Floating Ball

[Philippe Billot]

Who knows the creator of the version with a transparent silk and a thread in which the ball can float behind and in front of the silk?

If possible, I want also the date of creation and where the first ad was printed.

Thank in advance

It seems the name of the trick is Butterfly but I'm not sure.

[Jonathan Townsend]

At Tannen's it was called Tony Spina's Astrosphere. That goes back to 74 or so.

[Philippe Billot]

Thank Jonathan.

[Philippe Billot]

First ad in September 1971 by Tannen

BUT I bought it in 1965 in France and one of my friend said it can come from Germany first.

So if someone have other informations...

Thank in advance.

[Richard Kaufman]

"Astrosphere" is a great trick. I knew it wasn't Spina's, but have never been able to identify the creator.
Incidentally, the Tannen instructions are pretty poor. I learned it directly from Tony and still do it (using the Tenyo made version, which was far superior).

[Robert77]

Richard I'm mildly curious what made the Tenyou version far superior. I had the Tannen version and my biggest gripe was the rather large lip around the center of the vacuum formed sphere halves. I looked up the Tenyou version and found a photo (below) which looks like a bit smaller lip, but it's still there.

https://tenyo-magic.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... phere.html

[Richard Kaufman]

Still a lip on the ball, which is irrelevant. The audience doesn't care about it.
The Tenyo foulard is much better, with silver threading through it to help hide the thread. And Tenyo uses black thread, not the clear monofilament that Tannens used. Tenyo also reinforced the holes in the foulard through which the thread passes so the whole thing just works much more smoothly.

[Robert77]

Thank you. Interesting. The version of the "Tony Spina's Astro Sphere" i had in the 70's did have a somewhat stiff, semi transparent embroidered foulard which seemed to work quite well. But in that version the gimmick was a very small metal hook to a loop of monofilament, completely unattached to the foulard. The only downside I found to it in performance was that the monofilament would be prone to heating up and binding in the crotch of the thumb.

I'm guessing that over the production period several different fabrics may have been used for the foulard.

[Brad Henderson]

I want to say I heard Kovari claim to have invented this when he showed it at an Abbott’s Get Together. Or was there a Saturn Magic? For some reason I associate the word Saturn with my memory of the effect. FWIW

[Philippe Billot]

The first ad in France is in the magazine Le Magicien no. 97, october 1965 under the title BELLE DE NUIT (marketed by Mayette) but no name of the creator.

[Joe Lyons]

A quick internet search reports it is in Further Tips on Zombie by Abbott's, crediting Mickey Ostaski.

I don't have the booklet so I can't confirm.

[John Signa]

Foster credits Ostaki with “Full Stage Floating Ball Routine” which is a gimmick with hooks that is inserted into ball at end of Zombie routine to set it up for “your full stage routine.” This is followed by description of Abbott’s “One Man Floating Ball Routine” which could use Ostaki’s gimmick and a loop of thread around the neck.

[Philippe Billot]

I read the Ostaski's version in Further Tips on Zombie. It's not the same method as Astro-Sphere.

There are some similarities in the handling but Ostaski's method doesn't use a silk.

I'm waiting for a response from Germany. Maybe we would know the name of the creator...

[Richard Kaufman]

Ostaski was better known as Mickey O'Malley.

[Richard Kaufman]

Thank you. Interesting. The version of the "Tony Spina's Astro Sphere" i had in the 70's did have a somewhat stiff, semi transparent embroidered foulard which seemed to work quite well. But in that version the gimmick was a very small metal hook to a loop of monofilament, completely unattached to the foulard. The only downside I found to it in performance was that the monofilament would be prone to heating up and binding in the crotch of the thumb.
I'm guessing that over the production period several different fabrics may have been used for the foulard.

Tannen always used monofilament, which is much more easily see. The black thread works perfectly with the type of foulard provided by Tenyo. Far superior to what Tannen sold.

All versions use the small metal hook attached to the loop of thread.

[John Signa]

Crediting clarification…
Ostaski’s contribution in Further Tips is the gimmick to convert a Zombie ball to use in a floating ball routine. The One-Man Floating Ball routine provided is from Abbott’s.

[Philippe Billot]

Thanks to research by Denis Behr, we now know that Astro-Sphere was created in Germany under the name Papilio-Butterfly and the first advertisement appeared in 1963 in the magazine Magie, Vol. 43, no. 9, page 303 and the trick marketed by M. O. Stolina.

[Richard Kaufman]

Great.