On 2006-10-03 08:19, plasticdestiny wrote:

He failed and James remained Queen for many years.

On 2006-10-02 19:39, hugmagic wrote:
Actually, the orange predates even Houdin, though he made it famous. It goes back to the time of Fawkes. Houdini's "Unmasking Robert Houdin" points out this fact.

Richard

1722, Isaac Fawkes, a stage magician, displayed a musical clock as part of his act. The clock "played a variety of tunes on the organ, flute and flangolet with birds whistling and singing." At the Bartholomew Fair, Fawkes gave top billing to a device called the "Temple of the Arts." Mechanical musicians played while mechanized ships and ducks crossed a painted bay that was supposed to represent Gibralter. The ships were later replaced with a mechanical version of King George's coronation. And in honor of the Algerian Ambassador, a "moving picture" depicted an Algerian scene in which an apple tree blossomed and bore fruit.

It is an axiom of magic that the effect of the presentation is the thing, the method used is entirely secondary. Houdini shows his complete ignorance of this fact by constantly harping on the method used in various tricks and completely ignoring the fact that it is the presentation that makes an illusion "come alive," so to speak. When a magician invents a new presentation for an old trick, he is completely justified in claiming that presentation as his own invention.

There seems to be no doubt that there was a trick known as the Apple Tree in the programs of some magicians long before Robert-Houdin entered the field. However, to compare the beautiful mechanism employed in Robert-Houdin's Orange Tree with the crude Apple Tree trick in which a rubber sphere painted to resemble an apple **** **** **** **** *****, would be akin to comparing Stevenson's steam engine with the crude machine invented by Hero of Alexandria 2,000 years ago. Not only that, but Robert-Houdin used the Orange Tree as the climax to one of the most beautiful routines in the whole realm of magic.