Reverse Topit?

[Brad A._dup1]

Perhaps someone around here knows what a "Reverse" topit is (?).

A friend told me about this, but never was detailed on the heck it is.

What'd I like to do is have a peice of paper with a Rubik's cube printed on the front. I roll the paper into a tube, and place it on my hand. When I lift it up there is a Rubik's cube on my hand.

I unroll the tube to show that the cube is no longer printed on it.

...can this be done?
-Brad

[Tom Stone]

Originally posted by bradmagic:
Perhaps someone around here knows what a "Reverse" topit is (?).

No idea. But it might be related to something that Danny Korem called the "upside down topit", that also is known as John Cornelius' "Pendulum Principle". If that is what is refered to, then the best model is described in Tommy Wonder's "Books of Wonder".

But I'm just guessing.

Yes, I believe that the effect you describe can be done.

[Frank Yuen]

Sorry, don't know what a "Reverse Topit" is. As far as the effect goes, Jerry Andrus does a similar effect using a piece of paper with a circle printed on it. When rolled into a tube, a ball appears and the printed circle vanishes. There are a few other phases with the ball vanishing and reappearing. I'm sure that the moves could be adapted for use with a Rubik's cube. I think it's on the first video tape from his recent set.

Frank Yuen

[Guest]

I looked up an old ad in "GENII', Issue May 1978, Volume 42, Number 5, Eddie Fechter is on the cover. Man I'm gettin old!!
On page 271 there is an ad from Danny Korem for the "Upside Down Topit", the thing sold for $50.00 bucks even then! The ad states that the name was given to the thing by,
Charlie Miller
Charlie Miller
Charlie Miller
(Who likes to see his name spelled thrice).
Guess you can tell I had nothing to do this evening! Anyway a friend in Kansas City bought the "UDT" and we spent a better portion of a Saturday trying to get the thing to work. We looked like we were using a hoola hoop and never made any headway. Great memories though!

[Richard Kaufman]

I have never used one, but here is the idea in essence:
The so-called Reverse Topit is actually a form of holdout. It consists of a piece of thread with a safety pin at one end and a clip at the other end. It is pinned inside your jacket just inside the lapel and hangs straight down.
When you extend your arm or lean forward, the clip end of the thread will swing forward (hence the title Pendulum Principle) into your waiting hand.
That is the most basic explanation. It doesn't sound like much, but seeing John Cornelius do this twenty years ago was a real killer!

[Brad A._dup1]

...now if I wanted to have Rubik's cube appear in my hand, how would I approach that.

Anyone have suggestions on appearing a Rubik's cube?

Brad
_________________________
Former Vonnegut Character

[Pete Biro]

Ken Hughes and I worked out a "reverse topit" if you want to call it that. It was a fishing weight with an aligator clip that hung on a string under your coat.

We actually used it as a flying ring type pull, which PRE DATED the Ring Flite.

I used to do the flying ring with a huge Willman Pull that took a ring from, say your left hand, into your right trouser pocket in a flash!

It was so strong it could break your hand.

Funny bit... Dick Zimmerman and I both showed up at a room party at a convention one time BOTH SET FOR THE SAME TRICK...

Dick said, "If we shook hands we might vanish up each others sleeves!"

It was an amazing (still is) effect.

Borrow ring, place into left hand, the see the ring between you thumb and first finger (hand held like "Lefty")... Close hand and IMMEDIATELY bring right hand out of pocket with the ring on a selected finger. :p

[Richard Kaufman]

Brad,
You might be able to produce a Rubik's cube the same way someone produces a dove: have the cube in a pocket inside your jacket with a large loop attached to the cube. Your thumb goes into the loop and then you move both hands away from you rather quickly and the cube might appear between them. This needs to be covered in some way by either a sheer silk or, perhaps, a FISM flash unit.

[Pete Biro]

What size cube?

If it is not too big, try the old 2 in the hand 1 in the pocket with small colored squares (dice size) and use the cube as a final bit... or use it as a load in a chop cup, bowl, cups and balls?

Or under a silk ala Chanin's routine with the continuous coin productions...

