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00:00 [Music]
00:23 Hello, my name is Patrick Page and I'd like to talk to you about balls.
00:29 Sponge balls in particular.
00:32 We'd like to show you one or two little ideas, stunts,
00:35 things that you may be able to incorporate into your own routine.
00:39 Now, these are various props that our director has dressed the set with
00:44 and I may be using some of them, not necessarily all of them,
00:47 but what we are going to avoid is using the proprietary items
00:51 like the ball to cube, the figure one, the figure four,
00:55 or even the infamous ding dong.
00:58 We are going to use nothing else but balls, hopefully.
01:03 We'll see you in a moment.
01:05 [Music]
01:11 When I first started performing Sponge Ball magic a long, long time ago,
01:16 everyone was doing more or less the same routine,
01:19 which consisted of having three balls and say, "I'll put two balls in my hand,
01:22 put one in my pocket, and when I open the hand,
01:24 they'll have three balls back again."
01:26 That was the routine with variations.
01:28 They'd do it in their own hand, they'd do it in a spectator's hand.
01:31 No one at that stage had got around to devising what we'd,
01:35 today we would call proper Sponge Ball routines.
01:39 One of the reasons was that few people were, and even today,
01:44 are still unable to vanish a Sponge Ball.
01:48 So we'd like to start off with showing you one or two variations
01:53 on how to vanish a Sponge Ball, okay?
01:56 And number one is coming up now, with one Sponge Ball into the left hand,
02:00 and when you open the hand, the ball has vanished.
02:04 Where has it gone?
02:07 Let's explain.
02:11 Now this is really an optical thing.
02:13 What actually happens is that I'm going to place that ball into the left palm,
02:18 I'm going to close my fingers over it, and I'm going to take it out again.
02:21 That is all that happens.
02:23 But the reason you don't see it happen, there's two reasons.
02:26 One, these three fingers come down and cover it as it comes out,
02:31 and secondly, it's the timing.
02:33 If you place a ball in your hand like that, it has a certain rhythm to it.
02:38 If you take the ball out, it should have the same rhythm,
02:41 so you won't see it go.
02:42 So you put the ball in, you close your hand over it,
02:45 you pull it out, and these three fingers cover it as it comes out.
02:48 You open your hand and it's gone.
02:50 Remember, the timing is the most important thing.
02:54 Okay?
02:57 This vanish is quite different.
02:59 It's done up here in front of your body rather than downwards.
03:03 So you have a ball here, and you take it in the left fingers,
03:06 you rub it, and it vanishes completely.
03:10 The handling is quite different to the other one.
03:13 The thumb is at the rear, but it projects quite a bit.
03:17 So if you move the fingers forward and pull the thumb back,
03:21 you will roll the ball out of sight behind your fingers.
03:25 And if your left hand apparently takes it at the same time,
03:28 it looks as if you've placed it into your left hand like that.
03:31 And you just rub it, and it vanishes.
03:33 And whilst we're on the subject, it's most important that when you place that ball into the left hand,
03:38 your eyes and head should follow the left hand so that you get that effect.
03:44 So there it is, there.
03:47 Just take it into that hand, and it's gone.
03:49 Now, to help you practice that, I'd like to explain where it came from.
03:53 It was a coin vanish I devised many years ago,
03:56 where you take a coin into the left fingers, and it vanishes.
04:00 Now, although that looks like I'm holding it between the finger and thumb, and I am,
04:05 what the spectator doesn't know is that the thumb is way up behind it,
04:08 so that if you pull down with the thumb, push up with the fingers,
04:12 the coin goes behind the fingers.
04:14 So if you apparently take it there, you get a vanish.
04:17 And the same thing applies to the sponge ball.
04:20 This is what I call a flamboyant vanish,
04:25 in that there's a little bit more action to it for larger groups,
04:29 where you place the ball into your hand, and when you open your hand, it vanishes.
04:34 Now, how that actually works is that the ball is clipped between these first two fingers,
04:39 placed into the left hand, the centre of the left palm, in fact.
04:43 Close your fingers over it, and what happens is that you pull it out again,
04:46 bend those two fingers back, and point with that one.
04:51 Now, it's all done at one and the same time.
04:54 There it is, there.
04:56 So, in slow motion, it's that, or if I can turn round to here, there it is, and you do that.
05:05 So you're actually clipping it between the next finger and the middle finger.
05:10 There it is, it goes in, it comes out, and you point.
05:15 But don't point for long.
05:17 There it is, do that, and the ball's gone.
05:22 I'm standing up for this vanish because this one was devised
05:28 specifically for performing in restaurants.
05:31 And the idea is that you apparently show both hands empty.
05:35 The vanish is the same as the first vanish we showed you, where you place it in and take it out again.
05:39 The difference is that both hands appear empty.
05:41 Watch, you place it in your hand, you just wave your hand over it, and it vanishes.
05:46 That is the vanish.
