The Artistry of Manipulation

Manipulations have always seemed so magical to me. My first recollections of real magicians were silky smooth billiard ball manipulators. Manipulation routines seem to have a theatrical flow; sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic, always artistic.

With manipulations, there is no silly banter, patter or punchline. In fact, most routines have no words at all. Manipulations sequences can have moments of playfulness or humor. Mostly, the sequences are graceful and poetically executed. Expert manipulators often opt for musical accompaniment to facilitate the mood and rhythm of the presentation without the need for words.

I guess what sparked my recent interest in manipulations was watching magician Angela Funovits perform a standard, yet beautifully executed card manipulation routine on a youtube video.



My daughter and I were mesmerized by the video and it reminded me of how captivating a manipulation routine can be for an audience. My daughter, who is not all that interested in magic, grabbed a deck of cards and started performing one handed card fans.

The closest I had ever came to manipulations were some card flourishes I recently learned and an Adams multiplying ball set from my youth. While I am interested in card manipulations, I had seen some billiard ball manipulation routines from the likes of Romaine and Cardini and that really left me in awe.

You hear a lot of the magicians of today speak of Cardini with great reverence. Deservedly so as he created so many of the manipulation effects used by today's masters. Check out Cardini's routine which goes from cards, to cigarettes, to matches, then balls, to silks, and back to an endless flow of cigarettes. If I could, some day, perform a small fraction of what Cardini did I would be one happy manipulator. So I set out to gain some proficiency in billiard ball manipulations.



After careful research I decided to purchase World Class Manipulations with Jeff McBride Volume 1 DVD. This DVD is a bit odd in that it focuses on three forms of manipulation and none involving cards. However, that DVD seemed to get the highest compliments by manipulators. The three forms taught are coins, billiard balls and thimbles. The coins might be useful, the thimbles would be throw away material and the balls would be the meat and potatoes.

I purchased an inexpensive set of Vernet multiplying balls and was all set to immerse in billiard balls. Unfortunately, the many Magic Cafe posts about purchasing quality billiards, such as the Fakini silicone balls, proved true. I could work on some dexterity and sleights but if I'm to be serious about billiards, the expensive Fakini balls are in my future.

Out of morbid curiosity, I watched the thimble section of World Class Manipulations. I mean, come on, do kids even know what a thimble is? I hadn't seen one in decades. And they're so small, how could they "play big" as they say in magic. They just seem corny.

However, after watching McBride rattle off a few thimble routines I was amazed. Thimbles have a magical quality unlike anything I had seen. The appearances and vanishes are so convincing. Sure they may be a dated household item but the moves were so cool and smooth. There are not a lot of thimble routines to be found but I did find a dated, but well down Gary Darwin routine.



I immediately purchased a set of Vernet thimbles and unlike the multiplying balls, I really like their thimbles. The set has four white, nested thimbles and four multi-colored, nested thimbles for a total of 16 thimbles.

I've been having a blast practicing a handful of thimble manipulations. I've found that using a few sleights, I can improvise hand movements that provide a variety of artful presentations. Now if I can just stop the thimbles from occasionally flying off my fingers at high rates of speed it will be interesting to see where this unexpected school of magic takes me.