The Genii Forum

I've noticed several routines using the cootie catcher paper fold have been published recently. The earliest reference I have for a routine like this goes back to 1997.

Are there any earlier?

Thanks in advance.

Doc

It's in Will Goldston's "Paper Magic" (1923), but the effect is just a very simple colour change as you switch from one set of faces to the other.

Perhaps you mean Will Blyth? It's in his book "More Paper Magic", also 1923, with the effect as you describe.

Oops, sorry, Bill's quite right about Will Blyth. Don't know what came over me. But it was "Paper Magic", not the sequel "More Paper Magic". Blyth calls it a Mechanical Conjuring Trick (http://magicref.tripod.com/books/blythpapermagic.htm). It's known in various countries under all sorts of names (e.g. Salt Cellar, Fortune Teller). More here:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threa ... 86718.html

though not all of what you find written about it is correct. In particular, I'm pretty sure it doesn't go back to 17th century Japan as claimed in the above reference.

Thank you. This is helpful. The Blyth effect was a color change. The current "crop" of these effects are of a mental magic variety, as was the 1997 effect.

Thanks again!

Doc

PS: If anyone has any other references pre-1997, please post.

Could you give references for some of the recent mentalism items using the Cootie Catcher, and if possible (without giving away any secrets) elaborate on the effects? I wasn't aware of anything of that sort but would be interested to know.

There have been a couple in Genii in the past year or so. I'm sorry, but I don't have the specific issues at hand.

Folks do know that even a little adhesive and a flap can greatly affect the outcome of those child-game oracles, right? ;)