The bowl for Aldini's version of the Westgate Bowl production, which is the one most often seen, is easily replaced by a variety of small glass fishbowls. If you want to produce a bowl of fruit, you don't need or even want the fishbowl shape that came with the original.

If you are building your own variation of the Westgate Production, like Jim Gerrish's WAH Production Box (so named for the contributing originators Westgate, Aldini, and Histed and found in The Wizards' Journal #10 on my site) you can build it for any size bowl: fruit, fish or aquarium.

Xavier Tapias from Barcelona has remade the Robert Houdin orange tree (but with modern technology).
Check this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SifVpjigRhM

Beautiful

Excellent, clever piece of magic apparatus, thank you for posting this video clip

Re: Assisto and the aforementioned comments:

Walter Gibson in one of his books (The Master Magicians) (?) gives a fairly good description of the Raymond presentation and it would work today without any adjustment to contemporary values. It DOES work better with two glass bowls and two tables. this allows the performer to create some impact and momentum.
Raymond tossed to oranges out into the audience in a rapid fire manner.

In fact, the whole routine should have that "fast- paced- opening- trick" vibe about it....not rushed but definitely with some pace. One should look to the opening dove sequences or Rice bowl handlings of Richiardi to get a sense of what this style entails.

Then mise en scene is as follows; the stage is set with two tables. Each table is plexiglass topped l(preferred) but covered with a table cloth so that the table's surface is hidden. On each table is a shallow glass bowl. The glass bowl is lifted from one table and with the other hand the cloth is removed revealing the plexiglass table. (Of course with the removal of the cloth the load bag is contained therein) The cloth is immediately put into the bowl and the two nested items are returned to the table top.

The same is repeated on the other table. Ideally, the placement of the two tables is such that the performer can simultaneously now lift the cloths out of the bowls and reveal two bowl of fruit. These are tossed into the audience and the illusion is complete.

It's a magnificent effect!

Regards-
JNeal

Try a splash bottle gimmick.

That just gave me an idea, Tim Star sells an appearing small fire bowl from scarf. This would be a perfect way to produce an orange. The gimmick could be used as is.

Creation By Star can be found here: http://www.creationsbystar.com/page7pocketsizetwin.html

Dove Streamer if we are going to do this route.

Richard

JNeal,

Can't thank you enough for Raymond's description. That gives me a few ideas to kick around with... Like maybe even doing the "whipping" the cloth from under the bowl deal before making the loads.

I have heard about that Gibson book (Master Magicians), but have never seen a copy. May have to hit up Amazon to find it. Am I correct in assuming it is similar to (though probably more modern) than one of my other favorites "Programs of Famous Magicians"?

Thanks again!
Keith

Abbott's Orange Classic, A table cloth is removed from a thin-topped table. This is shown and then placed over a large clear glass (or plastic) bowl. With a slight shake, a dozen real oranges drop into the bowl. Any table can be used. There are no body loads. Items other than the oranges (flowers, silks, rabbits, ducks, chickens, doves, etc.) may be used. Complete with white tablecloth, gimmick, instructions. Use your own bowl, table, and oranges.

http://abbottmagic.com/Abbotts-Orange-Classic-ABBorcl.htm

Had this for years. Good effect, best if done in a snappy fashion will surprise your audience.

Click here to view attached image.

The Gibson Book "Master Magicians" does have a good description of Raymond's act. It should have. He was married to Litzka (Raymond's widow). It was very interesting to me as a 4th grader as Raymond was from Akron and his buried here.

David Ben also did Raymond's orange production as part of his conjurer's show. It still does work and impress people. BTW, he used it the same way Raymond did for an opening.

Richard

KeithMagic!
Glad I could help!
Actually the Gibson book focuses on about 8 (or so) major talents and gives a mini biography and act or show description. This book has more detail on these particular performers (Kellar, Hermann, Houdini, et al;) than Programmes of Famous Magicians. I seem to recall it was written for the general public at an elementary/ junior high level. It is NOT the insider's book that "Programmes..." is.

BTW- Richard, I 'm glad to see you concur with me...as I haven't seen or read that book in over 35- 40 years! I was just going off my memory!! It's incredible the details that a mind can dredge up....
Regards to all-
JNeal

I do have a copy of it. There are historical inaccuracies but all in all a good read to get the flavor of the performers.

My recollection was that there was a single trick explained (including method) for each of the featured performers that were collated in the back of the book. Is that true or has my memory mis-served me?

I will have to dig out the book tomorrow and look at it again.

