Going for the Juggler

BY DAVID HARKEY

Reprinted with permission from Genii Magazine

Wearing just enough clothing to get by, you walk onto a bare stage and take a bow, making it clear your hands are empty. Suddenly, you're overtaken by a momentary seizure. Your cheeks puff up and something appears between your lips. You pull from your mouth a full-sized juggling ball. The ball becomes two. The two become three. And you juggle. For no reason whatsoever you slam one of the balls inside your mouth, letting everyone see it there, and then chew it down.

You then blow it out your nose and resume the three-ball pattern.  It's a tall order, producing three full-sized

juggling balls without so much as a coat to conceal them, but you can rest assured this solution has been thoroughly audience tested. All you need are three white juggling balls and a marshmallow. To set up, stuff one ball under each arm pit, one into your waistband over your spine, and stuff the marshmallow into your mouth. Depending on how deeply you stuff the third ball into your waist band, you can perform this routine three-quarters surrounded (fig. 1).

To perform, walk on stage and take a traditional bow, folding your right arm across your stomach and your left arm behind you. Now switch arms, folding your left arm across your stomach and your right arm behind you. Slowly lift your head and look at the crowd. To produce the first ball, puff your cheeks and round your lips, taking this moment to snatch the ball from your waist band with your right hand. Open your mouth and push the marshmallow into view with your tongue. Now raise your right hand to your lips and pretend to pluck the ball from your mouth, using this cover to suck the marshmallow back in. Because the ball is much too large to fit into your mouth, people will think it is collapsible, so take this moment to bounce it once or twice on the stage floor.

To produce the second ball, turn slightly stage left and raise the ball to your mouth, as if trying to see if it will fit back in. During this, pretend to rest your left hand on your hip, actually opening this hand palm up with your fingertips pointing directly behind you.

Now simply release the ball from the left armpit and palm it into your waiting left hand (fig. 2). Shrug your shoulders as though you're just as confused as the crowd, and turn full on toward the audience, taking advantage of this large movement to bring your hands together in front of your face. Pretend to magically split the ball into two complete balls, showing one ball at the fingertips of each hand. Then begin juggling the two balls in your right hand.

To produce the third ball, turn slightly left and set your left hand on your left hip, as before. Strike a pose, as if working exclusively for that side of the crowd. Keeping the balls airborne, transfer them to your left hand, which immediately assumes the two ball pattern, and turn slightly right. Though you now seem to be merely striking a pose for that side of the crowd, take this moment to release the ball from the right pit and palm it into your waiting right fingers as you did with the other ball.

Now simply straighten up and begin juggling all three balls with both hands. Though people will eventually realize there are now three balls in the pattern, you can showcase them by tossing one high into the air and showing the remaining two in your out­stretched hands. Let the airborne ball bounce, then catch it and resume the pattern.

Now here's something for the seasoned juggler which combines a classic vaudevillian juggling gag, a classic magic gag and a marshmallow. During the three ball pattern, catch one of the balls with your right hand and trap it at the heel of the palm with your ring and pinky fingers (fig. 3). Even with these two fingers occupied you can still juggle two balls with the remaining three fingers. So, keeping the two balls air­borne, transfer them both to your right hand, immediately switching to the two-ball pattern. During this, cup your left hand, as though it contained a ball, a pretense people don't even think to question because juggling so confuses the eye.

Thanks to the nature of the two-balls-in-one-hand pat­tern, you right hand is constantly occupied and in motion, which momentarily obscures the hidden ball. The instant your left hand is empty, slap it against your mouth as if ramming in a ball. Then puff your cheeks and push the marshmallow into view. Because the audience sees only two balls in play, it just doesn't seem like the third ball could be anywhere but your mouth. Now pretend to eat the mouthed ball, actually eating the marshmallow.

This whole sequence goes much quicker than it reads. From the instant you pretend to cram the ball into your mouth to the instant you pretend to swallow it, you juggle the two visible balls only five or six times.

To reproduce the eaten ball, toss the two visible balls into your left hand, which assumes the two-ball pattern. .Immediately grab hold of your nose with your right hand and pretend to expel the missing ball. Simply exhale through your nose and release the ball to the stage floor. When the ball bounces back, switch to the three ball pattern, even bounce juggling the balls to emphasize that all three are indeed solid.

David Harkey is an acclaimed, award-winning magician with well over a hundred routines and essays in print. His new hardcover book, "Simply Harkey," covers everything from coins to crystals and features 60 original routines and 550 line drawings. Contact him c/o Clandestine Productions; Eugene OR.