Hi all - I think this is my first post outside the "introduce yourself" sub-forum.

It's been about 4 months since re-kindling this hobby. I've been eating my spinach, going through Stars of Magic.

Here is my performance of Vernon's four coin trick from that book, which I feel is about 75% of where I want it to be in order to start doing it live. I would love any pointers.

This was actually a tribute video to my mother, who had just celebrated another year cancer-free. My wife is narrating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu1-SHjr98c&feature=youtu.be

First, welcome to the Café whbuch.

The performance of this was wonderfully done, and I truly enjoyed your wife telling the story. Your magic, backing it up, was spot on. I'm sure your mom loved this for it is magical for so many good reasons beyond the effect of it. My very best to your mom, and it looks like you guys gave her your very best in this performance as well. I truly enjoyed it. Good job!

-Mb

Thanks for sharing this with us whbuch! It looks great and it's an inspiring video.

Since you asked, here are some pointers (and this is in the spirit of magicians helping magicians): keep the coins that are passing through the table more separated from the others. After the first coin went through, you picked up another coin as the single coin to place back into the glass. It should be the actual coin that passed through. The end where you show your hand empty as opposed to slapping it on the table shows that by the time you hit the table, the coin is already gone, which takes away from the effect. Otherwise, it was pretty good. The timing on the second coin was particularly good.

That's a great nuance I'd not considered, thanks.

In production, I also plan to do something different for the final (single) coin - have the audience initial both sides of it with a sharpie.

I'll also rethink the fourth pass - pound instead of open hand.

Thanks.

Ray,

Troy Hooser has a CTTT w/Exp shell on his ShellRaiser DVD and he has the last coin go through similar to this one; not exactly but very softly with just his finger touching the table IIRC. I wonder if that was whbuch's inspiration?

Jim

Nice routine whbuch! Thanks for posting this. I wanted to share a version by Fred Kaps, he adds an interesting kicker at the end that you might find interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ObgXTi0K8

Taj

^ Thanks, you just caused me to spend four hours finding Fred Kaps videos and reading all I could about him. ;-)

@whbuch

Hi Sir, can you post what you found here? Thanks!

Welcome to the café.

First congratulation on choosing this particular routine as it touches two important points devellopped by Dai Vernon in "Revelations"
1) the misdirection of the glass
2) magic management (which very few magicians understand or even know about): by placing the glass to the left you are managing the space to get one step ahead into "naturalistic" misdirection. Fred Kaps uses a comparable technique in his cups and balls

Now apart from the very valid advice supplied to you by Ray Haining:
Just consider that if there was a weak spot on the table, when you slap your hand on it, all the coins would fall through. So instead of doing what the routine describes, you may choose to do what a few magicians do nowadays. After lapping a coin, place aside a first one, then a second one then a third one, THEN move to the "weak spot" allegedly with the last coin and make it pass through. Naturally you can repeat this with one less coin each time

Another consideration on this beautiful routine is in the management of magic. Why would you put the glass on the left ? I found a good justification (but naturally there are other possibilities) When the first coin is passed, the kick to expell it from the glass is made a little to strong forcing my lefft hand to come as a wall as if the coin might slide off the table. Therefore naturally later on, when the glass comes back from under the table I pass it to the left hand for my dominant (right) hand to catch the coin if it was "going too far". Now it's only natural for the left hand to place the glass to the left, and then for the dominant (right) hand to get it back from the left spot. I hope that this is clear for you.

One last thing I did for this routine is to import, in a different way, a David Roth idea. I did cut a small black felt disk (just slightly larger than a silver dollar) which is in my wallet at all times (for years) and that, for showmanship purposes, I introduce it as a "portable hole". The fact that some spectators move the portable hole avoids a feeling of repetition, replacing it by "can you do it for me as well". It also opens the way to many nice patter lines and smiles...

See if there are in the above lines, something for you.

Very good deceptive work sofar. It would be fun for you to make it personal now.

Nice work!

^^ Thanks, I plan to re-read all of that and workshop your ideas.

I LOVE the idea of the "portable hole."

Now since you seem inclined to add some personal work to the routine, check in minutest details David Roth's subtlety in the sliding of the two coins that he improved from Al Baker's routine. It's really worth looking for and is even more deceptive than Vernon's both hands sliding each two coins.

Now a tip on casualness: instead of carefully and scholarly placing the coins in your left palm, drop them from the right hand one by one into the left fingers... and (but only then) use the left thumb to position them for display in the left palm a split second before moving the left hand forward "to show"

Levels, baby...Levels!

No matter how many stairs you go up, there's always another flight to climb when you get there. Touches from Kaps, Roth, maybe even Tim Feher and others keep opening door after door after door on this classic effect.

Though this routine is nice as first put here, as Mr. O puts forth, there are more pieces of finesse in the details if you care to look.

For me, in other routines I've played with, I have endeavored at times from advice like this and found greater balance and magic once you continue to smooth it all out. I really feel that balance in some of the things I do, everything just flows, all the movements and misdirections are perfectly put to deliver some really good stuff without flaw. It really feels quite wonderful when you get there.

Sometimes when get an effect down really well in your mind, you think you've nailed it, that is until you come across folks with bigger hammers and even longer nails. It's great to get such further direction toward the even greater mountain tops.

-Mb

That was very nicely done and a wonderful magical and poetic gift to your Mom. Bravo!

One of my favourite coin effects performed very well! I tend to personalize effects and perform them for friends and family whenever there is something to celebrate. Magic is in my mind the most wonderful gift you can offer someone. It's fun, unexpected, mysterious and intriguing. What other gift offers all that?!

Matt

Very nice routine

Looks really nice to me, and I like the presentation a lot. Good work.

And the next video that came up was MB's Mike and Ike's Revenge.

Great double feature

Yes as my friend MB said there are always stairs to climb. other levels.
but what a tribute to a great routine from Vernon. WHAT PASSION VERNON HAD FOR MAGIC. a lot of people think of his card work, yes. but his best work with other items truly helped to bring magic into the ultra modern age.
so thanks for showing me one of the finest routines in that booklet of Dai's.