Club Obi Wan

Hey.. I will have the temporary acces to a hungarian bullwhip for some weeks. .and on a family party. they want everyone to do an act.. I read it someplace, and as I'm an Indy fan ... What about putting out candles with a whip ..

does anyone ever tried it, and has anyone some advice on this ? please ?

THX in advance !

That's easy. Grab the handle of the whip so that the knot is facing away from you. Then with quick deliberate strokes, beat the candle with the knot of the whip until the flame goes out. In the words of Koreana, "Hope this helps."

Can you explain a bit more ? I mean I crack the whip, and the candle goes out .. to what do I aim and all ?

Aim at the flame, man. Aim at the flame.

BTW, ever notice how Indiana Jess' avatar always mirrors his responses??

I've put out candles with a whip but I've never put it into a performance routine just because candles are so wind-sensitive.

The basic idea is that the wind generated by the whip as it moves or cracks close to the candle flame puts out the candle. It also works if you can hit the wick without knocking over the candle. I've cut a couple wicks before. It makes re-lighting the candle tougher.

As for the throw that I use, I have the whip behind me and I throw it side arm (so the whip coils out in a horizontal plane) and then you can either just stop your hand and let the whip fall naturally after it cracks or continue your arm motion to bring the whip all the way behind you again.

I also saw this gaucho in TV once who was putting out a candle and he just swung the whip around his head in a circular motion, without cracking it, until the tip of the whip got close enough to put the candle out.

You could also watch the Mask of Zorro movie to see a scene where Anthony Hopkins (or his stunt double) is putting out candles using a circus crack. I think with this there is more risk of hitting the candle.

Ya know, I always thought it would be really cool if they had an Indy movie were the Nazis were in some secret candle-lit bunker or something and Indy does a couple cracks, puts out the candles, and beats up the bad guys. Of course, after I read in Morgan's latest edition of his book about his philosophy on how the whip was used on screen, I figured that they would never do anything like that with the whip.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

about his philosophy on how the whip was used on screen

I am curious. Would you mind elaborating on this, as I have not yet seen any of Mr. Morgan's books (although I do own one of his great whips)

So when I aim close enough .. It would go out trough the wind.. and it would be so fast, that it looks like I really hitted it actualy ? .. Nice !

I am going to pick that whip up early in the morning, and practice, a buddy is coming over, so the day after 2morrow, I will find a nice park, lit some candles, and start cracking .. THX for the tip.. This will be a killer show

OK. Real simple. You don't touch the candle with the fall of the whip. You do, and wax goes everywhere, including the fall of the whip.

Bees wax on whips, (when accompanied with sheep tallow in leather dressing,) = good

Hot paraffin on whips = Bad. Messy. Icky. Hot wax on bystanders behind you when you throw the whip to put out the next candle is bad too.

And bees wax candles burn WAY more hot than parafin. Trust me. I sit on a lit candle as part of a comedy act. Don't use bees wax... Hot bees wax will leave wounds if it by chance splatters. You'll burn the fall, or possibly set the popper on fire if you screw up, and if it's a borrowed whip, the owner might not appreciate it. So, if you do it, MAKE SURE you're using paraffin for safety, in both practice and performance.

A caveat; I don't recommend doing this unless you have a TON of practice, and I don't mean practice with a whip in general. I mean practicing with THE whip you're going to use on putting out candles. I know a guy who is a professional whip artist, and putting out candles without making a mess is one of the harder things to do. He can do it, but rarely uses it in an act because it takes a while to set up, and it's hard to get it spot on every time, (by the time the candles are set up and lit, you've lost the audience...)

If you do insist on trying it, Adam is right. You want to aim the crack for right over or right in front of the candle. That way the puff of air from the crack puts the flame out, and not the fall or the popper. My vote would be to put the tip of the popper about an inch or so in from of the flame, rather than above, as theres less of a chance of the popper or fall smacking into the candle after the crack.

Also, Adam. It was Hopkins in the scene in Mask of Zorro, not Alex Green, (who doubled for him,) but he wasn't putting out the candles. He was actually too far away to do that. That candlabra was rigged with an air jet system so that when Hopkins cracked the whip in the general direction of the candle, they would send a puff of air from below to blow out the candle, and as Hopkins is out of focus until the candle goes out, you won't get much out of the scene.

Ain't Hollywood grand?

INDIANAMIKEY wrote:"And for my next trick,,,,,,,,,,CRACK!!! ,,,,the floor is on fire!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,AND THE CHAIR!!!!!!!

LOL

God bless, and good one...
Shane

"And for my next trick,,,,,,,,,,CRACK!!! ,,,,the floor is on fire!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,AND THE CHAIR!!!!!!!

Then you do those side shuffle dance steps, tipping your Indy hat as you go, .