05:48 Now, what actually happens is that you do the same as the first vanish,
05:51 you go in, it goes, and out it comes.
05:54 But once it comes out, you come back.
05:56 Now, it's important to come back about this far.
05:58 Don't do it here, but about here.
06:00 You place your hand against your body, pressing the ball there,
06:04 and you move your hand forward and do that.
06:07 And the ball is actually behind your wrist.
06:10 I'll do that again with proper timing.
06:12 You place the ball in your hand, you do that, and it vanishes.
06:16 All you've got to do is move your hand back and pick it up again.
06:28 First of all, it was the cups and balls, and it was a one-cup-and-ball routine.
06:31 And then a man in America called Roy Benson came up with a routine using a bowl,
06:36 a china bowl or a brass bowl, and some sponge balls.
06:39 For me, that was sensational.
06:41 Just for the record, the whole routine is detailed in a book called
06:45 "Classic Secrets of Magic" by Bruce Elliott, and I recommend you study that routine.
06:50 Anyway, in the course of playing around with the bowl and balls over the years,
06:54 I come up with a couple of little ideas which I'd like to show you now.
06:57 So there's the bowl, and we have a ball.
07:00 The idea is to place the ball in the left hand, turn the ball over,
07:03 slap your hand, the ball disappears.
07:05 Where has it gone? You guessed it.
07:08 It's under the bowl. Did you like that?
07:10 All right, I'll do it again with another bowl.
07:14 This one. So remember, there's one ball underneath the bowl.
07:18 The second one, you vanish it, it's gone.
07:21 Where is it? Underneath. So we've now got two balls.
07:25 Look, there's our two balls.
07:28 I'm going to place one each in my two pockets.
07:31 One in the left, one in the right.
07:32 As I place them in my pocket, I want you to say left or right.
07:35 Okay? As I place them in my pocket.
07:38 Oh, you said left, did you?
07:39 Well, when you pick it up, the left ones come back.
07:42 Look, there's the ball in the left hand.
07:45 Watch it. Boom. And the answer's a lemon.
07:52 Okay, this is what you need.
07:53 Three sponge balls and a lemon,
07:55 or anything else you want to use as a load.
07:57 The lemon's in your pocket, the three sponge balls are in on top.
08:00 You also require a bowl.
08:02 This is a little different to the original Roy Benson one,
08:05 in that this one has a foot, which is hollow.
08:10 And the reason for that is that it enables you to conceal a ball under it.
08:15 So this also means that the bowl should be of a reasonable weight
08:20 to push that sponge ball down.
08:23 Otherwise it's liable to tip up.
08:25 Okay, the three balls are in your pocket and the lemon,
08:27 and there is the bowl.
08:28 And this is how it starts.
08:30 You bring out one ball and you place it in your left hand, apparently.
08:33 In actual fact, you steal it out in the right hand.
08:35 So there's a ball in the left hand.
08:37 You now turn the bowl over,
08:39 loading that sponge ball under the bowl at the same time.
08:43 So you slap your hand, it's gone.
08:45 Where has it gone? You've guessed it.
08:47 Underneath the bowl.
08:48 Now you pick the sponge ball up and drop it into the bowl.
08:52 Say, "Look, I'll do that again with another ball."
08:55 So you reach into your pocket and bring out a second ball.
08:58 What they don't know, you've got a third one in your hand.
09:01 This is the one they see.
09:02 So there's one there and there's one underneath the bowl.
09:06 And of course you're now loading the next one in.
09:09 So you show one underneath.
09:10 Now as you place the ball down, the second one's under there.
09:14 Again, you do a vanish in this hand.
09:16 Open your hand to show it's gone.
09:18 But this time, the right hand holding the ball comes on top of the bowl
09:22 and turns it over to show both balls underneath.
09:26 The bowl is now transferred to the left hand
09:28 and the middle finger holds that sponge ball there
09:31 and you place it down on the table.
09:33 You now pick up both sponge balls and drop them into the bowl.
09:37 Say, "Look, there's two sponge balls there.
09:39 Now what I'm going to do is apparently turn the bowl over
09:43 and tip those two sponge balls out onto the table.
09:46 But remember, there's one underneath.
09:49 So what happens is this.
09:50 You say, "Look, there's the two balls."
09:52 You come across and you pinch one of the balls with your fingers inside
09:56 and you turn over.
09:59 Now I'm going to have to turn this sideways so you can see it.
10:02 As you turn the ball over, your fingers stay there
10:04 to stop that ball bouncing backwards.
10:06 And you do that.
10:07 And it looks as if both balls have come out of the bowl.
10:11 I'll do that again.
10:13 Look, there's one underneath, there's two inside.
10:16 So there it is.
10:17 You do that and you say, "There's both balls."
10:20 And you place the bowl down so you've now got both.
10:23 You've got to place them in your pockets
10:25 and you ask them to name left or right.
