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The Adventures of Winston Freer CD

Miracle Factory

(Based on 1 review)
Long-lost impossiblities from magic's genius inventor

Winston Freer (1910-1981) was one of magic's cleverest inventors. Current innovators like Gaetan Bloom consider him a genius and a hero. U. F. Grant said Freer was fifty years ahead of the rest of the magic world.

In this collection of rare material, you will learn some of Winston Freer's most famous secrets: freezing ice in his bare hand, his no-key Linking Rings, his uncanny rope methods, growing a real tree by magic, and other impossibilities.

The Adventures of Winston Freer collects 200 pages of material with 50 effects, combining Freer's booklets and articles, an incredible collection of his letters, memorabilia, news items, sketches, and notes to provide an unprecedented look at this brilliant creator. You'll even see a brief video of Freer performing his suspension in 1941! This CD will reveal the man behind some of the most daring and creative magic of our time.

Reviews

Bryce Kuhlman

Official Reviewer

Nov 19, 2009

Looking for "new" ideas? Stop looking at the magazine ads and pick up and old book or magazine. As they say, "Everything new is old and everything old is new."

This collection of PDFs from The Miracle Factory is a treasure-trove of ideas. Winston Freer was an amazing inventor of props and methods. The contents include offerings in close-up, stage, mentalism and almost any other genre of magic that might interest you.

Here's a quick run-down of the contents. There's also a PDF index with links to the various pieces in the other documents.

  • 25 Rice Bowl Methods (1954). It's exactly what the title suggests. If you perform (or want to perform) this effect, you'll definitely want to peruse this title.

  • Aladdin's Miracles (1931-5). Effects published in The Sphinx under Freer's stage name Aladdin. You'll not only find great methods, but also great premises for magic effects. Many of the themes conjure up images of Indian fakirs.

  • The Adventures of Winston Freer is a biographical essay written by Todd Karr.

  • Compiled Magic of Doc Maxam (1954). Great magic with ropes and thimbles. Promotional materials for Doc Maxam. How to freeze ice in your hand. You'll also find plans for a "gimmick case" and several philosophical essays.

  • Fragments of Freer. Miscellaneous ephemera from the collections of Ken Klosterman, Byron Walker and Todd Karr.

  • Freer in the News. A collection of press clippings.

  • Freer's Exclusive Mysteries. Lots of rope magic, some with special gimmicks. Various product descriptions and instruction sheets from Freer's commercially available products. This collection also includes hand-drawn illustrations and photographs of some of the props.

  • Freer's Notes. Miscellaneous typed, handwritten and hand-illustrated notes.

  • Letters from Winston Freer. Exactly what it says. Most are to Gene Gordon.

  • The 17 Fundamental Effects of Magic (1941). Includes the text and full-color photographs of the original booklet.

  • The Maxam Ring Illusion (1941). Freer's work on the linking rings, with photographs of his special gimmick.

  • Video of Winston Freer at the 1941 IBM Convention. An MPEG video of Freer performing his suspension. The quality obviously isn't great, but certainly worth watching.

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