This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/29/2022
TALKING SKULL. Cincinnati: McElroy Brothers (for Abbott’s Magic), ca. 1939. Faux skull mounted on a thin wooden post and platform clicks its jaw to answer questions, once for “yes” and twice for “no.” Finely crafted and finished by the famed puppet and marionette makers, George and Glen McElroy, and gimmicked via the method invented by U.F. Grant. Height 8 ½”. Very good. Rare; the only example in this form we have encountered. The only example of a Talking Skull of this construction we have encountered. While the McElroy Brothers built skulls for Abbott’s Magic Co., the Grant-devised mechanism was generally incorporated into Reilly-made skulls or other papier-mache heads; in point of fact, the McElroy-made skulls were meant for use with a special board (of which no known examples exist), or via a hidden length of thread. The McElroys built items for Abbott’s for several years, beginning in the waning days of the Great Depression. It was at the same time that U.F. Grant moved to Colon, Michigan and worked for Abbott’s. In 1941, he moved to Columbus, Ohio where he would found his own magic manufacturing concern.