10:27 And again, no matter which they name, you say, "Look."
10:29 And as you pick the bowl up, the left hand grabs hold of the lemon
10:34 and you bring the bowl up to the lemon.
10:37 Don't try and bring the lemon down to the bowl.
10:40 The bowl comes straight up there as your hand comes out the pocket.
10:44 You pick the ball up and place the brass bowl down.
10:47 And you say, "Look."
10:49 And you do another vanish there.
10:51 And again you do that, that, that, pick it up.
10:55 And the ball, of course, is now hidden underneath the bowl.
10:58 An extra kicker, if you want to do it, is to place the lemon back inside the bowl.
11:02 And if you've got a young lady sitting there,
11:04 say, "Look, would you like to take hold of the bowl like that?"
11:06 Very gently and lift it up.
11:08 And when she does, you get that.
11:10 And the important thing for you at that point, when she lifts it up,
11:13 is that you go, "Oh!"
11:16 In other words, you get the surprise at the ball underneath the bowl.
11:20 Beauty. Over.
11:22 This is a little quickie that was shown to me years ago by Albert Gossman.
11:29 It wasn't Albert's idea. He saw some kid do it in the States.
11:32 And he showed it to me.
11:34 It's with a small bowl, and you just take it and you blow it up.
11:37 Until it gets larger.
11:42 Very simple.
11:44 All you do is you have the large bowl crossed up in your hand and the small one on display.
11:48 You just bring your two hands together, and the most important thing of all is the sound.
11:52 You must make it sound as if you're actually blowing it up.
12:01 A little-known fact about sponge balls.
12:04 These two sponge balls are approximately the same size.
12:07 If anything, that one's smaller.
12:09 Watch. We're going to soak it in water.
12:13 We're going to squeeze it.
12:17 Bring it all out.
12:19 Rub it on her.
12:29 Now there's a surprise for you, eh?
12:32 Two bowls. The idea is to place one bowl under the left hand and one bowl under the right hand.
12:43 When you lift the left hand, it's gone. There it is.
12:46 Actually, that's very similar to things we've done already, where you apparently place it in there.
12:51 So there's one under the left hand.
12:53 And the hand holding the bowl, you squash it down.
12:56 That one's gone, and that happens automatically.
12:59 You don't have to do anything. One bowl on top of the other, and it jumps up in the air.
13:03 So again, the quick effect, one under the left, one under the right.
13:07 That one's gone, and there it is.
13:09 Lionel, will you hold your hand out? Hold that bowl tight.
13:17 Close your hand tight. Turn it over.
13:19 I'm going to count three. One, two, three.
13:21 When I say three, will you open your hand? Ready? One, two, three.
13:25 Some of the more knowledgeable among you will realise that this is something from Dr. Jacks.
13:31 Dr. Jacks, way back in the late '40s, I would think it would be, put out an effect called "multi-bowl".
13:37 Dr. Jacks' multi-bowl. And we've used the same basic principle,
13:41 except we're using one large one instead of the you-know-what.
13:45 And you just get hold of that secretly in your head.
13:48 And you have this one on show, and you ask this person to hold their hand out.
13:51 She'll hold it very tight. Turn your hand over. That's right.
13:55 When I count three, I want you to open your hand. I'm going to count one, two, three.
13:58 Now, as I'm saying this, I'm actually touching his hand when I count one, two, three.
14:02 And so what happens, it's a psychological thing, when I count three,
14:06 he's going to open his hand when my finger hits it.
14:08 And at the same time, I'm going to open my hand, and this is the effect you get.
14:11 Are you ready? One, two, three.
14:14 And you get both bowls dropping out at the same time.
14:17 [Music]
14:24 What I'd like to show you now is a very old slight, move, effect, whatever you like to call it.
14:31 It dates from way back. Actually, the beginning of it all was G.W. Hunter's cigar production.
14:37 But it's been done with cigarettes, billiard balls, sponge balls, whatever, you know.
14:41 And the way it's usually done is that, where you keep taking one,
14:46 there's another one left behind. And that's okay, there's nothing wrong with it.
14:51 But I never liked it. I always liked it. When I used to do it with billiard balls,
14:57 I always, incidentally, you know what's happening, you're just bringing the same one back
15:02 and leaving it behind every time, just for the record, we'll show you that.
15:06 That's what's happening. But, of course, with the back of your hand to the audience,
15:09 you, they don't see it happening.
15:12 It's okay, but I used to do this quite regularly in a billiard ball routine.
15:16 And I always thought it was better to come up and take the ball, look at it,
15:21 put it in your pocket, and then make the other ball appear.
15:25 You know, that way you can give yourself reactions, you know.
15:31 And I think it's a little more magical. And what we're doing is,
15:36 I'm just loading the other one in, but you turn your hand back out so they don't see the ball.
15:41 So you put that one in your pocket, then you produce that one, come back,
15:45 and keep doing it that way, you know.
