Basement Secrets

I recently found the remnants of my boyhood magic secrets in my parents basement; an old tin breadbox containing a handful of broken magical apparatus, mail order catalogs and illusion plans. The old illusion plans revealed some really cool stuff like a Transylvania substitution truck and plans for the famous Doll House illusion. There was even a 12 page Mark Wilson Course in Magic!

The real gem was an old Marshall Brodien Magic Catalog. This catalog was the 1975 paper equivalent of penguinmagic.com and was the object of all my heart's desires. One hundred and twenty six pages of the cheesiest looking tricks you've ever seen. Here are some of the jewels of magic that I purchased as a lad (I think a lot of these are still available):

• The Imp Vase - a little plastic vase that won't fall down. Remember the Weebles (they wobble but they don't fall down), same principle but with a secret that makes the Weeble fall.
  
• Multiplying Billiard Balls - I like the crocheted red balls better but this is really a good trick. My son got a set at some retail store and I had instant flashbacks.
  
• Mystic Smoke - goo in a tube. Made little wispy things that looked a little like smoke when you tapped it between your fingers. Just like playing with a booger.
• Money Maker - Yes! Encourage your kid to become a counterfeiter - change a one dollar bill into a five! Of course I was a poor child so I only changed white page into a dollar bill.
• Coin Penetration - the magicians dental dam! Also doubles as a birth control device in a pinch.
• Chinese Sticks - Two wand-like sticks with strings attached to one end of the wand. Although not connected on the physical plane, there seems to be a supernatural connection between the strings. So what do the Chinese really use these wands for? I think to get the lint from between your toes.
  

The crown jewel of my magical purchases was the White Zombie. The Zombie Ball is a classic routine were the magician levitates a ball from under a large silk. There were a few other Zombie Balls in the catalog but I went for the $5.75 economy model. Still popular today, it was an amazing effect for a 13 year old boy in 1975. Unfortunately, the brittle styrofoam ball could not hold up to the coat hanger gimmick and only lasted for a few glorious performances.