Designer: Walter Jeans & P.T. Selbit

Million Dollar Mystery is a stage illusion where a small elevated box is isolated in the middle of the stage. The magician then produces as many objects as he desires from inside the box. Items can include people, animals, or various objects.

The illusion was created by British Illusionist Walter Jeans c. 1927 based on his Silver Hat illusion from 1912. P.T. Selbit worked together with Jeans to improve this illusion before Selbit’s retirement. Selbit premiered the illusion in 1928 at the Holborn Theatre in London.

Clive Maskelyne bought the rights from Jeans in 1928 and Noel Maskelyne performed it as “The Uncanny Woman.”

Also in 1928, Howard Thurston purchased the American rights from Jeans. Almost immediately thereafter, Jeans applied for a US patent through British illusionist Fergus Greenwood (stage name “Gustave Fasola: The famous Indian Fakir”). Fasola filed the US patent with his attorney James Wobensmith so the effect could be used in the Howard Thurston show. The patent number is 1760842. The patent was issued in 1930. Thurston’s MDM was build by British illusionist Cyril Yettmah and performed in New York City in 1929. Fasola never used the illusion himself, and after moving back to London, hung himself in January 0f 1929.

Other notable performers have been Carter the Great, Harry Thurston, Chefalo, Will Rock and Nicola. In 1970, Blackstone Jr. performed it on the Smothers Brothers show to produce the entire cast, including orchestra, from a telephone booth.

This information was compiled from multiple sources including the following:

• Walter Jeans: Illusioneer by Peter Warlock (1986)
• Conjurers’ Optical Secrets by Sam Sharpe (1985)
• THE WORLD’S FAIR, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3rd, 1938
• Tenth Annual Collectors’ Day – 18th May, 1985 by AMY DAWES, Magic Circular, JULY, 1985
• Illusion Show – A Life in Magic by David Bamberg (1988)
• “Harry Blackstone, In his own words,” Genii (June 1997)
• The Last Greatest Magician in the World by Jim Steinmeyer (2011)