Coming soon from Lebanon. Looks amazing. It will sell for $570.00.

This should be quite a surprise for the good professor!

Who actually performs these effects in this time period? For the very rich perhaps.

Hi Reese, I perform these effects in this time period and I'm also most definately not rich.

I won't give you the whole - redundancy at age 50 at the end of 2019 just before covid hit, parental stroke, going self employed for the first time in my life and working three jobs etc. etc. sob story. Maybe over a pint one day..

But no I'm not rich and never have been.

I do however own some dopps and some other of Prof B.C.s effects and will be getting in virtual line with fingers crossed to hopefully purchase this one. If I miss out then so be it - it'll come up on the second hand market one day and maybe I'll be able to pick it up them.

Even before redundancy this would involve budgeting and putting aside some money each month and sometimes resisting the urge to purchase other effects that I would have loved to own. I have also had them given as combined Birthday/Christmas/Anniversary presents by my long suffering wonderful wife over the years.

I've also sold off most of the other tricks and effects that I'd gathered over 45 years and just wasn't using regularly enough or that didn't fit my routines or persona in order to purchase the Prof BC effects and Dopps that do.

Some might regard me as a collector but every single one of my dopps and other B.C. effects has been used, will be used and many are used regularly. None of them are kept stored in a safe in the original boxes or wrapping - they are either on my shelves or with me when I get an opportunity to take them out and share them. When I kick the bucket they will either be sold to pay for my funeral or hopefully will be handed down to my Great Neice who loves magic and will be able to perform with them far better than I ever will!

I teach beginners card magic down here in Deepest Darkest Dorset and I promote my classes at regular events and at least one of my dopps and a few other B.C items will be with me every time in the hope that I'll defeat the stage fright demon and get to use them. And I do, more and more regularly.

I'm not a very good performer, I never will be. But I love magic and I love being able to see the effect it can have on some people including me.

Thanks for your story Chris!

I think you already are - and certainly will be - a better performer than you think

Rhetorical as the question might be, and sour as it is probably intended, I am nevertheless happy to answer that, to my personal knowledge (and not including my own university touring schedule), I know of current performances and full-on productions in nine of the United States (California (where there are actually two), Nevada, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oregon, Kansas, Minnesota, Georgia, and New Jersey), two in the UK, two in Australia, and one in the EU. These are just the current performers/performances. In past, Dopps performances have also been presented in Brazil, Shanghai, Malta, Vegas, and Disney World. The Grove Park Inn in Ashville, NC, had a recurring Dopps performance in their "Houdini Room" (supposedly haunted) up until COVID. There also used to be recurring Hallowe'en seance shows in Ohio and Arkansas that used Dopps prominently, but I don't know if those are ongoing. Those are just the ones I have been told of (and remember). There are very likely more.

Thank you for asking, however pungently. I am, in fact, awfully proud of the number of performers who have found daring and clever ways of incorporating these books into their entertainments.

I also know--for a certainty--that a large number of your so-called "rich" collectors are in actuality dedicated craftspeople who love magic and derive a great deal of pleasure presenting Dopps to their circle of friends and family.

I am lost in wonder as to how any of that should offend you.

BC

Thank you my friend!

The question of cost can be pretty much be applied to most bizarre magic. I had a question about the dolls set I was putting out at £40 (including UK postage). The set is made to accompany a spirit slate routine. I was asked by two people why there were no spirit slates included. Even though there are hardly any sets of slates you'd get for £40 in the first place. I'm selling them at a very slim profit margin because I fancied sharing the props and routine and had enough people asking to make me think it was worth spending the time on.

With much of the bizarre magic products you're are not looking at something that is quickly mass produced. You are looking at props that have had long development times, time spent getting the props so they function as they should, look the part, etc. And then in many cases they have been hand aged, a slow process to do for any great number. You are talking more time than many standard magic dealer items and you pay for that. Things like dopps are expensive but they are the sort of item which of you perform they earn their keep. Having seen people like Chris Gould and Prof BC making things, plus my own efforts, I know how much time is invested in these items. I could get some of them mass produced, just do digital aging on the props and sell many of them cheaper but it wouldn't be the quality product I'd want to use to really sell the stories.

