Linking Rings

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The Real Secrets of the Chinese Linking Rings

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Chapter Seven:

Linking Finger Rings


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In addition to the traditional Linking Ring rou-

tines there has been a vast amount of work donewith finger rings.Various finger rings have been marketed, from

simple cheapies with a cut slit, a la the classicLinking Rings, to a very clever, locking key finger ring, popularly called the “Himber Ring.”

The original rings sold by the well-known band-leader and magician Richard Himber came inthree styles, the most popular being the man’ssignet ring. Originally it was marketed under thename StaggeRING. Two versions were made, onewith and the other without a stone. The ring was

made to open with a hinge, hidden by the platformfor the stone (or initials on the plain version).Another variation, called ToweRING was a Gold wedding band with a uniform circumference. Thering was segmented with one of the segments piv-oted to open. It locked in the closed position.

The original rings were, in fact, invented in1959 by Persi Diaconis, who at the time was work-ing for Himber at something like a dollar an hour.Persi would run around New York getting varioussuppliers to manufacture things, have instructions printed, and most important, worked at inventingtricks for Himber.

The solution came to him one day while ridinga bus. He had gotten a letter from FawcettRoss suggesting the effect as a challenge. It

was known that a member of the Bamberg Familyhad, in the past, linked borrowed (switched) ringsonto the Linking Rings, and that European artisteFreddy Fah had done something like this perform-ing on ice skates!

Manufacture of the rings was handled by thewell-known magician/jeweler Willy Schneider.Schneider was one of the inner-circle magicians in New York and for years brought top lecturers into

the area. He was kind enough to hire this writer onseveral occasions.

Much has been written on the various methodsof performing the Linking Finger Rings. RonWilson, in his book The Uncanny Scot , has a number of good ideas. Richard Osterlind published a

manuscript well worth looking at, but the best,

most practical handling I have yet to see is in aBilly McComb video tape that is part of theGreater Magic Series produced by Joe Stevens.

McComb’s idea to show the gaffed ring to thevery spectator that loaned you a ring is genius. Theway he handles it makes it the first practical noswitching (at the crucial moment) routines extant.

Several, including Wilson, suggest routineswhere the gaffed ring is on a volunteer in theaudience. You can't really say he is a stooge,

as he does not know the ring is gaffed. The han-dling is that you “loan” a ring to him saying, “I

need several people to loan me rings, but they arealways slow to get started. I would like you wear this ring and when I ask for rings, jump up and say,“Here, use mine”. He just thinks he is helping toget the show rolling and does not know the ringyou gave him is actually a trick ring.

My suggested handling for this version is, at theend of the trick, when you return the rings, do theother two first and when you get to your helper, doa false transfer, and hand him nothing, with a wink and a thanks. That way you don't have to worryabout finding him and your expensive ring later!

Evidence of how good the Linking Finger Ringeffect can be was proven to me one night at a col-lege campus show performed by the AmazingKreskin. Amazing (as far as I know “Amazing” ishis first name) received three standing ovations thatnight. One was for his version of the Dr. Q (fake)hypnotic act, the other at the end of his show, butthe biggest reaction came at the conclusion of his presentation of the Linking Finger Rings.

What amazed me was that Kreskin (GeorgeKresge) in no way tried to be clever. He did not doany wonderful moves, he was in fact, ham fisted.He hid the rings in his hands, switched the rings in

and out and did it in a way a sleight-of-hand criticthat was knowledgeable to the handling possibili-ties, would have puked at!

But it was his presentation, his “sell”, that over-came his lack of being clever.

Much like Uri Geller when he misses, he

The Real Himber Linking Finger Ring Story


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becomes all the more convincing to the believers.More than thirty years ago, working on the

Linking Finger Rings with the late Fred Kaps at

the Claremont Hotel, in Oakland Calif., I revealed to Kaps an effect I created, worked up in my notes, but had yet to perform.

When I told him about my premise, Kapswent crazy. So much did he like it, he fea-tured it two times (that I know of) on tel-

evision specials. One on the FRED KAPS MAGICSHOW, produced by John Fisher, with technicaladvisor and assistant Robert Swadling.

The way I described my idea to Fred was this. Isaid, “Fred, the only real way to find a vanished, borrowed ring is to have it appear on the stem of a beautiful crystal champagne glass. And the onlyway to give it back is to have to break the glass”.The ring, I explained, must be ungimmicked, bor-rowed in fact.

When I said this, it was all over. Fred could onlyask, “You can really do this?”

The tone in his voice was incredible. It was likeI had just told him I knew the secret to walking onwater. I had to be honest and tell him that I had notactually done it, but that the handling was in mymind and that I was waiting to see him personallyto discuss it. He couldn’t wait to hear.

I told him that the lead in was not critical, the

ring vanish could be done in any way, but the partthat I had to do a little more work on was how toget the ring on the glass. I told him he would haveto find the right shaped glass, go to a glass repair man (they are often found at antique glass shows)and have the stems cut off at a decorative knob or joint. Then rig a holder in your close up case, or behind a bar, if you are working behind one, thatwould hold the base and the top of the glass inalignment. You slip the ring onto the stem, hit itwith a drop of crazy glue, then push the two partsof the glass together.

If you saw Fred Kaps do this routine on one of the aforementioned TV specials, you saw realmagic. (You can find it on You Tube).

On his own special he had a beautifullydesigned bar, one like you would find in a modernhome, not in a commercial public bar. Fred began

with two spectators seated at either end. In hisopening sequence he borrowed the ring, tied it ontoa length of rope (very convincing handling from

Scotty York) and then he slipped a ring box over the ring while it hung in view. The ends of the cord were held by the two spectators.

To conclude, Fred removed the box, leaving therope sans ring. He asked one of the spectators toopen the box. Expecting to see the ring in the box,thinking the trick was getting the ring off the rope,the spectator showed a bit of shock when the ringwas not there. There was however, a small folded piece of paper in the ring box. Fred asked him toopen the paper. It read, “Don't forget the drinks.”

Earlier in the show he offered to pour each of them a drink, but forgot to, once he got into themagic.

After the reading of the note, Kaps broughtforth a glass of sherry for the woman, then set anempty glass in front of the gentleman, bringing outa decanter, as he said, “You wanted, what, port?”Before he started to pour, he looked at the glass and the man’s ring was around the stem.

