Johnny Platt's routine was structurally almost identical to De Yip Loo's ...but lacked the pacing that makes the routine 'sing'.

Johnny's set of tubes were only about 2/3rds the size as well...of course, Johnny was ALSO about 2/3rds the size...clocking in at about 5 feet tall!

Johnny had always planned on doing a larger version , because he had the vase 'gimmicked' and waiting...but never got around to making the tubes.
He eventually gave the brass vase to me and I made up the tubes later.

Johnny had an interesting way of starting with his special table and the handling is outlined in one of Dr. Albo's books.

And on the subject of Kuma himself, Kuma had a fantastic ending wherein two lines with clips came down from the flies and he would attach them to a large silk that was then drawn out rather quickly and instantly created a backdrop like cloth. Which temporarily obscured him. While briefly out of sight, he would immediately change from his Asian garb...into a white Panama suit and hat for a bow! Pretty spectacular!

Regards-
JNeal

I think Mac Birch used a similar clip line to raise a backdrop at the end of his silk routine.

Richard

Richard

I've never seen johnny's routine

[quote]On 2011-09-16 07:52, hugmagic wrote:
I think Mac Birch used a similar clip line to raise a backdrop at the end of his silk routine.

I always wish I had seen Mac BIrch. Read a lot about him tho'...

Thanks for bring this thread back up. I love watching it. I'll never tire of watching one of the true greats work his magic!

I only met Mac once and saw a brief movie clip of him performing on movie for Wally Dean who bought the show. It was enlightening.

Lee Jacobs was going to do a book on Mac but it never came to be. It really should be done by someone.

One of the beauty of Louie's tubes is the seemingly haphazard manner he handles the tubes. It is so casual. And then suddenly the tubes begin to act up but then he whips them back into shape. A great lesson from a pro on how to present a magic effect to be entertaining.

Richard

You can see Johnny Platt doing the tubes on an episode of Don Alan's Magic Ranch. He vanishes the vase at the end of his routine, as does Loo. But Platt just doesn't have the energy that Loo did. Loo's music is vibrant and up-tempo which helps to sustain and point up the high energy with which he works. Thanks for posting the clip. I'd love to see him do the "Lazy Magician."

Dennis Loomis

I have my dad doing the 'Lazy Magician' when he was Bozo.
Except he did sit down like Dante did.
Since Dante was a mentor/father like figure, he was
his inspiration, along with the Egg Bag.

I might have seen Johnny doing the Kuma's as I do have
the complete set from Don Alan's Magic Ranch but it's
vague. I'll have to check it out someday when I dust
off the VHS player.


My dad help Okito remember how the working of the Kuma's
were for when he writing his book.

As far as the bowl, that's an interesting story.
Several people have asked if it's for sale.
It's the highlight of the entire routine.

Thank you for sharing this footage. My family and I watched it together. WONDERFUL!

Bringing this back up in hopes that Mai-Ling will once again post her dad's wonderful presentation of the Kuma Tubes. There is a whole new generation and new members here on the Café' that should see it. Honestly, DeYip Loo's is the best presentation I've ever seen.

Unfortunatly with the change over at myspace, my music, photos and videos have magically vanished.
I will start uploading the ones I had up there on my vimeo page.
when I have a lot of down time:
https://vimeo.com/mailing

I was "surfing the web" and found this thread.

I went with Jay when he and Loo were doing a club date for a rather unusual group. We were watching Loo from the wings. Loo was doing the Kuma tubes. Jay turned to me with a tear in his eye, and said, "No one else should be allowed to do the Kuma tubes!" My eyes were wet,too, as I responded, "Yes!"

I just found a used set of Owens with the table .I had to completely restore the table and the copper vase I had to get polished and some dents out of it but it came out pretty decent looks brand new paid $1100 for the tubes and the table. It’s one of the older sets probably made in the 70s

I once made a set of silk streamer for Jody Baran's set. They were 22" wide and 50' long. They would start out blue out to one side and then yellow to the left side. Then halfway through the production the colors would change sides. It was a nice touch.
Louie was the Master of the Kumas.

Too bad the video of De Yip Loo performing the Kuma Tubes has not been re-posted . I missed it when it was posted online years ago, but I can't find any trace of it now when searching Vimeo or YouTube.

Bump. Has the video of De Yip Loo performing the Kuma Tubes on the Bozo Show resurfaced? I miss it too.

I have it and will repost it on YouTube!

Now available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCyR--Vro04

WONDERFUL
Thank-you for sharing!

I also liked his performance of the venerable WHERE DO THEY GO vanish. I notice his is more traditional than the Blackstone version. Does anyone know any history of the WHERE DO THEY GO effect?

While largely associated with Okito/ Fu Manchu, I think it was created first by 'Doc' Nixon, a contemporary of Okito. There is some debate with this trick as to who created what, as Okito added to it and the idea of the elastic 'girdle' panel was Servais LeRoy's contribution. It didn't evolve much until David Bamberg (Fu Manchu) rethought about the imperfections in the method and altered things a bit. In fact, his handling/ method fooled Okito!

David Bamberg wrote it up and it was all published in "Oriental Magic of the Bambergs" which eventually became the Albo series of books. Bamberg goes into all the nuances of his improved handling. Later, Eric Lewis, illustrator and contributor to the Bamberg Book (circa 1976) made a few of these and one was featured by Doug Henning on a TV special.