And a little on book tests. I dislike book tests. I kind of see them like the ambitious card routine for mentalists. Most mentalists do one and having sat through many performances they often only entertain the performer. Often long processes to just reveal a word, no emotional impact for the volunteer and as such often makes for the dullest part of peoples act. The time spent could have been used on other routines that could have made better connections, had more people involved. That said I have seen some good ones with good impact. Luke Jermay performing to lay audiences is great, forms lots of connections to the audience, planned in moments of visual drama and works. Todd Landmann's very entertaining as it is on a good theme and consistent with the act. If I was going to perform a book test I would use one of Prof BC's. I had the Jekyll and Hyde and I sold it as it didn't suit the work I was doing. But the method is great, you get lots of information and plenty of ideas from Prof's manuals, though that goes for all of his instructions. They are always detailed with lots of advice. I'm working on making Prof BCs most haunted house book test as this fits what I'm doing currently better and I think I may use. The fact that I'll have put a lot of work in writing all the notes means, for me, I'll probably treasure it for the time I've invested.

As I one of the "rich" collectors I have them displayed prominently on my fireplace mantel. They bring me great joy just looking at them. I have read each one cover to cover many times.......what a joy to own such a collection of first editions of great literature. A book test(s) can be quite challenging to present and in the wrong hands terribly boring.

Hi Reese, I perform these effects in this time period and I'm also most definately not

But no I'm not rich and never have been.

Even before redundancy this would involve budgeting and putting aside some money each month and sometimes resisting the urge to purchase other effects that I would have loved to own. I have also had them given as combined Birthday/Christmas/Anniversary presents by my long suffering wonderful wife over the years.

I've also sold off most of the other tricks and effects that I'd gathered over 45 years and just wasn't using regularly enough or that didn't fit my routines or persona in order to purchase the Prof BC effects and Dopps that do.

Some might regard me as a collector but every single one of my dopps and other B.C. effects has been used, will be used and many are used regularly. None of them are kept stored in a safe in the original boxes or wrapping - they are either on my shelves or with me when I get an opportunity to take them out and share them. When I kick the bucket they will either be sold to pay for my funeral or hopefully will be handed down to my Great Neice who loves magic and will be able to perform with them far better than me.

At age 80 I can ditto almost all of the above. When all 8 of my Dopps are not sitting in my special display box, sitting in my "magic room"...at least once yearly I have been able to astound my "general Magic" buddies at our local club meeting.(and my will has specific price and disposition instructions + advisors if needed for my non- magic heirs)!

Reese, don’t Yuk my Yum.

Thank you Perkins - I had never heard that phrase before and had to look it up - It's absolutely perfect!

The only individual who should inquire about your expenditures and intentions for them is your spouse or significant other!

However, on a more serious note, making a purchase, whether related to a hobby like magic or not, doesn't guarantee its immediate use, even though you might have future plans for it. We all possess unread books, fishing rods gathering dust in the garage, or in my case, a board game worth £1000 that no one seems interested in playing with me. It proudly sits on the shelf, serving as a decorative piece, and my enjoyment comes from delving into its rules, painting its miniatures, and relishing the fact that I'm one of the few who owns it.

People have diverse motivations for acquiring Doppelgangers. Some collect them, others perform with them, some view them as investments. We each have our unique reasons. Nevertheless, for those who question "why?" or raise objections regarding the price, remember that you're affording someone else the opportunity to derive enjoyment from it, no matter what piques their interest.

Ultimately, there are only 100 copies in existence, and when you acquire one, you're not simply purchasing a book; you're obtaining something truly exceptional. It has been meticulously crafted with an abundance of passion, countless hours of research and development, and, most importantly, it harbours a secret shared exclusively among you and a group of 100 others.

