A lot of great infos and stories in this thread...
Thank you all !

@Magic-Daniel I do the rings at any venue I can... even table hopping, keeping it short and simple as Dick says...
When working very close to the public, one needs to use really visual and stunning moves, so that spectators don't have the idea of asking about the rings !

In the street or on stage, strolling or close-up I use 3-ring moves done to music, or silently, or with some text.
Basically, this is my full routine : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9XYQbl5Vy0

However, when there is someone close enough, the last move I always do is having them holding the center ring, and slowly unlink the other two. This is a wonderful finish and an automatic applause cue.
Sorry I don't remember the creator's name of this move...

My routine has been modified over the course of the last two years, but the feel of it remains the same. Here is a clip from one of my early performances:

http://youtu.be/kE5mLLX1u4k


Kent

I have seen your routine before. I especially like the silent slow links starting towards the end.

I remember McBride doing that move in 1978, it may be his but he was a student of some wise men in his youth.

Kent Wong: A fascinating and thoughtful example of how some creative thought, an appropriate introduction, and some careful stagecraft can help fashion an experience that audiences will appreciate -- whether they know the "secret" or not. Thanks for sharing.

When I saw Jeff McBride perform last year I was not surprised to see that his first offering was to teach the audience how to do a magic trick. He did add a surprise ending, but the audience was on his side and had no doubt that he was going to employ trickery as well as skill in the following hour. Some of his offerings were not magic at all -- just entertaining. I think this is more than just style. He takes every opportunity to get on the side of the audience and stay there -- and together we enjoy the magic experience.

Lekin: Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it. The routine as evolved a little bit, thanks to the advice and guidance of Jeff McBride, but the intro and the "feel" of the routine remains the same. When I perform this routine in a 2000 seat theatre, you can almost hear a pin drop. The visual inspiration for the piece is "ripples on a still pond"

Funsway: Jeff's opening sequence employs a strong psychological strategy of "gifting". Jeff believes that if you provide a gift to the participants in your show, they feel emotionally indebted to you; and this makes them want to give back to you during the course of your show. I've employed this technique ever since taking Jeff's Master Class - the strategy really works!

Kent

In a ring routine, where is the entertainment part that is separate from the magic? I know in some routines you have more or less audience participation, which of itself can be entertaining, or you have funny, humorous bits. But in a silent ring routine done to music, say, where is the entertainment apart from the magic? Is it the good looks of the performer? Is it their smile? The way they move? What? I'm curious about this. (Please don't tell me that if I don't know, there is no sense in trying to tell me.)

I agree! Thanks.

With a silent ring routine and speaking only for myself, the magic is the entertainment.

-Brian

Well Brian, you are certainly entitled to your opinion!

However! if you were to state that "...the magic is the entertainment." to any qualified professional, entertaining, magician, I believe that you would get this reply: "Well, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Unfortunately, your opinion is incorrect!"

After almost 70 years of performing, (I began as a part t8me pro in 1945, and after the US Navy and college, I went full time) I must respectfully disagree with your opinion, also.

My 'living' depended on my show being entertaining. (I have thousands of comment cards and letters from clients (corporate, school administrators etc. all expressing their thanks for the entertainment. (The majority of my work in the school assembly field was REPEAT bookings.

Magic is NOT inherently entertaining.

I have witnessed some awful, even disgusting "performances" of "magic". I have seen hundreds of people (non-magicians) get up, walk out and demand their money back at public magic shows which were a part of magic conventions. I have seen this at both a regional convention and a national convention!

I'm not disparaging Kent Wong's presentation! I enjoyed the artistry of his presentation. Generic props, like the rings, lend themselves to comedy situations (which I tend to prefer)but, they also lend themselves to artistry and beauty, which I can also enjoy. Jascha Heifetz playing a violin concerto is a beautiful experience. A "country fiddler" playing "hill billy" square dance music, is also delightful.

It aint the prop (rings or violin) it is the artist that makes the magic, or music, entertaining!

This same question could be asked about any silent manipulation act such as Miser's Dream, multiplying billiard balls, etc. The entertainment--beyond the magic, if it's good--is in the presentation. It's in the choice of music, movement, expression, acting, "the story."

Think about silent films. Where was the entertainment in Charlie Chaplin? Think of dance. Where is the entertainment in The Nutcracker? Think of Looney Tunes. Where is the entertainment in the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote?

And it's NOT JUST DURING THE ROUTINE ITSELF.

