I am currently doing a research on the 'fountain silks' effect and would like help finding the origin and historical background.

May I know who is the inventor of the fountain silk effect? When was this effect first documented and performed?

Thanks for helping out.

Have you checked Rice's yet?

It might have some German origins as a commercial effect. Maybe Bill Palmer can help here.

Richard

Or you could check with the magic nook biographies where we discover that Marconick invented the "Fountain of Silks." It appears in "Original Magic of Marconick" (1967) but the effect was being performed by him in the late 1950's.

Was there anyone performing this before Marconick? Is the effect called "Fountain silks" by performers in those periods?

Marconick stole the idea from himself. An earlier version was simply called "A Quantity Silk Production". It was a production of about 40 silks from a large scarf. Marconick must have noticed the reaction he got when the silks began streaming out of the large scarf and focused on the "fountain" aspect of silks flowing like water.

Thanks, Professor Spellbinder. Is this documented?

Yes, it was performed by various people before Marconick. I know Ade Duval and Jack Gywene both did it.

I am hunting in my old catalog and manuscripts for other documentation.

Richard

Thanks for the help, Richard. Will be waiting for more documentations from everyone here.

A BIG thank you for helping out.

The first magic convention I attended was the TAOM in 1960. There were at least three different performers who did the Fountain of Silks at that show. Marconick's version was very simple and involved only four silks. (version in the book written by Ganson.) It is also on volume 3 of the Encyclopedia of Silk Magic, again by Marconick.

Celeste Evans featured it in her act, which I saw in 1959. The method she used was completely different from Marconick's.

Thanks, Bill. Is there anyone who pre-dates Celeste Evans?

How about Slydini, Ade Duval, Jack Gwyene?

Richard

It would be really interesting to see who actually started this effect.

I am hunting for copy of Hugard's Hankerchief magic. I think it was included in it. I should also check Henry Hays and Whaley's references.

Maybe tomorrow.

Richard

I haven't seen anything in Slydini's material about the fountain of silks. As far as that goes, I haven't seen the fountain in DuVal or in Hugard, either. Could be in Hugard's Magic Monthly, though.

The earliest record of The Fountain of Silks that I remember is by Frank Chapman. His full routine is described in " My Best" edited by J. G. Thompson, Jr., first copyrighted in 1945. (Seems to predate Marconick.) I saw Delora Whitney from somewhere in Oklahoma (I think) perform this routine at a T.A.O.M. convention sometime in the early 1950s. She performed it pretty much as described in "My Best". It was beautiful. The handkerchiefs flowing out in great abundance as if they were alive (for what seemed like forever) was terrific.

This routine was a complete act (as I remember) and was far more elaborate than some of the "watered-down" versions seen in modern times.

Regards,
Gerald

DeLora was one of those that I saw at the TAOM in 1960.

I had forgotten all about the Frank Chapman version. His fold is a bit different from the one I prefer, but it works well. It is certainly closer to the version that I remember as the Fountain of Silks. Marconick's used only four silks, as described in the Ganson book.

Frank's used a lot more silk! Thanks, Gerald.

This origin is bugging me. I cannot believe that this effect is as new as 1950.

Thus far, here is what I have uncovered...
Potter's index and Whaley's indexes were no help.
Hugard's shows an effect that goes back to a reference of a version of a trick taught to Glenn Gravatt by Rosa Bartl one month prior to WWII (page 357, Genii, June 1958). It is a cloth bag stitched to a ring with trap folded silks inside. It is similar in some ways to Slydini's method of a cloth bag for the effect.

In Genii, September 1950, Marvyn Roy does a trap fold of silks in a Brandy Snifter. I think also lends suspect to the fact that this was used before Marconik.

I have limited German catalogs or in reading German but I suspect you may find the germ for Marconik's idea therein.

Richard

Bill,
I was a young fellow at the time, so my memory of Delora’s act is most likely idealized. Robert Rowntree, who was a T.A.O.M. member and my first mentor, told me that it was from “My Best” and was Frank Chapman’s act. I got the book, and sure enough, that was it. Of course, I don’t know what fold she used, but I assume it was Frank Chapman’s.

Richard, good luck trackin' it down!

Regards,
Gerald

I know that the trap fold was common knowledge re the Fountain before 1957, because I knew about that from a friend of mine who had done it that way for a long time.

I will be at the history conference this week and maybe I can come up with some more information. I know a couple of the german collectors will be there. Maybe if Marvyn is there, I can talk with him on it.

It just bugs me as I definitely feel that it predates Marconick.

Richard