Cup and Ball conjuring is an art that will never be passe. The Stanyon Lessons as serially published in The Jinx have completely covered every move and situation one can possibly want to know or use. The serious reader has no doubt carefully mastered the moves and simple sleights month by month, and is now prepared to execute faultlessly a great number of passes. As with all magic, however, just the knowing of many tricks does not make a magician, and it becomes necessary to formulate a specific routine which incorporates all the elements of showmanship and stagecraft.

The individual performer should first determine whether he shall stand or sit during the exhibition, selecting that posture which is most natural and to his liking.

The entire routine should not run over five minutes, the one with which I have become identified taking about that long. I have found through careful observation that the shorter and snappier the routine, the better it is received. One important point must be remembered, the moves must be mysterious and never confusing. Too many are apt to add move after move and combination after combination, not realizing that they are merely repeating the three fundamental effects – appearance, disappearance and change. An audience CAN NOT and WILL NOT follow these complicated situations.

When the performer is behind his table he is the master of the situation and should thoroughly enjoy himself. He must take no exaggerated claims and expect his audience to believe him. Rather, he should speak about the ancient art, and when mentioning that strangely made cups are used should merely smile. He may speak of the trick’s great age, and how it has been found in every country in some form or other. In China it has been done with cloisonne cups, in Japan with saucers and rice paper balls. In India with hand carved wooden cups and pebbles, while the aborigines made use of cocoanut shells. Scooped out potato halves with small raw potato balls have also been applied to the trick by itinerant fakirs who, if challenged, would definitely mouth and swallow any evidence of chicanery.

Remarks along these lines as the performer puts his wand and three cups on the table serve to quicken interest, and the subsequent routine should be such that it has continuity, logic, smoothness and sense.

The following routine will be found to fill all the requisites which I deem necessary. The reader is, of course, at liberty to change any part of it as he sees fit. I can do no more than offer that which I have repeatedly proven practical and effective and hope that he who follows it will get as much enjoyment as myself from a performance of the Cups and Balls.

The performer prepares himself by placing the 4 small balls in his right side change pocket of coat. In the right coat pocket proper are three larger balls. The left coat pocket contains the final loads, say a lime, small apple and an orange. The three cups and wand on the table complete the set up. From this point, I shall refer to the various moves as passes in my routine, giving the name of the pass as it appeared in The Jinx series. The performer will find that in every case, a pass blends into what follows, and at the end of each pass, the balls are under the various cups or palmed correctly for that which comes next.

Pass 1 : To pass one cup through another. (Remark about the permeability of the metal due to the fact that it is made from some mysterious metal. Smile !)

Pass 2 : To produce a ball from the wand. (After the first pass, mention the need for a ball to go with the cups and use the magic wand to secure it.)

Pass 3 : To vanish a ball and find it under either of the three cups chosen by the audience.

Pass 4 : To pass a ball from C to B, thence to A.

Pass 5 : To multiply one ball into two. (After above passes with single ball, mention need for two and make it.)

Pass 6 : The two balls, placed one under each of the end cups, pass successively under the middle one.

Pass 7 : The two balls, placed under the center cup, pass under the end cups.

Pass 8 : Pass to obtain third ball from pocket.

Pass 9 : To place ball under each cup and cause all to come together under C.

Pass 10 : To place all three balls under B, then to find one under each cup.

Pass 11 : Pass to obtain duplicate (fourth) ball from pocket.

Pass 12 : To pass three balls in succession under the middle cup.

Pass 13 : To cause three balls to fall through a cup on to the table.

Pass 14 : To pass three balls upwards through table into a cup.

Pass 15 : To pass a ball from center to either of the end cups chosen by audience.

Pass 16 : The Multiplication Pass. (Do this several times.)

Pass 17 : To transform the small balls into larger ones.

Pass 18 : To transform the balls to still larger ones. (Final load as described.)