EVERYBODY DOES THE LINKING RINGS at some time in their magic career. Some presentations are serious a la Ching Ling Soo some are funny a la Whit Haydn. But either way, in the right hands it is a great trick – which is why so many of us do it.

The usual climax is the mass linking of all the rings and in the case of some performers like Roy Davenport, a chain link that goes right across the stage. With his training at stage school he has a wonderful presentation that involves juggling and rings linking whilst in mid-air that makes it quite outstanding. 

I  have done a three ring routine for years with (hopefully) funny patter and it climaxes with the three rings around my head. Occasionally I use a gag that I first saw performed by a cod magician, Arthur Dowler on the variety theatres in the 50’s. He was part of the original triumvirate of magicians that created the Unique Magic Company – Harry Stanley, Jack Hughes and Arthur Dowler. Eventually they went their own ways and Harry ran Unique Magic for many years with a studio in Soho.

Arthur’s finish to his Linking Ring routine  was to offer the rings for examination to the audience which he did by throwing them out to a spectator sat the end of the front stalls. After a moment the rings were thrown back to him but they were now twisted and mangled completely out of shape having been thoroughly examined! Ken Brooke also used this gag at times and if your magic has a comedy vein, it brings a logical climax and applause point to a classic effect.

Filed under: Magic Miscellanea