Illusions, Escape & Stage in Magic & Conjuring: page 1

Houdini shines in this book. Handcuffs are his passion. He knows every little detail about them and every nuance in their mechanism. Houdini was not a particular good magician, but as an escape artist he is still unsurpassed. Thus, if you would like to know more about handcuffs and their inner workings, this book is for you.

1st edition, 1909, George Routledge & Sons, London; later reprinted by Magico Magazine, New York; 110 pages.

9. Preface
1. I.Introductory
8. II.Opening Sealed Handcuffs
13. III.Blunders of some Handcuff Exposers
25. IV.Fake or Spoof Manacle
33. V.American Manacles
42. VI.French Letter...

Chuck Smith writes: "Twenty-four illusions as mysterious to audiences today as when they were performed years ago. Most are so easy to construct and execute that a teenager could do them. I know because I, as a student in highschool, built and entertained with several of them. A couple of three fold screens and a large sheet gives you the material for several of the illusions. Recently in a magic periodical I saw an ad for an illusion that looked extremely familiar. It was selling for over $5000. It's method, I'm sure, had it's roots in Grant's Super-Fine Suspension on pages 27-28 of this book....I...

A mind-boggling illusion that you can do without having to buy expensive props or building stuff yourself. Do it with any two screens at the venue you are performing at. This trick can be done almost anywhere and under almost all conditions.

They know it can't be done and so do you. However, you do it anyhow. This creates the perfect illusion that you have actually squeezed a lady from the audience into a tiny doll house and carried her across the room or stage! Unbelievable, but true.

This is a new and improved version of an old U. F. Grant idea. You have two folding screens on stage...

I recommend you do NOT purchase this, unless you are a die hard fan of Jerry Andrus, connoisseur of optical illusions, and or a collector of strange and rare publications.

Essentially this ebook has 7 pages of squiggly lines. That's it. If you know what they mean, if you have seen or experienced Jerry's optical illusion which goes along with this, then it will probably make sense to you. Otherwise I doubt you will know what it is for and what it all means. There is no explanatory text. These were the lecture notes for a seminar Jerry gave in April of 1986 at Harvard University.

1st...

Although the original title of this manuscript is "Close-Up Floating Light Bulb", this is not a close-up effect but a stage effect. The method would not allow you to perform this in an intimate close-up setting.

With the aid of a hoop you let a light bulb float, rise and descend.

6 pages

A golden stick floats in the air without any means of support. A hoop is passed across and around the stick yet it still floats until finally at the command of the magician it travels away from him, at least six feet, and gently comes to rest upon a table.

This effect can be performed in a large drawing room or whilst completely surrounded. It is a one man floating effect and no assistants are required. It should not be confused with the Finn Jon Floating Stick which uses an entirely different method. With this routine the stick actually floats away from the magician and if performed on a...

Learn to escape from handcuffs, sacks, straight jackets, boxes, chains, and many more.

• Publisher's Foreword
• Foreword
• Suggestions for Handcuff Escapes
• Publicity Handcuff Escape

• CHAIN EFFECTS
• - Outstanding Chain Escape
• - Always Ready Chain Act
• - Siberian Chain Escape
• - Extraordinary Chain Release
• - Lightning Shackle Chain Escape
• - Chain Handcuffs
• - Neck and Wrist Cuffs

• WRIST TIES AND PADLOCKS
• - Abbott's Rod Tie
• - Wire Wrist Ties
• - How to Open Padlocks

• SACK ESCAPES
• - Improved Sack Escape
• - Cloth Sack Escape
• - Triple Tied Sack Escape
• - Mail Bag

• ESCAPES FOR STAGE,...

Known for his work in the field of mentalism, it may come as a surprise (unless you attended his first lecture tour), to know that Scott Creasey performed his first underwater handcuff escape in 1976 at just twelve years of age and that during the early part of his career he spent as much time hanging upside down wrapped in chains, tied in packing cases and struggling to escape from various types of handcuffs, as he did reading minds.

