The magician's "cups and balls"

trick or routine is one of the oldest there is. It is thought it might date from as far back as 2,500 BC. There is at least a little evidence for that in the form of a picture on a tomb in Egypt.  

It was certainly mentioned by Seneca

"ic ista sine noxa decipiunt quomodo praestigiatorum acetbula et calculi, in quibus me fallacia  ipsa delectat. Effice ut quomodo fiat intellegam perdidi lusum"

The very rough translation is something like, "These arguments are deceptive but harmless like the juggler's cup and dice, in which the trickery delights me. But when I know how the trick is  done I lose interest."

I understand Seneca's feelings. I have lived long enough with the Senior Cat's interest in fooling and tricking others with "magic tricks" to know how a good many of them are done. I cannot do any of them myself but I understand how they are done - and once I know I tend to shrug and say, "Yes darling."

This week a friend of his who is still a professional magician - a man who made a living out of it until Covid19 meant there was no live theatre and no birthday parties and other events - was visiting when I prowled in. 

P...is actually a regular visitor. He still values the advice the Senior Cat can give him. He will show the Senior Cat a new routine and ask for criticism that he actually wants to hear. This time however he had brought a trick for the Senior Cat - one of the oldest in the world. This was the "cups and balls" routine. The Senior Cat knew it of course. He has performed it many times but always with a much larger version of the required cups and balls. This version was smaller. The Senior Cat was delighted. 

The two of them were playing with it. P... said, "Look at this Cat!"

He did the trick. I clapped and he laughed, "Of course, you know how it is done."

And I do. I am not sure the Senior Cat has the manual dexterity to do it any more. I hope he has. He is going to be very disappointed if he cannot do it. Of course he can still produce a coin from behind the ear of the unsuspecting person who is close enough. He can still do another trick with three lengths of rope which is perhaps almost as old as the cups and balls trick. He can still shuffle cards for card tricks and more. The Senior Cat still works on these things. The activities person would like him to do a few more tricks for the other residents. 

But me? I have lived with these things for as long as I can remember. I have helped the Senior Cat write his "patter" - that endless stream of words magicians use to help misdirection. I have told him when something works and when it doesn't. 

Three years ago, at the age of 95, the Senior Cat retired from the International Brotherhood of Magicians. It wasn't until yesterday, when looking for something he had asked me to find, I came across his "Order of Merlin" award - given for more than just membership in his case. It was given for teaching young magicians.

"Magic" is not as fashionable as it used to be. Perhaps it is because there are too many other bits of electronic wizardry in our lives. We walk through doors which open automatically without thinking about it unless they cause a problem.

But perhaps we do need to think about things like the cups and balls routine more often. We need to think about how we entertain people. Isn't the harmless fun of that routine better than "shooting" people on a screen?