Words at my disposal can’t describe theeffect this had on the spectators. Fred brought out a cloth serviette, covered the

glass and shattered it with a small hammer to givethe ring back to the gentleman that was kind

enough to loan it to him.Paul Gertner later worked out a variation on

the ring on the stem of a glass, using an hour glassand a handling for the switch he got from ScottyYork’s yet unpublished effect “The Sands of Time,” that won Gertner the top prize at the DesertMagic Seminar some years back.

In fact, the original fabrication of the gaffed glasses that Kaps used was done by York. The fitwas so good that the crazy glue was not necessary.York did a lot of behind the scenes work for Kapsand in fact one of Kaps’ TV specials featured five

effects, four of which were invented by York, thefifth was Robert Harbin’s Zig Zag.

So grateful was Kaps to York that when he died he left his own (Hans Trixer-made) personalHimber Linking Finger Ring set to Scotty.

Not one to be content when working on an


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effect, Kaps had done additional research and experimentation with this effect. A letter from thewell-known Welsh magician, Trevor Lewis, shows

how various minds can be working the same path.

Lewis writes, “I guess great minds think alike, because I thought the idea (ring on stem of glass) was original with me. Roy Roth also

claimed originality in Abra about three years ago(Kaps had been dead for over ten years). I’m cer-tain that like so many other ideas in magic we musthave thought of the idea independently.

“Here's my side of the story. Just after the 1976FISM, I enjoyed two weeks with Kaps, FrankGarcia, Dick Koornwinder, and others atPhilippe Fialho’s home in Nice, France. Severalideas were kicked around in that exalted company,some good, some brilliant, some impossible.Amongst the ideas that found favor were finding a borrowed ring on the stem of a glass and producingliquid as a final load from a Chop Cup.

“The problem with finding a ring on the stem of the glass is of course... the stem has to be broken toretrieve it. It was suggested that a marked chinesecoin with a hole could be used for table hopping.Obviously not as good, but less costly and work-able. There was another problem. Getting someoneto make the goblets and the stems.

“I discussed the wine glass idea with Frans

Biemans at the British Ring Convention. Biemanstold me he had a friend who owned a glass factoryin Holland who could make the glasses. A year later at the next convention Biemans called me into hisroom and handed me a parcel. I eagerly opened itand unwrapped one bowl and two stems. He said his friend had made six and since I'd thought of theidea, it was mine to keep. I kept the pieces safelylocked away as they were really to precious to use.I had no idea who had the other ones, but obvious-ly Biemens and Kaps had one or two each.”

Lewis went on to explain that a few years later

Biemans gave him an additional bowl (which,unfortunately was chipped) and a few extra stems.

One complete set will be donated to the MagicCircle for their museum.

In a letter from Kaps, dated 8 August, 1978,Kaps mentioned taping his special for the BBC and

he used a glass given to him by Biemens.The following item, also devised by me for

Kaps, has seen print, but I wish to include it here

for completeness.A very nice way to finish any Linking Finger Ring routine is to display the final two rings on theend of a pencil, one hanging below the other, and have them visibly unlink themselves.

There is a marketed routine using a small hook on a pencil to make it look like the rings are linked, but you had to physically take the ring off the hook to unlink it. One like this was made for RobertHarbin by Billy McComb. Nice. Very good as amatter of fact. But, how would you like to have thering just melt away and visibly unlink itself, drop- ping into the spectator’s outstretched hand?

All you need is a full-size regular wooden pen-cil with a rubber eraser on the end and a bit of invisible thread.

With a razor blade, cut a slit in the eraser,from the end to the heel. Then, take ashort length of invisible thread, a little

less than the length of the pencil, tie a knot oneither end and thread this through the eraser so ithangs down, with the knot at one end, keeping itfrom slipping out.

Slide the rings onto the pencil from the end opposite the eraser. You are at the point where you

have two rings on the pencil. One can be the gaff;it depends on your routine. Arrange it so you havethe thread gripped back along the opposite end of the pencil, with the slack taken up. Slide theungaffed ring off the end so it is held only by thethread. Position the rings so the one on the thread looks like it is hanging, linked to the one on the pencil.

This shows the rings hanging on the thread. Use invisible

thread, this white thread was use for illustration only.


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All you have to do is let your grip on the thread go and the ring magically drops, seemingly unlink-ing itself, visibly!

The final item of this chapter produces thesame effect, but was accomplished with a beautiful gold mechanical pencil. Within the

innards of the pencil is a sliding piece of springsteel. This piece, operated by your thumb via a lit-tle knob, would stick out, and retract into the barrelof the pen. You could hold the unlinked ring in place on the wire, and with an indetectable move,the rings would visibly unlink.

Who did this? It was a well-guarded secretof the late Al Koran. Koran tipped this tome backstage one night and said, “Some

day, long down the road, you can do what you want

with this. But wait ‘til the right time.”Many thanks, Al. It is now the right time, and the

one item that makes this book well worth having.The first performer I showed this to was Bruce

Cervon, who used it, and made the conclusion of his routine a miracle.

It was then decided to make these up, and work-ing with Joe Porper we came up with a beautifulversion.

At the same time I was not happy with theway the original Himber Rings wereopened and closed and designed a new type

of ring. Again, Joe Porper brought this new designto fruition and we named it the “Ghostly Linking

Finger Ring.”When he saw it, Billy McComb said, “This

is the way the Himber Ring should have been

designed in the first place.”The finest handling the Ghostly LinkingFinger Ring can be seen on You Tube being performed by Taiwanese magician, Lu Chen.

The Al Koran mechanical pencil, made by Joe Porper,

rigged to display two rings, as if linked. An internal spring

retracts allowing one ring to drop into the spectator’s

waiting hand.

This should be

very easy to figure

out how to do.

Borrow a couple

of rings, switch one

for a Himber Ring

(or AmaZeRING),

tie it onto a cord,

then slip a group of

chinese coins on,

followed by one of

the borrowed rings.

All you need to

do is have a spec-

tator hold the knot-

ted end, as you use

your hands to open

the gimmicked ring

and slip off all the

coins and ring.

Borrowed

ring at top.

Himber

Ring


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It often said, “If you find one trick in a book,

it’s worth the price of the book.” Well, believe me, this is the one!Etienne Lorenceau is here in Los Angeles,

having flown in from Paris, to visit his son thatlives here going to USC.

