So yesterday my dad say's:

"Frances, can we watch the DVD of our show?"

I said yes. Popped into the player and watched.

Missing the day's of doing the shows at times,
because it was part of our life full-time for
soo many years.

Still to this day, I never ever get tired of
watching my dad perform the Kuma Tubes.

I have only ever seen one of the magician
do it and it was long drawn out performance.
He sent us a tape for my dad to critque I guess.

Yet it's been said that my dad did the Kuma Tubes
the best ever, even better than Kuma himself.

I think its all about that bowl he used. There's
nothing like it ever.

But then my dad built it.

Anyone else ever seen it done by anyone else?

At the end its all about the bad tasting water!
(for those who catch my drift).

Other than seeing "Chinese Louie" do the Kuma tubes... I have seen that old, sadly deceased, ex-Chicago magician... JOHNNY PLATT... do the effect.

I recently saw Scott Alexander do the Kuma Tubes in his show at Fitzgerald's in Las Vegas. I hadn't seen it before.

Yeap Johnny Platt did them too.

Never saw him do it.

Heard it wasn't very good.

Never heard of Scott Alexander off hand.

No one does them like my dad tho.

r

Why are Kuma tubes so hard to find? I can only find Owen's tubes, and they're very expensive.

I don't have an answer for that.

my dad made his own.
if you ever seen them,
his vase or bowl that
he used was something he
found and made it into it.
he made his own tubes and such.

I am currently making silks for a Kuma Tube production for Jody Baron who will be putting it into a new act for his show in Hawaii. I did refer him to your Dad as the master of the tubes.

He got more out those tubes without the added table than anyone I ever saw.
Silks, bowls, Chickens...gosh what load.

I am going to bug you someday to see a tape of it all again so I can relieve the wonderful De Yip Loo. I only saw him once at Magi Fest but I was impressed.

Next time the collectors are in Chicago, I'll bring my laptop and the DVD.

:)

I remember Jody Baron, but I can't remember him specifically. He won a competition I believe.

Posted: Sep 26, 2005 1:56pm
I was wondering...you know that long silk my dad uses in his Kuma's. You ever wondered how many feet that is?

It's looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong!

Paul Daniels did an entertaining version as well.

Someone asked why they're hard to find and so expensive? I have a set of Thayer tubes in my collection (which were fairly expensive). But I've also found a much less expensive set made by Harry Stanley. And don't forget the smaller version made by Grant/MAK and sold as "The Nu Way Kuma Tubes", which show up from time to time.

Joe

I don't know who makes them these days, nor back then.
My dad made his own. I know people often ask what we
will do with them, espcially that vase which has a particularly
interesting story...and well we have it on display.
People are willing to buy it, because of the vase.
But nope, not for sale.

I don't know what other kuma's look like.
I'd like to see it. But I'm afraid I'd be dissapointed
as everyone who ever seen my dad do them, always
say he's done them the best...

then its true about all the things he's done.
And the rest is history as they say!

Kuma Tubes are among the easier magic props to make; I'd have trouble justifying to my wife a purchase of an expensive set! Besides, as Marshall suggests, the final production (vase, bowl, whatever) is often a highlight on its own, and I feel it's best to custom make the tubes based on the size of the final production.

The production I use was sold to me as a "ginger jar" ... but it is not. (It would hold more ginger than anyone would care to keep in their home ... or even restaurant!) It is in fact some sort of Chinese wedding jar -- it has the "double happiness" symbol on it, which, my wife tells me (she is Chinese) is for weddings. As it turns out, there is a gentleman performing the Kuma Tubes on the new Penn and Teller DVD (Magic and Mystery Tour) and he uses a similar, though slightly larger, jar. I had a chuckle about that ... I thought the jar was perfect for Kuma Tubes, but I had no idea other people used it for that purpose, too!

With someone's request...
I posted a clip of Dad doing
the Kuma Tubes back in the late
1960's on BOZO circus.

You'll see his unique vase he used.

And why people still recall that he
did it the best. Better than Kuma himself.

For all of you who know us personally will
enjoy a flashback to the past...

Enjoy!

LINK: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseac......05547473

ps if you have a myspace account...please
feel free to comment there or here.

Many thanks, great to see him looking so good... that's what my memory of him is and will always be.

I still have one of his fabulous BANG guns.... xoxoxo

Thank you for posting that clip. I wish I could have seen your dad in his heyday.

Amos McCormick

I'm glad I was able to finally get it up there
despite the long wait. Thanks for you patience.
I'll get some more clips up soon.

A simply wonderful presentation of that effect! It takes me back a LOT of years, to a show at the First Chicago auditorium, watching your Dad and family perform there as part of a magic night with Don Alan as MC.

I will never forget his handling of the knots off the scarves. It was beautiful. And watching him work is a real lesson in sight line management, too. So many younger magicians get in their own way, it seems, these days.... and block the audience's view of what they are doing - or work so fast that one can't tell what is going on.

Your Dad's pacing was always just right. Fats enough to keep things moving right along, but deliberate enough to allow people to understand what was happening.

Thank you so much for sharing that footage!

Lee Darrow, C.H.

That was a really wonderful reply you wrote Lee.
I've heard that before about my dad and his
delivery and how everything just flows.

When Marshall & Tom were over a couple of weeks
back, we were watching the DVD. And Tom was blown away.
He mentioned the same thing.

The Cord of Fantasia (aka Dante's Lazy Magician) effect
is just fun to watch. I'll upload that someday.

I think you are right about watching him work, he's
got a flare about himself, and you do learn about pacing.

But then he had wonderful friends like Jay & Jack to help him.

I'll post more up and let you all know in the Video thread
I started here.


ps I think the Chicken Vanish would be a fun one or the entire
production with the appearance,vanish & reappearnce...

Any suggestions would be definitely taken into consideration!

I'm not in the habit of resurrecting old posts but this one deserves more views.
The Kuma Tubes is just a fantastic classic effect and the performance by De Yip Loo is a lesson in great magic.
There just isn't enough attention paid to this effect so it is nice to see a performance of it.
Scott Alexander had a video posted of it at one time but that seems to not be available anymore, I did have the pleasure of seeing Jody Baron perform the effect in Maui on my last trip, he also is a master of the tubes.
Marshall kudos to you for posting such a valuable recording of historical magic and a great performance. More magicians need to watch this carefully and learn something from the perfect timing...

I saw Looie do the Kuma Tubes at a TAOM convention (Austin?) back in the 1970's. There were several secrets to what he did. The most important one was revealed by Frances Marshall in one of her books (can't remember the title). It has to do with the way he handled the tubes. The handling was ALWAYS CONSISTENT.

61magic... thank you.
I knew Jody did the kuma tubes, but I can't remember if I've seen them.

Bill, I love your stories from the TAOM.
I need your stories in my book!

I still hear that dad did the kuma tubes better than kuma himself.