I am planning to start constructing the organ pipe illusion from Tarbell soon and I was wondering if anyone has any video footage of an organ pipe illusion being performed. I want to do it because you rarely see anyone perform one anymore. Just curious to see it in action.

Thanks,
Sam

What is the description of an organ pipe illusion?

Do you think it will fool anyone?

The last and only person to do justice to it was Landis Smith. He did as part of his large threatrical story play about 30 years ago.

Will it fool anyone? Doubtful. But it can be entertaining if properly paced, staged and presented. Landis used the original idea of producing an entire Café meal from the tubes. I believe there are some references in the Germain books. Landis had bought the Fleming/Germain show so those influences were present.

Richard

Thas could be a great routine today, but as Richard mentions...presentation is everything. The production of dinner plates from tubes too small to hold them, can be spectacular...but it's no routine for beginners. I would avoid looking for video clips even if they are available. Make it your own!

Anyone who knows pipe organs knows that those tube things shown in Tarbell are fakes and could never make a sound. However, if you can convince the audience that you have a "new-fangled" set of organ pipes that "work digitally", you might get away with a new presentation which includes blowing through the pipes and getting different sounds from them when they are empty and when they are full. You might then proceed to play an organ piece with the pipes, pulling loads of stuff from the pipes whenever they are full, running back and forth on the (fake) pedals, etc. You could probably cut down the number of pipes to four or so, which would speed things up and give you an "organ stop" to pull so you can play a complete "8 note octave." The organ sounds can come from a hidden MP3 player with speakers concealed in the table and directed upwards to sound through the tubes.

Give it your best!

I'm not so sure as if it will fool people because I've never done it before or seen it in action but like someone mentioned it is all presentation. The whole theme of the act that I'm doing is that I'm a homeless person (old ripped and soiled clothing) and part of the act is where I produce the organ pipes and then proceed to produce a whole bunch of food, silverware, and even a lamp and plates! At the end of the act I'm going to quick change into a very nice formal suit and tux.

Is it the part of how you show the tubes empty i.e. placing one in the other and then showing the opposite one empty all the way down the line that makes it easy to figure out? From just reading the text it seemed like a fascinating illusion from a spectators P.O.V... of course I might be wrong...

Very true! I always try my best to make every effect I do my own... even if I have seen a video clip... it's just that I want to be able to see how the routine would look from the audience perspective because of the vague description in the book.

I could see this working in your context. Use real looking stove pipes, beat up, sooted up, tarnished etc.

You could also do this with bottomless food cans but you would not get as big of a load.

You might also combing with a temple screen that looks like a menu. This will give you another load and method of production.

Richard

Thanks! I never thought of using beat up looking pipes instead of the multi-colored ones mentioned. I can stack two or more cans on top of each other and weld them together for a pipe.

I was also thinking of adding a cardboard box tip-over trunk I made to produce more stuff.

Thanks,
Sam

Just last night I read Patrick Page's description of this trick in his Big Book Of Magic. He suggests a total of two pipes and one load as a simplification of the whole thing for a general production method. I am into kid magic, so for me this would probably work out better than a large setup.

Also, as mentioned, you don't have to stick with the organ theme. You can also just have a bunch of big cans in a box, old stove pipes, oatmeal boxes, PVC plumbing pipe, concrete forming tubes or all of the above. If the schtick is that you find a bunch of trash tubes, you can use all of them and make a show of going through these assorted tubes, showing them empty almost incidentally. If you are good at the presentation, you will really have them guessing about what you are going to make out of all the trash. Then you make your first production and take it from there.

As far as fooling people with the multi-pipe method I'd have to say it would fool me if handled well and I had not read about it just last night. If you have an entertaining routine and people are emotionally invested in the story of what's happening, it doesn't really matter whether they *could* figure it out. They are so busy being amazed at what you are doing that they don't spend the time figuring out the how of it. That's why a really good performer can do a simple trick that is totally over-exposed and still get a great reaction. Even knowing how a trick is done, I love to see performers who are so good that I can't help ignoring their "moves" and just watching the whole effect unfold. Tommy Wonder's cups and balls was the first routine to do that for me.

-Patrick

Yep... thanks for the advice... though I think the six pipes suggested will fit the act better. I agree with you that ANY effect can be transformed into a masterpiece with the right presentation.

When we take this down to two tubes, we can also use a number of production devices or boxes. Buddha tubes are the same. Not that there is anything wrong with two tubes, just that there are commercial ideas that are being made or have been made that might spur more ideas.

Richard

I built this and perform the routine from tarbell and it plays excellent!

Rick

I have been working on this effect for a couple of years now, trying to gather up all the props you need for the Tarbell’s effect. I made my tubes out of sheet alum. And riveted them together. I’m working on a table that is remote controlled so it will come to me on command, I haven’t really practiced this yet as I’m still working on the props.