I showed him a draft of this book, and hesaid, “You need to include my handling with aHimber Ring. There is no switch, no moves,it’s so easy. You can do it with two or three, or maybe even four borrowed rings.”

This really got me going, as you know, withJoe Porper, we market the Ghostly Linking

Finger Ring.Here’s the work.With the gim-

micked ring in a finger palm (if you have theGhostly ring use theopening linking move)you walk to the left part of your audienceto borrow a ring. Whenyou get it, as you startto walk to another area, just link that ring

onto the gimmicked ring.Borrow a second ring and link it onto the

gimmicked ring.With the two rings now on the gimmicked

ring, you walk over to ring owner #1, and hid-ing ring two in your fingers, you display their linked ring hanging on the gimmicked ring.This person thinks it is hanging on the other person’s ring.

T

he key here are your questions. You ask,“Do you see your ring? Are you sure it isyour ring? Is it linked to the other ring?

They will answer, “Yes,” to each question.You then change hands as you walk over to

the person that loaned you the second ring soyou can display their ring hanging to the gim-micked ring.

Ask the same questions again.

This is simplicity in itself. Many magicians

have the gimmicked ring and feel the routinesthey have studied are to complex and difficult.This, again, is so easy.

We visited Dean Dill and showed it tohim. He said, “I don’t own a Himber ring, can it be done with this kind of

ring?” He had a ring that had a slit cut into it,like a standard linking ring. Etienne took thering and did the routine with it.

So, if you have a gimmicked ring, fine, if not, just get a cheap ring a cut a slit in it.

Simple Linking Finger Routines

Simply slip the two rings

onto the hidden gimmicked

ring. (Exposed view).

To my knowledge Al Koran started the effectof linking borrowed finger rings together. Al used a slit ring, much like a key ring from a linking ringset and a wire gimmick built into a mechanical pen-cil in his method. Bandleader/magician RichardHimber had a mechanical locking finger ringdeveloped and put it on the market as the Himber Linking Finger Rings.

Himber and I were good friends, so when he

flew into Detroit to attend my twenty-first birthday party, he brought me one of the

rings for a present. I put it aside thinking that some-day I would use it as a close-up trick, as it wasobviously too small to be used on stage. Boy WASI WRONG!

Quite a few years later, child-bride and I wenton a Caribbean cruise (not working it - just enjoy-ing it). Who should be the featured entertainer onthe cruise but Al Koran? Al was then using theHimber locking finger ring, and when he per-formed it for an audience of around two hundred, I

was very impressed.I was even more impressed about a month later,

back home, when I saw my favorite mentalistKreskin perform it at a concert before an audienceof over two thousand. By this time I was convinced that this was a stage trick that was dynamite. Even

A ‘Foxy’ Routine with theLinking Finger Rings

By Karrell Fox


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though half of the audience couldn’t even see it.They were entertained just by Kreskin’s descriptionof it as he did it.

Idecided it was time to re-evaluate the trick, so

out of the drawer it came. Thinking back over

the routines I had seen, and those in print, all of

them required two switches, and some of them

even three switches. Having always been a firm

believer that some magicians get so involved with

the method that they forget the effect, I set about to

simplify it. My routine uses no switches at all, and

cuts the performing time of the original trick to

about half, which is better for the way I work.To begin, the ring (in the unlocked, open posi-

tion) is in your left coat pocket. Casually place your

hands in your pockets, and when you remove them,you have the ring concealed in your left hand (not palmed, just concealed).

“For my next effect, I would like to borrowsome finger rings from several trusting people inthe audience. So, please bear with me while I go jewelry shopping.”

Step into the right hand third of your audience.Comment to several of the people how nice their rings look. Finally ask one person, “May I borrowyours? Fine.” (Editor’s note: For safety reasons, it is best to use men’s wedding bands without anystones). When they hand you the ring, hook it rightonto the open ring in your left hand as you walk tothe middle third of the audience, remarking, “Stilllooking.”

Again comment on several rings and borrow

one. Hook it onto the gimmicked ring in

your left hand and snap it shut as you walk

to the third of the audience on your left remarking,

“Let’s see what I can borrow over here.”In this section of the audience, again comment

on how nice several of the rings are. Lean close toone of the men and softly say, “May I borrow your pencil or a pen.” When he gives it to you, hold itlow, in your right hand, and visibly slip the three

rings onto the end of the pen. Walk back to thestage, shaking the pen. Everything looks right, and at this point the audience cannot tell that the ringsare linked together.

“Well I didn’t do badly, in fact if I ever get tired of this business, I think I’ll become a pawn broker.

I thank you loaners for your vote of confidence,and I would like to mention that IF I get enoughapplause at the end of this miracle, I might even

give the rings back.”

Hold the pen horizontally and with your leftforefinger, push one of the rings off the pen,allowing it to dangle. Then do the same

thing with the second ring. “Ladies and Gentlemen,a perfect illusion that the three rings are linked together.” Dump the linked rings off of the pen and into your left hand. Hand them to the person near-est you saying, “Does the illusion that they arelinked together look as good to you sir as it does tome?” Get the rings back and slip the end one back on the pen (leaving the other two dangling).

“Let’s let the owners take a closer look.” Stepquickly to the person in the right third of the audi-ence, point to their ring and say (emphatically) “Isthis yours?” Then quickly to the person in the cen-ter third of the audience, point to their ring and repeat, “Is this yours?” Quickly again, to the gen-tleman in the left third of the audience (remember,he loaned you the PEN) “And you sir is thisyours?” Point to the pen as you say this. He will,of course (like the others) say, “Yes.”

Step back to center stage, dump the rings off the pen into your left hand. “The hardest part of thiswhole trick is to separate them without damaging

them.” Under cover of this laugh, your right hand (still holding the pen) quickly unhooks the rings,snaps the gimmick closed and threads the rings(gimmicked one first) back onto the pen. The ringswill still look linked to the spectators.

Holding the pen in your right hand, you say,“Here’s the big finish, watch.” Remove thetop ring with your left hand, handing it back

to the loaner on your right saying, ‘This is yours.”Remove the second ring, return it, saying, “This isyours, and now that we’ve returned the good stuff ... what’s left is yours.” As you walk toward the

loaner to your left, the left hand removes the penfrom the right hand leaving the gimmicked ringconcealed there, and hands him back his pen.Return to center stage and take your applause.


