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Vernest Regular user 169 Posts |
Guys, I was wondering if anyone knew who was the first metal bender or who had the idea of bending metal cutlery.
I am very aware of the Geller impact on it, but I am not sure if HE was the first one. Banachek, any thought on this? ANY history of metal bending, sources, ANYTHING is welcomed.. |
Vernest Regular user 169 Posts |
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Mauricio Jaramillo Elite user Colombia 413 Posts |
Max Maven posted this at the Café some time ago:
"The earliest published reference for metal-bending would seem to be a coin-bending effect, "Atomic Penny" in Ben Berger’s _Highlight Magic_, 1941." Not sure about silverware, I know I've seen it discussed here before though. |
Todd Robbins V.I.P. New York 2922 Posts |
There is a glass rod bending effect in the Jinx from the 1930s.
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Samuel Catoe Inner circle South Carolina 1268 Posts |
Quite right Todd.
Geller may claim silverware but there is more than enough evidence that others had done similar loooooong before him. What he took was the same idea and just applied it to another medium, no pun intended.
Author of Illusions of Influence, a treatise on Equivoque.
PM me for details and availability. |
Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
True, but you have to admit that his version took hold.
BTW: As far as I know, I was the first to bend buildings though. http://psychiclife.blogspot.com/2007/04/......006.html |
obijuan Loyal user New Lenox 242 Posts |
Talk to steve knight.
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magicusb Inner circle 1135 Posts |
It surely goes back to the beginning of spiritualism. If what I read in the book "THE RELUCTANT SPIRITUALIST," The Life of Maggie Fox by Nancy Rubin, she may have been the first of several. She was known in her manisfestations to bend cutlery as a youngster.
I am sure many a haunted house would have had things around bent or broken. We even found some in the attic of our 100 year old building, where we present "Haunted!, Mind Mysteries & THE Beyond. It is a part of the story. A shameless plug. Uri Geller, no doubt made it paramount in our field. It never hit the radar until he came along. If it was suggested by a mentalist before that it would have probably been considered a minor or silly idea. Like it or not, bend a spoon or fork in your presentation and it surely is a homage or tribute to Geller, no matter how you learned it. Dick
Check out http://HoudiniOpoly.com
Houdini Museum Tour & Magic Show. Only building in the world dedicated to Houdini. http://Houdini.org http://HoudiniDisplays.com http://PsychicTheater.com Scranton, Pa (570) 342-5555 "The truth shall make you free, but first it will make you angry." -Robert Ingersoll-Atheist (on the mind of Houdini when he died.) We are thrilled we were able to bring The Grim Game to the world! Thanks TCM. |
Paul Inner circle A good lecturer at your service! 4409 Posts |
Got to agree with Dick, it didn't hit the radar until Geller was seen doing it on TV in the seventies. If not for that, Banachek, Bavli and the other expert metal benders of today would not have been doing it and influencing others.
David Berglas claimed a young Geller might have seen him do it, but the explosion in mental bending as part of a mentalist performance was started by Geller. If you weren't around in the seventies when Geller came on the scene it is difficult to imagine the impact he actually had. The fact his metal bending performances may now seem not as powerful as some of the later incarnations of it, is beside the point. As for the glass rod bending in The Jinx, no one took it, ran with it, and became a household name and millionaire did they? Paul. |
Tom Cutts Staff Northern CA 5925 Posts |
Geller made the general public aware of spoon bending. That however, did NOT result in the explosion of interest. If it had the explosion would have occurred in the 1970s, no? And Geller wasn't teaching it was he. He wasn't spreading the "how to"... an important fuel for the explosion.
Furthermore, it is flawed to believe that without Geller spoon bending would never have caught on. All Geller can be said to have done is accelerated the inevitable... to which I am honestly thankful he did so that I might have the chance to work with it. |
Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
By making the general public aware of spoon bending, Geller made mystery entertainers aware of the impact he (Geller) had on the public. The "want" of capitalizing on what Geller did, and getting that "impact" for themselves is what led entertainers to spoon bending. There was a wave of “replicative” (I know it is not a real word) efforts that came to the market AFTER Geller began demonstrating it. (The first of what I consider "major" works released acknowledged Geller in one way or another, Dr. Sawa's work and Ben Harris' Gellerism Revealed.)
Point of note: The "swizzle stick" was published in JINX, and sat there for over 40 years, pretty much ignored. My opinion, of course. Tony |
Samuel Catoe Inner circle South Carolina 1268 Posts |
If you want to hide something, put it in print!
Author of Illusions of Influence, a treatise on Equivoque.
PM me for details and availability. |
Paul Inner circle A good lecturer at your service! 4409 Posts |
Tom said:
"it is flawed to believe that without Geller spoon bending would never have caught on. All Geller can be said to have done is accelerated the inevitable... to which I am honestly thankful he did so that I might have the chance to work with it." Tom, I respectfully disagree, why was it inevitable? People didn't regularly start bending glass after the Jinx effect. Perhaps explosion was the wrong description, but he certainly started the snowball rolling. After Geller appeared on TV in various counties bending keys and spoons that's WHEN the first marketed 'bends' started to appear on the market from people like Ali Bongo, Ben Harris etc. and people started trying to come up with methods of doing it, either as a way of exposing Geller, or including in lectures or their acts (Tom Ogden's Nail Bend is another from that period). Even Tenyo got into the act with "Devils Spoons' .I've seen the progression from the seventies to the present, even Banachek's interest (one of todays experts) came from working with Randi in fooling scientists (and wasting their time) whilst he was a YOUNGSTER almost 30 years ago, when Geller was in his hay days. Without Geller Randi would probably not be as known as he is today. Paul. |
Tom Cutts Staff Northern CA 5925 Posts |
It was inevitable because sooner or later someone was going to have phenomenal success bending silverware. One of those very creative guys, like Docc Hilford, who dig up old gems and kill with them.
