New new $20 bill

[Guest]

Apparently, they're redesigning the paper money again, which should provide some headaches for one of my tricks, Bill in Lemon. On AOL, there's an article that read, in part:

WASHINGTON (May 13) - America's paper money - the venerable greenback - is no longer going to appear all green. Bills aren't about to turn psychedelic, but they are getting a tad more colorful, part of a broader effort to thwart sophisticated counterfeiters....

First in line for the government's money makeover is the $20 bill....most noticeable change in the bill is that it has more color. The new $20 has a subtle green, peach and blue color featured in the now neutral-colored background.

The article said the money will probably be introduced in the fall. Ugh. There will be a transition period to the new bill, as there was with the last bill, when you have to specify which bill you want to use.

I pre-load my bills into the lemon, see. I guess that's an argument for loading the bill during the performance, isn't it?

[Frank Yuen]

Don't know your routine but perhaps the presentation would allow you to ask for only the new bills. Something along the lines of, "Have you seen the new twenty dollar bills? They've got all sorts of new anti-counterfeiting measures built into them. Here's something that I've discovered about them on my own. Whose got one ..."

Frank Yuen

[Guest]

You're right, there are always solutions to these problems, but it's just a pain.

I suppose I should look at the bright side. These changes always open up new doors, sometimes yielding whole new variations on the old tricks. Maybe that pink coloring will allow us some new subtlety with the bill change (which I used to do all the time but don't anymore).

By the way, I heard there was a new book coming out on bill changes. Anybody hear whether it's been published yet?

[Sean Piper]

Why not prepare two lemons with an old and a new bill. Keep track of which is which and then you can borrow either bill.

In fact... this method allows you to borrow ANY bill!!!

[Brad A._dup1]

Perhaps the new twenty and the transition period for it are REALLY meant to thwart magicians from ripping off the corners of twenties and sticking them into lemons?

Or not.
-Brad