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A New Way to Secretly Link Finger Rings

The late Tommy Wonder devised a very

clever way to keep a Linking Finger Ring

gimmick open and ready to go, by machin-

ing a mechanical pencil. The details can be found

in his Books of Wonder .

I loved the idea, but don’t have the necessary

skill or machine shop tools to make what he

described.

Fooling around with an ordinary pencil I came

up with the following idea.

The illustrations, above, show how you can use

adhesive tape to attach the gimmicked ring, in the

open position, to the end of a pencil (Photo 1). Ialso used a rubber band to hold the ring in the same

position. Either way worked fine.

The handling is simple. With the ring attached,

as you borrow rings from the audience, you just

slide them onto the pencil, keeping the gimmicked ring hidden in your hand (Photo 2), and as you

walk to your work area, after collecting the rings,

you let them slide into the open gimmicked ring

(Photo 3).

You now have the rings within the gim-

micked ring, and then it’s a simple matter

to grip the ring and pull it off the pencil and

snap it shut.

This will work with any type of linking finger

ring. The gimmicked ring shown is the Ghostly

Linking Finger Ring from Joe Porper.

The handling described, with two rings linked isgood for Etienne Lorenceau’s no-switch routine,

or a routine where you don’t link a third ring until

later in the routine, much like the original handling

from Al Koran.

1

3 4

2


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In the 1940s Orson Welles, in his Mercury

Wonder Show, may have been the first to link bor-rowed finger rings.He’d have one of his assistants go to the audi-

ence and borrow about a dozen “military” rings,collecting them on a tray. They all looked muchalike. Welles would toss all the rings in the air and they came down all linked in a chain. (Thanks to aThayer switch tray).

He’d display them and put them back onto thetray and (after switching back) the assistant would then return all the rings from those she had earlier borrowed them from.

Members of the military head to the “Mercury Wonder

Show”, presented by Orson Welles, on Hollywood Blvd.

Was Orson Welles the First to Link Borrowed Rings?

Welles presenting “Where to the Ducks Go.” He recruited

starlets from the movies like Rita Hayworth as his assis-

tants for his shows, much to the delight of the troops.


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Another Letter from Trevor LewisDear Pete:

R egarding the Himber Ring. The best routine

I've ever seen was performed by the late,and sadly missed, Albert Le Bas. He hailed

from Dublin, Ireland, and performed there nightlyat Jury’s Hotel. For the record Albert performed Miser’s Dream (Charlie Miller mentioned his rou-tine in Genii), the Himber Ring routine, WhiskeyGlass and Bag (now performed by Billy McComband myself, with different patter) and the MartinRising Cards.

By day, Albert was the sales manager of agarage in Dun Laoghaire (near Dublin) and, as Iwas a ship’s engineer who visited the port every

other day, we enjoyed many magical sessions at hisoffice.

Albert taught me his routines, so his Himber routine lives on. Over the years I have added lines, bits and pieces to the original, but as yet it is not in print. I will include it in my soon to be published book, Routine Matters.

Christopher Woodward was also a closefriend of Albert's and is familiar with the routine.For the record Steve Walker has my routine filed,

and there is a draft copy on disk.Le Bas performed once in America, probably in

the late ‘60s, but I don't recall the exact time or the place.

I feel you should mention his name in conjunc-tion with the Himber Ring for the record.

Basically his routine consisted of borrowingtwo rings which both penetrated a steel rod. It cameas a complete surprise when the rings were unex- pectedly found to be linked!

T

his follows Fred Kaps’ premise that the bestmagic occurs when the magician appears to

be in trouble. Think of his presentation of theChinese Sticks and the Homing Card.

Sincerely, (signed) Trevor Lewis

Note: This routine could be worked out from the

routine on page 204 by George Blake, where two

spectator’s rings are put on and off a long knitting

needle. P.B.)

Hand painted

canvas banner

from a carnival’s

“Ten-in-One” show.


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When Fred Kaps came to NorthernCalifornia, in 1970 to do a series of shows for the Dutch Clubs in the area, I

was working on various ideas with the LinkingFinger Rings and revealed to Kapsan effect I had created, but had yetto perform. When I came up withthis concept I immediately thoughtof Kaps because whenever he did anything he did it better than any-one else, and I felt, at the time, hewas the only person that could pullthis off the way I felt it should be

done.When I told him about my

premise, Kaps went crazy. Somuch did he like it, he featured ittwo times (that I know of) on tele-vision specials. One on the FRED KAPS MAGIC SHOW , produced by John Fisher for the BBC, withtechnical advisor RobertSwadling.

The way I described my idea to Fred was this. Isaid, “Fred, I have worked out a way to find a van-

ished, borrowed ring on the stem of a beautifulcrystal champagne glass. And to give the ring back you have to break the glass. The ring, I explained,is ungimmicked, borrowed in fact.”

When I said this, it was all over. Fred answered,“You can do this?”

The tone in his voice was incredible. It was likeI had just told him I knew the secret to walking onwater. I had to be honest and tell him that I had notactually done it, but that the handling was worked out and that I was waiting to see him personally todiscuss it.

He couldn't wait to hear the explanation.I told him that the lead in was not critical, thering vanish could be done in any way, but the partthat I had to do a little more work on was how to put the glass back together after the ring wasslipped on the stem. I told him he would have to

The Ring on Wineglass Details

find the right shaped glass, go to a glass repair man(they are often found at antique glass shows) and have the stems cut off at a decorative knob or joint.Then you would have to rig a holder in your close

up case, or behind a bar (if you areworking behind one) that would hold the base and the top of theglass in alignment. You slip thering onto the stem, hit it with adrop of CRAZY GLUE, and then push the two parts of the glasstogether.

If you saw Fred Kaps do this

routine on one of the aforemen-tioned TV specials, you saw realmagic.

On the BBC special he had a beautifully designed bar, one likeyou would find in a modern home,not a commercial public bar. Fred began with two spectators seated at either end. In his opening

sequence he borrowed the ring, tied it onto a lengthof cord (very convincing handling-from ScottyYork) and then he slipped a ring box over the ring

while it hung on the cord in full view. The ends of the cord were held by the two spectators.

To conclude, Fred removed the box, leavingthe rope sans ring, and handed the box to thewoman on his left. He asked her to open the

box. Expecting to see the ring in the box, thinkingthe trick was getting the ring off the rope, sheshowed more than just a bit of shock when the ringwas not there.

