A 30 minute documentary showing the history of the Blaney Ladder Levitation from creation to its final home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6u0mI8s0tk

Features David Copperfield, Lance Burton, James Dimmare, Stan Allen, Peter Reveen and Steve Dacri.

WOW!!

That's the BEST 30 minutes I have spent watching a "magic clip" in a very long time!

Walter Blaney comes across a very humble and likeable man. How refreshing!

Thank you for sharing this, it was awesome!!

Mark

Thanks for the nice comments Mark.

Yes Walter is a most humble and likeable man. He just turned 87 a few weeks ago and is still going strong. We decided to do this video series a few years ago to preserve both that special nature about him as well as the great history in magic he has lived.
You can see several more videos at http://www.walterzaneyblaney.com if you are interested.

Best Regards,

Tim

I just clicked on the link but the video is no longer available. is there another link to watch it? Sobs.

It is indeed still online. I have found that for some iPad and iPhone users it won't play. ( youtube issue ) Try it on a computer and there should be no problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6u0mI8s0tk

Best,

Tim

Great video. One of my favorite illusions.

I prefer the name "Anti Gravity Board" to "Ladder Levitation". ("Ladder Levitation" is the trade name among magicians , but really now , do we want to draw any attention to the step-ladders ? Aside from drawing attention to something that should not have any attention placed on it , there's the logic of the name: the ladders don't levitate , the board and the person laying on the board defy gravity and remain suspended on air. )

I spent some pleasant time this morning browsing through YouTube for footage of Walter Blaney performing , but unfortunately also had this pop up in the search results :



Ugh. Who is this clown ? I seriously doubt he has the real work on the Blaney suspension , but is probably selling a crude computer rendered mock-up of the basic working. Totally pointless . This jerk's web site proclaims: "Magic Secrets For Sale ! We sell only the Secrets, no props or equipment!"

I blurred out his website URL on the screen capture , not wanting to give him any attention , but then I noticed looking at the Home page of his Secrets site it says :



Made me wonder if this could be another site by the infamous David J. Castle "Ph.D" , "Michigan's BEST Magician" ?

But the "About" page says the site owner is "age 70" and shows a small photo (presumably of "Magic Dave") which looks nothing like David J. Castle.

Anyone know who this is ? At his age Walter Blaney shouldn't have to put up with this crap and I'm sure he's tired of going after this type of pirate scum , but if the guy is actually selling the secret to Walter's illusion he ought to get a cease- and-desist letter.

Look how he lists it :



Has the gall to say: "The Secret is finally revealed here, after over 50 years of secrecy ...we own the ORIGINAL © Copyrighted written explaination and diagram for this Illusion in the Entire world-wide web and Real World!"


.

Walter says that he got great reactions to the suspension when he performed for magicians. I wonder if got the same reaction from the lay audience. Magicians will be blown away by it because it goes against any known method at the time. To the lay audience, it just looks like another levitation illusion.

However, if one had the money, it's much better than the Super X.

One of my favorite magical memories got edited out of this video but one day David Copperfield called me and let me know that Walter was coming over to his place to drop off the ladder levitation. I remember the phone call so clearly... "Hey Ray, what are you doing right now? Want to come play?" I went over to David's apartment which at the time was up on the hill above the Magic Caste with my then wife and assistant Laurie and were met by David and Walter setting up the levitation in David's living room. He performed it for us using my wife on the board and then broke down every move, and subtlety for David to see. It was one of my favorite days in magic getting to play with this up close and have him explain every nuance of this amazing effect.