THE DWARF'S BOWLING
TROPH
THE DWARF'S
BOWLING TROPHY
When
I was a youngster in magic (what a memory!),
I was fortunate to have as one of my best friends,
the legendary editor of the great "Sphinx" magazine,
John Mulholland. The magazine was flourishing
then, and John attended all of the conventions
to report on them for his magazine.
At one
of the conventions in the forties, I was booked
(on Uncle John's recommendation) to appear on
one of the close-up sessions. The day before
the close-up show, John and I were looking thru
the dealers displays. I had mentioned that I
had my close-up routine all set, but that I
didn't have a "feature" trick, and that I might
find something new.
We became
separated, and later on after I had returned
to my room, I got a call from John. He asked
me to meet him in the lobby, that he had found
a brand new trick that I could feature in my
routine. I rushed to the lobby only to discover
that it was a gag, for the trick John had bought
for me was an S.S. Adams Ball and Vase!
At three
AM that morning (who sleeps at a magic convention)
I worked out a routine, and the next day I really
did feature the ball and vase in my routine.
It went over great, and I had the laugh on John.
Years
later when Jay Marshall was editor of the "Phoenix"
magazine, he asked me to write up the ball and
vase for publication. By the time I had written
it up, the "Phoenix" was no longer. So when
I was gathering notes for this book, out of
the dusty files fell this routine for the ball
and vase. I thought you might find it interesting
to know how it got here.
The S.S.
Adams vase is the best one to use, as it's heavier
than the others. The gimmick must fit loosely.
It can be loosened with emery paper if it fits
too tightly.
The ball
and vase is set on the table assembled, but
minus the gimmick. Gimmick is finger-palmed
in right hand (see fig. 1) "I'll give you one
wild guess as to what this is, and you're wrong,
so I'll tell you. It's a 'dwarf's bowling trophy'
(remove top with L.H. and place on table). See,
here's the little ball he bowls with. It has
no finger holes, and that's what makes bowling
such a difficult sport for dwarfs. As you know,
dwarfs are just itty-bitty people. In fact,
if you hold up your thumb, I'll show you what
the little dwarf who won this trophy looks like."
Have
them stick up their thumb, pick up the B&V
top and place it on their thumb. With ball point
pen, add the three dots and the mouth line to
complete the dwarfs face (see fig. 2). From
here on, fake the "patter" to fit the moves,
and there's a lot of them Good Luck!
Have
them stick up their thumb, pick up the B&V
top and place it on their thumb. With ball point
pen, add the three dots and the mouth line to
complete the dwarfs face (see fig. 2). From
here on, fake the "patter" to fit the moves,
and there's a lot of them.... Good Luck!
BALL & VASE ROUTINE
R.H.
picks up vase by stem and dumps ball in L.H.
R.H. fingers apparently remove ball from L.H.,
and place it in vase. Actually as R.H. approaches
L.H., L.H. is turned away from audience at same
time finger-palming ball. R. H. apparently containing
ball (but actually gimmick) places it in vase.
R.H. removes top from spectator's thumb and
covers gimmick in vase. Snap fingers of R.H.
and say "ball has jumped invisibly to L.H.".
Show it there as R.H. removes cap and gimmick
showing vase empty. Replace cap and gimmick
on vase. Apparently take ball with R.H. (actually
finger-palming ball in L.H.) Place R.H. under
table and tap table directly beneath vase. Remove
R.H. from under table and show it empty. Remove
cap with R.H. and replace on spectator's thumb.
This will expose ball (gimmick) in vase. Pick
up vase by stem with R.H. and dump ball gimmick
into loosely formed L fist. Retain gimmick allowing
real ball to fall on table (see fig. 3). Pick
up ball in R.H. Apparently pick up ball from
R.H. with L.H. and place in vase. Actually gimmick
goes in vase using moves as in beginning of
trick, leaving real ball finger-palmed in R.H.
Show L.H. empty and place on top of ball in
vase (gimmick). Place R.H. under table. Press
down L.H. and palm gimmick. Remove L.H. from
vase, at same time bringing R.H. from under
table exposing real ball. Roll ball from R.H.
into vase. Gimmick is now held in L.H. as in
fig. 4. Remove cap from spectator's thumb and
place it in L.H. on top of gimmick. Pick up
vase with R.H. and turn vase upside down, and
allow real ball visibly to fall into R.H. and
return vase to table. L.H. places cap and gimmick
on vase. Apparently place ball from R.H. into
L.H., actually finger-palming ball in R.H. Blow
on L.H. and open hand showing ball has vanished.
Remove cap with L.H. exposing ball (gimmick)
in vase. L.H. places cap in R.H. on top of ball.
Ball is held in cap by 3rd ring finger (fig.
5). L.H. picks up vase by stem and dumps ball
(gimmick) into breast pocket. R.H. replaces
cap (with ball loaded) on top of vase.
All that
remains to do is tap your pocket and then tap
the top of the vase. Remove the cap (or top)
displaying the ball. Since the "gimmick" was
dumped in your pocket in the last move, you
are clean at the finish, and the cap, ball,
and base may be examined. At the finish, I point
to their thumb (with face on it) and say, "I'm
going to let you keep the dwarf. Be sure he
gets one meal a day of virgin milk (how do you
milk a virgin?) and at least three hours of
sleep a night. And if you don't wash his face
off for at least twenty-four hours, you'll have
good luck the rest of your life".
The routine
reads long, but it actually only takes a few
minutes to do. The moves are really very simple
if you'll try them with the prop at hand.
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