Editing Magic 8 Ball (section)

==Origin==
The functional component of the Magic 8 Ball was invented by Albert C. Carter,<ref name="britannica"/> who was inspired by a [[spirit writing]] device used by his mother, a Cincinnati [[clairvoyant]].<ref name="britannica"/> When Carter approached store owner Max Levinson about stocking the device, Levinson called in Abe Bookman, Levinson's brother-in-law, and graduate of [[University of Cincinnati College of Applied Science|Ohio Mechanics Institute]]. In 1944, Carter filed for a patent<ref>{{cite web|last1=Coopee|first1=Todd|title=Magic 8 Ball from Alabe Crafts (1946)|url=https://toytales.ca/magic-8-ball-alabe-crafts/|website=ToyTales.ca|date=12 December 2016 }}</ref> for the cylindrical device, assigning it in 1946 to Bookman, Levinson and another partner in what came to be Alabe Crafts, Inc., combining the founder's names, Albert and Abe. Alabe marketed and sold the cylinder as The Syco-Slate. Carter died sometime before the patent was granted in 1948.

Bookman made improvements to The Syco-Slate, and in 1948 it was encased in an iridescent [[crystal ball]]. Though not successful, the revamped product caught the attention of Chicago's [[Brunswick Bowling & Billiards|Brunswick Billiards]], which in 1950 commissioned Alabe Crafts to make a version in the form of a traditional black-and-white 8 ball,<ref name="Walsh-2005">{{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Tim |title=Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them |publisher=[[Andrews McMeel Publishing]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7407-5571-2 |location=Kansas City, Missouri |pages=93–97}}</ref> which was possibly inspired by a gag{{Clarify|date=February 2025|reason=What is the gag?}} in the 1940 [[The Three Stooges|Three Stooges]] [[short film]], ''[[You Nazty Spy!]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Salem Press Encyclopedia|last=Minichiello|first=Mia|publisher=Salem Press|year=2015|chapter=The Great Dictator (film)}}</ref>