Richard

Just wondering after going back in the posts a little why no one suggested the crystal silk cylinder? I don`t have the trick and I`m sure it has it`s drawbacks as they all do, but it seems to answer the origial question.

John

I seem to remember one of the original uses for the crystal silk cylinder was to turn three orange silks into three oranges. But when Grant came out with Stratospheres, it only seemed natural to me to use it for producing the pit balls used in that effect, and the original tubes and gimmicks for both tricks were interchangable. My partner, Jim Gerrish, thought so too, and that's why he came up with the routine featured in The Wizards' Journal #11.

The late ROY MAYER of St. Louis, MO, was one of my mentors when I was a teenager. I remember Roy's opening in '47, when I first saw his school show. He produced oranges from a home made model of Loyd's ASSISTO. I have Roy's prop. It was a most effective production.

In my book, I tell a hilarious story of him doing the orange production in the middle of winter!

The OP specified producing AN orange which implies he wants to produce just ONE orange. If this is the case, any dove holder type set-up would be a viable solution. Maybe adjust the size to accommodate the size & shape of the orange as opposed to a dove.

I remember U.F. Grant's DOVE CLASSIC which was a special set-up to produce a dove from a man's unprepared white handkerchief...

Julie

Joshua Jay teaches a FANTASTIC method for producing a lemon. He produces it in an empty wine glass a spectator is holding. It's on his UNREAL DVD set in the Bill in Lemon discussion.

It has a lot going for it.

In all my years in magic don't think I've ever seen a magician (besides myself) using the prop for that specific purpose, even though the classic catalog illustration (by Nelson Hahne) shows it being used for that purpose. Of course, I'm sure there have been many who used it that way, I've just never happened to see it performed that way.

The Owen Magic Supreme catalog also had the oranges idea shown in the photo of the Owen version of the prop. (two oranges and a pear, in Owen's case).









But for pure magic I think the version by The Great Raymond (later resurrected by David Ben) is much stronger. I've got the instruction sheets for Abbott's 'Orange Classic'. It would not be difficult to make the device. I'm surprised Abbott's doesn't still supply it ready-made, because I don't think it's an effect that goes out of fashion, it would still play for modern audiences. (David Ben proved that.)

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that the Abbott's Orange Classic is a very simple device ... like many great magic effects, the simplicity of the method or the apparatus isn't the main thing, it's the presentation that counts. Done with smooth handling and proper misdirection I'm sure it would play very strong.

I would love to get my hands on the Loyd's "Assisto" device. I've only seen a photo of Assisto, but not sure exactly how it is made. Researching it , it seems that Loyd must have sold hundreds (thousands?) of them, because it was advertised for years in Genii , Linking Ring, and other magician's periodicals.



Oranges a la Raymond - David Ben's account in Genii magazine
of resurrecting the effect for his show "The Conjuror" in 1997 -

"Patrick and I were rehearsing the show in the dance studio
that I rented on a regular basis. One week during rehearsal,
Ron Leonard—a journeyman magician from Toronto (then
I imagine in his seventies) phoned me and said that he had heard
a great deal about The Conjuror and that perhaps he had some
material that might be of interest to me.
(Ron had an early influence—often unrecognized—on Doug Henning.)

I said that I would love to see whatever Ron had to offer.
He came to the studio on a day I was sure Patrick would be in attendance.
I wanted Patrick to have the opportunity of seeing the material as well.
I was reading the Raymond book at the same time and had
become fascinated by the story of the production of oranges and
of how Raymond only taught it to a couple of people—one of
whom was Will Rock. I was amazed that he opened his show with
it for decades.

Well, Ron Leonard sets up shop in the studio and the very
first thing he performed was the production of oranges. I jumped
from my seat. The first question I asked him was not how it was
done but where he learned how to perform it.

He said that when he was a kid he was hired by Will Rock to
act as a shill in the audience specifically for the production of
oranges. Once the oranges had been produced and were being
distributed to the audience, the young kid (Ron) in the balcony
yelled out, "Hey ... how about one up here!" Will Rock threw the
orange up to the balcony. Ron was given a straw steamboat type
hat with which to catch the orange. He would extend the hat, the
orange would enter and then fall right through puncturing the
hat with its weight. All for a laugh!

Ron said that Will Rock taught him how to perform the
oranges while he shilled for him in Toronto. I suspect, however,
that Ron saw the show enough times to appropriate the work.
Who knows? In any event, he taught me the handling which as
far as I know has not appeared in print. I was very pleased when
Charlie Reynolds said that the second production caught him by
surprise. I am also proud of the idea of drawing the people in the
back into the show—making them feel as though they have participated-—
by sucker punching them with the second production."