Vanishing Elephant

This is a prop that belonged to Thurston and that my Father owned for decades. We never did it on stage, and It is one of the items that went to the Museum in France (I Think. If you bought this from my Dad, feel free to correct me.)

The only story I remember about it concerns the magician Doug Henning. Sometime around 1983, Mr. Henning was getting ready to do this illusion as part of one of his television specials. He had a large number of smart magic guys that worked for him building and designing illusions. It appears however there was some element to this trick that they were not entirely certain about. As was often the case, someone decided to call my father and ask for information. As I've said before, my Dad knew a lot of things about Magic that others had only a little bit of knowledge

on. Anyway, they came over and he talked to them and they got out the prop, set it up and he revealed some info that they had not been aware of. He did receive a consultant credit on the TV show but I don't know where the videotape is right now. If I ever find it I will post a screen shot of the credit. These shots were taken in the parking lot adjacent to the warehouse on Chapel in Alhambra, formerly the home of Owen's Magic.

Addendum: I received a message from an old friend of my Fathers. He actually purchased the Vanishing Elephant Illusion about twenty-six years ago, and he still has it. He described how light weight it was and also commented on the canvas paintings which you can see in the photos above are quite beautiful. They were hand painted. He shared an interesting story with me that I want to share. He said he was a friend of Jane Thurston, Howard's daughter. She told him that the prop was built for a baby elephant and the hope was that it would be a unique attraction. Unfortunately the baby elephant contracted pneumonia and it died. Clearly not the way you want your elephant to vanish. His story reminded me that Jane Thurston came to our place and dined with us on multiple occasions. Clearly I should have been paying closer attention.

Here is that Credit I remembered, It's From Doug Henning's 4th World of Magic Show