I don't know if this has been posted here before , but there is a video clip of Don Alan performing his Chop Cup routine on the TV show
"That's Incredible" from the late 70's :

http://members.tripod.com/vidaccess/

Priceless. Thanks!

Thanks David. Totally awesome!

In the mid 70's Don Alan was performing in the student center at a local community college. I sat down at the table as he was gathering a group of spectators, then he came over and sat down right next to me. He opened his act with this Chop Cup routine.

I was already into magic for many years and was familiar with the Chop Cup as a prop, but had never seen it performed. Wow... what a treat! I cut the rest of my classes that day and caught his entire close-up act a few more times.

Many of you remember when the Abbott's catalog had a section called "Pocket Tricks", but the type of close-up magic we are familiar with today was not often seen. Don Alan was my first exposure to this sort of thing. He had a dynamic presentation style. He did short punchy routines that had powerful endings, solid finales that you didn't have to think about. He was fast and funny. You knew when he was done with each routine because some strong magic had happened.

Over the next few years I was fortunate enough to attend a couple of his lectures. I'd have to say he was one of the biggest influences on my decision to specialize in close-up magic. Much of his material is still available in books and on some videos. Any student of close-up would do well to seek out and study some of Don Alan's material.

Thanks for putting up the link to the video!

Greg

A beginner's question: Are Chop Cup routines the same as Cup and Ball routines?

Bruce

The premise is the same. However, it is a one-cup and ball routine. It depends on a clever gimmick rather than pure slight of hand. There are one-cup routines that are gimmickless but they are not Chop Cup routines.

A BIG thanks, David!

For more of Don Alans great Magic, check Joe Stevens vhs in the Greater Magic series and/or Bill McIlhany's copies of the Don Alan's Magic Ranch T.V. shows.

Great clip - thanks!

Jeff Haas gets all the credit and thanks for posting the Don Alan clip. He announced it over on the Genii forum , but I had not seen it posted here yet , so I decided to mention it here just in case some of you had not seen it on the Genii forum.

Thanks, Jeff !

I used to do cups & balls. After seeing Don Alan Do the chop Cup, I was sold. It is my prefered cup/ball routine. I rhighly recommend THe Don Alan Video and Book. THe information about routineing and timing is worth more than the secrets. I never tire of watvhing him perform. He was truly a master!

For chop cup fans check out the riser/loomis micro chop cup. It's a great routine and ALL the props fit easily in one pocket.

http://www.loomismagic.com/cups.html

I agree 100% with everything Michael Bilkis said.

That was great to see, and part of what's so cool about it is that Don effortlessly maintains the guessing-game format in such a way that nobody is ever made to look stupid. Part of the key is the way he frequently uses conditional statements--If you had said x, then y, etc.--instead of really trying to "nail" somebody by showing them how wrong they are/were. And, of course, the timing and technique is flawless in the way that only innumerable performances in front of real people can create. Very inspiring.

WHen you watch Don Alan's Routine notice that he only asks the spectator once to guess where the ball is. The first Time he asks if the spectator understands the game. The second is a statement..."Keeep one eye on the cup and one on my hand.... (lifts up cup) You have to watch the ball." Only on the last phasse does he ask the spectator to venture a guess.

Actually I think that a lot of his patter was just that, patter. The idea is to make it entertaining. He does it fast and furious. The spectator is watching here and he points out that he should have been watching there - unless he was watching there then it should have been here. It's like the "Who's on first?" routine. It confuses and entertains.

That's what it's all about.

I saw Don do this live on many occasions. While it may have appeared to be fast and furious, it really wasn't. It was rapidly paced, but deliberate.

The main thing that cup makers hated about Don was the way he slammed the cup on the table all the time. The cup he used had a rim that was battered all the way around from the constant banging. He thought the banging was necessary to cover the sound of the big loads.

But it was his routine that inspired the one I did at Renaissance Festivals for more than 20 years.

I am emulating the Don Alan routine. I've seen that same routine by the same master many times (OK, I'm OLD). So I use it. I didn't mean to say that his was furiously fast. I know I said that, but I misspoke. It was unrelenting. It keeps coming on and on. Even the pauses aren't long. Take a look at the double final load routine again. Kathy sees the one and freaks, she immediately sees the other and looks like she's trying to get out of her chair.

Another BIG clue to presentation is the first appearance. He makes it look like it wasn't even a trick. I've added a move where I say, "Look, I'll slow this down for you. Drop the ball in the cup." Turn over the cup onto your palm. Lift the cup. "See, this is how it works." Raise the cup, immediately put it back on your palm to reappear the ball. Then, without pointing out that you just reappeared it, put it on the table for your next effect. Let THEM figure out that they just saw an effect.

Don told me an amusing story about the chop cup routine. He had done the same trade show/hospitality suite for a certain sponsor for about 5 years, so one year he decided to do all new material for them. He finished up the hospitality suite the first night, and the sponsor came over.

He said, "Where's that one with the cards that come up out of the deck? And the one with the cup and the ball? That's what some of these people came to see. This fellow came 450 miles just to see that one with the cup and the ball."

Fortunately, these items were almost an appendage for him and he had them with him. He got them out and did an extra 30 minutes.

And he changed his act very little after that.

Don Allen doesn't need to change his act. I've watched that same video of his chop cups dozens of times. I remember seeing the tv show when I was a youngster and it impressed me mightily then. I love his style. It's indescribable.

Looks very very nice !

Want a real challenge? Try to do the Don Allen routine. Go ahead, load the video and memorize the words and moves. Try to perform them exactly as he does. It's amazingly difficult.

I'm not saying that you should rip off his routine, but if you can do his as well as he does then you can easily change it, break it up, rearrange it. The moves are traditional chop cup moves, it's the cadence, his presentation that has me enthralled. Once I can do it like him I'll forget what he did and forge my own routine.