Three Ball Transposition

If I were asked the difficult question…”what’s your favorite magic book”, the answer would probably have to be “The Dai Vernon Book of Magic”. If one was strictly a card or coin guy there are so many other great choices it makes one’s head spin. Hugard, Jennings, Bobo and Roth come quickly to mind. I love The Dai Vernon Book of Magic for several reasons. First there is some interesting history. And in Chapter Two “The Vernon Touch” is
itself worth more than the price of the book alone. Gold! The effects taught here are a perfect mix of cards, coins, balls and rings. All effects teach fundamental and valuable sleights. Everything is clearly described by Lewis Ganson and the accompanying photographs are perfectly illustrative. I have spent a lot of time in this book since August and the beginning of my return to magic. I have presented about 35 effects so far this year for magic Friday. The effects I choose usually come from classic books I already own. If you count the Tarbell Course as a single source, I suppose that would be my most valuable resource. But if you want to consider density, The Dai Vernon Book of Magic packs more power, knowledge and practicality into its 140 pages than anything else I know of. Again, if you want to talk strictly cards or coins, etc. there are certainly better resources. But for practical fundamentals and variety, Gotta go with the DVBM.
For months I have been working on “Three Ball Transposition”. When I began working on it I had never seen the effect performed. Recently I saw Johnny Thompson perform his handling Silent Mora’s version of it on the internet. Thompson is such a great
performer. His patter is pretty straight forward. The effect is presented as a demonstration, more or less. Thompson manages to mystify his audience while putting them through fits of laughter. Surely, this is the most powerful combination possible in magic. Not being blessed with such a sharp and quick humor, I try to script my performances as a story when appropriate.
I love the way many Vernon manuscripts describe the “basic sleights” before getting into the meat of the routine. So I played along. I worked on the basic sleight for “Three Ball Transposition” before reading any further. After a week or two I felt comfortable with the move. So I read on. I soon realized the “basic sleight” must also be mastered while…doing something else. This took another 7 to 10 days before I felt confident with that. As I continued reading I discovered another move that would vex me. A sort of Han Ping Chien deal using balls. I was beginning to feel discouraged but pressed on all the same. After a few days I felt I was ready to begin putting it all together.


In the mean time, I found some beautiful 1” diameter marbles on Ebay. They were just the right size and visually stunning. Cheap too! But now I had a new problem. Vernon recommends rubber, plastic or wooden balls for this routine. Mine were glass. They talked a lot. But the script I was writing for the routine was inspired by the marbles. If I changed the prop I would have to change the premise and motivation of my presentation. I would just have to come up with a handling that keeps the marbles quiet when necessary. After a few weeks of working with them I hammered out a successful method. I even found a way to make the “talking” work in my favor and add an audible component to the illusion. I was now ready to start putting the routine together. And again after a couple weeks of practice and writing I had a unique and pretty (I hope) presentation of Dai Vernon’s “Three Ball Transposition”. This whole process was an on again / off again affair and took about 8 months from first reading to first performance.
Results: The first performance was fine mechanically but a little weak in presentation. Overall the performance was pretty good. This is normal with a lot of the effects I do. Especially stuff like this. That is, effects I have never performed before. The second performance was better and even scored an average of “9” on the “Magiscale”. I often poll my students. I tell them the reason is to separate the cream so next year they only get the best stuff. The truth is it’s easy to know the difference between an astounding success and epic fail. But it’s harder for me to determine whether an effect is a”6” or a “9”. Just inexperience I guess. Anyway, during the third performance I think I “flashed” a ball at one point. One or two folks may have seen something. Watch Those Blasted Angles! This performance came in at about “8.5”. During the 4th performance there was a tiny but audible “clink” where none was welcome. Oh well, I’ll just have to get over that one and stay hyper-aware of my angles. It was an otherwise good performance. They gave me an “8”. The fifth and last performance of the day was cleanly executed, but I think the delivery was a little off. I scored an “8”.


All through the day I was more unnerved than I expected to be by the proximity of the two net-holding spectators. Their eyes are only inches away from the action. And the angles are a bit tricky. This was not a problem for me doing Jim Tyler’s ring and string routine a few months ago. The sleights in that routine are not exactly easy, but they are beautifully camouflaged. The helpers can be as close as they want. But for “Three Ball Transposition” the heat is seriously on.
By the opinion of the high school students in my classes, today’s Magic Friday came in at an average of “8.2”. Not bad. I am not overly hung up on these numbers. But I am comforted by the knowledge that I have taken a classic and advanced (to me at least) piece of magic, wrapped it in my own presentation and performed it reasonably well. I also find great encouragement in the knowledge that once I zero in on the natural rhythm of this effect I can make it a “10”. If the great Johnny Thompson can present this effect as a perfect “10” in his own hilarious and wonderful style, that tells me the effect has “10” potential. Now I must find a way to make the effect a “10” in my own style.