Though not successful, the revamped product caught the attention of Chicago's Brunswick Billiards, who in 1950 commissioned Alabe Crafts to make a version in the form of a traditional black-and-white 8 ball, which was possibly inspired by a gag in the 1940 Three Stooges short film, You Nazty Spy!. Bookman made improvements to The Syco-Slate, and in 1948 it was encased in an iridescent crystal ball. Carter died sometime before the patent was granted in 1948. Alabe marketed and sold the cylinder as The Syco-Slate. In 1944, Carter filed for a patent 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. When Carter approached store owner Max Levinson about stocking the device, Levinson called in Abe Bookman, Levinson's brother-in-law, and graduate of Ohio Mechanics Institute. Carter, who was inspired by a spirit writing device used by his mother Mary, a Cincinnati clairvoyant. The functional component of the Magic 8 Ball was invented by Albert C. The user asks a yes–no question to the ball, then turns it over to reveal an answer that floats up into a window. Carter and Abe Bookman and is currently manufactured by Mattel. The Magic 8 Ball is a plastic sphere, made to look like an oversized eight ball, that is used for fortune-telling or seeking advice.
