Vanishing Bird Cage

[Carl Mercurio]

What's the best vanishing bird cage available out there. I'm looking for the style of cage that Billy McComb uses, as opposed to the Blackstone, Jr. style.

[brownbeauty]

In my opinion, the finest vanishing birdcage is made by Owens Magic Supreme.

Good Luck!

Rudy

[Carl Mercurio]

Thanks, you're the second person who's told me that. I'll check it out....

[Guest]

Billy McComb has used the Vanishing Bird Cage made by Jon Martin (of Lithuania) throughout his career. It is probably the best, sturdiest cage ever made. The several I own, both in the square and round variety, are keepers in my collection. The owen cage is a copy of the Wil Lindhorst cage which is a copy of the Warren E Simms cage which in turn is a copy of the Charles Holmdale cage. Milson Worth had their version,too.All of the above are quite flimsey as I have used all of them. Try to find a "true" Martin cage that locks open by turning the corners inward. You can then set it on the table without fear of a premature collapse. Billy uses this feature as he takes the cage out of the cardboard box.......Gotta see his great routine!
Jon Martin was such a master craftsman, that Dick Cardini copied every type of reel and gadget that Martin made. Look for the JM hallmark in the Dura aluminum corner of the cage.

[Russell Davis]

This may be a longshot, and odd, but are there any sites out there that have various (sleeve) vanishing birdcages, especially older ones, for viewing? I have a few and would like to see others.

[Jim Riser]

Russell;
Here's a "Baby Lindhorst" I made for my own use:
http://jamesriser.com/Magic/image120.gif

Jim

[Guest]

Since my post, I received a lot of eMails on the Martin cage. There are photos of it (and a great off beat routine) in Alton Sharpe's Expert Hocus Pocus book. The vanish also works better/faster with a Martin take-up reel/pull. Another rarity but worth a long search to find.
There were similar cages made in Germany by Contradi Horster, Klingl(Wein), and others that are hard to tell apart. They are all replete with the sleeve guards, rotating joints, etc. As stated before, the JM stamp tells all.

[David Nethery]

Tommy Wonder has an excellent section on presentation of the birdcage and an advanced set up for a very fast take-up in his Books of Wonder (volume II ).

If you don't already have the books they are worth getting for many reasons, but especially if you are planning on adding the vanishing birdcage to your repertoire .

[Pete Biro]

Having had both square and round Martin cages (sold them for more than $1000.00 each) I can tell you the Owen cage, when "broken in" will be as good as you can get.

Read Tommy Wonder on the take up pull.

Ken Brooke marketed a "copy" of the Martin Pull made by George Hammerton.

However... I invented a pull that, when you finish vanishing the cage, you can dump cage and pull and are completely searchable.

First magician I ever saw, as a kid, was Steve Shepherd, who vanished the cage, then stripped to his shorts. It reads dumb but was a great club date act, believe me.

You don't need the locking square if you have the cage in a box you can take it out (slot for pull attachment) the only trouble is you need to HOOK UP... if you have it in your sleeve ahead of time you can reach into a table or go off to "get something"...

but my pull allows you to dump it.

What is is? A single looooong catgut loop. Goes from cage, up sleeve, across back, down sleeve and just loops around your thumb.

When done, reach into bag let cage fall out and pull loop.

Norm Nielsen sells best fake bird.

let us know how you do. :genii:

[Russell Davis]

Mr. Biro fooled the heck out of me with his loop pull in Nashville in '87 or '91. After the cage vanished he removed his jacket, maybe as an afterthought. No cage! Nothing! I was simply clueless. Fortunately, this was during his lecture and he tipped the work. It's a great addition to a great effect!