Kaps the consummate actor, acted like some-thing had gone wrong, and he looked around for thering to no avail.

There was, however, a small folded piece of paper in the ring box. Fred asked her to open the paper. It read, “Don't forget the drinks.”

(Note: Earlier in the show he offered to pour each of them a drink, but forgot to once he got intothe magic).

Considered the best all-around

magician of our time, Fred Kaps.


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After the reading of the note, Kaps poured aglass of Sherry for the woman, and then started toset an empty glass in front of the gentleman.

Bringing out a decanter, Kaps said, “You wanted,what, Port?” Before he started to pour, he looked atthe glass and the man's ring was seen around thestem. To return the ring Kaps brought out a smallhammer, put a serviette over the glass and struck itwith the hammer, breaking the stem. He thenreturned the ring to the gentleman he had borrowed it from.

Words at my disposal can't describe the effectthis had on the couple, and the TV audience.

T

he way Kaps did this for his specialwas simple. He had English magician

Bob Swadling as an assistant, who washidden under the bar. Kaps dropped the ringthrough a trap in the bar to Swadling who putit onto the stem of the glass and assembled the pieces for Fred to finish the routine.

There was one problem to solve before he could do this. He needed to have the glasses made. Thefirst prototypes Kaps got were made for him byScotty York. Later, Frans. Biemans, a Dutch magi-cian friend of Kaps told him he knew a man thatowned a glass factory in Holland who could makethe glasses.

At Phillipe Fialho's home in the South of France,Kaps talked to Trevor Lewis about this, and Lewislater discussed this with Biemens, and a year later at aconvention Biemans gave Lewis one bowl and twostems. Lewis kept the pieces safely locked away as feltthey were really to precious to use.

Lewis went on to explain that later Biemansgave him an additional bowl and a few extrastems. One complete unit will be donated to

the Magic Circle for their museum.In a letter I received from Kaps, dated 8 August

1978, he mentioned taping another special and heused a glass given to him by Biemans.

It should be noted here that Paul Gertner'saward-winning ring found on an hourglass wasinspired by the Ring on Wineglass following Kaps'TV special. In addition, Bruce Kalvar marketed asimilar effect using a Brandy Snifter and a differentapproach.

My One Man Ring on WineglassFollowing Kalvar, and others, putting the effect

on the market, I was a little miffed. But, I can't

blame anyone really I should have marketed or published it myself to get proper credit for the con-cept. I did, however have this published (finally) inGenii Magazine, in the August, 2007 issue.

So, how do I get my credit, and how do I get mytrick back?

The answer? Improve it.Here is what I have developed. It can be done as

I will describe it, if (and I emphasize “if”) you area really good performer and have the chops, and guts it takes to do the very bold, necessary moves.

The preparation:

Go to a shop that sells wine glasses. Get cheap,short-stemmed Brandy Snifters. Buy half-a-dozenso you will haveenough to make thegimmicks and practicewith.

Take a small fileand nick the stemabout half way down.Then cover this with acloth and tap it at thefile mark with a ham-mer, breaking theglass into two pieces.(See the photos). The break does not have to be square, just clean.

From a hardwarestore buy some clear neoprene hosing, thediameter that will justfit, snugly, over thestem of the glass. Cutthis to the lengthshown in the accom-

panying photo.Stick the stem and

glass together, held together by the tubing.(This was Kalvar'sidea, but he had you


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go under the table, or out of sight with theglass to do the work).

Now, what I want-ed to have was astand-up routine, nogoing south, no hidingthe glass, nothing phony, nothing cov-ered.

Assemble theg i m m i c k e d glass and hold

it by the stem in your right hand. Walk intothe audience and bor-

row two men's wed-ding bands. Don't bor-row women's rings asyou don't want anytrouble losing a stone,or doing any damage.Keep them to simplemen's wedding bands.

As you borrowthem have themdropped into the glass(the gimmick is hid-

den by your right hand holding the glass).

Swirl the rings inthe glass and as youwalk back to your working position youtake the upper half of the glass away in your left hand, and edge palm the base with thestem sticking up inyour right hand. (This

is where your level of skill, practice and good handling comesin.)

While you arewalking, you pour the

rings from the bowl of the glass into your righthand onto the stem (which is hidden in your hand and it should just appear as if you are pouring therings into your empty hand).

Now you bring the base up to the stem and stick them back together.

Act as if you are sticking the rings onto thestem. Once everything is back together yougrip the glass from above and show the

rings on the stem. The rings hide the tubing.Sell this. Sell it big time.After showing the rings on the stem of the glass

you place the glass on its side on a tray, cover itwith a handkerchief or a napkin and bring out asmall hammer and break the glass. Really break itfor the best effect. And then lift the handkerchief

and remove the two borrowed rings and returnthem to the loanees.

Alternate Handling for a no assistant variationS t e v e

Cohen, “TheMillionaire 'sM a g i c i a n , ”called me from New York todiscuss han-dling for thiseffect. He sug-

gested what Ithink makesthis a really practical oneman handling.It is so simple Ithink this iswhat I will usemyself.

Prepare asilk handker-chief (I like

P a i s l e ydesigns) with acheap ringhanging from the center of the handkerchief on athread. Have this on the inside as you fold thehandkerchief and place it into your jacket's breast

Steve Cohen performs at the Waldorf Hotel, New York.


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pocket (or have it on a table, etc.)The gimmicked glass is on your table behind

something or out of sight inside the table, however

your working conditions allow you to have theglass handy, but not seen.

Ask to borrow a ring from a gentleman. “Aunique wedding band would be fine,” yousay. Have him take the ring off, take it in

your right hand, examine it, etc. Bring out thehandkerchief. Now you to the old dodge of appar-ently placing the ring under the handkerchief and having the spectator “hold” the ring through thecloth.

What you actually do is let them hold the dupli-cate through the cloth while you palm out the bor-rowed ring and bring out the wineglass. Keep the

split section hidden by holding it by the stem.With both hands you bring the glass under the

handkerchief, pull off the base, put the ring ontothe stem, then push the base back onto the bowl.

You now hold the glass under the handkerchief and ask the spectator to let go of the ring, to “Dropit into the glass, where something UNUSUAL willhappen.”

They hear the ring drop into the glass.

