Magic trick kit how to#
Magic trick kit full#

The “Art of Misdirection”, a website for magicians, has been called “the most closed site in the world” with some 600 people that reportedly have the ability to login. There is a reason magicians are incentivized to keep their tricks of the trade to themselves. Secrecy is a fundamental part of magic, to a degree that begs for parody. To be fair, modern criticism tends to focus on poorly constructed illusions for absurd prices. In modern magic circles, some see the merchandising of magic kits as a form of selling out. However, the existence of these kits was offensive to some in the first place. Simple collections of tricks are how many people learn to do magic. Magic kits are a strangely divisive topic. (Library of Congress) Magic kits: A thing you probably don’t think about that’s fiercely debated And still, there were others raised in the old tradition that wanted a piece of this lucrative new form of magic merchandising. In between the trinkets and bobbles, the toys and the games, a few kids gravitated toward magic kits like the few who wanted chemistry sets. This one magic kit below was sold by then Mysto in 1929 to 1930 for a grand total of $7.50, which was a staggering $110 in 2017. Gilbert was able to generate so much revenue from his toys. Gilbert Company was earning roughly $20 million in revenue (more than $187 million in 2017).īeyond the success of Erector sets, it is easy to see why A.C.

While Gilbert’s magic sets introduced scores of children to their first practical illusions, the company’s biggest success was an engineering toy that would go on to become a blockbuster.Įrector Sets were one of the first must-have toys kids needed to see under the Christmas tree, lest their faith in Santa Claus die. The result was chemistry sets, build your radio kits, and magic sets. Gilbert wanted to create things that interested him, as he thought it would be interesting to kids. Board games snuck their way through laying the foundation for generations of family arguments. Gilbert would become known as the “man who saved Christmas”.Īmerica’s mid-century production boom saw an explosion in consumer goods, including toys. This was probably best for everyone as A.C. By the time he graduated, Gilbert decided to focus on his new magical toy company rather than pursue a career in medicine. Gilbert, the founder of Mysto, had put himself through Yale University as an amateur magician, performing at various social gatherings.

Magic trick kit how to#

While certainly not the first to sell magic tricks, Mysto was arguably the first to market specific kits aimed at teaching kids how to do basic illusions. (This was much less common as magicians have been historically protective of their creations.) Occasionally, they might even sell an original trick they created themselves. Magicians had long sold their own versions of staple tricks. As it turns out, one the first American manufacturers of magic kits was also the guy who created the Erector Set.įounded in 1907 by Alfred Carlton Gilbert, the Mysto Manufacturing Company sold simple versions of basic magic tricks.

Magic trick kit full#

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