Thanks Guys! Your are too kind.

10:50 AM Cameras up, Lights on.

On the agenda, more shell technique.

Double shell work - Shimada, Laurie Ireland and double shell work which I found in a British book published in the year 1906!!!

Basic multiplication methods

Advanced methods

How the pros did it vs. everyone else

How to make the routine appear bigger on a stage.

If I can do all that by early afternoon it will be a miracle...

off to work I go..

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

Levent,
Your commitment to documenting and preserving the history of the art of magic and stage manipulation is phenomenal. I think the first time I saw the billiard balls performed was a TV appearance of Swedish magician Carlo Tornedo, and I was convinced that it was done by some kind of device hidden up his sleeve. I remember Henry Hay writing that a lay person saw a performance of the billiard balls and came up to the performer after the show and said, "I got a trick like that in a magic set when I was a kid, except the one in my set used a half ball." The nice thing about a good billiard ball routine is that more than one method is used to produce a ball, thereby thwarting any attempt by the spectator to arrive at a single modus operandus,
----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

L great, as always

5:25 PM

Time for a short snack.

Advance Shell work - Done

Ball Tossing - done

Shell less productions - done

Change over theory - done

In the middle of color-changes and vanishes and decided to take a short rest.

Just scratched the surface of what I need to put on this video.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

Keep going, Levent, don't stop .... please!

I'm so looking forward to watching the outcome of your studies and dedication to this project.

I don't 'do' coins, but I often sit back and watch your Miser's Dream dvd - so chock full of info, and I still laugh ('nicely', of course) at what you ended up with as your routine. Genius, simply genius.

Best wishes,

Dave

9:00 PM

Stopped for dinner...

Did a ton of stuff in the last few hours.

Lots of Maurice Rooklyn and Arthur Buckley. Not their junky hand washing stuff but their real deceptive moves especially the color changes...

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

11:00 PM

Just pulled the 6th one hour tape out of the camera and will stop for the night.

I've done 90 percent of the stuff that was on my list as far as ball moves go.

Tomorrow, I shall start on the hard stuff. The explanation of the history of the trick, followed by recreations of historically important routines!

First up: the routine of Buatier DeKolta circa 1865.

good night all!

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

I love the fact that you are tracing and recreating the history of the trick. I have heard that Rooklyn was a master. Levent, please discuss how the past masters did it all with wooden balls. I used to use wooden balls, but I would have to really prepare my normally dry hands before. Thanks.

Jim

James,
From what I understand part of that was due to the "French Polish" finish on the balls. As I understand it, they became slightly tacky as the hands perspired. I know Bill Baird said that the Fakini balls made things so much easier he wish he had them before. It would have saved him years of practice.

Richard

You are awesome Levent.

I am indebted to you for your work on the Misers Dream. I have incorporated two phases of Al Flosso's Routine (which you explained so well) into my show. I can't wait to get your billiard ball DVD, and figure out what great master from the past I can incorporate into my work. Thank you!

This just gets better and better.

Dave

9:00 AM

In the studio and ready to shoot super early.

Reviewed some old film footage of past masters to see if I was missing any important moves.

By the way, when I start these projects, I compile a PDF document of book scans of the subject I am working on. The page count on the Billiard Ball file as of today was: 1402 pages!

Will update soon...At lot to do...

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

1:00 PM Taking a short break.

Finished up some loose ends with regard to ball moves.

Also this morning, I shot the original Billiard ball trick. The routine as performed by Buatier DeKolta in the late 1800s.

Also I shot the pre-1900 routines of August Roterberg.

As a historian you read and re-read your files and notes. Then on a rare occasion you read something in a way you have not before and a clue pops out at you. This is kind of like the TV crime dramas where Perry Mason or Matlock looks at a photo or something written on a piece of paper and make a mental connection that solves the crime.

Well a few minutes ago I was reviewing a magic book from the year 1896 and in one sentence I saw something that made it clear (to me at least), the George F. Wright did NOT invent the Multiplying Billiard Balls as he had claimed in John Braun's column in the August 1949 issue of "The Linking Ring"

Taking a short break and will continue with the father of the modern ball routine: the Excelsior Ball Trick from 1901.

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

Hey Levent,

I just stumbled across this thread as I have never fully approached the billiard ball routines.

However, you make it all sound interesting, and the only thing I am asking is if you are adding Closed Captioning to the DVD as I am deaf.

I had produced my first DVD prior to going deaf and am currently sending it out to be re-done with Closed Captioning. There are many deaf and hard of hearing magicians out there, and it would be a wonderful thing to have more magic DVDs with it on there.

Even a transcript included for the Deaf that they can read through first or follow along.

Either way, I wish you great success with this venture, and I plan on taking a look at your final product.

Thanks,

sam

That's an interesting idea, Sam. I wonder if I could do such a thing myself on my Mac?

I've completed all the Roterberg stuff.

We have a party at our house tonight, so I must shut down production until the morning.

Have a good night, all.

Will update when I start again, tomorrow.

Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

Levent,
I have a good friend who is a great magician and who is also deaf. That would be great for him.

Also, my intro to billiard balls was Ganson's Routined Manipulation books. Are you going to do anything with Ganson's routines? I believe there was a 4 ball routine and his 8 ball routine with color changes.

Jim

After reading through this thread the other day, I rewatched the Salt Pour DVD. I'm amazed at how thorough you are, Levent, even going so far as to show the different books from which things came, telling who was inspired by whom, etc. I'm sure it takes forever to gather all the info, but I can't say how much I appreciate and am inspired by watching someone who would do it. It's obvious that you love the art.

Kudos!

Levent, if George F. Wright, as you mentioned, did not invent the Multiplying Billiard Balls, could we know who actually invented it? Thanks!

Hi James:

It's a long & complicated story and on the video it takes probably 7 or 8 minutes to explain it all (and I talk really fast). I can't go into it all here.

My basic theory is:

Buatier DeKolta was the first person to do the multiplying balls (with two solids and two shells), but the routine looked a lot different than the balls today.

DeKolta's routine was published in 1890.

In the following dozen years, the multiplying balls were done in many different ways by probably 100s of magicians working in Vaudeville and Musical Hall around the world. There were many, many different techniques developed, because there were some many places to perform.

In 1901 August Roterberg marketed the "Excelsior Ball Trick" which is pretty much the version we all know today.

There was no single inventor. But if I were to give you three key names, I would NOT include George F. Wright.

I would say in order of importance:

Buatier Dekolta
Williard Robinson
August Roterberg

UPDATE:

12 Noon:

Time to start shooting video again. With all the balls moves and little bits out of the way. We get to the hard stuff: Complete routines from some of the masters.

The first one up:
8 ball routine from Ade Duval...

Best regards to all,
Levent
http://www.LeventMagic.com

Make sure you let us know when we can by the DVD!! Looking forward to it!!