15:49 And it lends itself, if you want to do it, to change the color of the billiard balls, etc.
15:55 [Music]
15:58 [Music]
16:26 Two more.
16:28 All right, let's explain that. Again, it's an old thing.
16:31 It used to be done with eggs. I've done it with ping pong balls.
16:34 These days, everyone's doing it with sponge balls.
16:37 And all you really need is two or three sponge balls.
16:41 It's ideal for someone who does a comedy act, silent act, anything of that nature.
16:45 And you start it with one ball in your mouth and one ball in each hand, like that, okay?
16:51 [Music]
16:56 Now, all that happens is that when you produce the first one, you hold it in your mouth,
17:00 and this hand comes up and pushes it back into your mouth.
17:03 [Music]
17:06 And you produce that one. And the same with the other hand.
17:10 [Music]
17:34 [Music]
17:43 No more. But, before we finish, there is one other thing you can do, which you don't see too many people do.
17:49 And I used to do it with colored ping pong balls.
17:53 So you're producing several red ones, one after the other.
17:57 [Music]
18:11 Now you get a color change, which is totally unexpected.
18:13 You can sneak that in in the middle somewhere, if you want to.
18:17 And how that works is, the effect, remember, lends itself to a comedy act with lots of funny faces
18:24 and mugging and eyes popping and whatever.
18:27 So the first one comes out, look, and the yellow one comes up in the hand.
18:31 [Music]
18:41 Now you know.
18:43 [Music]
18:48 This is an effect that you don't see too often, where you take a yellow ball,
18:51 you tuck it all the way into your fist, open your hand, and it changes to a red one.
18:56 It's like the handkerchief dying.
18:58 In fact, it uses the same system, which is a dye tube.
19:02 I've got a little brass one here with a cloth tape that goes from end to end.
19:06 So if you push, the one on the top pushes the tape down,
19:10 so you now turn it over and push the ball in the other end. That's fine.
19:15 And the way it operates is, there is the ball,
19:19 you're holding the dye tube in your hand, and as you pick the ball up,
19:23 you leave the dye tube behind in the left hand.
19:26 You now push the sponge ball into the top of your fist,
19:29 steal out the dye tube, and you're left with the other coloured ball.
19:33 It's something that's well worth considering.
19:35 It goes back a long time, the use of a dye tube with sponge balls, back to U.F. Grant.
19:40 I think Al Cohen was in there, punching way back many years ago,
19:45 using a dye tube for changing a large ball to three or four small ones.
19:50 And it's well worth considering for whatever routine you care to do.
19:54 This is more or less the same effect as before with the dye tube,
20:02 the only difference being that instead of changing the colour of the sponge ball,
20:05 you change it to a handkerchief.
20:08 Same as before, just pop it in the dye tube and change it as per normal.
20:12 [Music]
20:40 What I'm going to do now is I'm actually going to perform a sponge ball routine,
20:44 or if you like, my sponge ball routine.
20:47 This is a routine that I've been performing for many, many years.
20:50 I haven't changed a word, nothing.
20:52 It's the same as I've always done it.
20:55 We will explain the details afterwards.
20:57 I've got my friend Lionel here to assist.
21:00 You all right, Lionel?
21:02 Can we have a little bit of room on the table,
21:03 because you don't know what I'm going to be doing yet, you see.
21:06 But tell me, just for the matter of interest, do you know what that is, Lionel?
21:09 No.
21:10 It's a ball. It's a strange ball.
21:11 If you pull it apart, you get two balls.
21:13 Would you like to hold out both hands?
21:15 That's fine. Look, there's one there and there's one there.
21:17 Okay. What we're going to do is I'm going to hang on to this one tightly.
21:20 I want you to hang on to that one very tightly,
21:23 because my one's going to disappear.
21:25 Do you still have your one?
21:26 Yes.
21:27 Are you sure?
21:28 Yes.
21:29 Positive?
21:30 Yes.
21:31 Can you feel it?
21:32 Yes.
21:33 Lionel, very slowly open your hand.
21:35 You've got mine as well, haven't you?
21:37 I'll tell you what, take your hands away for a moment.
21:39 Look, how many balls are there?
21:41 Two.
21:42 Can you count up to ten?
21:43 Yes.
21:44 Loud and clear.
21:45 Yes.
21:46 With me.
21:47 Yes.
21:48 In unison.
21:49 Yes.
21:50 Ready? Here we go.
21:51 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
21:54 I'll tell you what, how many balls are there, Lionel?
21:56 Two.
21:57 Two. If I put one of them in my pocket and put one in my hand, how many is in my hand?
22:00 One.
22:01 Shall we start again?
22:02 All right, look, let's start again. How many is there?
22:04 Three.
22:05 Three. Look, I'll put one of them in my pocket, I'll put one of them in my hand, I'll put one in my pocket.
22:09 How many is in my hand?
22:12 One.
