I just got off the phone talking to a very large festival organizer.
She indicated they were looking for a couple of other top notch magicians and if I knew any to have them send a promo vid.

"But" she said, "no body that does that trick with the cups. It seems every promo vid I get has somebody doing that trick with the cups. I'm so sick of seeing it."

This has happened a couple times recently and I'm starting to realize that 'the greatest trick in magic' is no more. Many of us have put years into this trick.

Do you lads think the trick is now obselete? Is the market saturated?

What the heck happened?????

Nelson

Nonsense. This is one person viewing all manner of promotional videos, after which many hours of viewing the same effect, can indeed become repetetive. Especially considering the fact that there are many performers of the cups and balls, but not many that do it well. That will certainly have the effect of boring someone.

People on the streets will always be entertained by this classic because there are endless numbers of handlings and, most importantly, presentations. Another thing many fail to realize is there are different items to use for balls, and the cups themselves can be very different from the "standard" look, which can play into everything too.

In this case, if the person(s) in charge is sick of watching the cups and balls, you want something different in your video to make you stand out from the rest of the crowd. Skip the cups and balls in the promo, but keep them in the show.

Best of luck to you!

Everybody sees that trick on youtube from various great performers. They steal all the lines and bits and when they make their promo video they use that trick and those lines and bits. I'd be sick of it too.

What other street tricks are so well chronicled? If Gazzo was famous for the linking rings then the guy would be sick and tired of linking rings videos.

I didn't even use the cups my last couple years working for the public like that. I had moved onto other challenges.

As much as I love the trick and do my own routine , I have recently ditchd my table and stopped doing the cups . I was challenged by my teacher to get creative and not rely on the cups to be the anchor of my show like so many others. I may go back to doing the cups in my street act at some point but for now I'm having fun with new routines . I do not think that the cups are a "DEAD END" but there is definitely a saturation of the trick and quite frankly not enough guys are putting in the time to come up with a routine that is their own and are content to do Gazzo's. Ditching the table has definitely made me more creative and I thank Jimmy Talksalot for encouraging me to table the table so to speak.

It's like the sub trunk IMO. Bookers have seen it but audiences still love it. Many agents won't hire magicians that showcase the sub trunk on their promo. It's been done to death. To bookers and agents maybe but not for audiences.

I think I just compared Gazzo to Houdini.

While everyone else gets misdirected by the C&B discussion, let me ask this:
Where is this festival & to whom do I send the promo material?

Just a quick thought:

If the people that watch mere promo videos get sick and tired of seeing the same effect repeatedly, just imagine what the camera guys at L&L Publishing think after shooting what is probably quite literally thousands of hours of magic performances, along with their explanations, etc. For those of you that will say, "It is not the same thing." I understand, but just think about it. An organizer for an even that watches tens or hundreds of promo videos might see the same thing and get sick of it, but that is still just one person. It does not mean the general population or audience has ever even seen it, or is sick of it, or that the effect is overdone or outdated.

Rotten makes a good point, even the Sub Trunk, much like the linking rings and the cups & balls - there are many that perform it but few that perform it well. Presentation is everything, no matter what you are doing or who is watching.

RiffRaff Brilliant!!!!

Don't know if this is of any use to you riff raff, as I'm not American, but since you asked:
http://www.strassenkulturfest.de/startseite.html

I might add it is not a busker festival but a street festival.
And forget the cups and balls. There's already someone doing that ;-)

Danke.

That is a fun festival! I have been there a few times over the years when I was still living in Europe. If you get the chance to go, do not pass it up as there is plenty to see and do in Nordhorn, which also provides some pretty scenery too.

Nelson I think that is a great question!

A few thoughts on this and in some way I sit on the fence with my thoughts,
in the one hand C&B is a great discipline in Magic. One can learn a lot from this art.
To ask is it obsolete? Is the market saturated?
Well my thought is yes if thoes acts appear to be the same on the surface, I work C&B in the same breath I feel the it is now done.
The World does not need another Cup and Ball worker!

On the other Hand the World does not need another Juggler and it does not need another escape artist.
What we need is to approach cups and balls, juggling, escapes with a different attitude of NOT learn someone else's patter or that is good Im going to do THAT, rather, how can I be unique.
I would encourage any one who is wanting to learn Street for example to keep away from Cups and Balls for this reason.
If one copys someone's else's routine with the view to adopting another kind of character alone the way, I feel and have found this is not conducive.
Habits are very hard to break.
You have set your self up and it will lead you to disappointment, Better to start of the way you intend to go.
If that is what your going to learn from cups and Balls well better stay clear of them, and play a bit for a bit until you have discovered you.
Wear a silly hat make a fool of your self have fun, enjoy your art don't be constraint to this is the way it must be, in art I feel their should only be one Rule!

Of cause if you want to just turn over then carry on the, but if you want to create art then PLAY.

We have all seen juggling acts but yet the circus world has this ability to bring out fresh new acts while in-fact juggling is still the theme.
How? it is driven into artist from the start not to copy, Eugene Burger in his book Spirit Theatre says to copying will lead you to a dead end.

In more recent years I Perform my C&B routine with breakable objects and glass loads and finish with a table cloth pull.
This has cost me in one sense the impact of using regular cups but I feel my finally bridges that, plus it is mine, Its then becomes unique.
I prefer to clumsy and play the clown it is more me. In the old days I use to juggle fire and escape the SJ.
I missed the Slapstick situation so much I have revived that show. Now I am studying Bizare Magic all of this pushes me out of my comfort zone.
Perhaps Im just gluten for punishment.

Recently someone sent me a gifts, amongst the gifts their was a badge that states. "Art has Know Boundaries"
I LOVE this statement and if it is true then C&B, Juggling and escape effects are not obsolete!
Rather their is a lack of Creative thinking goes into our art, which we are all guilty of.

Please excuse my rant
My Conclusion is my new Badge.
"Art has Know Boundaries"
With total respect.
Mario

So very, very well said, Mario. Reading this I can tell you're speaking from your heart.

Cheers

I agree - well said, Mario. To add to the 'Art Has Know Boundaries' I submit the following:

opportunityisnowhere

How do you interpret that on the first reading?

First reading nowhere, second reading now here... I think my Glutens need punishing...

Well done!

Penn and Teller should be responsible for this! If penn and teller doing this on their stage show, I wouldn't mind , perhaps only 1 million people know the trick. But on TV, youtube..... now almost whole world know...

They need to apologize to Gazzo, and other guys making a living doing the cups and balls..Those guys practice years and years to perfect their cups and balls.

I bet those doing cups and balls are making lesser and lesser money. This is really sad..

I for one, use to practice at every opportunity for a trick or sleight (up to several hours in my room with mirror)...while those heckler spent their time out playing football, socialize, doing other stuff expose me after watch 1min youtube video of the mask magician..

I Do not think Cups and Balls are a Dead end ,Buy try a new ending ..

Charlie,
I don't feel that P&T hurt this at all. The point of their exposition was to entertain and to illustrate the art of misdirection.

Gazzo is a great entertainer. Nobody cares if they see where the ball or orange comes from. Chances are they'll be laughing too hard to notice anyway.

If you're being called out on one of your routines, you need to work harder on the presentation and direct the attention away from the sleights.

Doesn't matter what we think, it matters what the customer thinks and the organizer is the customer, perception is reality. REminds me of what I heard a booking agent once say, I do not need another mentalist that does that thing with the knives. Why not just take the cups out of your promo.