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THE OBEDIENT BALL AND RELATED DEVICES:
HOW YOU, TOO, CAN DEFY GRAVITY!
By Dr. Cato Holler
In the early 1900s, David P. Abbott per-
fected one of the most popular and bewilder-
ing of all magic effects, the floating ball. He
shared his secrets with such magical lumi-
naries as Okito and Thurston, who then pop-
ularized the trick on big stages
around the world.
Prior to this, however, came
the popularity of an earlier effect
known as the “obedient ball.” I’m
sure that many of you are familiar
with the obedient ball. In its sim-
plest form, it’s a wooden sphere
threaded on a string and is made
to stop or go upon command as it
slides down the string. The effect
has been around forever and was even per-
formed by none other than Robert Houdin.
It was included in many of the nineteenth-
century magic sets.
Angelo Lewis, better known as Professor
Hoffman, described the ball in 1876 in his
well-known book Modern Magic. Hoffman
attributed it to being Japanese in origin and
36 www.magician.org
said it was often referred to as the “Japanese
Ball.”
Well, let’s move forward to 1890. In Hoff-
man’s book More Magic, he describes an
updated version of the ball, which not only
descends upon command, but
also has the capability of ascend-
ing the cord, seemingly in defi-
ance of gravity. These early
magical spheres were generally
black in color and available in
several sizes in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. Around the same
time, this improved version of the
obedient ball hit the market, a
German tin toy company began
manufacturing Tom the Climbing Monkey,
which operated on the same principle as the
ball. The company later produced a tin hot
air balloon with a similar mechanism.
A more recent version of the obedient ball
was made of solid walnut and marketed by
Bill Adams, as part of his Centurion Line of
exquisite magic in the 1980s. It was called
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the Orb of Omar, or the Incredi-ball. These,
like their predecessors, are now becoming
quite collectible and somewhat hard to find.
Over the years, numerous versions of the
ball that use different methods have ap-
peared, including some requiring threads
and back-stage assistance. At least one
model involved a thread and reel. As a
magic collector, I have acquired more than
a dozen different related items over the
years.
The June 1911 issue of Stanyon’s Magic
featured “The Rising and Falling Tube of the
Native Indian Conjurers.” Contributed by
Satja Ranjan Roy of India, it featured a short
bamboo tube which behaved much like an
obedient ball, but operated by a different
technique. The 1912 Vol.11 No.5 issue of
The Sphinx magazine featured an article on
a similar “Obedient Tube.” The device reap-
peared in a Sphinx article from the 1944 Vol.
42 No.12 issue. Although simple in construc-
tion, it is an amusing device. It can easily be
made with a cardboard tube, some string, and
a couple of paperclips. This makes a great
craft project for young magicians.
Some obedient balls would rise and fall
along a rod, instead of a cord. These utilized
hidden threads to do the lifting. Others
would roll forward and backward along a
plank (Golliwog ball) or wedge-shaped in-
clines. Others were controlled by threads,
Captions?
April 2024 www.magician.org
magnets, and in some cases controlled by
hidden air jets. These pneumatic devices
were described by Sharpe in Conjurer’s Hy-
draulic and Pneumatic Secrets.
In 1943, Jack “Mystic” Smith released a
3.5-inch cubical form of the obedient ball.
Known as the Ascending Block, it appeared
in the Sterling Magic catalogue at the time.
Its internal mechanism was identical to that
of the second-generation obedient ball, and
the string ran diagonally through opposite
corners. Its popularity apparently was lim-
ited. On week eighteen of The Magic Col-
lector’s Corner, Judge Gary Brown
demonstrated his newly acquired ascending
block that had been beautifully restored by
Paul Lembo. I am personally aware of only
one other original extant today, although
others may be hiding out there somewhere.
Some of you undoubtedly own a little de-
vice known as Cubio. This is essentially like
the original obedient ball, except a small
wooden or metal cube is used in place of the
sphere. Unlike Smith’s Ascending Block,
the string ran from one side of the block to
the opposite side, not corner to corner. Also,
the Cubio would only descend, not rise. One
improvement has been made in that the
modern Cubios contain a secret locking
mechanism, allowing one to pass the unit
out to spectators who are then unable to per-
form the trick.
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So, now let’s look at some methods be-
hind these interesting devices. The secret to
the original obedient ball is quite simple. It
depends on the fact that the hole through the
sphere is not straight but has a curve in the
middle. As long as the string is kept slack,
the ball slides freely along its length, but ten-
sion on the cord produces friction at the
hole’s curvature, allowing it to stop at will.
A close-up version was designed where the
ball could be handed out for inspection. The
hole through this ball had a straight bore but
was tapered from one end to the other. After
the ball was examined, the magician could
insert the cord, which had secretly been
threaded through a tapered wooden plug that
contained the deviated hole in its center – es-
sentially restoring the ball to its original con-
figuration. Lloyd Chambers later used this
plug concept in an obedient ball he initially
made for Thayer Magic before selling them
through his own company.
Then, there was a gimmick on the market
consisting of a thin curved metal tube that
when pre-strung on the cord, like the plug,
could be secretly inserted through the center
of an orange, producing an obedient fruit, no
less. These were pretty cool effects, but still
didn’t allow the ball to go UP the cord.
The updated version allowed two-way
travel for the ball. The center of the sphere
contained a rod or axle on which were two
different sized spools with separate strings
attached. The ball would rise and fall as ten-
sion was applied to the cords. There is actu-
ally a formula in physics that describes the
action of these internal pulleys. It can be
found in Dunninger’s Complete Encyclope-
dia of Magic. In the same book, Dunninger
described two other obedient balls that are
simpler and use invisible threads.
One of the latest versions to hit the market
is GraviBall, by Russian FISM winner
Artem Shchukim. It consists of a golf-ball-
size device with internal wheels similar to
the obedient ball. The two halves of the
sphere are held together by magnets rather
than the traditional pins or tiny nails. It is
threaded with a nearly invisible thread and
can be operated as more of a ball, which ap-
pears to be floating or rising and descending
on its own.
I find it interesting that these ingenious,
historic devices are still being used today to
entertain, bewilder, and amuse audiences of
the twenty-first century.
Dr. Cato Holler has served as both Vice
President and President of I.B.M. Ring 392
(Blowing Rock, North Carolina), the
William Spooner Ring, and is also a member
of the Academy of Magical Arts and the
Magic Collectors Association. He first pre-
sented an earlier version of this paper for
Bob Sanders’ Magic Valley Magic Weekend
in October 2022.

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