Hi all,

Does anybody know who the creator of the illusion known as the "Celestial Elevator" as performed by Doug Henning is? (see his televised version of "The Magic Show", 1981)

David Copperfield did a version known as "Heaven on the 7th Floor" in his 1992 special "Flying: Live the Dream". I believe, David Mendoza built DC's version? But who is the creator?

Much appreciated,
BM

Jim Steinmeyer created the illusion known as the "Celestial Elevator", as performed by Doug Henning

Here, for anyone unfamiliar with it, is the illusion under discussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-2f7A-wbeg

Thank you, David! Much appreciated.
How do you know?

I think it's fairly common knowledge. If you're asking me to research it for you , I'm going to have to decline. In my experience Mr. Steinmeyer checks and answers his emails. Ask him. I'm sure he can confirm it for you and put you in touch with one of his licensed illusion builders if you want to purchase a license from him to have one built.

https://jimsteinmeyer.com/contact/

A little bit more info on the illusion can be found at the link below:

Copperfield's Elevator

Thank you, David Todd and Mantel - much appreciated!

Besides being common knowledge (as David Todd said above), if you read through the pages on Jim Steinmeyer's website, you will see mentions of some of the illusions he's created.

The Magic Elevator is mentioned on this page:

https://jimsteinmeyer.com/about-jim-steinmeyer/

- Donald

P.S. At one time, Matt Adams tried to tackle a project called "Illusion Repository", where he named various stage illusions, who created them, who owned the rights, who can build them, if they are public domain or not, etc. You can find out more by doing a search of the "Grand Illusions" area for the keyword "Repository".

The website still exists.

https://www.illusionrepository.com/

Donald! Thank you for this, buddy!

- Donald

Yes, the creator is Jim Steinmeyer but there are multiple methods used. I'm not sure if Jim developed all of the methods, or they were co-designed by various builders and performers over the years. Jim owns the rights to all methods though.

Authorized builders that I'm aware of - Bill Smith, Wellington Enterprises, Craig Dickens, Tim Clotheir, EDF, John Gaughn, David Mendoza, and Willie Kennedy.

"Jim owns the rights to all methods though" ?? Why?

Is it solely the elevator theme?

Blair

To give a bit more veracity (as if it's needed), many years ago I had a lovely chat with Jim Steinmeyer backstage at Jay Owenhouse's show about the illusion as we stood by Jay's prop (beautifully built by Willie Kennedy). It has been one of my favorites for many years, and honestly of all the variant methods to accomplish the "dirty work", I like Doug's the best, although in San Francisco one time one of Doug's dancers botched the angles on it and nearly tipped the method.