22:13 You're not sure, are you? Shall we start again?
22:15 Yes.
22:16 Look, tell me, Lionel, how many is there?
22:18 Two.
22:19 Hang on to both of them very tightly. Now put that one in my pocket. So how many do you have?
22:23 Two.
22:24 Very slowly open your hand.
22:28 You've got three again, eh?
22:29 Look, I'll tell you what, last time to make a name for yourself. How many balls are there?
22:33 Three.
22:34 I'll put one of them in my pocket, I'll put that one in my hand, I'll put that one in my pocket. How many is in my hand?
22:39 One.
22:40 One. Hold your hand out. Hold it right out. How many?
22:42 One.
22:43 Do you want to change your mind?
22:44 No.
22:45 Sure?
22:46 Yes.
22:47 In fact, there's none, but thank you very much for helping.
22:52 We've come to explanation time. The good thing about this routine, the thing that I like about it, is that it's very simple.
22:59 You've got four sponge balls in your right hand jacket pocket. That's how you start, and at the end of the routine, that's how you finish.
23:06 So you can just walk somewhere else and carry on.
23:08 Anyway, let's get started. You start off by bringing out one ball, and you say to the spectator, "Do you know what that is?"
23:14 Now it doesn't matter what they say, they'll say a sponge ball, a round ball, a red ball, whatever, it doesn't matter.
23:19 What they don't know is that you have brought out a second ball.
23:21 So when you reach into your pocket, you actually bring out two balls, but you only take one in the left hand.
23:26 That's the one you display. Now what you're going to do is you're going to take that ball, you ask them about it,
23:31 "Do you know what it is?" etc. etc. It's a strange one. You pull it apart and you get two.
23:35 Now, how that happens is very simple.
23:39 You have the ball here, and all you do is you come across and take that ball away from the left hand,
23:45 but at the same time, you leave the other one behind.
23:49 So you get this effect. That's actually what happens, but what it looks like from a spectator's point of view
23:55 is that you've pulled it apart into two. Okay?
23:59 Now you ask a spectator to hold both hands out, palm upwards, and you place one ball on each hand.
24:06 That's fine. Now what we're going to do, Lionel, I'm going to place this ball into my left hand,
24:10 and I want you to hang on to that one very tightly, because this one's going to vanish.
24:14 Do you still have yours?
24:15 Yes.
24:16 Sure?
24:17 Yes.
24:18 Very slowly, open your hand.
24:20 And of course he's got two balls.
24:22 Now, what happens there is very simple. You place one ball in each hand.
24:25 This one you apparently place into the left hand, but you do a vanish, number one vanish that we showed you earlier, actually.
24:32 Just place it into your hand, apparently.
24:34 Now you pick this ball up, squeeze the two of them together, and place them into this hand.
24:38 Now, I always close their fingers on top, and quite often I will hold it, depending on the person.
24:44 Hold it nice and tight there, because I always ask them if they've still got it after the vanish.
24:49 So, mine's gone. Do you still have yours?
24:51 Yes.
24:52 Sure?
24:53 Yes.
24:54 Positive?
24:55 Positive.
24:56 Can you feel it?
24:57 Yes.
24:58 Very slowly, open your hand.
24:59 Now, there's an important point here. I don't say to him, "Open your hand slowly."
25:02 I always say, "Very slowly, open your hand."
25:06 The reason for that is that if he opens his hand quickly, the balls will jump all over the place,
25:10 and you'll lose them on the floor, or in the dessert, or whatever.
25:14 So, very slowly, open your hand.
25:16 When he opens his hand, he's got two balls.
25:18 Thank you.
25:20 How many balls are there?
25:21 Two.
25:22 Can you count up to ten?
25:23 Yes.
25:24 Now, we're going to do the count now, and I always--
25:26 if there's several people at the table, I always get them all to count, if it's possible, loud and clear, with me.
25:31 You ready? Here we go.
25:32 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
25:38 You like that, eh?
25:40 How that works is it's based on a thing by Martin Gardner.
25:47 Martin Gardner came up with this idea, and Vernon was involved with adding the count to it.
25:52 But I must say that originally the idea of counting was to give you the correct timing,
25:58 and you counted inwardly to yourself, silently.
26:02 But a guy in New York called Ralph Henry said to me, "If you count out loud, it helps the effect."
26:08 And I think he's right, and I've always done it that way ever since.
26:10 But what happens is this.
26:11 You start over the balls in your hand, and you count.
26:14 One, two, three, four, five, six.
26:20 Now, this is where you're going to do a vanish.
26:22 But because you're closing that hand and exposing this one, their attention is drawn to that one,
26:27 so they don't see this one come out.
26:30 You understand that?
26:31 So you now pick that one up, and you turn the hand over, which is eight, nine, ten.
26:37 Now, I'll do that again at normal speed.
26:39 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
26:44 Now, let me explain about the vanish.
26:46 It is unlike this first vanish we did.
