This very clever effect and equally clever piece of apparatus was invented by Laurie Ireland and Carlton King c. 1932 (Carlton was the chief demonstrator for the Ireland Magic Company). It was available for purchase for about fifteen years but after that Ireland Magic stopped making it and only sold the workshop plans and instructions. As far as I can tell even after Ireland Magic became Magic Inc. and they continued to publish the workshop plans to this day, the prop itself has not been built since the late 1940’s. Once you read the instructions you will quickly understand why, there is a lot going on here and at first it is a little daunting. This unit came with the original instructions and the workshop plans that were later released and using the workshop plans is a littler clearer. Once you have walked through this effect just once it all becomes much clearer and if I do a speed demo of this you will find it even easier to understand. It is really not that complex when you see what you have to do, but it is a little tricky to describe in words.
When The Houdini Handkerchief Escape was first released it caused quite a sensation and even impressed the great Harlan Tarbell. Here is a description of what happened in the M.U.M. minutes as published in the The Sphinx (July 1932, pg. 207):
“… Lastly came the long awaited Houdini handkerchief escape which was the sensation of the three conventions. This flashy effect simply smacked the audience between the eyes, and even Tarbell, that blase old master of the craft was seen to hitch forward eagerly on his chair when “Houdini” vanished. This clever trick is by far the most outstanding small illusion that has been shown in these parts in the past year at least, and the Messrs. Ireland and King (a harmonious combination on this side of the Atlantic, at least) deserve congratulations for having produced so clever an effect.”
I’m pretty confident even if you have heard about this very clever piece of apparatus you have never seen it performed. I love finding cool prop magic like this and am always amazed at the lengths some clever inventors go to in an effort to entertain and fool us 🙂
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