| "The Out-to-Lunch Principle gets its name from a marketed trick
devised by Clare Cummings and Bob Ellis in the mid-1940s.
The roots extend back much further, to seance gaffs of the 19th
century. See, for example, "The Interrupted Flap" in Spirit Slate
Writing and Kindred Phenomena by William Robinson, 1898.
It has been commonly held by modern magic historians that the paper
modification should be credited to Edward Bagshawe, used in "The
Recurring Name" in Twenty Magical Novelties, 1930).
However, in 1994 I tracked down the existence of a prior source, Tom
Bowyer's "A Message From Nowhere" in the April 1928 Linking Ring.
And, in 1995, I found yet an earlier credit: William Larsen Sr., "Finger
Prints" in the July 1923 Sphinx.
This historical information has appeared in print more than once, but
few seem to notice, and fewer seem to care. And thus, magic continues to
spin, an unknowing ouroboros."
- Max Maven |
