How a Popular Science tutorial for building a ‘spiritphone’ tuned into the hype of the Golden Age of Magic.
Given magic’s history, it is particularly apt that in 1930, in the midst of magic’s heyday,for building a “spiritphone”—a gadget capable of making prophecies by dint of its apparent radio connection with “the land of the departed.”
“The spiritphone,” wrote George S. Greene, “is easy to construct and still easier to operate, and is one of the most effective tricks for the amateur magician.” The trick’s premise is to guess the name of a famous person secretly picked by a member of the audience. Slips of blank paper are handed out, and each audience member jots down the name of “departed hero or famous [person]” of their own choosing. The folded slips are then collected in a hat. A member of the audience is chosen at random to select a folded slip, without peering at the name. The magician hands that volunteer the spiritphone, but not before barely turning a fake screw at its base, which brings the name of a famous person into view on the spiritphone’s dial.
The cover of the February 1930 issue features home projects and asked if we should abolish speed laws.contributor who covered the magic beat, regularly explaining how tricks worked. One such article, written in January 1929, “
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