It is confusing though how this is in the "street Magic" forum. It is far from that.

My guess is that many of the people who are interested in what they call "street magic" are very young and/or new to magic. Probably got the bug after seeing either Blane or Angel do tricks on the street on television. Anyone who has studied magic for more than a few weeks would know that Blackstone's Floating Light Bulb would not be possible outdoors in an impromptu-style presentation. Maybe in the middle of nowhere, on the darkest night of the year in a heavy fog!

Yea I guess so Randwill.

and after all this is the place to ask questions

Yes I understand this topic was made almost 3 years ago...however I was doing some research on the Floating Light Bulb and stumbled across this...

In 1985, on the 100th anniversary of his father's birth, Harry donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. the original floating lightbulb - designed and built by Thomas Edison - and the original Casadega Cabinet, used in the aforementioned "Dancing Handkerchief" illusion. It was the first ever donation accepted by the Smithsonian in the field of magic.

http://www.magicwebchannel.com/hall_blackstoneJR.htm (third to last paragraph)

So luckily it wasn't smashed by some jerk in the front row...

~David

Wonder if a dancing cane kinda hook up would work for a street effect if the bulb could move like the cane it would look prety cool (maybe if the bulb was plastic and the T****D went through from top to bottem) maybe for a fast routine. I may play with this idea, it sounds interesting

What made so much of Uncle Harry's and Harry, Jr.'s magic work was a boldness. Most other magicians would be very hesitant to do in front of any audience some of the very things that made the blackstone illusions work. Someone mentioned the fact that they were willing to take the risk, well that is true, it was the Blackstone style. When Uncle Harry showed me how he did a few things and Uncle Pete showed me some riggings, I was amazed that they ever got away with it. The Duck Inn was one of the most bold as was the tire illusion (harry sr's tire illusion, harry jr, used a different method). But it worked. They both proved many times that if you act like you know what you are doing, and understand the audience doesn't know what you are doing, you can really get away with a lot.

Blackstone's Floating Lightbulb

I did see criss angel perform this effect on Tv did anyone else see this did he use the same method that blackstone used

I've never seen Criss perform on TV (I have seen a clip or two on Youtube does that count) and saw a video of two of his escape segments so I can't help you there. I did see Criss when he was doing his Goth stage show (over 10 years ago!). It was not part of that show.

Harry Jr. was one of my favorite magicians. Unfortunately, I never got to see him perform live, I have however met with Gay several times and she's an absolute sweetheart. That familiar clip on YouTube of Harry doing the light bulb has one of my favorite moments in theater. While in the audience, he makes that great remark, "And now may I show you....a miracle!" After floating for a few moments, as he grabs it from mid-air he slyly smiles and winks to someone in the audience. I always thought that little things like this that really make a great entertainer.

Yes Criss did perform a floating lightbulb effect on Mindfreak (I think it was season 2...but I could be wrong). It wasn't street magic though. It was in a lighting store.

I doubt that Cris did Harry Jr's method, which was an advancement on Harry Sr.'s. Gay would have said something about it if she had licensed it out to him. There are numerous floating lightbulb methods out there.

Hans Klok uses the Blackstone Floating Light Bulb in his show 'The Beauty of Magic'. He has permission to do the Illusion ( and it is supplied ) by Gay Blackstone. He started to use it in his 'Faster Than Magic' European tour last year, then in the Las Vegas 'The Beauty of Magic' and is currently performing it on his new tour of Holland and Germany which has just started. I am the lighting designer for the show, and it is always a tricky illusion to get right ( lighting wise ), but it is really worth it. Gay visited us in Vegas to help Hans. It was great to meet her and learn from her experience with the illusion.

On the Vegas show, Hans was even able to come off the stage into the audience for part of it.

Indeed what cris angel did, was not the floating light bulb performed by harry blackstone. I wish I could get a copy of blackstone sr. performing it! I only have a few pictures. I do own a very old booktel with amazing photos of hayy sr. performing on stage (illusions like levitatin a lady, dancing hanky and much more) but not even one of him floating the light bulb! It was a different presentation of harry jr.
I think the floating over the audience could be something "bold" but it stayed forever on people`s minds!
There is a short clip on youtube by the name "blackstone comes home" where I think that one can see harry sr. floating the bulb... it is a very short clip and not good quality but in color! I feel somewhere, someone has a footage of it...

Https://youtu.be/EY64PxRTwh4

Back around 1946 I saw Blackstone (Sr.) perform the Floating Light Bulb in his full-evening performance at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Many years later, I saw Blackstone, Jr., do his improved version -- with the bulb flying way out into the auditorium -- in Boston. The latter is one of the two illusions I've ever seen on stage that literally brought tears to my eyes. (The other was David Copperfield's "Flying," which he did in one of his appearances at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.) One of the things that struck me about Blackstone, Jr.'s performance was how eerily like his father's was in routining and script, down to even the "bzz" he made when handing the bulb to one of the spectators. And Blackstone, Jr.'s introductory line, "This is something you'll remember the longest day you live" -- a line that, so far as memory serves me, was word-for-word what his father said (although possibly for a different routine).

(I have nothing to add about street performance, which obviously unlikely if not impossible for this routine.)

Buy it, read it:
https://www.lybrary.com/the-miracle-floa......779.html
also : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz5l6BnmqPY