I'm almost certain that Chris Kenner is not the original creator of 3 fly. I know there is published knowledge of it on "Introduction to coin magic" by Arnold Furst in 1978. Does anybody know about anything before this that was published?

Jonathan Townsend was the creator I think,
but Chris Kenner put the concept in chest level.

Not familiar with the Furst work from 1978. Anyone have a copy?

The basic concept of a visible transit was used as a surprise/gag in a coin item in an old book from 1910 and a mechanical item using some small sticks from mid-century. The look for a directed transit was almost there as a small part of the standard billiards routine where a ball passes through the knee of the performer. The routined transit or across concept was there in the Scarne/Mora ball routine in print in The Stars of Magic. The "at the fingertips" idea was there in the Downs billiard routine.

On the mechanics side - there was an item in More Magic using a ] which had obvious application to billiards like coin magic and Steve Dusheck had released his Slippery Sam coin set - so for parlor work an ill fitting but magnetic setup in English Pennies was easily available by 77 as well. Anyone buying a flipper coin about then or seeing the dealer item "Blasted!" would be pretty much confronted by coins visually vanishing at the fingertips or appearing in a pop on the table.

The Furst Book is better known as Futagawas Book. I Have to take a look into it!

Unless I missed it, I don't see any mention of a "Three Fly" type routine in Shigeo Futagawa's book.

So Chris Kenner did not create the effect. He did not create the idea of 3 coins going from hand to hand?

Sept 2006 Genii magazine has a wonderful article about Jonathan's brilliant creation!

I don't think you want to open up that can of worms...

If you are really interested in the history do a search here on the Café. Or, like Mickey said, get a hold of the Genii issue that features Mr. Townsend...

Hart,

Looks like we're all taking the high road on this one! LOL

Mick

Hehe lol. Did something happen on this subject in the past?

Put it this way Mark, if you did a search here of the Café the weekend alone will not be enough time to read it all! You can order the 9/2006 issue of Genii without subscribing and IMO if you are interested in the history of VCA it is a MUST read!

Mickey and Hart beat me to it. Check out the Genii Magazine.

Where can I get genii without subscribing?

This will get you to the 2006 issues: http://geniimagazine.com/back_issues/2006/index.html

and if you like classic card magic there was a Hofzinser issue the year before in the November issue: http://geniimagazine.com/back_issues/2005/index.html

Thanks Jon! Who is that on the cover btw?

The glossy cover shows Neil Patrick Harris and Jonathan Levit performing a reenactment of "Palingensia" for the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.

Small price to buy a back issue if you want to find out about VCA, or for a
little sum you can get web access to all back issues.

I'm in my 2nd year of subscription with Genii and IMO it is VERY worth the price of admission! I actually only intended to buy the 9/06 issue and figured what the hey, and took it for a year then renewed for another year when it expired! I don't see letting it expire anytime soon!

Mick

Speaking of 3 Fly and Genii... has there ever been a Kenner or Kurtz issue? Might be fun!

Hehe. Does anybody else know that for $1000 (hear me out here lol) you can get a lifetime subscription to genii, almost all of the previous issues free, every book free, and 3 random issues of the original free. Correct me if I'm wrong. Just trying to name it out of memory. Good deal though!