But in all seriousness, do practice, practice, practice,as the fish said, and be careful,
use a fire retardant carpet , along with pretty much nailing that candle obra to the stand, if possible, or use screws to come up threw the stand into the candles, above all have fun!

.



Jim J.

winrichwhips wrote:....about his philosophy on how the whip was used on screen, I figured that they would never do anything like that with the whip.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

What is DM's philosophy?

I believe the issue of messing up the whip is why the WWAC Zorro Board was constructed the way it was. For those who don't know what in the the world the Zorro Board is, it's a candleabra with 5 candles with a board in front of it that has holes in front of the candle flames. The trick of the competition is to aim at the hole and let the air from the crack snuff out the flame.

Getting wax on a whip fall isn't really problem for me. I use almost nothing but nylon whips that have been dipped in melted beeswax. A little more wax down at the fall's end isn't a huge deal to me. Oh well, that's just me.... I don't have much of an idea as to what the wax would do to leather - that's not my area to speak from experience.

Just thought I'd pitch in my .02...

High Regards, Indiana_Hall

P.S.:
INDIANAMIKEY,
I'll bet you used to play with matches when you were a kid, didn't you?

*very guilty about the matches thing*

Might just let out some cracks if wind is hard..

Robert Duke wrote:The thrower was doing forward cracks.... not to be confused with the circus crack which many people confusingly call the forward crack.

...then which is which and what's the difference?

In Christ,
Shane

Actually the forward crack is a flick, or Forward flick. There are different flicks. ... sidearm, forward and underhand.

easy -peezy

A forward crack is a sidearm crack in the vertical plane rather than the horizontal plane. It starts with the whip behind you, and then comes over the shoulder into the crack. The best example of this crack that I can think of is when Indy takes the gun out of Barranca's hand. He pulls the the coil from the left side of his belt, and lets it unroll behind his right hip. He rolls his hand over and bring it over his head. So the whip starts BEHIND him, comes over his shoulder, and takes the gun.

The circus crack is the standard first crack people learn. It starts with the whip in front of you, is thrown back over the shoulder and then forward again, like casting line while fly fishing, (coincidentally, also like Robert Duke's trademark smiley.) The circus crack is what Anthony Hopkins uses to put out the candles in Mask of Zorro, (or rather as previously stated, is the crack that he performs, at which point a compressed air from a little tube puts the candle out.)

Many people use "circus" and "forward" interchangably, but there is a difference. I personally find target work easier with the circus crack than a forward crack, as you have the upswing to gauge your distance and angle, but that's just me. YMMV.

Pretend to catch yourself in the eye, then while the audience is scared/fearful and looking right at you, have a cleverly concealed assistant blow the candles out

Here's a funny whip trick. Emphasis on trick.

Guy I know who's in a sideshow act, (sword-swallowing, fire-eating, glass-eating, human-dartboard, bed of nails, etc.) does this really nifty whip trick that I'm planning on blatantly stealing, (hey, he stole it from someone as well...)

You and your accomplice take a person out of the audience, and tell them that you are going to crack a lit cigarette out of their mouth.

"Now," you explain, "this is an incredibly simple trick that EVERYONE has seen, so to add to the difficulty, I will do it blindfolded."

"But wait," says the accomplice, "that's an old trick too. Everyone has seen that as well. We need to do something more unique than that!"

"Very well. I will crack a lit cigarette out of the mouth of this person. I'll be blindfolded, and to add to the danger, so will they."

So, you let the person who will have the cigarette removed inspect the blindfolds to insure that they are indeed opaque. Then, you put the blindfold on, and then have the other person put their blindfold on. Your accomplice takes the blindfolded person and moves them into position, explaining that they will be right beside them to insure that they don't move, as you are completely blind and are relying on sound to tell where they are.

So you make a big production number out of the whole thing, moving them into position. The position you move them to should be about 2-3 feet beyond the reach of the whip.

You make a big production out of it, having the person with the cigarette to hum loudly so you can keenly zero in on them. When the audience laughs, tell them they must be quiet so you can hear.

Then, say you're ready and get the audience to count backward with you from 3. Do a LOUD circus crack, (reminder, 2-3 feet short of them...Keep them at a safe distance and make it obvious for the audience.) When the whip cracks, that's your partner's signal to flick the cigarette out of the persons mouth with his fingers.

The audience will probably laugh at this point, and then ask the other blindfolded person if you got it. Did you hit them? Did they feel the whip or the woosh of air? (standard response is "yes," which really can get the audience laughing. It's amazing what the brain fills in when you only give it a small portion of the expected stimulus,) If they didn't, ask if they want to do it again. Repeat as long as they're willing, and the audience is with you. Lay the BS on thick to them, and keep the audience in on the joke.

This trick works great on hecklers...