Prepare to be amazed! “The Conference Illusions” by Mike Caveney unveils long-lost magic secrets. Instant download. A spellbinding journey into magic’s golden age awaits!
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The Conference Illusions by Mike Caveney (Instant Download)
Discover the Magic of History with Mike Caveney’s Masterpiece
For over five years, Mike Caveney has meticulously documented his illustrious career in magic, culminating in a two-volume set that spans an impressive 700 pages. These books are not just a collection of tricks; they are a legacy, a testament to the art of magic, and a treasure trove of knowledge for enthusiasts and professionals alike.
With the help of Hollywood special effects expert Bill Taylor, Mike transformed his basement into a photo studio, capturing hundreds of high-quality, full-color images that bring each routine to life. These images are the clearest and most detailed you’ll find in any magic book, ensuring that every nuance is visible and understandable.
Volume II: The Conference Illusions
This volume is a unique exploration of long-forgotten tricks and illusions recreated for the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History. Over the past twenty-two years, Mike has breathed new life into these historical marvels, often using original apparatus from legends like Howard Thurston and Charles Carter. Each chapter delves into the history, the challenges of recreation, and the modern adaptations that make these illusions as captivating today as they were a century ago.
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Magic’s Golden Age
- Dante’s Sawing a Lady in Half (1993)
- Selbit’s Bricks (1999)
- Through the Eye of a Needle (1999)
- The Million Dollar Mystery (2001)
- OH! Chair (2003)
- Del Adelphia Egg Bag (2005)
- The Astral Hand (2007)
- The Drum That Can’t Be Beaten (2009)
- Well I’m! (2009)
- The Orson Welles Act (2011)
- The Spirit Cabinet (2013)
PLEASE NOTE: This item is a digital download. Gimmick not included.
For the past five years I have been working on a set of books that document basically everything I have performed during my career. When I started I had no idea that the finished product would fill 700 pages over two volumes. As a long time collector of books and because this will be my legacy, I decided to make the finished product as nice as I possibly could. And now that they are finished I can honestly say that they are everything I had hoped for.
I knew that I could write up the methods, theories, history and funny stories about each routine but I also knew that illustrating them would be a problem. I am no artist. That’s when my long time friend and Hollywood special effects man, Bill Taylor, came to the rescue. Bill turned my basement into a photo studio and for fourteen months we shot pictures. Many hundreds of them made it into the finished books and they are the clearest explanatory photos I have ever seen in a magic book. Because both of these books are printed in full color, each tiny detail is visible.
Volume II is called The Conference Illusions and it is a completely different type of book. During the past twenty-two years I have recreated a number of long-forgotten tricks and illusions for the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History and each one posed its own unique challenges. In some instances I had the original apparatus that once belonged to Howard Thurston or Charles Carter and other times the equipment had to be built from scratch. The book chronicles the research into the history of the illusion, the original routines, how we attempted to improve the mechanics of the apparatus, re-think the presentation and design a routine that was suitable for a modern audience. After their debut performance at the History Conference a number of these effects were presented dozens of times for lay audiences at the Magic Castle and were found to be highly effective a hundred or more years after their creation. Each chapter includes vintage photographs and posters from the files of Egyptian Hall Museum as well as behind-the-scenes and action photos or the performances. Few readers will add any of these mysteries to their acts but there is much to be learned from studying ideas that were created by the greatest minds from magic’s Golden Age.
contents
Foreword 9
Introduction 13
Magic’s Golden Age 15
1993 Dante’s Sawing a Lady in Half 27
1999 Selbit’s Bricks 43
1999 Through the Eye of a Needle 55
2001 The Million Dollar Mystery 69
2003 OH! Chair 101
2005 Del Adelphia Egg Bag 123
2007 The Astral Hand 165
2009 The Drum That Can’t Be Beaten 181
2009 Well I’m! 193
2011 The Orson Welles Act 221
2013 The Spirit Cabinet 247
PLEASE NOTE: This item is a digital download ,Gimmick not included
