I have just got to say it, FANTASTIC, ABSOLUTLY FANTASTIC.
This has really inspired me.Had me in stitches, just look at the clip,

http://whithaydn.com/video_clips.htm


Darren...

Good stuff.

Yeah, no kidding. He has changed the entire theory of the linking rings in my opinion.

Whit has been doing this same routine for a very long time!

What exactly constitutes the theory of the linking rings. If you refer to the point, that the spectator succeeds, that's a very old plot.

It is simply the best comedy presentation there is.

Really? Could you refer me to the correct text? I've overlooked anything that pre-dates Whits' premise and is the same. My studies don't include foriegn language texts, but otherwise I thought I was pretty well read...

Best, PSC

Thanks, Paul. The idea of the magician being fooled by the spectator, who seems to be keeping up with him and "succeeding" is original with me, as far as I know, and many knowledgeable people like Johnny Thompson and Billy McComb have stated that they had never seen it done before my routine came out.

There is rarely anything new under the sun. It may be that someone else has done this bit before me, and if so, I would love to hear about it.

The routine was first published in the mid-seventies. Dai Vernon said it was the first original comedy premise in magic he had seen in thirty years, and insisted that I publish it, and got Jay Marshall to put it out. He said the bit would be stolen for a lot of other effects, and so it had to be published right away in order to insure "paternity."

David Copperfield used the idea in the tv special "Orient Express" with a rope routine. He gave me credit and listed me as a "consultant" on that special's rolling credits.

Chuck Fayne has a hilarious "you do as I do" presentation of the color-changing hank based on my premise--the spectator's hank is always "back to red" when the performer turns around. He asked my permission before performing the routine. That was not necessary, since my routine had been published for several years when he asked, but it was a nice "professional courtesy."

I do not know of any other routines that use this premise, but if you do, I would certainly like to hear about them. It is fun for me to see the variations that have come from the idea.

It was this linking ring routine and "the Mongolian Pop-Knot" that won "Stage Magician of the Year" for me at the Magic Castle in 1979. "The Mongolian Pop-Knot" was the first rope routine in which the two knots were both pulled off and thrown out into the audience when the three ropes are restored into one. As far as I know, the use of a "dummy" knot that could be pulled off the rope and tossed to the audience was original to that routine.

Both of these routines were developed on the streets of New York in the late 1960's, and published in the mid-seventies. They were originally designed to both hold an audience with interesting comedy premises and tightly-spaced magical effects, but also, more importantly, to allow for the rope and the rings to be examined by the spectators at the end of the show.

It was really the need to let spectators look at the props at the end of the show that necessitated the original take on these effects.

Roland may well know some European incarnation of this concept, and I don't read foreign language magic books, so I will be interested in hearing what he might know of this plot and its history in Europe.

I can only say that the main ideas in these two routines were original. Whether I was the "first" to come up with these ideas is impossible to say. I can only say I am the first to use and first to publish as far as I know to date.

Whit
You not only do cut and restore like I have never seen it done before, but you graphiclly demonstrate the difference between doing a trick and performing magic.
Tanks
Al

Just because he has been doing it for a really long time doesn't mean that he didn't change the theory of the linking rings. But yes, it certainly shows that he has been doing it for a long time, just look at the impecable timing...

I took the time and watched all the vids. I don't regret it. There is a lot to be learned by them.
Thanks for putting them online Whit.

Whit, your premise is brilliant.

Wayne Dobson has a great variation where the magician and spectator perform a torn and restored paper effect. The magician is using a real piece of paper and the spectator is given a piece of paper that can't be torn.

That is great to hear. I would love to see it. Wayne Dobson is one of my favorite performers, and a hero to me.

Whit, didn't Harry Anderson use it on one of his specials? I think David Ginn used it, too, I cannot swear to this, hiwever..

Whit,

Bill Malone uses the concept in his Walk Around Color Changing Knives routine, which can be found on his "On The Loose" DVD set, volume 4.

That video is one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen. I would love to be in the audience watching this routine. Everyone in the audience probably feels like they're "in on the secret"...but then they discover that they're not, as each phase occurs. That's entertainment.

Coincidentally I stopped into my local magic shop today and found a lone copy of the booklet in the softback shelves that details this effect. I can't wait to read it tonight!

Man. Great stuff! I too watched all the videos. Some of the most entertaining/funny stuff I've seen in a while. Thanks Whit.

Jack

Whit,

I remember when your routine was published. Vic Kirk came into a magic shop I was running to tell me I HAD to see the best Comedy Ring Routine in existence. He'd bought and learned your Routine and was doing it that night at The Magic Cellar. He was right, but then, you know that...

I think I've told you how Don Alan raved about your closing for Ring Flight, how he thought it the best wrap up he'd seen for that trick. He loved the image he could conjure of his being stuck in the parking lot, next to his old VW Bug, trying to break into the glove compartment so he could go home!

Ron Bauer has talked about your CC Knives for as long as I can remember. The reason I'm mentioning all this is that these are well-read, professional magicians who have been around a long time. It's pretty tough to impress them, much less get them to add something to thier act. You've done that repetitively, and with more than one trick, more than one performer. Your results speak volumes...

Best, PSC

Gee, Paul. Thanks. You couldn't have said anything else that would have made my day the way that did.

All three of those guys would be on the top of my list of people I wouldn't want to have to follow. That they used and respected my routines is the greatest possible compliment.

Thanks again.

Whit
I had to watch all three tricks over again, and I must say your timing is perfect. I want to be just like you when I grow up.
Al