Recently, I acquired a 60+ year old box of magic tricks. I’m guessing this belonged to Portland, OR magicians Duane Duvall. One of the things I think is interesting is looking inside the working cases of magicians. How did they keep their props in the case during their show?
Here’s a look at the case from the 1960s:
Simple solutions to holding things on the lid and around the inside of the case.
-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 of weeks ago Duane Duvall passed. Duane was a huge part of the Portland, OR magic scene. I didn’t know Duane super well, but had plenty of conversations with him over the years. His magic business card collection was amazing!
Here’s bit of Duane:
Thanks Duane for all you’ve done for Northwest magicians!
-Louie