26:49 I'm going to do this sideways onto you because there's no move involved.
26:54 It's just the timing.
26:56 So we'll do it sideways.
26:57 So there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
27:04 In other words, when you get to that bit, that's placed on there.
27:08 And as these fingers come up, you just pick the ball up and go straight down onto the other one.
27:13 And if your timing is right, no one will ever see it.
27:16 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
27:22 Okay, let's get back to the routine.
27:24 All right?
27:25 We've reached the stage where we had two balls on the table.
27:28 Okay?
27:29 I'm going to put one of them in my pocket, put one in my hand.
27:31 How many is in my hand?
27:32 One.
27:33 One.
27:34 And you open your hand, and you've got three.
27:35 Okay, we're all right so far.
27:36 Now, we'll carry on from there.
27:37 I'm going to place one of them in my pocket, place one of them in my hand, place one of them in my pocket.
27:41 How many is in my hand?
27:42 One.
27:43 And you open your hand, and you've got three.
27:44 Now, how that happened was you pick one up, put it in your pocket, and you pick up the fourth one.
27:49 So you come out with two, put one in your hand, so there's now really three there.
27:54 The last one goes in your pocket.
27:55 You say, "How many is in my hand?"
27:57 One.
27:58 And you open your hand, you've got three.
27:59 Now, when I said, "Put the last one in my pocket," what actually happens is that you go into your pocket with that one,
28:06 and you come out with it, and you just place your hand on the table, and the ball is underneath that hand.
28:13 So when you open your hand and say, "Three," that enables you to do the next bit, which is this.
28:18 Would you like to hold your hand out, Lionel?
28:20 Look.
28:21 How many balls are there?
28:22 Two.
28:23 Place both of them in your hand and hold them very tight.
28:25 Now, I've added the third ball, so I place that one in my pocket and say, "How many is in your hand?"
28:30 Two.
28:31 Two.
28:32 Very slowly open your hand.
28:33 And he opens his hand, and of course he's got three.
28:36 Now, this is your last chance to make a name for yourself, Lionel.
28:39 Look, there's three balls here.
28:40 I'm going to place one of them in my pocket, one of them in my hand, one in my pocket.
28:43 So how many is in my hand?
28:45 One.
28:46 Hold your hand out.
28:47 Do you want to change your mind?
28:49 Well, there may be more.
28:51 There may be more.
28:52 In fact, there's none, but thank you very much for helping.
28:54 Now, how that happens is simple.
28:57 You have the three balls on the table.
28:59 You pick one of them up, you actually place it in your pocket and leave it there.
29:03 The second one you apparently place in your left hand, but you do a steal out again.
29:07 Pick the last one up, put it in your pocket, and leave both of them there.
29:11 So you're clean.
29:12 Everything's gone.
29:13 The trick isn't even finished yet.
29:15 So you say, "Hold your hand out."
29:16 So they hold their hand out and say, "How many is here?"
29:18 They say, "One, two, three, whatever."
29:20 It doesn't matter what they say.
29:21 You open your hand and say, "Actually, there's none, but thank you very much for helping."
29:24 And you've got a very nice, simple applause cue at that point.
29:28 [Music]
29:32 This is actually an alternative finale for that last routine,
29:35 or for your own routine or anyone else's routine,
29:38 where you--towards the end--where you have three balls in a row.
29:41 What happens here is you pick one ball up, you place it in your pocket,
29:45 you place the second ball in your hand, you place the last ball in your pocket,
29:48 and you say, "How many balls are in my hand?"
29:50 And no matter what they say, "One, two, three," or "25."
29:53 You open your hand and you have a large silver coin.
29:56 It's very simple. It's very simple.
30:00 And the setup for it is that the coin is in your pocket,
30:03 and the three balls are on the table.
30:05 So you pick up the first ball, place it in your pocket, and grab the coin.
30:10 The second ball you apparently place into your left hand,
30:12 but you do a throw switch and drop the coin in there.
30:15 You pick up the last ball and place that in your pocket with the second one.
30:19 And no matter what they say about how many is in the left hand, you've got the coin.
30:24 It needn't be a coin. It could be a cigarette lighter or any other small to medium-sized object.
30:30 And just for the record, the switch, you come up with the coin in your hand,
30:35 you pick up the ball, all you do is you squeeze the ball up into your hand
30:38 and drop the coin into your hand.
30:40 Pick up the last ball, put it in your pocket, there's the coin.
30:43 For the record, that came from a Magic Wand magazine many, many years ago
30:48 under Milburn Christopher's name.
30:51 [Music]
30:54 Now a couple of afterthoughts.
30:56 Right at the beginning of that routine, you may remember you reach in,
31:00 come up with one ball, and then you split it into two.
31:03 What I quite often do, I didn't do it there, but what I quite often do is that
31:07 when I come up with that ball, show it, I place the left hand on the table flat
31:13 with the other ball underneath.