P

ause. Lift the handkerchief away and showthe glass does not contain the ring. It has van-ished. You hold the glass so the ring is not

visible at this point. Put the handkerchief away.“Actually,” you say, “It really hasn't vanished…

look… it's here on the stem of the glass.” Show thering, ask him to identify it, etc.

You say, “The only way to release your ring isto break the glass.”

You now can put the glass into a paper bag, or cover it with a napkin, whatever fits your routine,as you bring out a mallet and give the glass awhack separating the two pieces.

You could have some broken pieces in the bag,dump all out onto a tray and then carefully pick the

ring up and have the spectator identify it and thank him for his help. When you finish make sure to ask,“Is your ring in the same condition as it was whenyou gave it to me?”

Take your well-earned applause.

For the BalloonaticsWhile rummaging

through volumes of

notes and scraps of paper, I came acrosssomething created byBob McAllister.

Those of you thatdon’t know this niftyguy must have missed the popular TV SeriesWonderama. He wasthe main man on thisshow for years and performed much cre-

ative and originalmagic throughout the years of his tenure.One of his creations is the dreaded(!)...Linking

Balloons.I have not tried this, but for those of you wont

to do such routines (balloon twisting makes a noisethat sends me away) might want to experiment withBob's wacky premise.

He used the thin “pencil” balloons, popular for twisting into shapes many try to tell us resembleanimals.

You need to make a key balloon. To do this yourequire two balloons of the same size and color.Blow them up, then take a twist about half waydown one balloon, pull out some length and cut off half the balloon and tie this end off. Do the samewith one other balloon.

With these two half-balloons you tie themtogether at the regular (where you blowthe air in) ends. This will look like a cou-

ple of sausages that are still connected. You musthold the balloon thus formed concealing the cutends, or the KEY opening in your hand.

Depending on what kind of routine you wish todo you can blow up a few other balloons and tie off

into rings.It probably won't set the world on fire, but if

you are doing a balloon act it is just one more itemto add to your repertoire.

Hey, this is supposed to be an encyclopedia.

TV Magician Bob McAllister.


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When Richard Himber first put out“Staggering” he included a routine,which was very difficult to follow.

Firstly, it was crowded on to one small page, and in the cause of brevity the explana-tion suffered to the extent that itwas difficult to know what wasintended.

However, taking out the main points of the routine, I was able to piece together a routine which Iknow from experience is reallybewildering.

In addition to the Himber Ringyou need a Chinese Chopstick, thelonger the better, or even better aslender wand. On one occasion Iused a number “0” knitting needle.This is made of light-colored wood, and is 15-inches long and 3/16ths of-an-inch thick, pointed at one end, and with a knobat the other, it is ideal for the purpose in mind.These are available in most craft supply shops,and can also be obtained in aluminum.

One thing you must ascertain, that is thatthere are two gentlemen in the audiencewho are wearing signet rings, or wed-

ding bands (this depends on the style Himber Ring you use). As you approach one gentle-man, maybe to choose a card, or shuffle thedeck for you, remark, “That’s a nice ringyou’re wearing, Sir.” Then, looking around you, comment, “We seem to have a well-to-doaudience here this evening, Any other gentle-man wearing a nice ring?” You make no further comments, no promises, for, if you are NOT

lucky enough to have two spectators wearingrings, you cannot proceed with the ring effect but, having promised nothing, no one will bethe wiser and your comments will be taken as just comments. If you aRe lucky, then bear inmind where the spectators are seated and as

Himber’s BewildeRING

Routined by George Blake

soon as you are ready for “BewildeRING”, ask them to come forward and assist you, By theway, have the Himber ring in your right coat pocket, and the chop stick, wand or knittingneedle handy on the table.

Seat one gentleman onyour right and the other on your left, each about a

yard from you, that is, so theythemselves are well apart, youwill see the reason for this

shortly. “Now, where did I put. . .” (here you dive your handsinto both coat pockets, secur-ing the ring in the right hand and finger-palming it). “Ah,there we are,” and you reachfor the chop stick from thetable. This gets a laugh, for it is

ludicrous to expect anyone to carry such anarticle in a coat pocket, more especially withthe knitting needle, which comment willmaybe persuade you to obtain one of the nee-dles forthwith!

Let’s assume it’s a needle. Hand it to thegent on your LEFT, and then, turning to thegentleman on your right, “May I borrow your ring, Sir?” and as he removes it and hands it toyou, accept it in your LEFT hand. Bear in mind that there, the gentleman on your left will notsee the ring, your back screening the other spectator from view, and the same will applywhen dealing with the gent on your left. He onthe right will not see what is going on, hencethe reason for keeping them well spaced and you standing between them as they sit.

Thank him and then, turning to the gent onyour LEFT, ask the same question, but,as he is obliging you by holding the nee-

dle, take it from him in your right hand, and hold it there until he has removed his ring.Then, in order that you can take it, place the

George Blake


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needle into the left fist and right through the borrowed ring there, holding the needle by itscenter in your closed fist. Take his ring in the

right fingers, and then step forward a couple of paces and open the right hand so that the audi-ence sees two rings on your open palm.

“Two borrowed rings.” Neither of your helpers can see the rings, hence the reason for stepping forward! Resume your stance between the two gents and turning to the oneon your LEFT, ask him to hold the needle firm-ly by its ends.

“Watch the rings, Sir,” and here you placethe two rings UP into the left fist, the Himber Ring going in last. But your fingers mask it asit enters the fist.

“Are you watching closely, Sir? Not quiteclose enough I fear, for look, there on the nee-dle is a ring. Is it yours? No? Then it must belong to this gentleman here.”

You have withdrawn the left hand fromthe needle to show a borrowed ringspinning thereon, and when it is dis-

owned by the gent on your left you make a turnto your right and the spectator lets go of theneedle. The gent on the right will agree that itis his ring, and you ask him to kindly hold theneedle, by the ends.

