Just off the bench...A pretty cool Halloween effect I put together. Three Dracula etching type blocks are shown - each with a different color stone on his attire.

Spectator is instructed to place any of the above in small coffin, close lid and hide two remaining Dracs. When you turn around of course you immediately know which is in coffin, can immediately be repeated. You never touch anything. Electronics do all the work!



http://s295.photobucket.com/user/caputo1......=3&o=203



Chuck Caputo

Chuck, that is a GREAT idea!!! Looks wonderful, too.

Thanks, I built it from the ground up.

Very spooky yet amazing.

Chuck

It's too bad that you spent so much time and effort on converting such an old trick, which goes back to the 1800's without any need for electronics or electricity. You may recall having one in a magic set or buying one from the S.S. Adams rack as a youngster. In that more familiar form it consisted of three plastic half shells under which someone would hide a small plastic pyramid type piece which you could easily detect in a hair raising manner.

Time well spent Jim, with the old antiquated method you had to suspiciously go near the unit and play around with it. Too bad you are comparing apples and oranges.....

I'm glad you feel that way. Actually it's more like comparing raisins to watermelons. The other was a hair-brained method anyway but not really antiquated since it is still in use in different forms.

It is my observation that folks who do not understand something or who cannot build something as in this case will criticize it, very sad...I bring magic effects into the 21st century...nowadays you cannot rely on someone pulling threads, peering for hairs or out of date vaudeville methods. If you want to play with toys from the 1800's and try to use them in modern magic shows, that is your business but do not put down others who have updated ideas which apparently you cannot grasp the concept...

"You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself". Garden Party ~ Ricky Nelson

Yes, I grasp the concept of electronics and have built several effects of my own, but more importantly, I grasp the concept of when NOT to use electronics. That is, when you take a very simple method, so simple that it fools people by its very simplicity, and make it very complicated with electronics... not to mention costly and prone to breakdowns, obsolescence, and all that can go wrong with complex systems. In my opinion... and that's all it is, not criticism, not fault finding, or intended as an insult... the effect can be accomplished without resorting to electronics. I'm not against using electronics when the effect cannot be accomplished in any other way. But this is not one of those instances.

There was a regatta here over the Labor Day weekend that consisted of man-powered boats made from cardboard and duct tape. It was all in good fun, and some of them made it well beyond the finish line. But, I'm sure most of those people prefer fiberglass, wood, steel, and aluminum, and the amazing electronics that turn all that into viable watercraft.

Chuck's forte is building electronics, and incorporating those skills into magic effects. His efforts are clearly seen by me to be an homage to Anverdi, and apparently a lot of fun for him. Not every at bat is going to be a home run, but I doubt it was any different for Anverdi, either (recall Edison's quote on failure??). It is also glaringly obvious that Chuck loves Halloween. (Me too!)

Personally, I think this is one of his better efforts... not for drastically improving the method, but for creating a very cute and nice looking prop to go with what is yes, an effect that can be accomplished by simpler methods... and this comes from someone who recreates apparatus styles that were popular a hundred years ago. I still pull threads, too.

I get it. Everyone gets an award and applause and no one should be encouraged to put forth a better effort. Yes, Chuck, that is a truly wonderful and mystifying twenty-first century illusion you have created there, even though I know you are capable of better things.

I'm glad you get it, because that makes it obvious that I don't. I honestly do not understand what is wrong with this trick. I'm sure I'd need clarity, but I'm guessing (and mind you this is just a guess) that Chuck published photos, unlike his typical posts that include video. Why do I think that? Because this trick does not feature electronics from the spectator's POV. I suspect this clues the magician as to which Dracula is in the coffin, but does not herald the finale with lights, sound, movement or smoke. Therefore, nothing is there to tip the method, any more than the use of "that other little gimmick". Sure, electronics can go wrong. But I'd bet there were a few owners of "Hindu Cones" that wished their trick had discovered Rogaine before their "hair" fell out.

To again reference Edison with a paraphrase, "Chuck did not fail. He succeeded in finding something that Jim does not like."

Cripes, there are a 1001 ways that I can vanish a coin rather than doing so with a simple French Drop. But, sometimes those other methods prove to be just as reliable. Try that hair thing in a fairly dimly lit room on a dark table. Heck, I have trouble reading the label on a bottle of Tylenol.

~michael (50 years in magic, clueless, capable of sarcasm, and increasingly in need of Tylenol)

Jim, sometimes it's less about the method and more about the fact that he built an effect using a method that he loves and being proud of having built it with his own two hands. If the audience can't tell the difference, who cares? Why do we need to harp on the poor guy for using his own method of choice? I say let him be proud of his accomplishment. Time spent in the shop, doing what you love and producing a workable comparable effect is not time wasted IMHO.

Just my 0.02

Nice looking piece Chuck. I am sure you will have lots of fun with it this Halloween. Would be great if it could be built without the base under the coffin but am assuming this is needed for the 'works'. Could also be ccol to find three Dracula dolls in one the halloween stores and convert them for the effect. Cheers,

John

In the end, it doesn't matter if I like something or not. It shouldn't matter if you care whether I like something or not. Chuck didn't make it to please me, and I didn't respond to please anyone. In the end, the marketplace will tell if the trick is a winner or not. People, and I assume magicians are people, will vote with their money and either buy it, or not. Audiences will respond by either liking it and remembering it, or not. I am predicting one outcome of this free and fair vote, you all seem to be predicting the opposite outcome. Time will tell.

It's really not like that trick at all. If anything, it's similar in effect (not workings) to this: http://www.amazon.com/Morris-Costumes-Mu......02KV5E4Y
However, I'm wondering what the limitations are of Chuck's receiver. If he could be in another room...WIN!!!