Description
(Notice: this auction is for the single Tony Lackner Blue Phantom not the Andy Hurst version.)
The Blue Phantom was invented by Viennese magician Hans Trunk c. 1924 who called it “Das blaue Wunder” (The Blue Wonder). It was introduced to the USA c. 1930 by Thayer Quality Magic as “The Blue Phantom” and it became an instant hit, and has been doing well ever since. It is also known as: The Chinese Clock and The Traveling Checker. In fact The Blue Phantom and The Wandering Mummy (both of which were built by Tony Lackner with great success) seem to continue to be built and rebuilt with no shortage of buyers or interest each time.
This version built by Tony Lackner and distributed by Harold Voit has been the gold-standard for the close-up version for many years. Though for me when Andy Hurst created his versions, they became the one I preferred to perform, but many people still prefer this one.
This was the first version of the Blue Phantom that I ever owned and at 6″ tall I always thought it was a close-up effect. I had no idea that the standard version was a stage sized effect often 16″ or more tall, so when I purchased a normal sized one years later I was surprised to see how big it was!
Effect: The standard effect is clean and simple: Several separate checkers are stacked on the rod with the blue one at the top. They are then covered by the cylinder. Upon lifting the cylinder, it is seen that the blue checker has mysteriously moved to the center of the stack! The cylinder is replaced and it once again removed only to find the blue checker has melted all the way down to the bottom of the stack! The checkers are then removed one by one and shown once again to be just seven solid and separate checkers.
(Notice: Includes: Printed Instructions.)
( Post Source: martinsmagic.com - click for details )
