Another Letter From Thayer

There are a lot of interesting things going on in this Thayer letter. The first paragraph alone is advertising gold:

Read the rest of this letter. It should not take you more than two minutes and if it will only save you one dollar, that will make your time worth while.

I've always wondered what my time was worth. Thanks, Thayer Manufacturing!

We also have the offhand reference to a printer's strike. I can't find any specific mention of a printer's strike going on in the US in 1921, with the exception of this small paragraph from Workday Minnesota:

The weekly newspaper of the Catholic archdiocese had been produced at a scab shop since the start of a printers’ strike in 1921. The printers had learned from Archbishop Dowling that he would prefer it be produced by union labor -- if they could find a suitable place to handle the job.

The second page has this cut panel taped over the top of the letter, reestablishing the time frame the receipt has to answer the ad, and I love the closing line:

Act now and you will make some real money- otherwise the other fellow wins.

Ominous!

Throw Your Voice!

This is a fun little add- fool police AND your friends! I wonder if my Grandfather clipped it out as a child to maybe save up for it one day. I didn't find anything online that would tell me what the Claxophone was, but if you want to read about the klaxophone, you can via wikipedia.

Second-Hand Apparatus

Here is a pale little flier from Ovette. It appears to have been taped to something else, but I did not find a second page of similar size anywhere near it.

I looked up a few of the apparatus items with little luck, except for the first two, which kind of opened an interesting can-of-magic-worms on a magician I have not yet touched on: Harry Kellar. Kellar is one of those magicians I have made a mental connection with to the occult- probably in large because of his posters. That classic Faustian imagery is why I love vintage magic posters, and hope to one day collect a few of my own.

Something that was also of complete interest to me was learning about Kellar, Houdini, Thurston, and others being Masons. As my Grandfather was a Mason, I have high regard for the order. You can read more about this "Magical Brotherhood" via this article.

I was also interested in "Germain's Original Rose Bush Production," and was able to find this write up on it (and rose tricks in general) via ClassicMagic.net:

A real improvement on the trick was devised by that graceful and brilliant performer, Mr. Karl Germain, whose retirement from the stage is regretted by all who have had the pleasure of witnessing his performance.

In his version, a single uncovered flower pot stood on a table. Standing near it Germain began to fan the pot, when gradually there appeared to spring from it a few leaves. These were followed by buds, and then the plant increased in height until it was fifteen to eighteen inches above the top of the pot. That the flowers on it were real there could be no doubt, for the performer cut them off and distributed them to the ladies in the audience.

Another Letter From Alexander

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you- this really looks like it was typed on a typewriter with a rounded surface. This is a fun letter from Alexander- he is selling our previously researched Luminous Ouija Board! And from what I can tell with a basic magnifying glass, that is a real ink signature!

After All.

I love this Ovette advertisement. The phrasing begins almost modern and dissolves into that strange magician-speak. As for the trick he is selling? I have no clue. I looked for Ovette tricks referencing tissue paper, wands, and ladders and came up empty. Looks like another item for the mystery file!

List. No. 1 Special July Bargains.

What a random list of things! I was able to figure out that this is a list from Thayer.

I had a great time looking these items up! If you find any more on this list, please let me know!

• The Spirit Paintings with easel.
  
  
• I could not find Thayer/Holmes specific nest of boxes, but Martin's Magic Galley has many to look at.
  
  
• I'm not 100% positive, but I think the Eggs of Columbus trick stems from Tesla. There was also this video (although done with a coin) that I think operates on the same principal.
  
  
• Atlantis Magic has a great picture of the Thayer Raping Hand
  
  
• You can read all about Ching Ling on Travelanche, and here is what they have to say about his "foo" can specifically:

  From his mysterious “Foo Can” he would pour an endless stream of water. He could also blow smoke from his mouth that turned into streamers and even a nine foot pole, introduced “torn and restored paper” and conjured up his 3 year old daughter Chee Toy.

A Letter From Thayer

It is strange how some items in the collection practically turn to dust when you look at them, while others are so well preserved that I wouldn't believe how old this was if there wasn't a date on it. Nearly 90 years old, and there is little yellowing and the colors are still so bright!

