topit

[Guest]

I hear so much about topits, and ive looked in all my books and all the products online, in my books there was nothin' ad the online products assume i already know what it is, What is it?!?!

[Pete Biro]

Have you heard of a Poacher's Pocket?" TOPIT is a utilit device under yout jackaet used to vanish anything from a coin to a cat! :) :cool:

[Guest]

Check out Michael's website:
http://www.ammarmagic.com

[Bill Duncan]

I recall Michael telling us that he'd once vanished a serving of mashed potatoes...

:eek:

[Pete Biro]

With or without gravy? :D :) :cool: :eek:

[Pepka]

A few years ago, a friend told me that he saw Michael produce, then vanish a champagne bottle using a topit. I didn't buy it. He came to our club to lecture about a year later. Before the lecture, I asked him about it, and he kinda brushed it off. During the lecture, I was about 3 feet in front of him, he did it. Even knowing where it came from, my jaw hit the floor.

[Pete Biro]

Pat Page is the first "master" of the Topit I was involved with... he learned it from Lewis Davenport, who used it in the shop demonstrating and his best was the vanish of his cat.

I believe the originator was Harold Comden, a Brit...

I made one years ago with a magnetic trap on the bottom so you could retrieve items from the lower edge of your coat.

Fred Lowe had one that didn't pin to the jacket, but a wire arrangement made it so it "leaned out" against the jacket.

And on and on and on...

Fred Kaps made one in his necktie for coin vanishes... I believe Norm Nielsen still sells these. ;)

[Guest]

Jay Scott Berry also has a topit which he sells and uses very well. Bob Fitch (another pre-ammar topit virtuoso) recently recommended a tailor who will put topits into your existing jackets. He even has a double-breasted version I keep forgetting to order! I believe the tailor advertised in Genii (or maybe another "magic" magazine) last year. Does anyone else remember this?

mark

[Guest]

but can a regular jacket be used or do you have to have a suit jacket because now that I hear the expanation I realize that I have seen some bird routines with one but can you just use your coat? Also I have seen a product called a transferable topit, does that work just as well?

[Guest]

I here the pin on ones suck but I am no expert.
I have seen some great wprk with topits and I think it is one of the few magic appartus that looks like real magic

[Jeff Haas]

Joe, it's possible to put a topit into a waist-length coat or a vest (worn open), and I've seen people work successfully with one. Note that it limits the size of objects you can work with, and also will constrain the hand motions you can use.

The choreography of a routine with the topit is critical, and it's best used to clean up a trick (dumping a gimmick the audience doesn't suspect, for example.) It's one of those methods that should be used sparingly, because doing too much stuff with it tends to communicate what's going on to the audience.

The two best references on the topit are from Michael Ammar, who did both a book and tapes, and Carl Cloutier, who did a set of tapes. They take different approaches to the routines you can do with one, but to your point -- they both use a suit coat, not something more casual.

Jeff