When Summers produces his baby size Lindy, I pray it isn't marketed as a Walter Blaney baby size cage.

When Daniel starts selling them they will be marketed as RISER Baby Lindy’s.

9 baby Lindy’s now available!

The Walter Blaney "Perfect" Vanishing Birdcage was a cooperative effort spanning a number of years. Walter and I were in touch when he decided that he would like to offer a quality cage to the magic fraternity perhaps 10 years ago. During this time I explained carefully how to make the cages and where to obtain the needed metal but that I did not have the time to make them for him. Walter went from one "builder" to the next. All of them promised him that they could make the cages. One by one they wasted his raw materials and were still unable to make good workable cages. This was a huge let down to Walter. Then along came Daniel Summers who would carefully listen to how the cages needed to be made, who would obtain the required machinery, and who would learn the techniques required. After much expense, learning, and hard work, Daniel was able to produce the Walter Blaney "Perfect" Vanishing Birdcage. It is a thing of beauty to behold and to use.

“Jim Riser”

Https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/2796......5E2&dl=1

Rudy,

That link doesn't work for me. Where are the Baby Lindy cages available?

Mark

Https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/2796......A62&dl=1

Contact Daniel at

Daniel@danielsummers.com to order.

What's the price?

Approx 1k

Thanks!

All these years later I happened upon one of these Pro Van cages at a small magic shop that was having a clearance sale. It still had the original price on the box ! So out of curiosity I purchased it. This cage was marketed by Funtime Magic (Sam Dahal) of Calcutta, India. Via email correspondence I learned from Sam Dahal that the Pro Van cages were made for them by Mr.Sucharoo Bhatacharjee, a mechanical engineer who was an enthusiastic amateur magician. When Sucharoo Bhatacharjee passed away, Funtime Magic was unable to find another craftsman who could make the cage , so they discontinued it. It was first released in 2004 and was last available in 2011.

I also have an original Lindhorst cage to compare with the Pro Van cage. As the late Bill Hegbli (RIP) said, this cage is indeed similar in construction to the Lindhorst-style bird cage. It is not really in the same league as the classic cages by Lindhorst, Gene Devoe, Owen Magic Supreme, etc., but for what it is, it's not bad. Bill Hegbli's original post about this cage was to suggest that those who were considering performing the vanishing bird cage could use this inexpensive ($45 !) cage to practice with it, to see if they were suited to performing the effect before they invested hundreds of dollars in a more expensive cage such as the Owen Magic Supreme cage. However, there are some worrisome drawbacks to the Pro Van cage:

1.) the cage is all brass and therefore quite heavy. For the vanishing bird cage effect a lighter weight cage is a major advantage to the speed of the vanish. (however, if you were to use it for the "Slow Motion" vanish a la Billy McComb, this would not be quite as big an issue)

2.) the thicker cross bars on this cage are cut with square ends instead of the ends of the bars having rounded edges as on a proper Lindhorst-style cage. This can be rectified by using a fine metal file to round off the edges. The ends of the cage cross bars really need to be smoothly rounded so they don't snag.

3.) Keep in mind that the Pro Van cage was built to be used as both a vanishing cage and production cage. (it was also used for a 'Cane To Cage' effect) So it was built rather "loose", therefore it needs to be rigged up in a way that allows it to pop-up and to be held freestanding in one hand , using a variation of Richard Buffum's rigging system that was part of Buffum's "Releaso" system he sold in the 1970's. This system works , but I replaced the original spring rigging on the Pro Van cage with a lighter, less visible rigging to accomplish the same function. (I won't go into detail here on a public forum, but if this type of minutia interests you then you may PM me and I can give more details)

Superficially this cage looks enough like a classic Lindhorst/Devoe/Owen cage that someone who has never handled one of those classic cages might not be able to tell the difference if they only looked at photos of the Pro Van Cage. I've seen a Pro Van cage listed as a vintage Lindhorst/Devoe cage, for hundreds of dollars, but this cage is not worth that much , imo. Remember, we're talking about a cage that was originally priced at $45 in 2011 and has some significant disadvantages compared to a real, vintage collectible Lindhorst, Devoe , or Owen cage , not to mention the more recent excellent Lindhorst-style cages made by James Riser, Chris Reesman (Encore Magic), and Daniel Summers (who made the Walter Blaney Perfect Vanishing Bird Cage and is authorized by James Riser to make the Riser "Baby Lindy" cage).


Earlier in this topic there are only a few small, blurry photos of the Pro Van cage posted . Here are some better quality photos for anyone interested -

Pro Van Bird Cage by Funtime Magic -



The Pro Van cage can be easily recognized by the square corners on the cross bars,
instead of the rounded corners on a Lindhorst-style cage.



Lindhorst cage (left) side-by-side with Pro Van cage (right)-

(note the rounded ends of the Lindhorst cross bars compared to the square ends of the Pro Van cross bars)


Additional Pro Van Bird Cage photos -




.

Hi there
I have to say, I have a Riser/Summers Cage for a year now... and its really great. I do the "Blaney" Vanish and I like it a lot. But I think could be a little less moving with the arms. Any tips to bring that down... and yes... I pratice a lot. I know there are double/single Pull etc. but a try to make it better with an ordinary pull.
Best regardes
Shorty

I'm still working on mine and I know exactly what you mean about the temptation to move the arms too much. I don't want to go into too many details here on the public part of this forum, but there is another Vanishing Bird Cage thread in the Secret Sessions section of the Cafe if you want to discuss more freely.

However, in brief, I have found these instructions (from the original Lindhorst instruction sheet) to be extremely helpful:

"Instruction sheets which have gone out with bird cages previously manufactured have advised stretching both hands out quickly. We have found that it can be done much more effectively by holding the hands steady and moving the body back, thus accomplishing the same thing without any hand movement and making the effect much more startling. You should withdraw the body,rather than thrusting the hands outward."

It has also been suggested that as you move the body back you are also expanding (flexing) your upper back muscles (lats). This tip is from Jonathan Pendragon - see his Penguin Live lecture, or his article on the cage in Genii magazine Vol. 74 No. 4, April 2011.

H. Claude Enslow recommended practicing by standing close to a wall in order to ensure that you move your body back rather than throwing your arms forward. If your hands hit the wall , you're moving them forward too much.


But perhaps we could continue on the other cage thread in the Secret Sessions ...

Hi David
Thank you... I am not even now there is a Secret Session Section learnd already something! I will read this in the Secret Session.
Best regardes
Shorty

Yes, just scroll on down to the bottom of the forums ,you'll see "The Banquet Room" . Within the Banquet Room is the Secret Sessions. A user must have at least 50 legitimate posts on the Magic Cafe to have access to the The Banquet Room forums, including Secret Sessions. It doesn't guarantee that a non-magician won't gain access , but as a rule anyone who has hung around here long enough to make over 50 posts is not just a random curious person fishing for secrets who landed here via a search engine. All the other Cafe forums outside of the Banquet Room can be accessed by anyone and are subject to being crawled by Google and other search engines, so anything posted here will be archived in publicly accessed search engines, thus the attempt not to "say too much" or sometimes cloak comments in a sort of code so that knowledgable magicians will understand what is being discussed, but non-magicians won't get it.

Hi David
See you there!
Best regardes
Shorty