Yet while the article held up to time, the rest of it is a bit of a mystery. This is the first time I have ever seen a specific TO: on a document. I am going to have to start digging to see who this Griffiths person is, because it is not my Grandfather's last name. His (or her) address in Chicago is now a building full of businesses.

This is also a curiously written letter. Did they forget to include an advertisement in with a mailer? Did Griffiths request information on something which they forgot to send?

Also worth noting is this signature:
It is in pencil and looks like an 'S' to me, but Magicpedia is telling me the founder's name was Floyd, so I will also have to investigate who the 'S' is!

Element of Purgatory (back page)

The back page of the advertisement doesn't give me any great mysteries to explore, but I loved the detailed little drawings so I wanted to share them with all of you. The ad is small- only about 5 x 51/2 inches- and it struck me as unique not only for the photographs we looked at on day 1, but also in contrast to the other ads, this one has more graphics and less overly wordy descriptions. I wonder if this was a first attempt trying different advertising techniques.

Element of Purgatory (page 2 & 3)

Thanks to googlebooks, I was able to track down the source of yesterday's photographs. The inside of the flier, shown above, gave me some keywords to look for. The tricks described were from Ovette's performances, and it goes back to the "Free Guessing Letter" I scanned back in May.

A few of the pages from the scan of the book are below- it pretty much just copies word for word what I have in the ad, and republishes the picture from the front of the pamphlet.





Looking at this photograph of Ovette from Magic Nook, I am going to weigh in with my opinion that it is him in the photographs. And judging by the hair on his head, I am also going to assume this ad was from at least the 20's if not earlier.

The back page has some hand-drawn illustrations, and I will share those tomorrow!

Element of Purgatory (page 1)

This is an interesting ad, and it is the first I have seen that uses actual photographs and not drawings. This is the first page, and I plan on exploring the whole thing this week to figure out who that is the the pictures and what this trick is all about!

A Miracle in Modern Seership

I've seen this mentioned in an ad before, but I am still having the hardest time figuring out what it actually is. The ad mentions an apparatus, but the closest explanation I could find about this trick was in this scanned pdf of a typed copy of Burling Hull's dictionary of Mentalism, and after reading through the trick, it would appear that the only thing you need apparatus-wise is a short pencil and a small, thicker stock sheet of paper.

Presto Rising Cards

Today I learned that a houlette is the name of that frame magicians will place their cards in to do rising card tricks. There are hundreds of them still on the market, but I was after the Thayer one mentioned in this ad. After some looking, I think I found an example of both this and the card box from yesterday!

Live Auctioneers has a Thayer lot, and in it contains, "Locking Card Box. Card Houlette. Thayer, Thayer Magic, ca. 1930. Locking Card Box: card appears or vanishes in box. Card Houlette: card rise."

Here is a photo from the site- I think we found our items!...and wow....those are expensive.

Thayer's New Card Changing Tray

I was able to find a few card changing boxes and trays on the market. There is this new version, which is a clear box, and this one- which is being sold as an antique box, although they do not have a date or maker for it. I looked through a few auction sites, and as of right now, no one has the Thayer box described in this ad.

Here is a video I found of someone using a card change box:

Rip Van Winkle

I learned a lot about the most random things when I started researching this Thayer ad. I learned that Edwin Brush was a magician and entertainer and got his start of the first circuit of chautauquas. I had never heard that word until today, so if you are as clueless as I was, here is the wikipedia article on them. Essentially they were traveling tents bringing education and entertainment to communities. You can view a program from one of his performances here- and if you love old Americana ephemera, you should definitely check out that site!

Also, if you have money to burn, Brush's original trunk and some costuming & other items are on auction via live auctioneers. In the description they mention the illusion in this advertisement:

sections of a cabinet and two matching Asian robes/costumes for an exchange illusion (possibly Brush's Rip Van Winkle illusion)

The starting bid is at $1,300.00.

Alexander's Original Luminous Ouiji Divining Board

Here is an ad that manages to do it's job a century later- I wanted one of these tremendously on first read! I would even settle for a photograph of one!

