Help with a recent reference please

[erdnasephile]

Dear Magic Sleuths:

I recently read a review of a download/book/DVD where the reviewer noted that a presentational justification for folding a soon to be vanished dollar bill in a small packet was given. I made a note of it to purchase that resource; however, I can't for the life of me find it.

I'm 99% positive the review was printed during the past 2 years in Genii, MUM, or the Linking Ring.

I would be most grateful if you could please point me in the right direction.

Many thanks!

[Jonathan Townsend]

Roger Klause's routine?

[erdnasephile]

Roger Klause's routine?

Hi, JT: Thanks, but I don't think that's the reference I remember. The review referred to an item of more recent vintage.

[J-Mac]

Jon Lovick's book "Switch", a comprehensive reference on the $100 bill switch?

Jim McGowan

[Bill Mullins]

Lovick's book is well over ten years old.

Perhaps Kevin Bethea's "My Friend George", reviewed in Genii Feb 2019?

[erdnasephile]

Thank you for the leads...so far, no joy. I remember the presentational justification for folding up the bill was in the context of a "Signed Bill in Lemon" type routine. It's the one thing that's always bugged me about such things. That is, the magi takes the signed bill, folds it up into the exact size and shape needed to cram it into a piece of fruit with a small hole in it. Having a viable justification for this necessary act would fill a big presentational logic hole in a many routines, which is why I'm so keen on finding this review.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Having a justification for folding the bill still won't change the fact that the bill was folded into precisely the right size and shape needed to cram it through a small hole in a lemon. This is just an inherent weakness in a signed bill to lemon. But is it really a weakness that matters? If the borrowed (let's say $20 or $100) bill is changed into a dollar, rather than just "vanished," then the last thing they see is a regular sized bill, and they are also misdirected by the comedy of someone's $20 or $100 being changed into a dollar. With the misdirection of the startling change and the time misdirection before the ultimate revelation, the question is, Are they even going to be thinking (or worse yet, saying) along the lines of, "Aha, I see, there's that bill he originally folded up into a small packet, and now, here it is in the lemon in that same form. He must have inserted it through a hole in the lemon."

I don't do signed bill to lemon; I do a version of John Carney's wonderful and ingenious "Fruit Cup," from Carneycopia, where there is "one" ball (i.e. a balled up dollar), which vanishes, reappears under the coffee cup, and penetrates the cup, then a lemon appears. The bill is borrowed, and the spectator is given (supposedly) a torn corner of the borrowed bill to hold. When the lemon is cut open, a balled up dollar is found, and when opened, there is a missing corner which the torn corner "receipt" held by spectator fits perfectly. (Of course the routine prior to that was done with a balled up dollar so there's a built-in justification). All of this said, if I were going to try to think of a justification for folding a bill as in the signed bill to lemon, I might say something along the lines of, "People think magicians can make things vanish into thin air. Well magicians can make objects vanish, but it never happens all at once. You see, the object gradually becomes smaller and smaller until it finally disappears completely. Let me show you what that looks like in slow motion..." (Then if you want to do a bill change, you can surprise them with the change, joke around a bit and continue.) Just a thought...

[erdnasephile]

Hi, Alfred:
The thing that bugs me is in some methods (e.g., "The Final Answer" or "Pro Marker") you have to roll the bill in a tiny tube formation for the trick to work. This inherently looks suspicious to me.
Sure, I am probably overthinking this, but I'm pretty sure that audiences are just as smart as me, and I try hard to eliminate anything that feels or looks "funny" to me when I perform. If I honestly feel something is fishy about a routine deep down inside, if I don't justify it by presentation or action, I feel I might risk inadvertently leaking this to an audience. I like routines where everything feels "tight". I can't always get there, but I try.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Completely understand and relate Erdnasephile.