On my Facebook page I’ve started posting OUT OF CONTEXT VINTAGE MAGIC ILLUSTRATIONS. These are pictures from old magic books that I’ve come across that without context look strange. Here are the ones I’ve posted so far:
I normally post these on Sundays on my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/louie.foxx/
Pop over there, all of these are public, however if we’re not friends, shoot me a friend request!
-Louie
In a box of old magic that I bought, there were a couple of Die Boxes without the dies. Here’s one of them:
Instead of throwing them away, I tried to 3d print the die and shell. Here’s what I made:
For the inside of the shell, I used black adhesive fabric. Here’s the everything:
The end result was great and works! I’m glad I could give this prop some more life!
-Louie
In my collection of old magic stuff, I had a pack of FAKO cards. This is a deck of gaffed cards and novelty cards.
The pack I had was just the cards without the booklet, so I’m not 100% positive as to what tricks the cards do. One of the cards has a big stop sign on it, and here’s what I’ve been doing with it:
It’s just a second deal until they say stop, and then a timing force for the second time. Every time I do it, the person has a great reaction when they see the card!
-Louie
My buddy Glen knows that I love old magic tricks. He brought one to show me in Reno, so here’s The Farmer’s Daughter:
It’s a great little packet trick with a story that’s consistent with the time it was created. Thanks Glen for sharing it with me!
-Louie
Recently, I bought an old box of magic props from the late 1950s/early 1960s, and it contained some 65ish year old flash paper. People frequently ask in magic social media groups, “Does flash paper go bad?” Well, let’s find out!
I’m amazed that it worked as well as it did and that it didn’t burn my fingers!
I think the issue that people have with flash paper is that they store it wet for safety, which is absolutely what you should do. Then dry out what you need to use a few days before you need it. That said, I think the paper sitting wet in a sealed bag over time will deteriorate. That takes years, and you really should be buying decades worth of flash paper at one time. It’s something you really should be buying a few months supply at a time. I personally wouldn’t want to store a ton of it at home.
Be safe.
-Louie
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
