Whit,
You mentioned Ed Mishell taught you the rope routine, was it ever published?

Which, mine or Ed's?

Ed's

I am sure it is. I am not sure it is Ed's.

It is a very basic routine. Rope is cut, put back together, cut into three even pieces. Pieces become different lengths, then stretched back to the same length, tied together and restored.

The main thing that I got from Ed was the Pop-Off Knot.

Whit,

That is so absolutely cool, that you have been blessed to have known and know so many of the great minds of magic. It truly becomes apparent that your tag line means to you exactly what it says: "Gladly wode he learne, and gladly teche."
--G. C.

Thanks for everything!
Tom

Thanks, Tom.

BTW, the convention at Midwest Magic Jubilee in St Louis was incredible! What a fun time!

But, I am totally exhausted... I think I am getting to old for these things.

I especially enjoyed meeting regulars from the Magic Café, such as Oscar Munoz and Jimmy Cards Molinari, for the first time.

Whit,

If I am not mistaken, you were a member of our Ring 58 in Knoxville for a time, weren't you? You also mentioned that you lived in Virginia. I am originally from VA, but transplanted to TN.

You are truly an inspiration and a wonderfully talented performer. Thank you for posting the videos for all of us to watch a master at work. Bravo!

Scott Compton

Whit,

My wife and I were performers on the Thursday night show. We did the dove and manipulation act just after Bill Pryers act. Anyway, we caught you on the Friday night show, I had my wife and son with me, and we laughed and were entertained obviously by a master of magical entertainment. My wife and kids have seen a lot of convention performers, and they and I were beside ourselves, great job. It is indeed an honor to have performed in the same convention with one so adept.
And I do not live anywhere near you, ha ha.

Larry Taylor

Thanks, Scott. Glad you liked the videos. I was a member of Ring 58 for several years. I lived in Knoxville and Johnson City, and then up in Cumberland Falls, Ky.

My family is from Martinsville, VA, but I was born in Clarkesville, TN and grew up there, and later went to Junior High and High School in Greenville, NC. I spent two years at East Carolina University, and then later finished school at Lynchburg College in Virginia. I spent two years at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. I moved back to NC from California 1984-1989 living in Greensboro and Winston-Salem/High Point area, and then moved back to LA. So I have lived in the Va, Ky, NC, TN part of the south most of my formative years.

Larry: Thanks so much.

Hi Whit,

I have to say that you inspired me to look more closely at rope effects. I've performed Professor's Nightmare for years, but that was it. The performances on your web site were the most enjoyable magic I have seen in a long time. Bravo!

One question, if I may - What version of the torn & restored newspaper did you perform on your web site video (I understand if you'd rather not say)?

Regards, Steve

It is Gene Anderson's Newspaper Tear. Pretty much verbatim from his book.

I recently purchased Anderson's Tear and Restore video (I already had the written instructions). I found the part where he folds the paper similar to tying the MPK; fold it back in forth, as you fold in and out, at the same time you fold it back in. I started laughing to the point my wife ask me what I was watching that was so funny.

Hello Whit:
I wanna thank you very much for being so splendid sharing all your ideas and videos, as most magicians would not share any thing for free. They do not believe in magic, all they care about is $$$$.

Oh, I care about money, too...

You'll be happy to know, Whit, I just ordered the Mongolian Pop Knot booklet from the School for Scoundrels Store.

Thanks for making it available to the magic community.


Chris

Whit "the Magnificent",
Everyone does care for money, but you are giving away lots of ideas. Thanks again.

I saw you performing at Wizards about 18 years ago, and I can't remember if you were performing a 2 ring routine, am I wrong? I believe they were 10".

It seems like a two ring routine, but it is four--two for me, and two for the assistant. Because you most often see me with only two rings in my hands, it sometimes can look in memory like a two ring routine. I have not used any other ring routine since the early 1970's.

I used a set of 10" Merv Taylor "Orbs Eternal" for many, many years. I am now using a set of 15" Hollow Stainless Steel Rings from Owens. They were given to me by my dear friend, Jon Stetson, and they fit the more oversized, almost cartoony nature of my new character.

BTW, please check out the new videos of myself, Bob Sheets, Chef Anton, and Billy McComb at my new http://www.myspace.com/whithaydn site.

Ever since I saw the 4 ring routine (2 for you, 2 for the spec), I wanted to try to construct something similar using ropes. It's such a great presentational idea.

You mean the idea of having two for each, or the idea of teaching?

The teaching aspect, I think. The magician handles a length of rope that's equal in length to what the spectator gets, and then goes through the tutelage. For instance, the magician says, "OK, here's how we do the cut and restored! First, we pull the ends together, bring up the loop, blow quickly on our fingers, cut the rope [the magician's splits into two equal lengths], and then to restore, we simply wrap them up together, and with a bit of a tug, and voila!" The magician then turns to the spectator, sees the rope intact, and congratulates him on a successful restoration -- meanwhile, the spectator hasn't actually done anything to their rope.

That kind of thing. I can't help but think that could really fly here in Korea.