31:15 It's a little piece of misdirection I use quite often.
31:18 I use it later in the routine as well.
31:20 It enables you to come straight up and split it.
31:22 It's just that if you're leaning down talking to people,
31:25 it's nice to lay your hand flat on the table, that's all.
31:28 Secondly, I always do the routine where possible to a girl or a woman,
31:35 not to a man.
31:37 We all know that the effect has got sexual undertones,
31:40 and when a woman does that and sees two balls in her hand, she screams.
31:44 And why not?
31:46 But that's about all I've got to say.
31:48 Go ahead and do it.
31:50 The good thing, remember, is that you start off with them in your pocket,
31:53 and at the end you finish up with them back in there,
31:56 and you've nothing to reset at any time anyway.
31:59 At the beginning of my routine, you start off with one ball,
32:08 and you split it into two.
32:10 I use that because I don't necessarily work on tables all the time,
32:15 and it's nice to do it up in midair.
32:17 For those of you who do work close up on tables,
32:19 there is another method of splitting one ball into two,
32:22 which is the idea of a Dutch-Indonesian called Poh Yan Chong.
32:27 Lots of people do it.
32:29 They didn't know it was his, but what happens is you have the other ball here,
32:33 the same as before, and you have one ball,
32:35 and you take the ball into this hand,
32:37 and you squash the two of them together,
32:39 and you apparently slice one ball into two with your forefinger.
32:46 Thanks, Poh.
32:50 This is an idea for holding out a sponge ball secretly,
33:00 impromptu, on the spur of the moment.
33:03 If you've got a sponge ball and you want to show your hands empty for a second,
33:06 just tuck it under the bottom edge of your jacket,
33:08 and the weight of your jacket will hold it there,
33:10 and you can reach underneath and take it out any time you like.
33:13 This saves you having to hold it. It's strictly impromptu.
33:16 What you can also do is you can do a vanish,
33:18 and come down to you and tuck it under your jacket,
33:20 and then vanish the ball, and both hands are empty.
33:23 That's particularly suitable in a restaurant scene,
33:26 where there's a lot of people about and a lot of movement,
33:28 and you put the ball in, and you're talking to the person,
33:31 and the thing vanishes.
33:32 It's a nice way, and you can pick it up any time you like.
33:36 [Music]
33:46 Of course, this is the purse frame, which has been used by many, many people
33:49 for producing sponge balls.
33:51 All you've got to do is open it up, reach in,
33:53 take out the sponge balls, and go into your routine from there.
33:57 That's the way it's normally done.
33:59 I don't use the purse frame in my regular sponge ball routine,
34:04 which you've already seen, but it has got a use,
34:08 and I have used it on occasions, to produce one ball.
34:12 That is when I'm sitting at a table as I am now,
34:15 so you open up the purse frame, bring out the first ball,
34:18 close up the purse frame, put the purse frame in your pocket,
34:22 which gives you the chance to pick up the second ball,
34:25 so you can now split them into two.
34:27 That's what I occasionally use the purse frame for in a sponge ball routine.
34:32 [Music]
34:35 This is something that I've already performed and mentioned on another videotape,
34:39 but we have to put it in here just for the record
34:43 and for the benefit of those people who didn't get the other tape,
34:46 and that is that you can actually vanish a sponge ball inside a thumbtip.
34:54 Just do it the same way as you do the silk.
34:56 Put the ball in, steal the thumbtip out, and it's gone.
35:00 [Music]
35:03 In the days when I didn't know any better,
35:05 I used to sit down at tables with people to try and fool them.
35:09 Nowadays, if there's a group of people at a table, I stand up.
35:13 But as I say, when I didn't know any better, I used to sit down.
35:16 One of the tricks I used to do, and still do, is the chop cup.
35:21 Now, we're not going to talk about the chop cup here,
35:26 except to say that after I'd done the chop cup,
35:29 I used to place the cup aside.
35:31 A little while later, when I wanted to do a coin trick,
35:34 I'd pick up the cup, and there would be a coin underneath.
35:39 That can apply to several other things.
35:41 Every time you place it aside, you do whatever trick it is.
35:44 When you get to the next trick, you pick it up.
35:47 One of the things I used to have under it was a sponge ball,
35:50 which enables you to go into your sponge ball routine as such.
35:55 In other words, you've done the chop cup, place it aside, do another trick,
36:01 and then when you want the sponge ball, lift the cup up,
36:03 and there's a sponge ball, you go into it.
36:05 It was just an idea.
36:06 I used to use it for lots of things that kept appearing under the chop cup when I needed.
36:11 What I'd like to show you now is something I've played around with off and on for many, many years.
36:21 I've performed it a few times.
36:25 The problem with me performing it is the conditions.
36:29 This is an ideal effect for performing on a stage
36:33 because instead of using the brass bowl, we're going to use a top hat.
36:37 Now, you can do all the same routines that you did with the bowl with the top hat.
