AbraFabrik

Magic and beauty.

The materials used for magic and illusion are often beautiful to feel and to see.

To me they are AbraFabriqué. Abrafabriq or Abrafabrik. Terms I have created to more or less describe this interesting idea. The fabric and sweet design of magic equipment if you like.

These words are special because they display how magic has linked technology and illusion to beauty long before the magnificence of movements like Steampunk.

Here is my outrageous theory. Pop Art solved the problem by saying everything is art. Since then art has struggled to find new movements with any validity. I disregard Post Modernism because it's a bit of a convenient mess. That leaves us with slim pickings. I suggest then that only two movements are worth considering as main art movements since Pop did its best and worst. Steampunk and Street Art. There, that's out of my system.

Let's start with the Steampunk style, just for fun. I hold the idea that the Steampunk was inspired by the George Pal 1960 film of H.G. Wells' novella, The Time Machine. We could even say that Wells was the creator of Steampunk as we know it. The internet is wonderful for lavish leaps of thought like this.

George Pal, the super imaginative maker of The Time Machine film was — a respected magician. 

And there you have it, the link. Magic and Steampunk. It does look like magic apparatus, doesn't it?

Here is that beautiful George Pal time machine from the film.

Now this is a treat. A wonderful part of the film shows how the machine works for the first time. And, here it is, that sequence.

Please remember that before H.G. Wells, the time machine as we know it did not exist. It's Wells' most wonderful invention.

https://vimeo.com/218440086

Wells had an interest in performing magic and wrote the delightfully sinister story called The Magic Shop. He was fond of a beautiful old magic shop called Bland's in London. It was the inspiration for the story.

You could buy one of these delightful 'Burning Globes' from Bland's Magical Palace.

You borrow a handkerchief, put it inside the globe and it bursts into flames. The owner faints. Frightful! But in a mirculous zip, the handkerchief restores itself ready for the sneezing' season. 

You can be absolutely sure that one of these caught the eye of Wells.

A truly delicious example of magical incunabula.

It certainly caught my eye. I have a Bland Burning Globe sitting on my microwave oven in the kitchen. Seems perfectly fitting to me. Makes a quick, heat-up spin of a delicious snack fabulously exciting.

Not far from where I am in Melbourne, Australia a very cool brand of modern bags was created. What a pretty thought it is for me to know that these Crumpler bags now occupy that same old Bland magic shop in London that H.G. Wells loved.

I've grabbed a snap and matched the images for you. Think nothing of it —

The original facade of Bland's you see in the woodcut image has survived and is now displayed in the museum of the Magic Circle of London. Here's a very fine image by Guilhem Alandry —

Photograph by Guilhem Alandry: http://archive.guilhemalandry.com

Here is a small part of the H.G. Wells story The Magic Shop —

"It was a little, narrow shop, not very well lit, and the door-bell pinged again with a plaintive note as we closed it behind us. For a moment or so we were alone and could glance about us. There was a tiger in papier-mache on the glass case that covered the low counter--a grave, kind-eyed tiger that waggled his head in a methodical manner; there were several crystal spheres, a china hand holding magic cards, a stock of magic fish-bowls in various sizes, and an immodest magic hat that shamelessly displayed its springs. On the floor were magic mirrors; one to draw you out long and thin, one to swell your head and vanish your legs, and one to make you short and fat like a draught ..."    

               

You can see the whole Wells story here:

http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/10/

Silk.

The scintillating beauty of magic.

Magicians do silk so sublimely well.

Even if you hate the magic itself, the sight of exquisitely-coloured silk squares and lengths flowing from thin air is pure delight.

It is great that magic has hung on to pure silk and not some modern fabric. Silk simply moves with breathtaking ease. Silken, in truth.

There is nothing quite like watching three or four brilliantly coloured handkerchiefs melt into one larger sensationally patterned scarf. Even when you have performed this wonder for years, your breath is still taken away. It even has just the right name, Blendo. If you say Blendo to accomplished magicians they know exactly what you mean.

It is without argument in the magic world that the silks made in Japan by Harold Rice were the very best. This has not changed for half a century or more because, wonderfully, the family is making them again. Eye-appeal has never been served better. Just to hold one makes your heart sing.

One of my favourites ... and I am not alone ... is the classic dragon silk. Is this not AbraFabrik?

Here is the insignia you must look for. It stands for Silk King Studios. How universal is the crown symbol? People always think, "The best" when they see it.

