There is presently a 10 inch P&L Phantom Tube on Martinka's latest auction. Bids close on Sunday, Jan 23.

LOL! Bill we are old! (Maybe Birthday Cake gets us here.)

Chipboard is a specific type of cardboard. In print shops, it is the cheap cardboard used for the backs of pads and padded products. From the supplier, it is bought by the "bundle". You get it from paper suppliers who supply printers.

Even "shirt cardboard" from the laundry is better quality. That had a finished side. (But only old guys remember that either. Besides, we threw away clothes with holes in them instead of buying them that way!)

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

PS --- I hope to see you when I'm up your way in July - August.

Bob's description is exactly right. Chipboard is the same material found as the stiff back sheet on a pad of paper.
It's unfinished quality (on both sides) is part of what makes it adhere so well to itself when rolled into a tube.
Of course, after the tube is rolled. the outermost surface can be covered in smooth cloth if desired, for looks and added durability.

Regards-JNeal

Technically, the Ghost Wand by Barry Mitchell, and Invisible Paint by Creative Magic, are both ghost / phantom tubes. Also, Laflin Magic sells a ghost tube (as well as a genii tube).

They just don't come with the rings to cap them. Use rubber bands to keep the tissue paper in place (if you want to use tissue paper)... this is what I did when performing the genii tube years ago.

These phantom tubes are aside from the ones that Richard Hughes makes and sells.

- Donald

I am glad to hear great magicians are still making their own props and gimmicks. JNeals performance I saw on YouTube was phenomenal, as with his tubes. I will try to make similar ones for the Arizona Bottle/Soda Can Passe Passe trick. I found all of these items at the Dollar store.

Glad you like what you saw!

I make about 90% of my own stuff:
it's good to be self reliant...
Regards- J. Neal

I use a styrofoam cup in place of a bullet load. I load up the cup and cap it off. Then I use the top of it as the end that goes into the tube. Off course you have to experiment to find the right size cup for your tube.

I just "found" this thread as I was "hopping tables" in the Café!

The late Roy Mayer (St. Louis, MO)made a set of metal (chrome exterior)tubes, (one phantom, one straight) which he used in his school show for years. (He used rubber bands for the tissue )

I have them. They're 3" x 10". When I first saw him do them about 1951, he knocked my socks off! I knew what a phantom tube was, but had never seen Ade Duval, and knew nothing about his "methods"! Roy (my "second" father!)showed me the "work".

I bought them from Bernice (Roy's widow) and they get used whenever I need a big flash finish (as on an hour family show). The nice thing is that the whole thing carries in its own prop case about the size of an attache case. (tubes,tissue, 6' Rice Dragon and a 15' string of 12" silks.

There'a a great story about Duval in the latter days of vaudeville, doing the Rhapsody in England. Someday, when I have a minute, I'll add it to this thread.

Dick,
I would be interested in the blocking of Roy's routine. I have Ken Griffin's version of it also.

BTW a Set of original Duval tubes is going up for Auction on Haverstadt and Ewing next week. It is a set of 4 tubes with 4 loads. That is pretty rare as the finaly version was only three loads. They are from the Ken Klosterman collection.

I still think it is a workable routine but takes a little practice. I saw Dick Gustfason do his version last fall with load tube I made up for him. Good routine but still a work in progress by Dick's own admission.

Richard

Hi Richard!

Since retiring, I've stored all the "extra" props (that only got used in the 60 minute family evening show) at my storage facility (Ha! My "storage facility" is a corner of the barn at my sister's "farm".

It's another "zero week", and too d-- cold to go out in the country. As soon as it warms up, I'll bring Roy's props back to town, Roy's routine was ultra simple. When I first saw him do it,back in the early fifties, I was stunned!

After the show, backstage, I said, "Roy! You can't get that much "stuff" out of a Phantom Tube!!!" He chuckled, and said, "Gotcha, eh?" When he showed me the work, I had a new respect for my mentor.

O

Between Richard andDick's most recent comments... I'm starting to get intrigued again.....

Yes, I hope Dick Oslund added the working steal in his potential book. When will that book get published, I will even take a PDF version if it cost to much to get printed.

I would be interested in how Roy Mayer handled the placement of the tissue on the tubes. Did he place the tube on a table, if so what kind of table? Did he hold the tube and just dump the production on the floor or what was his handling. I take it the tube was switched being Dick said their was 2, so was it a table switch or some other unique sneaky method.

Just like to know how creative some magicians were years ago. If Dick was impressed it must have been a fooler.

Hi Bill, Richard, and Jonathan N~

I'm planning to go out to my sister's this PM. Heqq! I'm invited for dinner, and she is a good cook. I may be crazy, but not stupid~~~

So, I'll dig through the snow bank and tunnel my way into the barn to get the case with Roy's tubes. If I freeze to death in the process, it will be spring before they find the mortal remains of me~

I don't want to put the Roy's "handling" on the Café, so, I'll type hard copies and snail mail them. I have Bill's and Jonathan's addresses, but, I've managed to lose Richard's.It may take a few days or a week.

Thanks Dick! It will give me something to look forward to... As we all,wait,to buy your book!

Dick, just put on your Canadian snow shows and you will be fine. Looking forward to you instructions. Where is that book?

I managed (with my (ahem) "MICHIGAN" snow shoes *hee hee" to get into the barn, and brought the props back to town. I promise to write up the routine, and get it into the mail, as soon as I can save up for the stamps (hee hee hee). I'm sure that it is nothing "new" to you guys, but, it never hurts to compare notes!

Here's the story about Duval. I think I read it in one of the magazines, eons ago. You may have heard it, but, it's worth writing, as many of the Café "coffee clutchers" very likely are too young or new, to have read it.

Duval was playing a vaudevile theater in London, near the "end" of vaudeville. Vaude was no longer "Two a day". It was probably about 'Five a day" when this happened. The dressing room was in the basement of the theater, and Ade had just finished the third show of the day. He and True, and assistant, were resetting the props. IDK, but, I guess it was a "bit more than a "five minute" set up!!!

The theater had fire exits which opened on the stage door alley. There was a small window, high on the dressing room wall, which opened on the alley. Two men had left the theater via a fire exit, and were walking past the window. They were discussing the show. One said, "Good show, Harry! I really liked that juggler. What did you like best?" Harry replied, "Well, I liked that bloke with all the rags!"

Burtini from Birmingham, England, used make a set of Phantom Tubes (known as Ghost Tubes in the UK). I had a set which was about 3" x 10". It comprised of a a gimmicked tube plus a cup and a matching ungimmicked tube. The tubes were nickel plated.

There are two types of tubes and technically each has a different name though I can never remember which. The original was designed for silk productions and the fake is attached to the seam of the outer tube. The send type is designed for the vanish of a glass, as in Sucker Beaker Vanish.

Ghost Tube is an you describe, phantom is centered.

Darn it (Bill and Quentin)!

I have fallen into the habit of using "terms" carelessly! I'll go stand in the corner for an hour.

Yes, I remember now, that Lou Tannen, some years ago, sold a vanishing glass of milk. that used that principle. I don't recall the details, but, my pal, the late Bruce Jensen had one.

When I made the latest set of loads for the P&L tubes, I discovered the tube I was working with was a ghost tube. A phantom is much easier to load but a minor modification to the load tubes they will work with the ghost tube.
The original Duval which are for sale on Haverstadt and Ewing auction are true phantom tubes.

Richard