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goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
Hey a friend of mine just gave me his grandfather's copy of Dunninger's Encyclopedia of Magic. I know Dunninger was a legend but as I look through the book I can't find much workable material. Am I missing any treasures?
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jay leslie V.I.P. Southern California 9498 Posts |
Depends what you;re into b
Jay Leslie
www.TheHouseOfEnchantment.com |
goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
Close up walk around and kids shows. I'll also design special effects for the local theaters on occasion.
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goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
I was kinda hoping there was some fairly commercial mentalism in there, seeing how Dunninger is a legendary mentalist. Most of the effect require big gimmicks for stage presentations, I was just wondering if I was missing anything.
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thorndyke Regular user Canada 147 Posts |
It is a compilation of average material designed to reveal very little. Really just a cash in book for Joe that isn't meant for the magic community but the general public.
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goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
That's kinda what I got from it, there's really no routining or workable explanations.
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Mehtas Inner circle England, UK 1649 Posts |
Just have a laugh looking at some of the methods.
That's how I looked at it. |
Moxahalla Special user Los Angeles 751 Posts |
The contents are from a series of "Popular Science" magazines - meant for the public (circa 1920s-30s).
SOME workable tricks....but its really a treasure-trove of generating IDEAS & inspiring creations. A very famous current Asian magician - has done a water tank escape - that is right out of THIS book. |
Moxahalla Special user Los Angeles 751 Posts |
Correction to my post above:
The 3 issues were titled POPULAR MAGIC, and were issued in 1926 & 1929 |
Father Photius Grammar Host El Paso, TX (Formerly Amarillo) 17161 Posts |
A little reworked a lot of them are very useable. I used a levitation illusion gleened from that text which I made from some angle bracket, some cardboard boxes and a bit of cheap cloth. Used it in my show for years with great success. Whole thing cost me a whopping 8 dollars as I got the boxes for free from the back of a grocery store, and took me maybe an hour to build with no tools but an box cutter, an ice pick, and a staple gun. The idea in Dunninger's is a wire form, which I felt a bit difficult to build and transport, but the method is the same. Has only one angle, directly behind.
"Now here's the man with the 25 cent hands, that two bit magician..."
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B.W. McCarron Loyal user Seattle, WA USA 262 Posts |
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but the memories it brought back were quite amusing. There's a floating ball effect in DEOM that's hilariously unworkable. The performer wears a tank of compressed air with tubing that goes down the arm and nds at the fingertips. A ball magically floats in air. Ummm. Okay. The illustration shows it "floating" quite distance into the audience.
Of course, this couldn't really work. But it's one of the many treasures in that book. Brett P.S. In the interests of complete disclosure, I inserted a pipe dream effect of my own in my book "The Propshop: E-Z Tricks with Magical Accessories" that Robbins published in 1975. Yep, it's the duck in the lake that dives down and comes back with the selected card in its bill. |
Mehtas Inner circle England, UK 1649 Posts |
Mercurio,
Even though the method sounds CRAZY, a certain well known creator (and a genius) floats an ashtray with a method not too far away. PM me and I will give you the link of a demo clip. I think the one that takes the biscuit in DEOM is an effect called the vanishing doll. You've got a whole table with a heating coil inside the centre poll. you place a wax doll and cover it with paper tube. the wax melts away and the spectators think the doll has vanished ! ! I don't know how to explain the wax driping down the table or how to kill time while the wax SLOWLEY melts away. |
Wizard of Oz Inner circle Most people wish I didn't have 5145 Posts |
Sadly, this was the first magic book I purchased, as it was being sold at Waldens books, back in the day (I was probably around 9). The methods almost scared me away from even attempting magic, as I was beginning to think that every effect was so contrived.
Fortunately, I discovered the magic section in our local library, and found Greater Magic and Tarbell. Saved...
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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Mehtas Inner circle England, UK 1649 Posts |
Quote:
Could have been worst. Your first book could have been Al Jaffee's Mad Book Of Magic |
Payne Inner circle Seattle 4571 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-06-29 21:40, Mercurio wrote: One of the big shows at Disneyland or Disneyworld had a Sorcerers Apprentice segment where Mickey Mouse came out and floated a ball pretty much using this exact same method. So it's naot as impossible as you think.
"America's Foremost Satirical Magician" -- Jeff McBride.
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roberto37 New user 59 Posts |
I think that this book is very good to have inspirations for effect that need a new method.
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SHLONKY New user 17 Posts |
It may be a coincidence I stumbled upon this thread...
I have just this second started researching a book I purchased around 8 years ago by BOB DUNN. Some of my prize secrets were found in this book and so I thought id find more by bob....turns out he was actually a cartoonist who was very close to dunninger and other magicians who I'm assuming helped him out with this book (entitled magic for all - 1954). it seems its the only magic book dunn did as he never claimed to be an actual magician. so, I think I'm going to research into dunninger instead. ..and as it happens, I click on this section of the Café and the first thing I see is dunningers name it seems the book was reprinted in 2010 by kessinger, I am lucky enough to have the first print in mint condition, and from my memory there were a few tricks (one involving a coin) that no longer works due to todays date! id love to see if this is recreated, or wiped off the face of the earth? if anyone has anything to reccomend for dunninger or the likes then I'm open to ears. thanks |
Moxahalla Special user Los Angeles 751 Posts |
Remember--this book (originally published in the mid-1920's "Popular Magic" magazines, as I stated above)was meant for the PUBLIC.
We can be THANKFUL for the many bogus methods within..which basically "expose" nothing...but the readers THINK otherwise. Likewise, isn't that the cleverness of the many bogus "exposures" on the "Masked Magician" TV Specials? --the public think they're being told a big secret, when in fact - its a purposely bogus & laughable explanation (i.e a forklift used to levitate a woman). For those who laugh at the methods in DCEOM....I think Dunninger and the publishers knew exactly what they were doing! |
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