Rubber Band Credits

[George Olson]

A friend of mine overseas needs some help for a project he has. Namely, the proper credits for various rubber band tricks; any help would be greatly appreciated.

The ring that walks up the band
Rubber band through the thumb
Showing two bands to one
The jumping paper clip
The band through the middle finger
Band up the nose
The bill climbing up four steps.
Broken and restored band.

You can see how difficult it is to track these things down because the names cannot be pinned down.

We have looked at the Harlan Tapes for some help, But many of these were shown us by someone and the origen has been lost. He really wants to do the right thing

Thanks in advance for your help

GO

[Pete Biro]

Don't make any SNAP decisions... :p

[Guest]

I believe the bill climbing up four steps is probably in reference to Dan Harlan's "Traveling Cash". It can be found in Harlan's lecture notes, a Michael Ammar at the Magic Castle lecture tape, I believe on Harlan's rubber band series, in an issue of the Magical Arts Journal and I think the first appearance is in the premiere issue of the Minotaur magazine.

As Pete noted, the broken and restored band is Harry Lorayne's "Snap".

[Harry Lorayne]

Thanks Pete and Frank. I originally published SNAP! in a book called, HEX, way back in, I believe, the 'sixties. I sure started something, didn't I? I also explained it in REPUTATION-MAKERS. Best - HARRY LORAYNE.

[Guest]

I've watched and read dozens of rubber band effects over the years. Harry's has an honest directness. It is, in my opinion, still the best. Second best is the ring-travelling-up-the-band thing. Third best is the paperclip thing.

I must say, I never like to see close-up workers with wrist-fulls of the darned things. It takes away the 'impromptuness' (how's that for a word?) of the concept. Like with card magic, it always looks 100% better when you do a trick with 'their' deck.

Just a personal opinion...

Paul Gordon

[Philippe Billot]

I think that one of the first who created an effect with a rubber band is (was) Stanley Collins but as I'm spending my holidays, I haven't my database

[Guest]

Some of the titles below are a bit vague as there may be more than one version (e.g. band through thumb), so if you saw the tricks on the Dan Harlan tapes the best move would be to get hold of them again and check the crediting, which I think is pretty thorough.

A few suggestions, nevertheless:

The ring that walks up the band
This is in Martin Gardner's Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic, and must be quite old.

Rubber band through the thumb
There are several versions. See, for example, the one by Jay Rene in the original Elastrix book (1979).

Showing two bands to one
Also in Elastrix.

The jumping paper clip
Possibly Acrobaticlip on Vol 3 of the Dan Harlan rubber band tapes.

The band through the middle finger
Again, there are several versions. Dan Harlan has a a nice sequence called Joint Venture on his Band Shark tape and in Minotaur magazine.

Band up the nose
This is by Joe Rindfleisch. It's on Vol. 3 of the Dan Harlan tapes, and also in Minotaur.

The bill climbing up four steps
See Frank Yuen's post above. The premiere issue of Minotaur was November 1988.

Broken and restored band
This is in Elastrix and Martin Gardner's Encyclopedia. Gardner says the "standard" method came from India via Kuda Bux. There is also a version of the "Chinese method" in "The Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi".

Another good collection of rubber band effects is "Gummiringe: Eine kleine Enzyklopdie" by Brumoli (originally published in 1976, later revised and expanded), though it's all in German.

(Can anyone elaborate on the connection between the Walt Rollins/Harry Lorayne B+R band and the Indian method?)

[Harry Lorayne]

Hey Edwin Corrie: KUDA BUX HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BROKEN & RESTORED RUBBER BAND TRICK! Kuda was a friend, but a bit of a fraud. Or he was kidding Martin Gardner. Martin included the thing in his book AFTER THE FACT, it was not in the original. I have a letter from Martin on file apologizing to me for being taken in by Kuda. Let me repeat: KUDA BUX HAD NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE BROKEN & RESTORED RUBBER BAND TRICK. That is Snap! and it's mine - always was. Best - HARRY LORAYNE.

[Guest]

Sorry, I was just relaying information from sources available to me. Practically every description of the B+R band I've seen cites "Hex" and "Reputation Makers" and says the trick was "popularised by Harry Lorayne". Even "Martin Gardner Presents" (1993) says it's an "ancient trick popularised by Harry Lorayne", although there's no longer any mention of Kuda Bux. Obviously I haven't seen the letter Mr. Gardner wrote to you. In any case, I was simply asking in very general terms whether anyone had more details.

I'm still not clear about where Walt Rollins fits in (if at all).