36:42 You can use the same routine if you wanted to
36:45 because a top hat's quite large and visual,
36:47 and they can see these bowls even on a large stage.
36:51 So assuming you want to use the top hat instead of the bowl,
36:55 there's the bowl, turn the hat over,
36:59 same as before.
37:01 There is one slight advantage when you're using the top hat over the bowl,
37:07 and that is if you go into the same routine as we did with the bowl
37:11 where you load the second one in,
37:13 vanish it, there you are.
37:15 And when you pick the hat up, there's the second bowl.
37:18 So you pick up both bowls, put the hat down,
37:20 and you only have two bowls.
37:22 What they don't know is that you've used the brim of the hat to hold out that bowl
37:29 so that in that position you vanish the bowl,
37:33 and as you pick the hat up, you actually just press the bowl onto the brim of the hat.
37:38 So you turn it over, pick up there, and lay it down,
37:41 and there's the bowl held out there.
37:44 Later, when you want to, you can turn it downwards,
37:47 say, "Look, there's two bowls under there,"
37:49 and your hands are empty, remember, two bowls only,
37:52 and you just take the bowl out from the brim,
37:55 load it underneath, put it down, and you've got three bowls there.
37:58 And I think that this is a thing with great possibilities.
38:02 One day I'm going to sit down and work it all out, and I hope you will.
38:06 While we have the top hat here, I'm going to show you an effect that I did when I was a kid,
38:12 and in those days we didn't have sponge balls,
38:14 we used to use rolled-up pieces of paper, toilet paper most of the time,
38:19 and it's with a hat. Any hat will do.
38:22 We used to use it with a school cap, you know.
38:25 But you have the hat mouth down, and you take a bowl,
38:28 and you reach under the table, and you knock,
38:30 and the bowl goes right through the table under the hat.
38:33 And you say, "Look, I'll do it again."
38:35 And you take a second bowl, and you knock,
38:38 and that one goes right through the table under the hat.
38:41 I'll do it again with the third bowl.
38:43 So there's the third one, and you go...
38:45 And there's three bowls under the hat.
38:48 Last one coming up. Fourth bowl.
38:51 Oh, sorry, I forgot to show it to you.
38:53 There's the fourth bowl, you go...
38:55 Knock, and you come out with an empty hand, pick it up,
38:58 and there's the four bowls under the hat, and the trick is over.
39:01 OK? Let's explain it, if it needs explaining.
39:05 You need five bowls.
39:09 They're all in your pocket to begin with.
39:11 You show the hat, and you get hold of one of the bowls,
39:14 and you load one bowl into the hat as you lay it down.
39:18 So there's already one bowl underneath that hat when you start.
39:22 So you reach into your pocket, bring out a bowl,
39:24 go under the table, knock.
39:26 Now you lift up the hat, and as you come back to show that bowl there,
39:32 as you come back, the hand comes out from under the table with the bowl
39:36 and loads it into the hat.
39:37 In fact, you don't load the bowl into the hat,
39:40 you actually load the hat on top of the bowl.
39:43 No one can see it.
39:44 So you see, there's one bowl under the hat.
39:46 So now you've loaded the second bowl.
39:48 So you reach into your pocket, bring out the second one.
39:51 You say, "Look, second bowl."
39:53 And you do the same action again.
39:55 So there's now two there.
39:57 You load the third one.
39:58 So you take the third bowl from your pocket, you knock it.
40:02 There's now three there.
40:04 So there's all three bowls.
40:05 You now load the fourth one.
40:08 Fourth bowl, you go under the table with this one, and you knock.
40:13 And as you bring your hand out to show it empty,
40:16 you actually pass the bowl from your right hand into your left hand,
40:20 which is resting on your thigh here.
40:21 So you go, "Knock, knock," and you come round there, come out,
40:27 deposit it under the left hand, show the hand empty, pick the hat up,
40:32 and there's all four bowls there.
40:34 [music]
40:45 You know, I don't actually know the name of the man who invented the sponge ball trick.
40:50 There's lots of names being bandied around over the years, and I've heard them all.
40:55 But so far, no one's actually said he invented the sponge ball trick.
40:59 We know that from an effect and routine point of view,
41:04 it's a development of the old three-pellet trick, which dates back a long, long time,
41:08 two in the pocket, one in the hand type thing.
41:11 But who invented it?
41:14 Unquestionably, Al Stevenson, Larry Weeks, and of course the late Albert Gushman.
41:22 They're the men who actually promoted the effect.
41:26 They were selling sponge balls to magicians.
41:30 Laurie Ireland was one of the early ones who pushed sponge ball effects and tricks very hard.
41:36 And it's to these guys that we owe all the thanks for this wonderful, wonderful magic effect.
41:45 It's one that very few close-up workers leave out of their repertoire.
41:51 And to all the magicians who have gone before, thank you very much.
41:56 [music]
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