In this ebook for the very first time, Scott explains the various methods he used for his underwater handcuff and chain escapes to gain publicity during those...

This is the first volume in Chris Stolz's Theatre Illusions series. This series is meant to provide theatre productions with solutions to those special effects so often called for in the story or script. These can be illusions, special theatre props, transformations and much more. Each ebook in the series focuses on a different popular show. In this first installment, Chris focuses on the magical props and effects for Beauty and the Beast.

Audiences are always prepared to suspend their disbelief. It's when they don't have to that you have something truly special.

Beauty and the Beast is...

The unique division of two ladies contained with the same apparatus

This is the second published stage illusion design from Jon Gower. Jon's good friend Mark Parker, author of illusion books Vivify and 4E illusion Design has again added additional elements to the design to help mold a modern creation for today's audiences.

Dual Divide first came into existence in 2002 and was created to provide an alternative effect to other "cutting" illusions performed. This effect is a fast paced routine utilizing two assistants contained in one tiny cabinet suspended high off the floor within a metal...

Build a base that looks thinner than it actually is.

These instructions are for magicians who want to build their own illusions. Clear 3D drawings are provided, showing all angles. Included is a complete part list. Exact measurements are given. These instructions are much easier to understand than normal plans available on the market today. A little woodworking skill and a few tools is all you need to start building.

1st edition 2015, 31 pages.

Magic with choppers, guillotines, cutters, knives, etc., found a place in the programs of famous magicians like Virgil, Dr. Satan, Sorcar, Kalanag, Blackstone, and many others. In this compilation, we give you the secrets of more than ten such tricks. With some magical sense, you can get your illusions of decapitation or beheading made by a good carpenter, or else you can buy one ready-made for your show.

Illusions featured:

• Just A Few Words
• Cigarette Cutter
• Finger Chopper
• Wrist Chopper
• Mino Hand Wrist Guillotine
• Goodliffe's Leg Chopper
• Will Ayling's Leg/Head Chopper
• Virgil's Head Chopper
• Lester Lake...

Tips on performing and presenting the chair suspension illusion

This ebook is jammed full of information, tips on presentation, safety, routine ideas as well as step by step coverage of the best way to perform this illusion. This is one of the ONLY books in the history of magic devoted solely to helpful information on the performance of this classic illusion.

Find out how to add this illusion to any show and to add value to your client in the process. This illusion has been a classic of magic and can add tremendous value to your show at a fraction of the cost of some of the larger illusions...

Self-levitations have been recently popularized by street performers like David Blaine and others. U.F. Grant as usual was way ahead. Here you will find a lovely self-levitation as well as four other easy to build levitation apparatus.

If you are into levitations you should also check out Modern Levitations by U.F. Grant.

14 pages

3. Contents
4. Introduction
5. Uncanny Self-Levitation
7. Casket Asrah
10. Girls In The Air
11. Easy-Do Board Suspension
13. The Floating Head Illusion

Black light or ultra-violet light allows one to create fascinating illusions and visually stunning entertainment. While this publication is certainly dated when it comes to contact addresses and some of the technical information, it is a unique source and collection of information for the black light enthusiast and performer who wants to make use of its properties.

1st edition 1969, 17 pages; 1st digital edition 2016, 21 pages.

All my secrets of how to become invisible when I was performing as Jason Michaels and more. Never before revealed. You get invisibility secrets you can use on stage or outdoors. Methods by Al Mann, UF Grant, Tony Shields, Bill Neff, and myself. Methods for everyone. Learn how Bill Neff would become invisible while addressing the audience, how psychics walk thru the audience invisible. They can hear you but not see you. Disappear while walking down the street. Secrets behind my invisibility stunts that made the front page. No pipe dreams. All methods have been used. Visibly turn into a cardboard cut-out on...