“Look closely at your ring, Sir. Do youthink it possible to remove it while you hold the ends?” And while thus addressing him you bring the Himber ring to the tips of the lefthand, keeping the other one concealed. Undothe clasp of the ring, but don’t open it fully, let-ting the circular part of the ring rest against thecatch on the head of the ring, It may be brieflyshown thus, the ring appearing to be normal,Forefinger rests on the head and the thumb onthe lower part of the ring, as it is taken in theright hand, “Do you mind closing your eyes,

Sir? I don’t want you to see how this is done!”And you bring the left hand over his ring on theneedle, cupping it so that it covers the ring.“But do make sure you never let go of the endsof the needle”. (He expects you are going toremove his ring) This brings a laugh, but

whether he closes his eyes or not, doesn’t mat-ter, Under cover of the left hand, the right pass-es the Himber ring on to the needle and then

closes it, on the left of the ring already there.“Now you may look, Sir, Your ring isn’t off, but this other gentleman’s ring is on as well asyours. Is that right?” and he agrees.

If you have followed this routine so far and, better still, if you have tried it out in private,you will realize that the knob of the needle

is to your right, and this makes the following“moves” quite easy.

“Please remove your ring,Sir,” and you point with the right hand to the end on your right, the one with the knob on. As you say thisyou also reach for the left hand end of the nee-dle with the left hand, and the right holds theHimber ring in the center, This gives you theopportunity to slip the needle through the ring palmed in the left hand, and as the gentremoves his ring, the left hand slides, with itsring, to the center and meets the right hand.With the borrowed ring removed by the genton the right, turn to the left to show the needleto the gent on your left. The right hand slidestowards the knob of the needle, taking with itthe Himber ring, and concealing it, and as theneedle comes in front of the gent on your left,

the left hand is removed to show a ring spin-ning on the needle.

“Please hold your hand out, Sir.” You thentip the needle so that the ring slides off and intohis hand. The left then takes the needle, leav-ing the Himber ring palmed in the right, and reaching into the right coat pocket, you removea handkerchief and proceed to polish the nee-dle. “Ready for next time,” you say.

You’ve guessed it; the right ditches theHimber ring in the pocket as it removes thehanky. And that’s it. Both spectators have

seen two rings, their own and what they believe to be the other gent’s, both have actually seen their own rings impaled upon the needle.

What more can one want? Note: Using Joe Porper’s AmaZeRING, this

routine could be modified and simplified.


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Many consid-er Ken Brookeone of the bestever at writingi n s t r u c t i o n s .Read the follow-ing very careful-ly, every point iscovered, and hisway of empha-sizing the impor-tant pointsshould be studied well.

E F F E C T .Three rings areB O R R O W E Dfrom members of the audience. Therings are seen to be linked in a chain of three. EACH ring beingIDENTIFIED by its OWNER, LINKED on thechain. The rings are SEPARATED INDIVIDUAL-LY and returned, unharmed to their original own-ers.

This routine is exactly as performed by ALKORAN, and is the high talking point of his act,having a terrific impact on the audience.

APPARATUS. You are supplied with a Finger Ring, which is ‘faked’ by having a SLIT cut in it,and a Pencil with a small HOOK near one end.(Note: the marketed version did NOT INCLUDEthe Mechanical Pencil). The Pencil is placed inyour outside breast pocket, with the hook end uppermost. The faked ring is placed in the lefttrouser pocket.

THE ROUTINE. Take the pencil from your

pocket with the thumb and forefinger of right hand,and hold it horizontally, with the palm of your hand facing audience. Place left hand CASUALLY intoyour trouser pocket as you say, “Have you ever seen a miracle?” Take hold of the ring in theCURLED SECOND FINGER, with the square

Al Koran's Original Linking Finger Ring Routine

signet part at the point where the base of your fin-ger meets the palm, with the slit FACING towardsyou.

(See Figure-1).This starting

position IS MOS TIMPORTANT, somake sure you getthis right.

Now, place the pen-cil into the left hand THROUGH the ring

with the point of the pencil going about anINCH BELOW THERING. (See Figure-2).

Continue speaking.“If I can borrow threegentlemen's gold signet rings, I willshow you somethingthe like of which youhave never seen before, you will saythat you have wit-nessed a veritable mir-acle.”

Now you start the business of borrowing thethree gold signet rings from three differentmen. This may sound difficult to do, but in

the hundreds of shows I have done, I have never failed, I do NOT recommend that you use ladiesrings, but; if worst comes to worst, use ONE ladiesring, not more, and if this happens, make sure thatit is the SECOND ring you borrow. ALSO, try and get one ring from the extreme left of your audienceone from the center, and the other from the extreme

right. This enables you to swing from side to sideand allows you ample time for misdirection for thefew moves required. As your right hand threads thefirst borrowed ring onto the pencil, the left thumb presses the fake ring AGAINST the pencil, the slit being on top and to the LEFT of the pencil

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(See Figure 3).The ring is

pass ed strai ght

through the slit.Take the second bor-rowed ring and thread this on thering also passing itthrough the slit. Thethird ring is thread-ed on the pencil butit comes to rest onside of the first fin-ger. As you swingaround to go to your working position. The

right hand takes hold of the ring resting onyour fingers, AND the pencil, holding it in aHORIZONTAL position. Almost simultane-ously the left hand releases its hold on the pencil , thus revealing three rings threaded onthe pencil (the extra one, of course, is unbe-known to the audience, concealed in righthand). Holding the pencil, you say, “Now for the first part of our miracle. Watch.” Hold the palm of your left hand, fingers spread apart.Facing the audience and then place first fin-ger BEHIND and ON the ring NEARESTTHE RIGHT HANDand retaining hold on that ring, count-ing l-2-3, you PUSHthe other two ringsto the LEFT off the pencil , and you havea chain of three ringshanging on a pencil.(See figure 4).

This is a really startling effect, make the most of it.

Point to the first man saying, “You gave me a

ring, is that correct? Will you please step forward and identify it yourself, otherwise you, and our audience, simply won't believe it.” As he comesforward, the. left thumb and first finger take hold of the center (faked ring) and covering its slit, hold therings up, saying, “Does one of these rings belong to

you? It does? Is itlinked to the other two? It is? . Thank

you. Please return toyour seat and relax.”(See Figure 5).

You continue.“Someone else gaveme a ring, who wasit?” As you say this,your LEFT hand takeshold of the rings ANDthe pencil with the fin-gers concealing therings from the front,

the slit in the center ring is facing you. (SeeFigure 6).

The right hand (with the ringconcealed in fin-

gers) approaches theleft hand, and behind the cover of the left fingers REMOVES THE BOT-TOM ring and puts the one concealed in your righthand on, through the slit. Do this quite DELIBER-ATELY. Right hand now takes the loose ring and allows it to drop into the cupped fingers, whichthen take hold of the end of the pencil (the end withthe ‘hook’) and displays the rings hanging in achain on the pencil.