Kent Wong's routine was very nice, once the music stated and he was performing the routine. I personally thought, though, that during the introduction, when telling the story of his grandmother, there was much less thought about the presentation. He kind of stepped back and forth a bit from place to place. He seemed not to think much about how he stood, where he looked, what he did with his hands. I think that introduction should be just as choreographed as the ring routine itself. A performer should ALWAYS be "on" and look as though he/she is completely focused on what they're doing. The performace should begin the moment they step onstage and not just at the start of each routine.

Hi CJ~

Thanks for explaining the long wait for the ring routine performance to begin! I have a hearing loss and I thought perhaps that Kent was waiting to be introduced!

His handling was very fine and I enjoyed the artistry.

If that long wait was part of the act, he should find a better way!

The rings are very visible props, the effect(s) are very visual. The audience doesn't need a long drawn out 'set up'.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the comments and feedback on the ring routine. The video was the debut of the routine, called "Meditation of the Rings". Since then, the scripting of the introduction has been streamlined, the nervous pacing has been eliminated, and the routine has been reworked slightly to allow for a more visual ending.

At the end of the day, this was simply my personal vision for the rings. That's the real beauty of a classic piece of magic: it lends itself to individual interpretation. I agree fully that the rings are nothing more than a prop on stage. It's what the performer does with them that gives them meaning and brings them to life.

I also understand that, a year after my show, few people will remember the ring routine I performed - and that's fine. But hopefully, they will remember "me". That's why I include the storyline. It allows me to build a nostalgic connection with the audience, letting them have a glimpse of who I really am. Hopefully, they like what they see and come along for the ride.

Kent

Kent, I'm glad to hear about the streamlining and staging of the intro. The routine itself was very, very nice.

A year after your show, people WILL remember both you and the routine. They might remember it for years and years. I'm 55 and I still remember details of a magic show I saw when I was in elementary school in the 1960s. (It was by a magician named Armand Landry, not Dick Oslund, but I'm sure I'd have remembered him, too. . .) I honestly cannot recall if I was interested in magic before the show, but I certainly was afterwards. And I've been interested ever since.

Chris

I have had MANY lay people come up to me following my show and say..."when I was a kid I got a set of little rings in a magic kit, and one of them had a S***T in it............but I have NO IDEA how you did that ring trick in your show with all those SOLID rings........that was amazing".

My point here being: When you work out a beautiful Linking Ring Routine, laymen will be ASTOUNDED by it......EVEN IF THEY HAD THE TRICK WHEN THEY WERE A KID.

Heed Dick Oslund's advice: It's THE PERFORMER...NOT the props!

And in my opinion, The Linking Rings is ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EFFECTS IN MAGIC!

Rick>>>Second the motion! The rings are one the most beautiful effects in magic.

One of (for me at least) the interesting things about the linking rings, is that the effect "continues" or repeats, whichever way you want to put it. --and also each effect can be "topped" by the succeeding effect. In a word, the effect is cumulative, it builds. --One more neat thing: the very nature of the effect(s) allow the performer to create his own routine to fit his own personality.

I cannot right now, think of any other effect that can deceive the spectator who has seen and handled a set of rings. There may be such, but I can't think of one.

Chinese sticks approach somewhat the same series of effects, but, to me, the rings "beat any other "series of effects trick".

Today, April 30, marks an anniversary. On April 30, 1946, I met STUART ROSS, when he presented his school show in "my" school auditorium. He became my first mentor. Unfortunately, he died three years later, but, I can never forget how much he helped me. I purchased all his props from his mother, and used some of them for years. I've since donated his prop tables, his passé bottle set, his coin pail, his vanishing wand set and his version of the THAYER SUPER VANISH EXTRAORDINARY to Bob Lund's Museum of Magic. Stu had been involved in the sales and promotion of the original TARBELL COURSE.

KENT..>>>>

I'm very pleased to hear that you have made the changes that you just mentioned. It was a fine routine, It just needed a bit of "sandpapering" or 'fine tuning'. I'm especially happy to hear that you noted it and have done the 'fine tuning'!

.........And for those magicians who do not have Pete Biro's Book, The Real Secrets of the Chinese Linking Rings, do yourself a favor....JUST BUY IT!

In my opinion, it ranks right up there with The Tarbell Course, Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, and Rice's Encyclopedia of Silk Magic as a standard reference work for magicians.

Pete did a phenomenal job on this book....it's a labor of love...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

. . . . And it you want to buy Whit Haydn's routine and you can learn from black and white photos and words, without needing a DVD, the booklet for Whit's Four Ring Routine is available at Magic Inc. http://www.magicinc.net/whithaydnsfourringroutine.aspx for just $9.95. A steal!!