This was a wonderful video. My grandfather was Malcolm Lippincott’s nephew and traveled with them doing the shows. My family may have additional information on the Lippincott Box that might settle the dispute on the origin of it!
Very solid point I use to talk to a performer here who became obsessed with improv magic. He wanted to do magic at anytime with anything. He also didn't want folks to assume on the props.
I think it is important for every performer to have a strong piece of magic or two that is more or less improvisational. Using a prop that looks like a prop always carries with the risk that the audience will assume that the prop "did the magic" but at the end of the day it's about the entertainment value we bring to our pieces and more often than not that is a function of our showmanship, not our props.
Thank you very much for this wonderful video. I have been using the Lippincott Box for decades and yet I learned a lot in these 20 minutes. And that in an entertaining way!
Great video! I'm actually working on a magic book and have a section on the Lippincott Box and am trying to figure out which Lippincott redesigned and marketed the original watch box. Any leads or sources you might have would be a HUGE help. It seems like a the root of the answer lies in the original ads.
These are my notes on the subject collected from many different sources: The History and Use of the Lippincott Box Object to impossible location Bill in Lemon Doc Eason has the best Bill in Lemon Max Maven in Genii said: “Jack Lippincott invented an efficient device for vanishing or producing a small object. Today it is best known under its inventor's name as "The Lippincott Box." But, when it was first marketed by Holden's in 1949, the title was “Quarter Go.” John “Jack” Wright Lippincott Born October 14, 1909 St. Louis, Missouri Died October 15, 1994 (age 85) Jack Lippincott (1909-1994) was an amateur magician and the professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. He was a long time member of the IBM, and served as president of the St. Louis Ring One in 1946, and was a large part of the 18th annual IBM convention in St. Louis that year. Jack wrote various articles for the Linking Ring. He has been referred to as the creator of the Lippincott Box, but others say that was most likely Mal Lippincott. Malcom B. Lippincott Born December 5, 1895 Henrietta, Texas Died? Mal Lippincott (1895-?) was a vaudeville magician who started performing professionally in 1915. He started as a Side Show magician for a circus. Later in 1916, he had a fling with the movies playing lead parts in slapstick comedies and sometimes lead parts in dramatic films. During World War I, Lippincott served as a Sergeant, and near the end of hostilities he was transferred into the Army Entertaining Circuit. He began touring his own magic act in 1919. In 1922, he added mind-reading act with assistant (wife) Maxine. Lippincott mainly did private society shows from 1923 until the Great Depression years of the 1930s when he then started to play mainly schools, theaters, and fairs. He was an early member of the I. B. M. as number 855. In the 1940s, The Lippincott Box was marketed by the Max Holden Magic Shop as “Quarter Go.” It was marketed by Harold Martin, of Martin’s Magic Lippincott's Quarter Go was reviewed by Don Alan in Genii 1958 December: “This is an old favorite of mine and is an excellent pocket trick. A marked quarter is placed under a handkerchief and given to spectator to hold. A beautiful wooden padlocked chest is placed upon another spectator's palm, and an unprepared glass tumbler is placed on top of the chest. The handkerchief is held over mouth of glass. Spectator drops coin into glass. It is heard to clink. Handkerchief is whisked away and the chest is unlocked by spectator and contains the marked quarter. A Martin's Magic Shop ad in Genii indicates that the routine was by Mal Lippincott Hoffman’s Modern Magic 1876 Watch Box In use long before the 1876 publication Origin unknown However it appears that Mel Lippincott came up with the routine of putting a glass on top of the box to vanish the quarter. Magicians take old principles and remarket them as their own It pays to read
I'm doing a seance. I want to make a 12-in long wrench disappear and then reappear by Falling out of nowhere onto the table. I have the falling out of nowhere into the table part figured out. But I'm still trying to figure out how to make the wrench disappear. I'm thinking of some sort of box like a toolbox that I would put it in and then find that it is gone and then later near the end of the Seance the ghost drops or a ports the wrench from nowhere. Kind of like the portals of by location in Poltergeist. I'm thinking a large version of a Lippincott box might be the answer. Is a large Lippincott box going to do what I wanted to do or will it be too big to function properly?
A large Lippincott box is ONE way. The problem might be sound. To solve the problem, you could line the box with felt, and/or you could use a sponge wrench, where you would get a sponge wrench would be another problem. I have a sponge hammer that you can't tell from the real one, even close up. In Annemann's Practical Mental Effects p. 24 he describes a "Devil Device." Osterlind used to manufacture them. As described in the book, it may not be large enough for a wrench, it was made for billet reading, but it does offer an alternative to the Lippencott especially if you make one custom and it is seance tested.
@@DavidDellman thanks for the tip! I'll check my copy of PME. I know just how to make a foam wrench. I used to makes props for Sesame Street Live. I'll just do a casting of the wrench in silicone foam.
Do one on the time traveler watch I would love to build a clock and not a watchI don't know how it works or if it uses some type of technology but I got a feeling you'll figure it out and point me to the right magic book
a watch that you can turn back and reset time is an excellent idea to work with. Why don't you jot down a few ideas and let me know what you come up with.
