Can anything else match the cups and balls for ending a street routine? If nothing else can match it, what's second best?

Note: I'm only referring to traditional magic, so the straight jacket escape or doing a backflip off of a twenty foot ladder while juggling flaming chainsaws doesn't count.

To give a quick, yet sincere answer:

You should read through this forum. This has been discussed in several topics, even recently. Time and time again, the answer and general agreement by those who work is this- there is no doubt that the cups bring something inexplicably extra to even the mediocre performer, but you can close with anything that you can sell effectively to the audience.

Magicsavant:

As someone who has seen a lot of street shows, and done a lot of street shows, it is truly not the trick but the performance and the performer that 'makes' a trick a closer. Before all the hard work that the people like Jim Cellini, Johnny Fox and Gazzo, Nick N. and others put into the cups and ball, changing it from being a piece of slieght of hand into a tour de force of audience involvement, it wouldn't have made you a dime on the street. In fact I have seen it flop on the street when the performer thinks the trick will do the work for them in terms of whiping the crowd up into a frenzy.

I think it's Eugene Burger who who talks about tricks that are ultimately " the story of the props in the hands of the magician". The cups can easily fall into this catagory, especially because it traps the performer behind a table instead of out in the crowd.

to answer your specific question, I have seen great performers close with burned bill or signed card to wallet, sub trunk, linking rings, hand chopper, livestock production, card flinging. I have also always felt that cards across has the right shape as well.

I think the secret is to find a routine where the audience is left with a sense of your skill. If they don't know how you did it and assume it's "just a trick" then you don't really get credit for it. The cups work, when they work, because the audience knows exactly what you've done: you've snuck that fruit under the cups. They just didn't see it, or see it coming, so they have to admit you are really good. If they have any impression that the props helped in the least ("Gee, I'd really like to take a close look at that hand chopper thing") then you will get much less of a reaction.

But remember, surprise is part of the delight of magic, so find a routine that doesn't 'look' like other magic shows people have seen. Besides it will help you grow as a performer is you discover some of the secrets yourself, instead of mimicing the solutions others have discovered.

Best of luck.

Peter


P.S. I think magicians have to remember that thier first job is to entertain. If that means learning to juggle or do escapes, that doesn't mean you have stepped away from your craft.

P.P.S. Extra credit to anyone who can post what Jeff Sheraton used as a closing routine

Diminishing cards?

Miser's Dream. Get the money flowing

I have seen TOM FRANK opening with the cups and balls and ending with the linking rings, I belive it is a matter of taste and indeed the way you perform it.

D'Lite all the way!!!!

Wow. That's seems so counter intuitive to me. (The routine, not your thinking.)

Tom is a great example of why general advice can only take you so far; and then it's time to turn to direct experience.

Peter that was a great post and oh so true!

Peter is one of my favorite entertainers to watch working the street. He is a true Entertainer. Nobody and I mean nobody, gets more out of any trick on the street than Peter. I think I've told this story before but Peter was the first street magician I ever saw working and he held a group of thirty people spellbound one fall evening with a hank, a tt, a few gags, and a ton of experience/talent. He closed with it and made a good hat! Try that sometime!

I think Robert hit the nail on the head with the Jeff Sheridan question. I have never seen him work, but if I remember my history Mr. Sheridan closed with the diminishing cards.

Best,

Dan-

I think it is a good exercise to try to determine just how one would close with a hank and a TT. I've stroked my chin and thought about it and I think it really helps get the creative juices flowing.

I sure hope Peter doesn't use the Ursula Martinez method.

You need an abundance of three things Talent, personality, and Bawlz!

Best,

Dan-

Trip to Boston cancelled, maybe see you next year Danny.

Anytime you're in town Pete, give me a holler!

Best,

Dan-

Your routine is determined by your salesmanship.

Rule # 1: there are no rules

Thought I don't do it so much anymore I do like ending with Annemann's "Magician vs Mentailst" from his "One Man Show". I would do my hat line right before the second revelation. As I got tighter with my act I have learned (am learning) to keep the tention going right to the revelation.
My idea was to tell them what I was going to and have them wait to see if I could. When I did I would just drop my hat out, no time to sneak away.

I have to add my favorite quote about street magic is from Bill Palmer (who I don't know but I like his thinking)

"You need three thing for street performing, good shoes, lots of water and the balls to get out there" ...or something like that.

Thanks Bill, it reminds me to be practical as well as magical.

My little pennies to the subject

Mark

I don't know whether I was the first one to say that, but I know it's true.

Different things work for different performers. I would close with the Anderson Newspaper Tear. I do a repeat on it.

Wait a garsh durn minute there Bob!

There's a finale other than the CUPS AND BALLS!!???

Lawrda mighty who'dah thunk it???

WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS...PERFORM THE CUPS AND BALLS

johnny

While I agree with just about everything you've said Peter, I must point out that the C&B have been making plenty of dimes for plenty of people on the street for hundreds of years. There are documented accounts of street performers doing C&B in markets during the time of the Greeks and Romans. Otherwise. . . spot on!

Mark