SIGLO XVIII
1. La rebelión contra los pueblos
Back in 1979, in commemoration of the Psychic Entertainers Association's first convention, I created an effect utilizing film canisters, balls of newspaper, and a dollar bill. It remains, I think, one of my best creations. Here is a refinement of the basic principle which allows the effect to be performed with a borrowed newspaper. Instead of film canisters, security lined letter envelopes are used.
EFFECT:
From a borrowed newspaper the mentalist cuts five dollar-bill size pieces. Each of these is folded into quarters and placed into security lined envelopes. The flaps are tucked in.
Going into the audience, the performer requests the loan of a bill. The higher the denomination, the better. The lending spectator is instructed to fold the bill into quarters so that the green side of the bill is on the outside. The volunteer accompanies the performer back to the stage and is handed the five envelopes.
The mentalist reiterates that each of the envelopes contains a bill sized piece of newspaper.
"If one of those envelopes were to contain a real bill, you would have no idea which one it was because the security lining of the envelopes prevents you from seeing through them.
"When I turn my back I want you to mix up the envelopes, select one, and drop put the rest in your pocket, or on the table." The performer turns his back.
"Have you done that? Good. Remove the folded piece of newspaper from the envelope and we'll make a trade. Here's your bill. Trade me for the newspaper."
The mentalist puts the bill behind his back so the spectator can trade it for the newspaper "bill." "Put your bill into the envelope and seal it up. When you've finished doing that, take the rest of the envelopes and seal them up, too.
"While you're occupied doing that I'd like to point out to the rest of the audience that if all of those envelopes were now to be mixed, no one here could possibly know which one contains the bill. All we
can know for sure is that one of them does.
"I know there are some skeptics here who figure that I must know where the bill is, so I'm not going to do this experiment. One of you will."
The mentalist approaches a young lady sitting near the front.
"I think it will be you. Have you ever had a psychic experience before? Have you ever had two in one night?
"Let's see how our friend is doing." He addresses the onstage spectator. "Are you finished sealing those up? Good. Mix them up thoroughly and give them to me."
The performer, accompanied by the young lady he has just selected, returns to the front and takes the sealed envelopes.
He continues,"Now if I were to find the envelope containing the bill, that would be pretty good. But if you were to find it [speaking to the woman] that would be a miracle, wouldn't it?"
The mentalist now has the woman select one of the envelopes. She is asked if she'd like to change her mind. If she does, she is permitted to trade for any of the other envelopes. When she's finally satisfied with her selection, the mentalist turns to the lender of the bill and says, "Do you think she picked the right one? Do you think she's got the power?
"Well, I've got confidence in her and I'll prove it." While saying this the mentalist has removed a lighter from his pocket and he sets fire to the remaining envelopes. He drops them into a stainless steal mixing bowl resting on his table and the flames leap upward.
"I put some lighter fluid in there to make sure we got 'em all."
The performer ad libs with the volunteers, especially the lender of the bill, who will be quite concerned about the fate of his money.
The woman is asked to tear open her envelope and look inside. She sees the bill. The performer takes the envelope and lets the lender look.
"It looks like she was right. Let's take this a step further. Take your bill. I'll turn my back and you stand next to her and unfold it. Have you done that?" The performer picks up a clipboard and marker from his table.
"Concentrate on the serial number. Try to project it to me. I'll write down my impressions."
The performer writes, the volunteer reads the number aloud and the effect is concluded with a successful serial number divination.
METHOD:
While the general effect is not new, it contains some elements that will baffle anyone who might be familiar with previous versions. Consider, the woman is really allowed to change her mind until she is happy with her selection. Only one bill is in one of the envelopes. The others really do just contain
newspaper.
The envelope containing the bill is selected and the bill sealed therein while the performer's back is turned. If you're familiar with my original effect you will have correctly deduced that the newspaper cues the performer as to which envelope contains the bill.
Prior to the performance the five envelopes are marked. Nail nicks or pencil dots will do fine.
The pieces of newspaper are cut from the upper corner of the paper. All have a page number printed on them. When the performer folds the pieces and puts them in the envelopes at the beginning of the routine, he is sure to fold them so the page numbers show on the outside after the folding. He simply notes which number goes in which envelope and makes a mnemonic association. If he's using his own newspaper, as will usually be the case, he can cut the bills beforehand and make sure they're numbered one through five and that they go into their respectively marked envelopes.
Prior to the performance the performer folds a twenty-dollar bill into quarters, having memorized the serial number. This is finger switched for the spectator's bill while the performer is bringing him to the stage. That accounts for the final revelation.
If the idea of a finger switch scares you, just remember that no one knows what you're about to do. You could actually take the bill and put it in your pocket to do the switch and you'd get away with it. Banish completely any residual magician's guilt you might have and you won't think anything of it.
When you trade your twenty for the piece of newspaper the spectator takes out of one of the envelopes while your back is turned, the page number on the newspaper will tell you which envelope he is putting the bill in.
The byplay with the female spectator while he seals and mixes the envelopes gets you away from him for a moment, adding to the fairness of the procedure, and also serves to kill the dead time which would result if you just stood there the whole time.
The correct envelope is initially forced on the woman. I use a simple fan force. The fan force is safe because it really doesn't matter that much if you miss. The ESP switch, described in Volume One, solves that problem. As you know, the switch allows you to apparently switch two cards, or, in this case, envelopes, without really switching them at all.
The motion of the hands, however, is forth and back instead of a criss cross. It goes like this:
An envelope is selected. Drop all but one of the rest of them on your table. Say, "Now you can keep that one or trade it for one of these."
If you have successfully forced the correct envelope on her, the one you have retrieved from the table contains newspaper. If not, pick up the one containing the bill. Hold it in your left hand between the first and middle fingers.
Say, "Would you like to trade for this one?" As you say this, grasp her envelope between the thumb and first finger of your right hand. Bring your right hand back and your left hand forward. As the hands pass each other grasp the left hand envelope between the right first and second finger and the right hand envelope between the left thumb and forefinger. Don't stop the forward or backward motion of the right and left hand respectively.
You will apparently be offering her the envelope you just picked up from the table. In fact your giving her back the same one she selected. Depending on if she wants to trade or not, you either repeat the switch in the opposite direction, or you let her keep her own envelope. The point is that YOU decide whether you really need to switch or not, and then either perform the move or not as the situation requires.
Never look at the envelopes while doing the switch. Look the volunteer in the eyes at all times and you'll have no trouble. (If you look at your hands, you'll probably confuse yourself. The switch looks that fair.)
In this routine I've eliminated the main defect of the traditional Bank Night effect where the performer offers spectators a chance to win some money if they can pick the envelope containing the bill. Of course the spectator always loses. The audience is disappointed and the performer appears to be a smart ass. This is not a good choice of image.