Started wondering about the cups trick.

Why does stuff appear from underneath?

We use cups to drink out of.

Why not have the cups do the eating and drinking? What we drop in goes to feed the magic...

Do the cups get hungry?

Are the final loads suitable offerings for a job well done? IE we might take the stuff and drop it in as if feeding the thing that makes the magic work.

Kind of a cup as alter type presentation.

What lives in there and feeds?

That is the kind of thinking that is so desperately needed in magic today.
Especially with tricks like the cups and balls, that have been done roughly the same way forever!
Five hundred years ago, when such cups were used for cheap wine, the "acetibulari" (wine-cup worker) could get away with it.
But today they are pretty well meaningless, and scream "magic prop".
Frankly the spectator doesn't care if they are gimmicked or not.
And all the performer -- who does the cups and balls in the traditional way -- is doing is showing off his skill.
(That performer has TOTALLY forgotten the real meaning of the Robert-Houdin quote, about a magician being an actor -- and one that is usually taken to mean something quite different!)
Good thoughts, Jonathan.

Hmmm. I'm with Mr. Marucci on this one - I love seeing someone take something we all take for granted (Hey look! Magic Prop!) and make it *mean* something.

... of course, now I have to bust out my own cups and start thinking. Considering the fact that I work Renaissance Faires... there's some fodder to be had!

You could do a very interesting plot about the cups being used to attract and contain souls. The spectator (or you) could say words over the balls. The balls carry the words to the souls.

Just a thought!

Cheers - El Lamo

What if, after talking about something residing in the cups... something that needs fed, but is rarely visible except on those rare occasions such as tonight... you then produce a small doll's hand from within your hands (I forget who invented this but I believe a version was described in Magic For Dummies), showing the creature you've just fed...

Or you could possibly use "The Creature" gimmick to produce the creature that needed fed.

Just a couple of ideas for a finale that doesn't involve loading large pieces of fruit.

Of course, it may be even more mysterious if this creature is never seen, only referred to...which would depend on acting skills and not gimmicks or sleights.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt

Thanks for the reminder about the finger thingie. It might work really well to have something unusual like a tentacle or claw reach out from under a cup and grab a grape.

I recall a thread from last year (going to forget the name of the poster) who was trying to do some tentacle moves I thought with C&B, something about Cthulu offerings if I recall, but I digress.

Very good thought on the cups, and I personally love to ask "Why"!

Peter did it again! I have to go to the dictionary. When your name is Bob, big words just create problems.

The inverted wine cup could be made even more senseless by getting it from a change bag after putting in a cup right side up. This is an election year. There are some folks this would fool big time!

I'm going to say Paul Harris taught me this. However, old folks get a lot of things mixed up. (Sorry whoever, if it wasn't Paul. Otherwise, thank you again, Paul.) When using a chop cup, I use a plastic dog food can cover on the top of the cup. It appears to be there just to keep the ball and cup together in storage. I take the top off, pour out the ball and cover it with the cup to get the routine started. It makes a little more sense being inverted that way.

Years ago, I did a lot of magic for a company that canned an adult liquid refreshment. This way, after the chop cup routine, I could appear to be doing the samething again with my client's product can and a plastic top (actually for dog food). The stinger was that at the end of the "can chop cup" routine, I flipped the can over (top up) and zipped the tab on a real full can of real product! The ball had never been in the can at all. A lot of people kept the can even after they consumed the contents. After all, it must have been a magic can. (They probably hoped it would refill.)

Magicians do some strange things in a normal day.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Yes, the fellow wanted to animate a tentacle. A very tough thing unless you are good at puppets and latex.

His goal was to have a tentacle whip out and grab a ball from the table.

My question here regards the basic premise and presentation of the trick. Though if I find a great way to get a cup to eat a ball off the table... I probably would do it. Just so you know, it's not okay to put an octopus in a cup on the table. They like to 'investigate' and would be in the way on your table a lot.