magic Shop back in the 70's, and thought it was great, (but I lost it), and I was wondering what you think is your best original effect.
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." (Einstein)...
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Billy McComb V.I.P. 1922 - 2006 57 Posts |
I'm not sure I even have a copy of the "Holes Collection" myself. They asked me to do it on TV in the UK and luckily Ali Bongo had kept details of it all and even did the drawings etc, for me.
For favorite original effect I'd figure 'The Hot Book" which was in "The First Book of William" written in 1946. It went around the world and spawned umpteen variations BUT, the only person to mention that it came from me was Supreme Magic (Edwin Hooper)
Billy
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rickmagic1 Inner circle MIddle Tennessee area 1544 Posts |
Billy,
If I could put in my 2 cents, I've been using your Half dyed hank since I first read it in McComb's Magic. It has been my opening routine in my act since then and I can tell you that it never fails to elicit a gasp from the audience. Rick
Richard Green
The Modern Conjurer Coming soon: Victorian Secrets: An Evening With The Spirits! |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
Agreed... Half/Dyed for me... done it millions (well hundreds) of times.
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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Billy McComb V.I.P. 1922 - 2006 57 Posts |
Rick. Here's the full story of the Half-Dyed
Al Koran showed it to me.I liked it and put it in the act. This was about 1950. Next thing I know is that it was put out as the Tom Waterman color changing silk "as done on the musichalls by Jack leDair (Wiilie Warton) with TV and Musichall rights retained by Jack Le Dair." So rather than offend an old pro. I respected I took it out of the act. I sat in my agent's office while he cancelled dates all over the place becuse I couldn't do "the act as seen" which was in all the Variety Artistes Federation contracts. Later in talking to my old friend Jack Hughes he said "that's nothing to do with Tom Waterman. I used to do it when I did an act. It's in the Frank Lane book "They're Off" . I checked in the Magic Circle library and there it was minus all the sleeving of the gimmick as in the instructions which were written by Ken Brooke. Meantime LeDair, annoyed because I was working some very good West End dates, decided to report me for plagiarism to the VA. (ourUnion in the UK). Meantime I'd been playing with the effect and bethought I could change the finish to a trick I'd given Max Andrews of "Vampire Magic" where a yellow silk changed to blue and when you quit halfway you had a half dyed silk. Francis White, the Sec. of The Magic Circle, was called in as mediator by the VAF. I showed him the Frank Lane book and showed him the half dyed finish. He said their complaint was all crap and came in on my behalf. It transpired that Waterman used to check through all the books and old magazines and found tricks that would suit Jack Le Dair and informed him. Le Dair figured that he'd done the trick for so long nobody would find out where it actually came from. The Frank Lane book was out of print for years. So I put it back in the act with the half-dyed finish. Before it had a very lame finish.All this was inthe late Forties-early Fifties. Finally I put it in "McComb's Magic" in 1972 using a twice as large gimmicks I made from old Ronson butane containers; this allowed me using twice the size silks from the original. PETE:I'll bet you never knew this, but I had to cut out the trick in the Parlor because you were using it in The Palace and had rhe Right of Passage being in the bigger room ! When all my props were stolen in 1974 you kindly loaned me your silks and gimmicks, so's I could join a cruise ship .
Billy
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rickmagic1 Inner circle MIddle Tennessee area 1544 Posts |
Billy,
That just goes to show that an average magician is confronted with a "wall", they think, "I can't". The greats, like yourself, see the confrontation and think, "How can I?" This is what I've applied to my own thinking is how to make something work, or even better, when everything is telling me that I can't do it. Great story. Rick
Richard Green
The Modern Conjurer Coming soon: Victorian Secrets: An Evening With The Spirits! |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
Sir William. Thanks for your explanation. And if you need more silks, I still have a few sets of spares. I will (I hope) see you Friday for lunch.
Question. Where does the Lloyd Enoch's version (Rice Enclyclopedia of Silk) -- where a corner of the silk, vs. half the silk, is left "not dyed" fit into the history, time line? Was the LeDair/Waterman just the "sucker silk" without the half/dyed finish?
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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rickmagic1 Inner circle MIddle Tennessee area 1544 Posts |
I had another question, Sir William. Do you still dye your own, or do you just purchase them pre-dyed? I've always bought mine pre-dyed, except for the first one that I made myself (horrible mess!).
Rick
Richard Green
The Modern Conjurer Coming soon: Victorian Secrets: An Evening With The Spirits! |
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
My first experience with this effect was from the Town House Magic instructions called Color Changing Silk Routine, "Was My Face Red" by Bev Taylor. This was my first silk trick I learned, only using a Palmo Hank Dye Tube. The magic dealer Dick Stoner taught me the original handling with this type of tube. I later found the original Town House Manuscript while helping clean out a magic shops old stuff. The instructions used a tape dye tube.
Can you share any light on this version sold in the U.S. And later marketed by Fabjance Studios whom republished it in booklet form. Was Bev Taylor just a dealer coping the original? I had the pleasure to see you several time in my life at Abbott's Magic Get-together over the years. Always enjoy your performances. |
Billy McComb V.I.P. 1922 - 2006 57 Posts |
Pete
The Waterman trick was direct from the Frank Lane book "They're Off" The half-dyed was my version. Never saw the Enoch version of the half-dyed. It may even pre-date mine. His Ink Illusionwhich was the precurser of the Himber Milk Jug is advertised in the 1938 Davenport Catalogue. Wm. I met Fabjance in 1960. the year I did the Half-dyed at a Convention in Boston run by Ed Rosenthal. So many copied that and the McCombical deck that I just stopped bothering to complain. Rick I, for years, made my own. The dealers started to make up half-dyed. I liked the ones which had a wavy line across the middle rather than a staright line. I thought they looked more half-dyed. Any I got that were straight across I made wiggly with a red marker pen. It's important to make sure the all red is the same red as the half-dyed. I got one that was more maroon and the red was a bright red. It didn't look rightso I didn't use it. Laflin had a Half-dyed Routine but without my name on it. He told me it was a printer's error and he'd change it. He does a lot of Christian Magic, so I imagine he did.
Billy
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rickmagic1 Inner circle MIddle Tennessee area 1544 Posts |
Billy,
I can attest that he did put your name on it now. I've been buying mine from Duane for years now and they are very well done. Have the wavy line like you mentioned. I tried making my own set once, didn't know that the glove I was wearing had a hole in it. I ended up having a hand that looked like it had a very bad rash!
Richard Green
The Modern Conjurer Coming soon: Victorian Secrets: An Evening With The Spirits! |
rickmagic1 Inner circle MIddle Tennessee area 1544 Posts |
Billy,
I didn't mention this previously. I mentioned that I use this as the opening effect in my act...I perform as "Professor Richard Alan Barclay, the Wizard of Edinburgh". I do a reenactment of a conjurer's act from 1860, though the character is completely fictional. I use your patter for the routine, but have changed it from being an elderly magician to the first time that "I" saw Professor John Henry Anderson performing Aberdeen in the 1830's when "I was just but a wee lad". Rick
Richard Green
The Modern Conjurer Coming soon: Victorian Secrets: An Evening With The Spirits! |
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