A couple weeks ago when I was in Las Vegas, I visited Trick Supply. One of the tricks that I picked up was Flying Spots by Lubor Fielder. There’s nothing crazy about this trick, it’s a paddle trick that I’m guessing he put out in the 1980’s.
I had an idea with it. Here’s my idea:
I’m not sure where I’m going to go with this, however I do like the look of the googly eyes a lot more than the black spots. Now I just need to write a routine!
-Louie
I came across a vintage magic trick that Royal Magic put out called the Devil’s Wand. This was sold as a beginner’s magic trick and looks a lot like the Pom Pom Pole; however, it’s a close-up version. This differs slightly from the modern stage version at the end.
Here’s a demo video of it:
@louiefoxx Magic trick is still great after 75 years! #magictrick #magic #magician #vintage #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
In case you didn’t notice, this is totally examinable at the end! When I first found this trick, I watched a couple of online video demos, and all of them skipped that part. That’s the most interesting thing about the trick! That’s a great feature that no one does anymore. I’m not sure how the gimmick would scale to a larger stage-size pom pom pole, but it’s sure cool for this smaller-sized one.
That’s one of the fun things about vintage magic tricks: you find little things that got left off of the more modern versions.
-Louie
Here’s a fun little vintage magic trick by Pavel. It’s called Circulation or Rounding the Squares. It’s a novelty packet trick as the cards it uses aren’t p playing cards. Here’s what it looks like, and what I would change about it.
@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick by Pavel! #magic #magictrick #cardmagic #pavel #circulation #vintage #vintagemagic #louiefoxx #packettrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
The ending is soo much cleaner if you palm off the gimmick, versus trying to hide it in the packet of cards. When I showed this trick to people, I was amazed at how hard the trick hit! I thought it wasn’t going to have much impact, but sometimes my view of the trick can be affected by a method I don’t like and I need to remember that no one sees the method.
-Louie
Magicians always ask me where I get a lot of the vintage magic props. I seek them out while I’m travelling. When I was performing in Napa, CA I found someone with a box of magic from the 1970’s. Here’s a quick video of it:
@louiefoxx Hunting for Vintage Magic Tricks #magictricks #magic #treasure ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
Honestly, this box was just “meh” for me. There’s one thing that I want for my personal collection.
I am kinda excited to try to 3d print the gimmicks the two die boxes. It shouldn’t be too hard and they’re not complex shapes. The challenge will be making the hinge for the yellow die, but even that shouldn’t be too difficult.
For fun, I had AI make me a painting of the magic props on the desk of my hotel room.
Today’s vintage magic trick is Nick Trost’s Cardcentration. The effect is a prediction of which card out of 8 that someone will pick, then there’s a kicker ending.
Here’s what it looks like:
@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick: Nick Trost’s Cardcentration! #cardtrick #magic #magictrick #vintage #cardmagic #louiefoxx #nicktrost #closeupmagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
The effect of this trick is great, the method is garbage. There’s no reason for the envelope, you put a card into it, then immediately take it out. This trick would be equally as strong if you did the hot rod force, Quinta force, or the PATEO force. Sure, there’s nothing to sell if you don’t have a gimmick, but those would be superior methods.
I will say that of the three times I did this trick, only once no one asked to look at the envelope after the trick. That confirms to me that it’s the weak spot in the trick. Sure I could have come up with a reason or way to justify the envelope, but I try to do these tricks as written up in the original instructions to preserve what the creator intended.
-Louie
Frequently if I have time to kill between shows, I will stretch my legs and walk through junk shops. Usually I just find things like sealed bicycle decks from the Cincinnati factory. Well, the other day I spotted this:
It’s a silhouette cut by Dai Vernon!
It was cheap and in a case that was an additional 20% off, so I took it home with me!
People always ask me where I find the cool old magic props and things that I have. Usually I hunt for most of them. I really like the “treasure hunt” aspect of it.
Doing the legwork pays off!
-Louie
The Destiny Deck by Nick Trost is a fun little routine that has a few effects that happen one after the other. Here’s what the trick looks like:
@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Destiny Deck by Nick Trost! #magictrick #cardtrick #vintagemagic #cardmagic#nicktrost #louiefoxx #dice #closeupmagic #antiquemagic #antique ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
What I’d probably do to change the trick is eliminate the dice and have people hold up fingers for their number. That frees up some pocket space and the trick will still work. It’s a fun trick to do, the only problem is the reset and because of that it’s something that I really won’t carry with me. However I did have fun doing it for a couple of days!
Also it looks like Abbott’s Magic has a few left in stock: https://abbottmagic.com/shop/ols/products/nick-trost-destiny-deck
-Louie
I’m always hunting for vintage magic tricks and recently came across this Gilbert Mysto Magic Set!
The bad news was that it was incomplete and in pretty rough shape.
It was missing a lot of the contents, but it had the mustache!
While the mustache isn’t rare, it’s a frequently missing piece to these kits. This one priced at $199.95 is about double what a complete Gilbert Mysto Magic Set should cost! I didn’t buy this one, but there’s a lot of old magic out there, you just gotta hunt!
-Louie
When I have down time when I’m on the road I pop by junk shops and try to find old magic props or unopened bicycle cards from Cincinnati. Usually I don’t find much, but the other day I found a Deland Deck:
I also found this lid that looks like the top of a dove pan!
The lid was lacking the spring clips inside, so a quick search on Google and I learned it’s the lid from a serving tray. I guess that the dove pan is actually something in real life…well halfway. The metal bowl isn’t something that would have been with it, it would be paired with a flat tray.
I always love finding the real life item that props are trying to mimic!
-Louie
Yesterday I mentioned that I paid $15 for a box of magic stuff. All I had to go off of was the picture below:
Well, when I went to pick it up, it was actually 4 boxes!
This led to a challenge as I’m travelling right now, so my car has my show in it and I won’t be home for a few days. Also quite often old magic has a musty smell, and I don’t want to have that smell in my car all week and I just don’t have space for it.
I stopped at a grocery story and used their parking lot to sort through the boxes. Like most boxes of used magic, most of the stuff is junk.
Here’s an overall look at some of the boxes:
The VHS tapes have great material on them, I dont’ have a VHS player and there’s really no market for them. I did find a lo
The stuff that I didn’t want filtered down the magic food chain. These were left at a performer’s house who lives near where I got the boxes.
Here’s the pile of stuff that I kept:
There’s a MAK french arm chopper, MAK Chen Lee Water Suspension, snake basket, multiplying bottles (india), sword thru neck (india), and a lot of other misc stuff.
One of the surprises were two Ormand McGill books and they both were signed!
These boxes of magic were a solid buy for $15 and since I was in the area and didn’t have to travel to get them.
-Louie