[Pete Biro]

Or big load with dice stack? :p

[Richard Kaufman]

Pete,
I think Brad wants to use this as a standup effect for parlor or stage.

[Brad A._dup1]

That is correct....

The idea RK has is an interesting one... perhaps.
-Brad
__________________
Nobody's right if everbody's wrong.

[Steve Bryant]

Another concept. I used to own -- still do -- a cool trick that I think was called Watch the Spot. Looked like a small frame with a black area enclosed, maybe 5 in by 8 in. With a shake, a sliding black panel would slide down and reveal a white spot in the middle of the black area. By turning it the other way, you could cause the spot to vanish, but more cleverly, by "rubbing" it away. The other side was also black and could be made to cause an orange spot to appear. So, a nice 2d appearance and vanish. It went 3d when you "rubbed away" the white (or orange) spot and produced a white (or orange) ping pong ball. Neat effect. Balls obtained from ball holder, pocket, wherever. You _could_ do this with a small R.cube, though the white spot to white ping pong ball still strikes me as more appealing.

[John Pezzullo]

Danny Korem had a 'One-Man Parade' published in the August 1994 issue of "The Linking Ring". Included in the 'One-Man Parade' were two effects that made use of the Upside Down Toppit - TRIBUTE TO SLYDINI and FLIGHT FAKE-OUT. These effects will provide insight into the UDT's potential use and application.

Jon Racherbaumer provided some clarification of the UDT's paternity in his introduction to these two effects:

The 'Upside Down Toppit' is Danny Korem's catchy term for the Pendulum Principle, an old idea published in 1942 by Eddie Joseph and used to vanish a coin. John Cornelius renewed interest in the hook-up, and applied it in some unusual ways. Danny made a significant change in the hook-up and devised several professional applications. He explained his ideas in two private manuscripts limited to two hundred copies.

[Dale Shrimpton]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
[qb]I have never used one, but here is the idea in essence:
The so-called Reverse Topit is actually a form of holdout. It consists of a piece of thread with a safety pin at one end and a clip at the other end. It is pinned inside your jacket just inside the lapel and hangs straight down.
When you extend your arm or lean forward, the clip end of the thread will swing forward (hence the title Pendulum Principle) into your waiting hand."

this sounds like something the " universal raven" could also do with a bit of adaptation.
i have always looked on that gimmic more as a hold out, than a vanisher....
Dale : :p

[Richard Kaufman]

Steve,
That item "Watch the Spot" that you wrote about sounds exactly like a fun trick of Bob McAllister's that I bought from Tannen's when I was a kid, only the plastic frame was not black, but purple.

[Guest]

Back in 1984 i had a Rubic's Cube Production with cardboard spring cubes i built exactly like the common folding cubes. The main work was to cut out all the colored labels from plastic adhesive sheets. As you need just one, this should be no problem.
A folding Rubic's Cube gives you a very clean production. Of course, you had to swich it to get a real one into play. Hopefully helped you all the same.

[Conus]

The reverse topit appears in Eddie Joseph's "Coin and Money Magic."

See "The Coat Vanish" on pages 18-19.

[Grant McSorley]

Danny made a significant change in the hook-up and devised several professional applications. He explained his ideas in two private manuscripts limited to two hundred copies.

I know this is a long shot, but is there anyone out there with the second of these manuscripts who is willing to part with it?

Thanks,
Grant

[Jonathan Levey]

Brad,
I was just wondering, why you would like to produce a Rubiks Cube? As opposed to some other object?
Seeing as though its a Rubiks Cube, why dont you somehow un-jumble it in some magical way?

[Russell Davis]

From The Department of E-Zier Magic Said Than Done:

What if one side of a real cube was temporarily attached flush inside the cut-out square opening/hole in a piece of heavy paper, simulating just a picture of a cube?

Show flatness of paper on both sides while secretly pushing load/cube back and forth thru hole. Fold or roll paper. Produce cube. Show empty square opening.

Maybe hole AND method would be easy to see into. Or not, depending on details.

[Bizzaro]

Well on the subject of topits of doom, our pal Daniel Sylvester and fellow crazy man Kevin James are putting out a video about something they call the "Jacketless Topit".

