Clever as a Fox.
Karrell Fox was one of the magician pioneers performing magic at industrial and corporate events.
In 1944 he was one of the first magicians to perform at a trade show.
Fox realized early on that performing for corporate audiences is more profitable than nightclubs and private events.
In the early 1960s, Fox met with William Clay Ford to pitch the possibilities of a magic presentation to promote the latest models of Ford automobiles. During the interview, Fox offered to show Ford a card trick. He had Ford choose a playing card from a deck, and Fox attempted to find the selected card. When he failed to produce the correct card, Fox instructed Ford to look out of his office window, where Fox had hired a skywriter to write "ten of clubs" in the sky, which was the correct card. This was the beginning of "The Magic World of Ford," a three-million-dollar road show. Six units traveled the country for four years and began a twenty-two-year association with the Ford Motor Company.
This corporate roadshow showed off vehicles made by Ford and Ford-owned brands like Lincoln Continental, Mercury, Comet, Falcon, and Thunderbird.
A brochure was given-out with write-ups on all the Ford cars, and magic tricks children could learn.
"The Magic World Of Ford" pencil was one of the promotional items. This pencil was invented by the puzzle inventor Sam Loyd and is known as the Magic Holetite Pencil or The Buttonhole Puzzle.
Learning Lessons: I was around 25 years old and was hired with a few other magicians to perform close-up magic at a corporate event in Palm Springs. I was excited to perform with Brian Gillis, one of my favorite magicians who had performed on Johnny Carson. I was also performing with Eric Mead and legendary magician Karrell Fox who had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1946. At the time I was performing 4-5 close-up magic gigs a week at corporate events in San Francisco. I thought I knew what I was doing. I watch Mr. Fox sit at a table and wait for people to come by. My inner voice said, "this old man was once a big deal but had no clue how this works anymore." I could not have been more wrong. Before I knew it, he had a huge crowd; people were laughing and blowing everyone's minds. He was outstanding! I was a young punk that was lucky to be in the presence of a true master performing his art. I was humbled and happy to learn from watching a master.
Puzzle inventor Sam Loyd originally created this puzzle for the New York Life Insurance Company. He was commissioned to design an advertising puzzle that salespeople could use to make their clients remember their message. Loyd returned to McCall the next day with a small stick attached to a loop of green cord. The stick looked like a policeman's billy club and was slightly longer than the loop. McCall failed to be duly impressed. "What's the purpose of it?" he asked Loyd. Loyd took McCall by his lapels, stuck the cord through the buttonhole, and the stick in turn through the loop. "Alright," he said, "let's make a bet. If within half an hour, you've got the stick out without cutting the cord, I'll give you one dollar. If not, you owe me one." McCall pulled and pushed and, in short, spent 30 minutes of his valuable time trying in vain to remove the stick. After his time was up, Loyd accepted his dollar with the words: "In return for a $10,000 life insurance policy from NYLI, I'll take the thing right off of you!" Now McCall was impressed. "By this, our clients will surely remember our salesmen!" The Buttonhole Puzzle became one of Loyd's most successful puzzles, and it created the phrase "to buttonhole" someone.
The same puzzle became a popular advertising specialty. Used here by Ford Motor Company.
