Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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Pop-up Move

Apparently invented in China. It was introduced to the West by Chinese magicians. The first English description of it seems to be by Edwin Sachs in his Sleight of Hand, 1877, p. 43; see “The Chinese Marble Trick”.

In 1936, Laurie Ireland published a variant with sponge balls that capitalized on their ability to compress and expand. See “Ireland's Method of the Three Sponge Ball Trick” in Ireland's 1936 Year Book, p. 12 (reprinted in The Year Book Reader, 1977, p. 51).

Edward Marlo came up with the first handling for coins; see his June 1957 Linking Ring Parade, Vol. 37 No. 4, p. 85. In Marlo's coin handling, the right hand finger palms the coin. In the mid-1970s, Al Schneider reinvented the move, but used a classic palm. (See Schneider's account in Genii, Vol. 67 No. 12, Dec. 2004, p. 27.)

Marlo, in his June 1957 Parade, also gives handlings using balls, p. 75, including the Double Roll-up (p. 82). His handling of the Pop-up was developed in 1950 and scantly described in notes provided for a 1951 lecture. These notes were eventually republished in 1965 as Ed Marlo's Lecture Notes. See p. 9, steps 4-6. There has been some controversy on the these handlings. Oscar Pladek claimed to have preceded Marlo on both the single Pop-up handling and Double Roll-up, and to have showed him the moves in 1956. See Pallbearers Review, Vol. 8 No. 6, Apr. 1973, p. 611; Vol. 8 No. 12, Oct. 1973, pp. 679 and 681; Vol. 9 No. 2, Dec. 1973, p. 695; Vol. 9 No. 6, Apr. 1974, pp. 726 and 730; Vol. 9 No. 9, July 1974, p. 757.