Blaney Great White Hoop and Miracle Levitation Hoop. They are advertised as it is NOT gimmicked and can be fully examined.

What is the key difference with some other levitation hoops?

The Blaney Hoops are gimmicked and cannot be examined. The Blaney hoops can be “operated” with only one hand. With practice it can look crazy smooth (see videos of Copperfield for best example of smooth operation).

If you’re on a budget, Pro-line makes a great looking hoop, but it has to be operated with 2 hands after the pass.

Here's a link to the website so you can re-read the ad copy:

https://www.walterblaney.com/illusions/levihoop.html

https://www.walterblaney.com/illusions/greatwhitehoop.html

- Donald

At the the Miracle Levitation Hoop page, under the sub-heading SPECIAL NOTE TO BLANEY MIRACLE HOOP OWNERS:
For the first time I have made available a solid hoop that looks exactly like the Miracle Hoop. It can be fully examined, as of course it is not gimmicked.

The second paragraph states: Should anyone come backstage and "fiddle" with the hoop, they will learn it is indeed a simple, solid hoop.

What does it mean "fiddle" here?

touch it, play with it, try and see if it opens.

That’s if you want to buy a second solid hoop that is not gimmicked. So you can buy both the gimmicked hoop, and the solid one. They look identical.

So it seems to me, there is a gaff in the hoop. I keep reading people talking about "operated", "activated", "workings" and "closing the locking mechanism". I am confused here.

There are 2 hoops mentioned on that page. One that you use in performance, which is gimmicked and cannot be examined (priced at $4495). One that is not gimmicked, that is switched out after the show, and left backstage that you "allow" people to look at (priced at $795). There's also a stand for the hoop, which is priced at $200.

The pricing for the gimmicked hoop is mentioned on the pricing page (link by the photo of the hoop), not on the description page.

https://www.walterblaney.com/illusions/pricing.html

- Donald

P.S. Remember that Walter passed away recently, so I'm not sure how much of this equipment is readily available.

I got it alright. A big thank you for your response.

Technically the White Hoop can be operated completely one handed. The Miracle Hoop (Chrome) does require 2 hands for the “get ready” but after that... only one hand for the actual pass.

A member of the Café here named SpellbinderEntertainment Has an opinion on hoops and such props. I wish I could find the article. Maybe I'll PM him and ask him to come here. you will find it FASCINATING!

Doug

The Hoop supposedly as the Holy Grail to prove the magic of levitation. What a hoop actually accomplishes (along with most any magical “proving”) is converting a mystery offered by a conjurer into a puzzle perpetrated by a trickster.

It seems we magicians love to –prove– things to our audiences, and those proofs often kill the wonder and enchantment for the audience. It’s an addictive game of running when we’re not being chased, trying in our dysfunction to become honest charlatans. Imagine an actor portraying Hamlet suddenly turning to his audiences and shouting “This is a rubber dagger I didn’t really kill him!”

What could be more poetic and delicately beautiful than an elegant lady, defying gravity and floating above the stage floor? Yet, at the moment our spectators are delighted and enchanted by the sight, Mr. Magic feels compelled to pull out a shiny hoop and prove something.

I truly believe the moment a hoop is brought on stage, the magic is killed and replaced by a puzzle to be solved in the spectator’s minds. It becomes a “how” is she up there or “if not wires, then what” and your spectators are back in an analytic mode, after you’ve worked so hard to put them into an accepting right-brain mode. There is a part of us that does not want to know there is no “happily ever after” and the beast eats the handsome prince after he’s ditched the cheating princess.

If you were really a Magician– for instance if the great Merlyn himself were performing, would he need to prove anything? Would he dare even let his audience think him less than powerfully magical?

No–
He would say:
“%)(#*@%$ You!”
I’m Merlyn!
It’s Magic!
–And that would be that.

A hoop has become a crutch rather than a tool “Look she must be up there I have a hoop” is the unspoken message, rather than “We are here to astound and move you”.

I know many disagree (I’ve had chairs hurled at me during workshops when I bring up this sacred cow) but this is not only the case when presenting Illusions, whenever possible do not have your audience “examine” any prop without a theatrical reason for having them hold it. If you assume it is real and unprepared they will assume the fact as well, mirroring the acting phrase “if you believe, they’ll believe”.

When you perform are you choosing to present a puzzle to be solved?
Or a mystery to be appreciated?

We do many things in magic because "that's the way it's always been done! " All I ask, is that we examine our magic in a new light and in new ways. Look at it from a stance of Wonder and Enchantment, not trickery and doubt …with endless proofs and caveats.

The justification of the hoop "but it has always been used" is no longer valid in modern magical thinking, and don’t get me started on the use of the “hoop stand” elevating the proof to honored status! If your method or presentation is so heavy-handed it needs a hoop then please... change that up as well, some traditions are just begging to be forgotten.

The above is quoted from my book "Tales of Enchantment: The Art of Magic" if you're interested in exploring this topic and other ways to strength the Magic in your magic, it's available from Penguin Magic. Thanks! Walt

The best book on magic I have! A MUST for beginners!

https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/5214

Doug

It’s an interesting thought but you’re basically saying you know better than Walter Blaney, David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Rick Thomas, etc,

Agreed. It’s an opinion and I’ll take it as that. I still use a hoop.

I happen to agree with Walt's opinion, especially in cases where the hoop takes a life of its own and becomes more than just a simple way to "prove" there are no wires. I've seen performers take the hoop, show it, feel it, practically pay homage to it or dance with it while she's up there supposedly floating by magic. So it becomes a question of what's the important thing here - the floating lady or the hoop?

And I don't see any reason to hand it for inspection or leave it lying around. Again, it's calling attention to the hoop instead of the magic.

Every magician will do what he wishes, that's how we create our unique shows. And, by the way, I've had angry magicians hurl folding chairs at me when I talk about this in lectures, more than once. Our habits are very ingrained, and because magic is an art passed down from one performer to another sometimes there's a monkey-see monkey-do thing at work.

It's always hard to think 'out of the box' but it is very rewarding to be innovative. If there is a way to justify the use of a hoop in the premise or plot or story of the illusion then it might not intrude on the magic, but that rarely happens.

I'm not saying I know "better" than the famous performers you mentioned, but I do have strong opinions that have served many magicians well. It's up to anyone reading this what they choose to do or think, and if someone gives the issue some thought I've done what I've set out to do.

It's great to follow what others have done, and lord knows "hooping" has been done for hundreds of years. But it's also great to look forward to what could be done to make our Magic more Magical and be far more than mere tricks or illusions.

Thanks, happy holidays!

Were they chairs from a chair suspension? :-p

I am one of those magicians. Been doing magic for 50 years. Walt's book changed my life! He gave me a "why" to do Magic! Taught me how to write a story around a trick! I have always abhorred The Sucker Sliding Die Box. Then I read Walt's book. I won't go into details, but that changed EVERYTHING! It was now The Wizard's Herb Chest and a whole new story proceeds...

I paid almost $400 for a custom-made chest! Now the magic makes sense! Not that it's "better" than the original. Just fits ME better!

Doug