I couldn't find anyone selling or even mentioning the board anywhere, so I went to an Ouija Board expert. I emailed the awesome Gene, who runs the Museum of Talking Boards to see if he could pinpoint which board Alexander was selling. I was really surprised at what Gene was able to find- and now I know why you don't see many any of these boards anywhere:

Alexander’s Original Luminous Ouiji Divining Board was made by magician Claude Alexander Conlin (Alexander--the Man Who Knows) and sold exclusively through his Los Angeles publishing house during the 1920s. It wasn’t available through stores and that is why it is so rare and seldom seen today. What made this item special was the planchette, which was in the shape and image of Alexander’s head. It worked as a writing planchette if you inserted the pencil as the third leg and wrote on a sheet of paper, or as a regular message indicator if you replaced the pencil with the matching leg and used the supplied letter and number board.

The letter and number board was fairly unremarkable except for the glowing luminous spot in the center. The luminous spot was supposed to aid spirit communication and make the “conditions” right. What this spot was made of I can only guess but I suspect that it was radium which was used at the time to make paint glow in the dark. If this was true then it added a whole new meaning to dangerous Ouija sessions.

So if anyone has a planchette in the shape of Alexander's head, you have something special. If you have a board that glows in the center, you might need to see your doctor.

Here is the second section of the advertisement- which hilariously appears just below the top portion, only the entire thing is too long to fit in my scanner, so I had to split it into two parts:

Thank you again, Gene for being so quick with this information!

50-Cent Colection of DeLand's Famous Card Tricks

As much as I love the awesome artwork of some of the ads, I always enjoy it when I pull out an advertisement that just makes me laugh. I admire their thriftiness- instead or reprinting the flier or renaming the collection, they simply purchased a few red stamps and went to work!

Here is a close up, in case you don't want to click on the picture to enlarge it:
Anyhow, this revised ad is for the collection from DeLand- and I wasn't able to find an online source of this complete set, but I found this deck & guide, which looks to be similar (if only adjusted for inflation).

A Letter From Alexander

This was a great thing to unfold- the colors on the logo are still so vivid! I wouldn't even suspect it was that old if it wasn't for the second page being so frail. This looks like a follow-up letter to the advertisement we viewed earlier this week.... and I really have to wonder if Alexander (or the company) was really employing people to type these, or did they mass-produce them to look that way? Also, I am going to have to do some digging for the "enclosed circular on Crystal Gazing,"- it sounds intriguing!
I have looked at this so closely, and I cannot figure out if the signature on the second page is printed or actually signed. Everything has just settled so much with age. I'm afraid to try any CSI ridiculousness, but if anyone would like to comment on if this was his actual signature, that would be appreciated.

Mysterious Dr. Q Materialization of a Living Human Being (Dr. Q Ad part 3)

While I could not find the exact method for the trick described in this ad, the picture of the hands coming out & ringing the bell, tambourines, etc., made me think of one of my favorite Penn & Teller routines:



I think they took the original idea and made it much more entertaining.

Mysterious Dr. Q Dark Trumpet Seance (Dr. Q Ad Part 2)

I've been a huge fan of seances & "spiritualism" since before I knew what those words meant. When I was 10, I tried to contact the recently deceased Heather O'Rourke via Ouija Board, and I have always loved seance scenes in the movies.

This trick would have been great to witness back in the early 1900's, when we didn't have a ton of technology and our minds would have been more susceptible to this kind of thing- and I was excited to find out how the trick actually works via The Life and Mysteries of Dr. Q @ google books.

I thought that "Dark Seance" was meant as an Occult selling point, but the trick is actually performed in the dark. This is so the audience- which is sitting around you in a circle- cannot see that the trumpet you placed between your legs has a long black hose coming from it to your mouth, where you can voice the "secrets of the dead."

Kind of hokey when you know how it works, and you would really have to practice to make sure they can't hear you mumbling into the tube, but it would be fun to see an experienced Magician perform it.

The Master Secret of the Swami (Dr. Q Ad Part 1)

This extremely wordy and curious ad is selling some kind of mentalist trick. My searches for "Secret Swami" in relation for Dr. Q turned up nothing. This will be another one to keep in the back of my mind and hope I can find something on it later!

This is also page 1 of a 4 page ad- all Dr. Q- the rest coming over the next few days, and I found some great background on the other tricks in the ads.

Looking over the front page, it got me thinking about the folds of the paper, and how a lot of the ads of that size are folded identically- did someone do that after it arrived? How often were these ads sent out- or did they come with other books or tricks?