I was privy to it early on and oh man it looks like real magic. With short sleeves and a t shirt you can vanish things from your bare hands or produce them in impossible ways. Look for it coming out soon. Oi oi!!!

[Guest]

Originally posted by bradmagic:
What'd I like to do is have a peice of paper with a Rubik's cube printed on the front. I roll the paper into a tube, and place it on my hand. When I lift it up there is a Rubik's cube on my hand.

I unroll the tube to show that the cube is no longer printed on it.

Jerry Andrus has exactly this effect, only with a piece of red mylar with a yellow spot that becomes a yellow ball. No holdout needed.

Anyone know if he published this? I have it on a tape we made together in 1981.

Best,

Geoff

[David Oliver]

I'm not sure if this is the method used by Mr. Andrus for his yellow ball(because I've not seen his presentation), but it is the simplest and most direct method I can think of for the question at hand. There was an effect once sold at various magic shops (perhaps it still is) called the "Chinese Egg Bag". It was only about $4.00. In effect, a flexible, woven bamboo(?) placemat was held in front of you by one edge (the top). The bottom edge was brought up in front to meet the top edge, as the top edge was released. You were now holding the opposite edge, and showing the back side of the mat. This was repeated as often as you wanted to cleanly show both sides of the mat. All the while you were only using your forefinger and thumb to hold the mat. Your other fingers were outstretched, and obviously empty. The mat was formed into a tube, and a wooden egg was rolled out. Other productions and vanishes followed, but it sounds like a possible solution for Brad's question. The method was very easy, and could be adapted to fit the Rubik's Cube. No holdout is needed, no revesre topit, and being a dove worker, I can safely say that producing a square/cube shaped object using a dove harness-type loop is not as simple as a torpedo-shaped bird. Possible, yes. Practical, not very. The egg, or in this case, the cube, is hanging from a loop on the thumb of the hand holding the top of the mat. The cube is hanging behind the mat. The opposite hand brings up the bottom of the mat in the front, still hiding the cube. As the bottom edge meets the top edge, the top edge is let go, and falls, becoming the new bottom edge. The cube never moves. It simply hangs behind the mat the entire time. When it's time to make the tube, you bring the bottom edge up BEHIND the cube (instead of the front), roll the tube, release the cube - voila! The length of the mat (or paper) needs to be at least double the distance from your thumb to the bottom of the hanging cube. The width will depend on the angles from your audience, and whether they can see behind the mat. I realize while reading this, it sounds too simple to really work. But believe me, I have adapted this over the years to produce all sorts of objects that size. I have been asked to produce small corporate products, awards, even that special anniversary ring in a box. It really is a fooler. It may not be your final solution. I'm just tossing the idea into the pool for you.
Best wishes.

- David Oliver

[Randy DiMarco]

The Jerry Andrus effect is in print in a set of his lecture notes. I don't remember the name of the notes but I know I got them around 1980. "Zone Zero" and "Perfect Package" were in the same notes. All 3 tricks employed the same principle and Jerry's "Master Move".

[Brad A._dup1]

Since I initially began this topic I've created a way to do this effect. (However, after a few months of work, I decided I didn't like where it was going, and began working on a new routine)

Here's what I did:
I cut out a rectangular piece of paper and pasted three drawings on the front; one of a Lava Lamp, another (the center) of Rubik's cube, and the third, a Pet Rock.

The cube is attached on the back, slightly to the left of center. It is attached by a holder that is made from rolled paper and taped to the back. The cube fits nicely in there.

I show the audience the front and discuss the nature of "fads." I roll the rectangle into a tube--this lines up the holder directly behind the picture of the Rubik's cube. I then pour out the cube from inside.

Upon the production there is an applause cue, it is right near the tail end of that where I switch the paper tube for an un-gimmicked one. This new tube is exactly the same...except the drawing of the Rubik's cube is now blank, and there is no odd holder attached to the back.

It proved to be quite fooling. The switch worked well.

But I'm no longer doing this....I've stumbled into Fred Kaps' Homing Card.
-Brad
________________________
"Spatula City!"

[Pete Biro]

Once you discover Homing Card now you need Bob Sheeets' version. Amazing finish.