Here is a Harold Rice silk handkerchief 'flying' under one of the rarest illusions in the world in my collection – Vasudeo's Pyala. And I like how you can see the folds in the silk. These silken wonders are so beautiful that most owners keep them folded inside their original envelopes. They are only removed for a performance or for a display.

In great hands, silk handkerchiefs can thrillingly change colour, bloom like the petals of a flower and perform the normal inexplicable disappearances and appearances. Often they move like waterfalls of colour with exotic flash. Equally lovely boxes, tubes and other appliances are required to make the illusions into pure perfection.

Here is a true masterpiece. An illustration by Nelson Hahne for the National Magic Company in Chicago during the 1940s. Hahne had 'the touch' and all of his thousands of illustrations for magic books, magazines and catalogues show the true glamour of the arts of magic. Here Nelson shows the Floyd Thayer miracle with the unobtrusive name, the Silk Cabinet. 

This fine creation was based on a quite different idea from British magic inventor Tom Sellers in the 1920s. Most magicians believe Sellers invented the apparatus. If you look up the book Tom wrote and illustrated, it's quite clear that Thayer invented an even more superb cabinet. Take a bow Floyd. And Nelson Hahne too for the masterful artistry in this example of the sleekest of catalogue advertising.

In case you're wondering, the performer with the goatee beard is gesticulating while a ghostly hand is pushing a light coloured silk handkerchief into the box and it's 'dyed' to a darker colour as it emerges from the other side. The doors of the box are flapped open before and after to show that the box is empty. It is empty both times. It is a wonderful thing.

The cabinet is a typical mix of fantastic magic styles. The decoration is a Chinese dragon and yet the desirable graduated step base nods at the Ancient Greeks or even the Minoans. There's a special love of these styles within a magician's mentality, with a grandiose Moorish chaser from the Los Angeles of the 1920s. In that period less was Moor.

By the time Nelson Hahne drew this, the goatee beard had left the scene more than twenty years before. Only hypnotists grew them; and the 'look into my eyes' crew continued to adopt that style up until the 1960s.

Here is how it works. Not the trick, but the way magic advertising operates. Magic sellers almost always used line drawings and not photographs. That way eager magic buyers could project themselves into the image presented. A performer could look at this goateed maestro and think, "That's how people will see me with this in my hands, I'll buy it".

And here's a simply great variant of the original cabinet made by the illustrious Floyd Thayer of Los Angeles. This one by Carl Owen who took over the business and continued Floyd’s excellence.

Floyd Thayer was the man who could work the lathe and spin a perfect sphere out of wood as he chatted on the telephone. His lovely creations were admired by all in the movie colony in the 1920s. They especially admired his designs in an era when the discovery of King Tut's tomb had sent the world mad for things Egyptian. Nobody did a scarab beetle design better than Thayer or Owen Magic.

Combining Art Deco with Egyptian? Could it be much better?

Here are some Thayer-spun balls from my cabinet of curiosities. These are the ones we pull out of thin air. 

These are great examples of those perfect spheres he spun. He used no eye gauges. They are French polished in a deep red stain. Balls for magic use are usually spray painted. Those in the know refer to these as Thayer's Pearls. I can only hope he spun these as he spoke on the telephone to a 1920s movie star like Stan Laurel who loved magic.

You can see how sphere lovers go berserk over these. Cube lovers are not so sure.

And followed by a beautiful image of Floyd Thayer immersed within his masterpieces.

Image G. Fajuri.

The Mummy Fetish.

Now let's see how apparatus and the beauty of magic come together in another way. 

I think now of the carving of precious woods, intricate metal work, the finest leathers and lustrous gems.

Magic began a true romance with Egypt on stage with mummy cases and even golden floating mummies. Then everything moved downscale to extreme and tiny beauty after the World War. Europe discovered something they called Mikro-Magik.

These are small and exquisite versions of larger illusions, In the 1950s they began being presented to audiences seated across a table. Here we have the dawning of 'intimate magic'.

The most mysterious performer of these was The Incredible Dr. Jaks who made use of rare artefacts, priceless gems and leather bound ancient books. His magic cups of filigree and pure silver were custom made for him in Casablanca.

Dr. Jaks.

The fetish ran amok when the mummy craze got underway. The apparatus became more and more enchanting with all manner of eye thrills and lavishness.