Again, the level we see things at today (the explosion) is based on the wide dissemination of information. If no other methods were produced, the Dr. Sawa piece would be even more hidden in print than it currently is. The shark-like feeding frenzy for methods and performing of cutlery bending is a symptom of the times and technologies available to us today. In the past there was interest, but no explosion. Best I can say as to Geller is he added to the first fumes. Others threw the match in, and still others created the containment which created the explosion. If one throws a match into a tanker truck full of gas, what causes the explosion? The match? The person throwing it? The gasoline? The person who put it in the tank? The confinement of the tank which allowed fumes to build up? OR is it the culmination? Did Geller start the snowball rolling? Maybe, but he certainly didn't create the snowball. So if a snowball is just sitting there on a hill, is it inevitable sooner or later someone is going to roll it, especially when there are three or four references of people having rolled a very similar snowball in the past? |
Paul Inner circle A good lecturer at your service! 4409 Posts |
RE: "So if a snowball is just sitting there on a hill, is it inevitable sooner or later someone is going to roll it, especially when there are three or four references of people having rolled a very similar snowball in the past? "
Hmmm, it could be an isolated hill that nobody visits The point is, Geller WAS the FIRST to have PHENOMENAL worldwide fame from metal bending, and its fair to say, that NONE of the current experts are as famous worldwide as Uri Geller.Can you name ONE that is as known to lay people on both sides of the Atlantic?? Or as rich? It may have been inevitable, it may not have been, the point is Geller was the one that became world famous for it, and his widely seen and heard of performances of it were the inspiration for others. Paul. |
magicusb Inner circle 1135 Posts |
To Tom Cutts;
In seeing most of your posts through the last year or so, they always seem quite insightful. However, my guess on this topic is that you must be younger than 50 years, and did not go through the Geller era of about the early 70's. He was not seen as a mentalist, but like a rock star. Like the Beatles. He almost reached movie star status. There were crowds seeking him out. He was exciting, great looking, electric. And had "special powers" as well. Women in his audiences wanted to sleep with him. I would guess there was never anything him in the history of the psychic. Cutlery bending goes back to the Fox sisters. It was not the bending, but Geller's charisima. Others had also done drawing duplication and telepathy similar to him. But this was percieved as the real thing. Like someone from another planet or the second coming. And handsome well! And he spoke with a charming accent from a foreign land. This gave him even more believability. He was tested by scientists and passed with flying colors. He was in scientific journals. It was pandomonium. No it was not the spoon bending, a silly simple idea, it was Geller. As I recall the key bending was what first caught on and shocked people most, as it seems so impossible. He was tested in many other ways in laboratories and PASSED, again and again. Even he "could not believe" the things that happened around him. He picked his stunts carefully. A miracle man of our times. If you were around in that era I do not see how you could have missed this. Best sellers were written about him, astronaughts said he was real, stars flocked to his side, and even a full length movie was made about his life by a well know director. It came out too late, and was not well done however. I am not making this up, as I saw him perform several times in person. As I recall, I was even booked to do walk around magic at a banquet at a posh New York City Hotel with a crowd of movie stars that centered around him that included Barry Manilow and Arnold Schwartzenager. I do not think anything comes along more than once in a lifetime or several lifetimes that has the worldwide effect he had on the public. Regards Dick
Check out http://HoudiniOpoly.com
Houdini Museum Tour & Magic Show. Only building in the world dedicated to Houdini. http://Houdini.org http://HoudiniDisplays.com http://PsychicTheater.com Scranton, Pa (570) 342-5555 "The truth shall make you free, but first it will make you angry." -Robert Ingersoll-Atheist (on the mind of Houdini when he died.) We are thrilled we were able to bring The Grim Game to the world! Thanks TCM. |
entity Inner circle Canada 5060 Posts |
I equate Geller with D.D. Holme.
In their respective eras they were both charismatic superstars. - entity
email: tomebaxter@icloud.com
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Tom Cutts Staff Northern CA 5925 Posts |
Quote:
"It may have been inevitable, it may not have been, the point is Geller was the one that became world famous for it, and his widely seen and heard of performances of it were the inspiration for others." None of the above was disputed, and none of the above is THE CAUSE for the "explosion" we have today. Without other fators, we simply would not have the "explosion" we have today. I watched Geller on The Mike Douglas Show. Your math is off, Dick. Quote:
"I do not think anything comes along more than once in a lifetime or several lifetimes that has the worldwide effect he had on the public." But they do come around don't they... inevitably. Just as there have been sweeping PHENOMENONS of psychic fame and fortune throughout the ages. To which I will again repeat, I give Uri Geller his props both for what he accomplished and for making it happen at a time when I could learn from it. |
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