CHAPTER XIV.
Ball Tricks Requiring Special Apparatus.
Before proceeding to the description of the tricks which form the subject of this Chapter, it may be well to mention one or two principles of sleight-of-hand, not yet noticed, which have a special application to ball tricks, and are also useful with regard to oranges, apples, eggs, etc. The Pass called the tourniquet, or “[French drop],” described already in relation to coin, will be found equally applicable to balls up to a couple of inches in diameter, but is not available for objects of larger size. Balls of larger diameter are best palmed by one or other of the methods following.
First Method.—Taking the ball in either hand, the performer tosses the ball from palm to palm (at a few inches’ distance) four or five times, finally making the motion of tossing it from the right hand to the left, but really retaining it in the right by a slight contraction of the palm, and at the same time closing and elevating the left hand, and following it with the eyes, as though it contained the ball. It is obvious that a ball of the size now under consideration (say of two to three inches in diameter) would not admit of the hand containing it being perfectly closed; and this must be borne in mind in the position of the left hand, the fingers of which must not be tightly closed, as they would if apparently containing a coin or other very small article, but merely curved inward, the palm, of course, being turned toward the performer’s own body, so as not to disclose the secret of its emptiness. Where the hand of the performer is small, or the ball is of such a size as not to be readily retained in the right hand by the contraction of the palm, the thumb may be used to assist in supporting it.
Second Method.—Taking the ball between his open hands, the performer rolls it round and round between his palms, as though it were a lump of clay which he was moulding into a spherical form; and in so doing gradually turns his hands till the back of his right hand is undermost, when, with an inward movement of that hand towards himself, he palms the ball therein, at the same time closing and elevating the left hand, as described for the last method.
To Vanish a Large Ball with the aid of the Table.—First Method. Standing behind his table, the ball being some six or eight inches from its hinder edge, the performer places both hands round it, apparently picking it up and bringing it forward between his two hands, from which, however, the ball is, on examination, found to have vanished. Its disappearance is effected as follows:—At the moment when the performer encircles the ball with his hands, he gives, with the little finger of the hand which is innermost—and therefore unseen by the audience—a quick jerk to the ball, which is thereby made to roll towards the hinder edge of the table, and drop upon the servante, on which there should be a padded box or basket to receive it. The action is wholly concealed from the spectators by the hands, which, with the exception of the finger which does the work, should remain motionless.
Second Method.—Standing behind his table, as in the last case, the performer tosses up the ball, and catches it again three or four times, keeping the hands low, so as to be near the edge of the table. The hands naturally sink in the act of catching the ball; and after having caught it once or twice, the performer, as he lowers them, drops it on the servante, immediately raising them again with the action of throwing up the ball, taking care to follow it with the eyes in its imaginary flight. If this is done neatly, the eyes of the spectators will instinctively travel in the same direction, and the effect to them will be as if the ball vanished at the highest point of its upward flight, instead of disappearing, as it really does, at the moment of reaching the hands in its fall. This method may also be employed for objects other than of spherical shape.
Third Method.—The performer, standing behind his table as before, and placing the ball thereon, covers it with the right hand, and rolls it round and round in circles, each time bringing it nearer and nearer to the hinder edge of the table, till it finally rolls over, and drops upon the servante. He continues the motion of the hand for two or three turns, as though the ball was still under it, gradually working back towards the centre of the table, the effect to the spectator being as if the ball melted away under the operator’s fingers.
Fourth Method.—This is generally employed to apparently pass one object into another—say a small ball into a large one. The performer, standing a little behind his table, with his right side slightly turned to the spectators, takes in his right hand the small ball, and in his left the large one. The latter he holds about shoulder high, keeping his eyes fixed upon it, and remarking, “I shall now pass this small ball into this large one,” he draws back and lowers the right arm, as though to give it impetus, as one naturally does in the act of throwing. This brings the right hand just over the padded box or basket on the servante, and allows him to drop the small ball therein. Without any pause, he brings the right hand smartly up to the left, describing a tolerably wide arc in its transit, and then, separating his hands, shows that the smaller ball has vanished, having apparently passed into the large one. This sleight is not confined to objects of spherical form, but may be used with any article of convenient size.