#14 – Impossible Muses [7/11/1996]
Harry Eng — Doing The Impossible:
Harry Eng is a remarkable man. An accomplished magician, teacher, craftsman and puzzle aficionado. He is best known for putting impossible objects into bottles. There are many who collect Harry’s bottles. His most popular bottle is a spoon in bottle, the bowl of the spoon is stuck inside the bottle while the stem sticks out the top, in this condition it is impossible to pull out the spoon. Other bottles have tennis balls, gulf balls, padlock and keys, decks of cards, dictionaries, eye glasses, shoes and hundreds of other items which could not possibly fit through the mouth of a bottle. Harry once said that the best one he ever did was a steel ball-bearing, he got so excited when he finished that he cracked the bottle.
I once asked Harry how he got into doing these things and what was the first thing he put into a bottle. To my surprise, what he originally wanted to do was tie knots inside bottles. He would place a piece of rope inside a bottle and then tie enough knots so it can no longer be pulled out. These knots became his trademark. Many of his bottles have a combination of objects and knotted ropes. See above photo for some examples.
For the past three years Harry and I discussed the making of a bottle with a gambling theme. In January of this year he finished it for me. The reason it took so long was the dice. I wanted official casino dice in the bottle — it took Harry three years to figure out a way to get these dice through the neck of the bottle. I still don’t know how he did it. The bottle is pictured to the right. To make it extra special Harry had a pen piercing through the center of the deck, when asked why he said, it’s used to mark the cards. There is also a Poker Chip threaded on the rope. The knotting sequence used in this bottle is also unique — Harry usually has two strands in the knots this one has three. Harry added one more interesting touch to this bottle — it took him three years to figure out how to get the dice in the bottle and he wanted people to appreciate that. The way this was accomplished was to drill a hole in a die and thread the rope through it. By placing it near the mouth of the bottle, the viewer could pull on the rope which would snag because the die could not pass through the neck.
Sadly, Harry Eng passed away on Saturday June 29, 1996.
He will surely be missed.
An Impossible Riddle:
There are three words in the English language that end in G-R-Y. One is hungry and another is angry. What is the third? You use this word everyday. Everyone knows what it means and what it stands for. If you listened closely, I have already told you the answer.
The above riddle has been making the rounds lately. I haven’t spoken to a single person who could tell me the answer. Does one exist? Let me know what you come up with.
www.uelectric.com/meiryedid:
The much awaited A.O.L. software (AOL 3.0 for Windows, AOL 2.7 for Macintosh) has just been fixed and the final version is now available online and will be shipping soon. If you haven’t updated, please, please, do. As soon as you do, you too will be able to view the Web, close to, the way it was designed. And you will be able to see my opening screen (pictured) when you log on. Of course Netscape Navigator is still the best way to view the Web. (To visit my magic catalog/mall click on the photo on the left or type the above address in you web browser.)
Pit Stops:
Here is where I will be. Come by and say hi.
• July 7 to July 12 – Have booth at S.A.M. National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• July 29 – Performing at The Udder Club @ Holy Cow, New York City.