The effect of the Wandering Mummy is as interesting as it is marvellous. This is what people see: 

A mummy encrusted with jewels and gold vanishes from a solemnly pretty sarcophagus and then 'wanders' home to an equally superb casket. It's a case of the mummy is there, then it isn't. Then lo and bloody behold, it's somewhere else. The disappearance and reappearance is a bedazzling thing to see. Or not to see, depending on your perspective.

Along the way the mummy levitates in thin air. People gasp.

So rare and desired is some of this early mummy apparatus that kings ransoms are not sufficient to buy them. 

A simply miraculous mummy moment happened to me. I decided to bid for one of the best of these mummified beauties at an auction of the finest conjuring equipment in Melbourne during the rash 1980s. 

To my surprise the owner of the city's best science fiction book shop ran in the door just as the mummy went 'on the block'. He bid a phenomenal figure that no civil person could match and immediately paid in cash and ran out of the door with his prize, long hair flying. Slam, bam thank you mumm. He was not and is not a magician, he simply loves the beautiful and the arcane.

Here is one of the most beautiful of these mummy wonders from my chest of treasures. 

It was hand crafted by German artist Tony Lackner and available exclusively through Zauber-Zentrale — München. Sad to say Tony has his own mummy case now. He was one of the masters.

I've decided to explain how the mummy wanders about. Here's the secret.

Since he's 3338 years old, last birthday, he gets a bus concession.

Just Lovely.

Often it is the simply lovely shape of something that that makes magic even more mysterious.

Here is magic inventor U.F. Grant's sublime lines for a vase that keeps pouring water no matter how many times you show it empty and then tip it. In the 1930s he called it The Classic Water Vase. He took an age-old Asian street illusion and made the most beautifully shaped vessel in copper. Eye appeal has always been a special part of any performance. 

This shape makes a heavy object appear to be floating. The litres of magical water appearing from such a light vase emphasises the puzzle.

For the curious, the original U.F. Grant instruction sheet is under the vase. Use your eagle eyes and you might read the secret. Good luck. In truth the clever idea of this is not known by most living magicians. And, humorously, they all think they do. That should stir them up.

Yet another collision by magic with Steampunk. That copper look and emphatic industrial romance does it every time.

Sound is the real secret.

The most surprising element of marvellous magic is the secret of sound. Most audiences would not think of magic as musical, but it is. 

Almost every great magician carefully considers the sound of his equipment. I have travelled the world many times looking for crystal glassware that sounds beautiful. When, for example, coins appear from nowhere and fall into a lovely wine glass and make an angelic, tinkling sound an audience goes wild. But it must be more than a tinkle, it's a basso tinkle that works.

However the magic of sound that most know best comes from the legendary Chinese Linking Rings. Those ethereal rings that link and unlink like ghosts melting though walls.

If almost anyone was asked to describe this sensational effect, they might say things like 'penetrate', 'going through' and 'link'. However to the serious magician the sound is as important as the linking of rings.

The glistening silver rings are beautiful to look at as they cascade through the performer's fingers, but great magicians generally acquire a set of rings as a violinist 'feels' the sound of a new instrument. The Chinese Linking Rings are judged almost entirely by sound.

Enardoe [Edward O. Drane, why do so many magicians reverse names?], an American magic supplier and imaginary engineer, first called his rings Tru-Tone and then explained that they sounded, "As clear as bells". From that moment everyone from London to Timbuktu was talking about the bell sounds of their rings.

See the dancing musical notes on the 1950 carrying box for Enardoe's rings?

Here's a very young person from the late 1920s playing a symphony on his Chinese Linking Rings. Be careful son, that swastika might go off.

The most famous manuscript about this illusion by the great Dai Vernon is called not 'The Linking Rings' but — The Symphony of the Rings.

Case rests.

Some of the finest engineers and space scientists have been exploring all sorts of new metal alloys to use in the making of this famous illusion. They explore both sound and weight.

Here are my Featherweight Rings made by the Abbott Magic Company in Colon, Michigan in the early 1970s. 

Image: James Rawlins.

They weigh next to nothing and ... yes ... they sound glorious. Abbott's say they are made of a secret material they call Best Met Metal. It's so secret that you can't find that name on the internet. But whatever it is, it's damn impressive. But magic has always been a whirl of whim and secrecy.

How good is that? How lucky are we to still have fantastic secrets?

The secret of magic is then, the secret of beautiful things. See a rose or a beautiful face and you think, "That's magic".

To remind you of that. Here is a picture of Ava Gardner the Hollywood star.

Ian Buckland.

French photographer Sam Lévin 1954.