Jason Latimer TV appearance this week!

[Shawn Farquhar]

Thanks for the input guys.

Thank Nick for the compliment. Glad you liked my act. I have seen the bell routine.

I am a proud owner of both the original Takagi cup and Busby's one that splits open for a hidden ball finale.

I once owned the Fulves Okito box but gave it as a gift to a friend with a large collection.

I also own Las Vegas Close Up and love Uncanny.

I especially love Richard saying "I'm sure someone had the idea of doing cups and balls and ending with solid cups a while back. It's just not that much of a jump." hmmm ... small a jump as it may seem ... I still have yet to see anyone having done it before me ... ;-)

Cheers,

Shawn

[Curtis Kam]

Shawn, not to take anything away from your routine, (which is excellent and certainly something to be proud of) but you asked for precedents:

The first solid cup ending for a three cup routine I ever saw published was John Mendoza's. In John's routine, only one cup turned out to be solid, but one could consider it another of Richard's "small jumps".

As to the progeny of the "Solid Cup", I thought they all came from the "Solid Cone". The earliest reference I have for that Is a pamphlet on the subject by Gary Wolfsberger. Don't recall if he claims to be the first to have the concept, but he might be. On the other hand, In Las Vegas Close Up, Harris credits a "Lauren Steinhauser" with popularizing the idea. Who was/is that?

[Jonathan Townsend]

Still puzzled why one would go for the cornucopia image and then have it all sealed up.

[Ken Becker]

To show the impossibility of the cornucopia concept???

[David Thomas]

Is Jason the only one who does the glass cups and balls routine that he did on the late show?

[Nicholas Carifo]

As far as I have ever seen, Jason Latimers clear cups routine is uniquely his... however there have been other clear cup routines both marketed and performed.

One that comes to mind is of course Penn & Teller, tho a completely different take on it.

And one that I had first hand knowledge of, was a clear chop cup marketed regionally (Ohio, Pa, North east) by Lee Illusions (Don Moody and Ray Witkowski), circa 1990 I believe. It was a large crystal cut plastic goblet chop cup, with a removable gimmick (for examination). The routine it came with was written up by Tom Craven.

Im sure there were more. Tho very different from Jason Latimers.

Nick Carifo

[Shawn Farquhar]

Hi Curtis,

I was not aware of John Mendoza's routine and that is exactly the type of precedence I was looking for when I entered this thread. That only one cup was solid still leaves it in the realm of Shigeo Takagi's outstanding chop cup routine. You said it was "published", do you know where?

I am more than happy to hear of any other creations prior to mine. I am particularly interested to hear back from Roger Pierre who wrote that he bought a set of solid cups in the 70's.

[The Slow One]

The John Mendoza C&B routine...in John, Verse 2??

[Shawn Farquhar]

Hmmm really? I have John, Verse 2 and I thought that one had the cone and coins and Bendix bombshell routine. Off to look in my library ... it's times like this I wish I had fewer books and a better filing system!

[Curtis Kam]

Shawn, it's in Verse Two, "The Cup Switch" p. 93. The title pretty much sums it up. John says in the intro "This is not new, having ben done with cones and a Japanese one-cup routine, etc." And to get the full routine, you'll have to have a copy of The Mendoza Cups and Balls, which you probably already have, anyway.

I don't have that one, and now I'm curious. He says that during his routine, you eliminate cups and balls as the routine progresses. I was under the impression that the Ammar routine was the first to do that. Anyone know the skinny on that one?

[Jonathan Townsend]

To show the impossibility of the cornucopia concept???

Even a child knows that the cornucopia is an impossible object. And can intuit that it would be a bad thing for it to go empty much less sealed up solid.

If all you want to do is finish the trick, why not just produce an egg from under one cup on the table then pick up the other two and have a dove appear from inside? And for the convention- how about a puppy from the closeup pad?