Don't Yuk my Yum either.

Reese, come to Doomsday next year, put faces to names, meet the bl**dy lovely people who both create and purchase some of the yums you seem to enjoy yuking so much (Yeah I know) - talk to us, drink with us, laugh with us.

You've been collecting and learning for years, far longer than me - your knowledge of the bizarre is phenomenal - You've probably forgotten more than I'll ever know - do a presentation - do a routine - bring your shrunken heads collection to display- use your power for good.

There are times over the years when I've read a comment of yours and physically cringed at how it's going to be received by your intended target.

I'm really hoping that you can learn how one of your - (in your own words in this forum) "impulsive posts" can actually cut far deeper than you probably intended and not just hurt someone's feelings for a short while but can have reprocussions far beyond what I think (and hope) you actually intended - Words have power..you know this mate!

And I really think you also just need a really big hug Reese and I'll be first in line at Doomsday to give you that hug and it might surprise you but I'm pretty sure there will probably be a big line behind me because that's just the kind of people they are.....

I’m working with the Queens Almanac at the moment ( which, incidentally) genuinely makes me feel like the book is doing what it’s supposed to, with my guidance. Gotta feeling this will do that too ( but much more frighteningly)

Yes, CONTACT employs that principle of the "Corrigan Compass"--which I tentatively think I might have discovered--but with a different handling and to very different effect. And that is in addition to the traditional Doppelganger methods and handlings. They complement one another quite well, blending seamlessly together to obliterate any hope of reverse engineering a performance.

It feels like contact. I have been performing it, counting the beta testing, for several months now, and it continues to feel real in performance--even to me. The self-working aspect means my reactions are genuine (as I do not myself know what it is going to say from performance to performance). Some revelations have genuinely set me back on my heels. The Kismet is almost always extraordinary. The rest of the time it is merely chilling . . . and it all comes down to the genuinely free and random selections that the spectator(s) make(s). So, in a very real sense, the specs are in complete control of releasing the spirit's message. [And, yes, to answer a PM, a spirit slate can be used, but only to produce a message from the Dopps catalogue of hits.]

With a combination of factorial-9 (9! or 362,880) potential phrase revelations and well over 250 full-sentence, "direct address" revelations (in *addition* to the traditional Dopps revelations), CONTACT can be performed literally thousands of times without ever repeating the exact same message.

And, best of all, Dopps remains dead easy and the new stuff is all self-working.

I perform the entire thing as my second act, and it takes just at 55 minutes with lots of 'magic' happening at regular intervals. The revelations build upon themselves from being curiously unnerving to increasingly intentional and finishing with a climax that I can only show as it beggars description (who's coming to see it at ECSS? You will see what I mean.) However, the individual segments (or routines) are wholly separable and can be performed (depending upon which one you do) in anything from 2 (coin-flip--which can then be 'plussed' with other Dopps) to 20 minutes ("contact").

The biggest challenge, as with all Dopps, is remembering to treat the book gently, pretending that it really is old, valuable, and perhaps a little fragile--which is always the 'big sell' in a performance. Nobody has ever questioned the book (probably because it remains in the specs' hands throughout with no audience control needed). The bookmarks, which are absolutely innocent, take all the heat--and I give those away at the end of the performance! The main question I hear after a show is other members of the audience asking the participants if they were somehow 'in' on the show. Nine stooges!?! Now, that is prop-validation!

BC

Yuk, Yum, Yin and Yang.

Now I want it even more…….

Ok.
Purely for fun. How many here are definitely going to grab this on the release date?

Ding, ding - oh yes, to continue the Dopp's library must have !!
The big question is, how fast can we all crash poor Dan's website like last few times....hopefully Dan has his server on steroids ready for us lol

Not rich, but when I die the wife will be from selling my ProfBC & all my other bizarre estate collection ! LoL