I just spent this evening going through a pile of vintage magic magazines bought as a job lot and amongst the trick suggestions presented I was surprised to find a few examples of idea outlines detailing early versions of some of what are now the most familiar (in some cases to the point of being overplayed) set pieces in magic. Ironically, these generally are described following a bunch of prose about how no-one ever bothers to build magazine tricks.

My favourite example is to be found in the Aug-Sept 1942 edition of the Davenport company's "Demon Telegraph", who at the time were publishing a series of "twelve initialled secrets" by none other than Robert Harbin, who was enlisted in wartime military service and in no position to realise his illusion visions, leaving publication as the only possible outlet for his ideas (many inventors at the time were in a similar position, making magazines of that era rather rich pickings). The idea was that he would present an idea for a trick beginning with the letters of his name, so on this occasion he has reached the letter E, which stands for "escape".
The escape in question proves to be a detailed illustration and and description of what went on to become The Assistant's Revenge.

The article ends with a sentence that, coming from the man who went on to become not only one of the greatest inventors in magic but also one the most ripped off, seems rather prescient;



Does anybody have any other gems of this sort in their collections?

Know what? I don't know, but I'll check. This is a cool topic. I love old magic periodicals/books.

Helen,
You should check out Hideo Kato's thread, "Today's Finding,", located in the Secret Sessions section. This has become a daily habit for me.

I truly believe you can start a new magic company with the ideas found in these old magazines...........I hoard these things but the ideas they present are inspirational.Unfortunately some of the newbies want the stuff they see on television that cant be done in an everyday situation.....

LOL!! Some already have.

Some conveniently ignore the notice at the end of most of these tricks that say "All manufacturing rights reserved by the author." Others actually pay for them.

Incidentally, there are a number of inventors who have caused havoc in the magic manufacturing business. One of them was Joe Karson, who invented the Zombie. He licensed the Zombie to at least two different manufacturers. This caused some problems.

James Swoger did the same thing.

Explanation please?

Which effect did swoger license and how do you know this?