This CHANGE of the bottom ring should onlytake a matter of seconds,

REMEMBER, the attention of the audience ismainly directed to the man who just identified hisown ring. They also only know of the existence of THREE RINGS, so this little maneuver will gounnoticed.

The situation now is, you have the first man'sring (which he just saw on the chain of three)

CONCEALED in your right hand. The sec-ond man is now invited to step forward and identi-fy his ring, and as he does this, slip the left forefin-ger through the center ring at the point of the slitand. hold the rings towards him saying, “Does oneof these rings belong to you?” He must say, “Yes.”

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5

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“Are the three rings linked together?” He mustagree. “Thank you, please return to your seat and relax.”

You now invite the third person to come for-ward to look at the rings. Holding the ringstowards him in the same way as before, you say, “Isyour ring here? Is it linked to the other two?”

AT THIS POINT. IT IS AS WELL TOREMIND YOU OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OFTHIS TRICK. REMEMBER EACH PERSONHELPING WITH THE TRICK IS INTERESTEDONLY IN THEIR OWN RING. They do not bother about the others you borrowed.

C

ontinue, saying, “Do you think you could get those three rings apart?” BEFORE hecan answer, say, LOUDLY, “Neither can I.”

He returns to his seat. Now take hold of the bottomring and link it up on to the pencil. AT THE SAMETIME, push the palmed ring, in the right hand,OVER and ON to the right end of the pencil, drop- ping it on to the other rings, as the left hand holdsthe pencil in a VERTICAL position. You will find that the slit of the faked ring is now FACING you.The only ring hanging down, and not on the pencilis the fake ring. Believe me, they NEVER NOTICEthat there are four rings on the pencil, you now say,“There is always a weak link in every chain. I think that it is this one.” The right hand takes the faked

ring and unthreads it from the other two, Hold ithigh in the air, saying, “I thought that was the weak one,” place it back IMMEDIATELY on the pencil.Looking at the first man say “I think it belongs toyou.” AS YOU SAY THIS, the right hand comesover the front of the pencil and removes TWOrings, the faked one AND the one next to it (this isthe first man's ring), Allow the faked ring to dropinto the finger palm position, Hand the other ring tothe first man saying, “I think THIS belongs toyou.” Your right hand now comes casually back tothe body and drops the fake ring into the side jack-

et pocket.REMEMBER, ALL THE ATTENTION IS ON

THE MAN WITH HIS RING. Say to him, “Anycracks? Is your ring in good condition? Thank you.”

While the man is examining his ring and you

were talking to him you take off the next ring and place it on the HOOK under the pencil and allowthe other ring to slide down the pencil on to it. The

ring will not come off the hook because you tip the pencil downward towards the ring on the hook.This helps to keep it in position This gives the illu-sion that the rings are LINKED together. Stand afew feet away from a mirror and convince yourself that the illusion is perfect. I have done this trick lit-erally hundreds of times and this has NEVER beenchallenged.

Holding the pencil high, in your left hand (remember the pencil is tipped downward) go tothe second person and say, “One ring belongs toyou, is that correct? Watch.” Take hold of the bot-

tom of the ring (on the hook) and apparently unlink them. You actually take the ring off with a TWIST-ING action. AS YOU DO THIS, THE LEFTHAND BRINGS THE PENCIL INTO A VERTI-CAL POSITION. The ring still on the pencil willslide down to the fingers. This action turns thehook towards you. Hand the second man his ring.Right hand now takes the pencil with the thumband first finger in a HORIZONTAL position withthe palms of BOTH hands facing the audience, fin-gers wide open. You say, “There is one ring left.”Looking at the last person, say, “It must belong toyou.” Allow the ring to slide off the pencil and dropinto his hand. Replace the pencil in your breast pocket and take your well-deserved applause.

The routine originally published by Harry Stanley'sUnique Studio is reproduced by kind permission of the copy-right owner, Martin Breese of Martin Breese International, 10 Hanover Crescent, Brighton, East Sussex BN2 9SB, UK.

Email: [email protected]

The late Al Koran was one

the first to perform the

linking finger rings and

created one of the most

popular, copied effects in

magic, The Flying Ring.


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The performer offers his finger ring to a spec-tator to examine and is instructed to thread the ring onto a cord and to hold both ends.

(Two spectators may be used, one holding each end of the cord.) The performer drapes a pocket hand-kerchief over the ring. Borrowing a finger ringfrom a spectator, the performer places it up under the handkerchief.

The person or persons holding the cord are cau-tioned not to let go of their ends. The performer removes his ring from under the handkerchief, and

the spectator's ring is seen to be linked onto the per-former's ring! The rings are off the cord and the performer walks among the spectators, giving thema close look so that they can clearly see that the tworings are, in fact, linked together.

The performer now places the linked rings back under the handkerchief, and suddenly removes thespectator’s ring and returns it to its owner.

For a surprising climax, he whips the handker-chief off the cord and on the cord is seen themagician's ring.

Cord and ring may be examined.

SECRET: Two rings, identical in appearance,are used. One of them has a slit cut ala linkingrings, Fig. 1. Have the cut ring in your pocket and wear the other one. You are all set.

Have a spectator step forward. Remove your ring, have him examine it thoroughly, and thenhave him thread it on the cord, Fig. 2. He holds both ends of the cord. As you reach into your pock-et for a handkerchief, secretly get the cut ring.Cover the ring on the cord with the handkerchief.Borrow a spectator’s ring and place it up under thehandkerchief with the hand that has the cut ring palmed. Under the hank you link the spectator’s

ring onto the cut ring. Now, with the finger and thumb over the slit in the ring, bring your ring outfrom under the handkerchief.

They see that their ring is linked to your ring.Show it so that all can see the two rings linked together, Fig.3. Keep the slit covered.

The handkerchief is still hanging over the cen-ter of the cord, hiding your unprepared ring, whichis still on the cord.

Now the linked rings are put up under thecenter of the handkerchief again, separated,and the spectator’s ring brought out and

handed back to him.The handkerchief is whipped away, carrying the

cut ring with it, showing your ring is back on thecord. All can be examined, (Fig. 4).

A Devilishly Simple Routine by U.F. Grant

With New Handling by Dean Dill

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Linking Rings