Multiplying billiard balls (Excelsior Ball Trick, August Roterberg

August Roterberg

-History:August Roterberg was born in Hamburg, Germany and emigrated to the United States around 1883 as a teenager. He started out selling magic by mail order, and then opened a magic store in Chicago. It was housed in the lobby of the "old" Palmer House Hotel.Roterberg really started the modern...

, 1898) is a magic

Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...

 routine that is popular with both amateur and advanced conjurors but still rarely seen. As its name implies, the magician uses sleight of hand

Sleight of hand

Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....

 to manipulate a number of billiard ball

Billiard ball

A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played...

s (the balls are often smaller than actual billiard balls), giving the impression that he is making them appear and vanish at his command.

Effect

In this presentation, the magician will hold a single ball in his hand. The ball suddenly becomes two balls, in plain view of the audience. He then proceeds to produce a third and fourth ball, all in the same hand. The magician will then vanish the balls, one at a time, until only one remains. Often, part of the routine involves the magician giving the impression that he is "passing" the balls through his body, in and out of his mouth, fingertips, and pockets.

Sets of multiplying billiard balls are available from magicians' supply stores. The quality, size, material, and price of the balls can vary greatly and are dependent on the magician's personal taste. The balls are most frequently made of wood, plastic, or metal.

Method

Sleight of hand and misdirection

Misdirection

Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another....

 are the principal techniques that make multiplying billiard balls a convincing effect. The set of three balls also employs a secret gaff

Gaff

-Pole-shaped devices:* Fishing gaff, a pole used in fishing* Gaff or hakapik, used as a seal-hunting weapon* Gaff rig; A fore-and-aft sailing arrangement where the sail is held up by a spar called a gaff-Ankle-worn devices:...

: a hollow, half-ball shell that can be made to fit over any of the three solid balls. The magician holds this shell, filled with a solid ball, facing the viewer and then use his fingers to flip the solid ball out of the shell. To the viewer it appears that the magician now holds two balls. The trick relies on that the shell can represent a real ball before the real ball secretly has been added. Likewise, after stealing away a ball, the shell can "prove" that the ball is still there.

Credits

From an article by Tom Stone

Tom Stone (magician)

Tom Stone is the stage name of Thomas Bengtsson, a Swedish magician, editor and author.- Biography :Stone was born on October 28, 1967, and presently lives in Stockholm, Sweden....

 in the Swedish magazine Trollkarlen (No 152 - 2003):

"The history of the Multiplying Ball effect isn’t as ancient as one might believe, but it is all the more messy. The origin has been tracked back to Buatier de Kolta

Buatier De Kolta

Buatier de Kolta was a french magician who performed throughout the 1870s and 1880s in England and America. Buatier de Kolta was a contemporary of fellow French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin...

, who in 1875, for the first time ever, performed an effect where one ball magically was produced, and then multiplied into three balls. However, the choreography was quite different from what is considered standard today. In de Kolta’s original, the balls were held together in one hand, from underneath – the hand acting almost as a basket for the balls, while all the magic was performed with the other hand. As noted by Tommy Wonder, the original effect was both more elegant and clearer than the versions known today. But where has today’s standard handling appeared from? The history here gets trickier to follow.

"In Hoffman’s book “More Magic” (1889), Hoffman describes, with credits to de Kolta, a small variation. But the choreography and effect is still basically the same.

"The first time a version similar to the modern handling is published is in the August issue 1900 of a German magazine, Carl Willmann’s “Zauberwelt”. There are no credits in the description, but it isn’t claimed as a new piece either. And the piece has the somewhat odd title (in translation) “The Chicago Balls”.

"So, the origin of the modern standard choreography seems to have appeared between the publication of Hoffman’s book in 1889 and the published effect in “Zauberwelt” 1900. And in the latter, there is an odd reference to Chicago. Going through the records, it turns out that the only connection Willmann had to Chicago, was that he was doing business with a German-born dealer of magic props named August Roterberg.

"During this period, August Roterberg published two books, both containing effects with balls: “The Modern Wizard” (1894) and “Latter Day Tricks” (1896). Curiously enough, these pieces make use of the same props as today’s standard routines, but the choreography is still an emulation of de Kolta’s.

"But it still seems like Roterberg is the creator of today’s standard version, because soon after the publication of “Latter Day Tricks”, he published a small manuscript (together with the props) titled: “Excelsior Ball Trick”, and here all the pieces in the puzzle is in place. Both the props and the choreography is the same as what is known as standard today, and the balls are produced between the fingers."

Assisting in research: Richard Hatch, USA. Christer Nilsson, Sweden