If you are looking for a detailed and informative plan to fabricate a deceptive base then Base Planning is the right ebook for you. On 25 pages with over 70 detailed diagrams and photos Aaron Chee describes everything clearly. Base Planning is suitable for beginner builders or professional builders. Even if you are not a builder Base Planning will guide you from scratch to the end product. The ebook covers: safety issues, positions and conditions, design and measurement, type of base, construction and finishes.

"The base planning ebook by Aaron Chee is one of the finest ebooks on illusion...

A rare insight into Al Mann's least-known manuscript, The Sensational Boiler Escape. In 1987, Mann revised this effect and sold the exclusive rights to Devin Knight as a unique demonstration of psychic powers to be used on a TV show. The effect was as follows:

The performer is visibly locked into an examined metal boiler, which is then filled with boiling water! The performer claims he will be able to survive the scalding waters because of his psychic powers. The level of the water is seen rising on the indicators and the temperature is recorded on the boiler's thermometer.

The boiler...

New and good illusions are hard to find nowadays. In this manuscript magic consultant and illusion designer Timo Dante publishes an illusion from his own collection.

As a magician you always want to look good and appear as such on stage. Air Dream is an appearance-illusion that even fools magicians: Just a thin platform with a frame attached to it. A cloth is held in front of the frame and the magician instantly appears in a mysterious way.

• Every artist’s dream!
• No black art, no darkened stage!

You are probably familiar with the "Head Twister" act. This can be presented to the audience in a serious or comic way, however, it has always been done with obsolete objects such as boxes with knobs, boxes with oriental designs, sequins, and so on. Paolo thought to use a modern object: a motor-cycle helmet! It is a common object of everyday use!

The conjuror or his assistant sits and puts on the helmet and from this moment the magic begins. The helmet and person's head, which is visible, is rotated 360° various times. At the end of this demonstration the assistant stands, the conjuror blocks...

The art of rope tying and methods of obtaining releases from ropes, chains and shackles. New cut and restored rope effects including a number of original ties and releases.

• Houdini Did Not Steal This Book!
• Introduction
• Special Instructions For Beginners Suggestion As To Arrangement And Application
• Handling Committee
• Rope Tying And Release Methods
  • The Mysterious Knots
  • The Kellar Tie
  • The Improved Kellar Tie
  • The Figure 8 Tie
  • The Mysterious Tie
  • B. H. Strangle Rope Tie
  • Important Points
  • "New Spirit Tape Tie"
  • The Twentieth Century Tie
  • B. H. Triumph Tie
  • The Ten Ichi Thumb Tie
  • The Excelsior...

This PDF would not exist, if it were not for one of those rare coincidences. The content of this ebook was locked away on a set of 16 microfiche since the mid-70s under a title and categorization inaccessible to magic keyword searches. No more than 50 people have seen it or are aware of its existence. And since most of those 50 folks have nothing to do with magic it is a publication completely unknown in the magic community.

It is a remarkable set of plans for 27 illusions which 27 students of architecture at Penn State University under the guidance of Prof. Howard Ray Lawrence produced during...

For the performer who plays carnivals, circuses, clubs or who just has a large stage show, this ebook is just what you need. The sensational illusions in this ebook can be built up after reading the directions. Add one or more of these effects for the coming season. Finely illustrated in detail, the clear instructions will enable you to build these feature illusions on your own at a small cost. A valuable manuscript for anyone.

• The Book Of Life
• The Rajah's Tent Illusion
• Two On A Park Bench
• Chen Lee's Screen Illusion
• The Man Without A Head
• Witch's Broom & Rope Illusion
• The Human X-Ray ...

Imagine being able to make your friends car vanish into thin air. You can also make their car appear or change with these methods using no large props what so ever. In fact chances are you already have everything you need to perform this trick so it'll most likely cost you nothing.

I want to be completely honest about the limitations and strengths of this trick. So here are a few questions I feel I'd be most likely to get about this trick.

Is it practical?
Yes and no would be my answer to that question. It's unlikely that you'll perform this trick on a regular basis although it is possible....