Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-05
6>he BOYS and
GIRLS PAGE
magic" Furniture for Magicians

passes with a magic wand. utters some
unintelligible words, and the spirit of
the girl in ghoSt-like form emerges
through the bundle in full view of the
audience and goes silently away. The
magician then slowly unwinds the tape.
The body of the girl Is gone. How she
got out of the tape while spectators
watched and what that wraith-like fig
ure was which drifted noiselessly into
the wings is marvelously mytifying! To
me this is one of the greatest illusions
ever devised
lone of the surprising things about
| this business is that large numbers Of
worthwhile suggestions for trick devices
come from amateurs. We build para
phernalia for performers in England,
France, Germany, Italy, Enthusiastically
every country on the globe. The widely
known men who have made names as
magicianS develop new things OCCASION
ally But each Of these men thinks
usually along one line, the line in which
he is most proficient. Really new ana
clever things are coming from non-pro-
fessionals-things they have figured out
or studied overland, while not always
at the point of perfection give the basic
idea for something we are able to COM
plete. This is especially true in little
Sometimes" the manufacturer con-
tinIes, I'VE build the sets and some
times we provide only blueprints which
explain how the illusions are accom-
plished. There are literally thousands
of them. Suggestions for new things
are constantly coming in. Some are i'm
possible. some are good. Some things
asked for would land their owners in
jail"
X X X
LIE rang for a secretary and directed
her to bring letter recently re-
ceived. Here" he said, "is one order
we did not fill 1t came from man in
Oregon"
In part. the communication said:
Mr.. Thayer: This man, -, is in
our town and has got the people crazy
over the tricks he can do. l went to
him and offered him $50 to show me
how to do these things. but he said
no. he couldn't do it, as it was a divine
gift and that he couldn't tell anything
under the pendlety of death and that
he was watched night and day in all
these towns by a thing he call the men,
ace and he wouldn't dare tell anybody
anything But he said you would sell
me some tricks.
Now I want something to scare the
people with in our town. I want some
thing that looks like dead body or q
corpse that / can set up on one of the
buildings at night-something that will
below, grone and hollow. And fix it so
1t will light up so they can see 1t on q
dark night Also / want some capsules
that / can put cigarettes. cigars and
pipes that will shoot pepper or black
ink in the faces of the people who
smoke them.
And could you make me thing that
looks like a plug of tobacco? 1t could
be tobacco on the outside alright but
hare 1t fixed so that 1t could talk when
they bit into ito say something like
this. Spit me out. you d~---r fool, I'm
poison Or. Don't bite SO hard. you
hurt me- Fix 1t up SO the minute they
bite it, 1t will say 1t and scare them so
they will spit it out and run.
There is quite few other things
want, but this is about all can afford
now Ans. right away. Yours truly"
A notation at the top of the letter
made by Mr.. Thayer. said, Ignore"
Floyd Thayer became interested In
small trick devices while boy in Jack
Sonville. VT. The first thing he made
was o cigar box with secret partition
and two lids. One side was empty, the
other contained some Of those silk hand
kerchiefs and trinkets so familiar to
sleight-of-hand performers. He and his
brother Alton fixed up stage in the
garrett of their home and gave shows to
the neighborhood kids at so many pins
admission. When 1t came time for him
TO look for employment he obtained a
position in a woodworking factory and
there learned what served as the
groundwork for his present business.