Genii Magazine - 01/06/2008 Copy Reduced to 92% from original to fit letter page
The
Secret Created and Described by David Regal
here are a couple of magicians who will break my
T
legs in the parking lot of The Magic Castle when
they see that I’ve put this routine into Genii. It
opened my last Parlour set, then quickly became one of “I have worked out a system that will enable this to come to
my favorite routines ... and it’s not a trick! At least, I don’t
think so. What it is, is amazing and entertaining and travel
wonderful introduction of a performer to an audience.
It packs small, plays big, and is appropriate for a great
number of venues. This is why some magicians I admire
decided to add it to their repertoires after seeing the reac­
tion that can be wrung from it.
I was introduced to the trick in Maurice Fogel— In Search
o f the Sensational by Chris Woodward and Richard Mark
(Hermetic Press, 2007). It’s called “Borderline Case,” and is a
baffling demonstration of a currency paradox. Fogel learned
the routine from reading “Magical Shopping” in John Fisher’s
Magic Book (Prentice-Hall, 1971).
Fisher stated that the trick was an
IliE S E IIir E
adaptation of an old illogicality. It
was new to me, and I immediately N E W
saw the entertainment potential in
Fogel’s presentation. I added some
things to it, and to my mind the
premise I introduced frames the
effect well at the beginning and
acts as solid punctuation at the L11180916 G
end. I also added a focus on the
audience volunteers and tweaked
the nature of the props used, as
1 (WORTH
you’ll see.
Needed: Five large bills, as
shown in figures 1 and 2 (you may copy and enlarge
them), three of which are “New York dollars,” two of
which are “New Jersey dollars,” two cans or bottles of
beer, New York Yankees paraphernalia, New Jersey Nets
paraphernalia.
Have the props anywhere handy.
To Perform:
Step 1) Establish the premise.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to give you a choice right
now. I can show you a card trick, or I can teach you the secret
to eternal happiness. Let’s hear a round o f applause fo r the card
trick ... and now a round o f applause fo r eternal happiness.”
I act as if it is a close call, but it never is. When I perform,
I am holding a “Disposable Deck” (a dealer item) at this
point, which I then crumple into a ball and toss away.
“Okay, the secret o f eternal happiness. I think we can all
agree that in order to have eternal happiness, all the problems
o f the world would need to be solved. Done. And we can further
agree that if we solved all the world’s problems, everyone would
Copyright (c)2008 Genii Magazine, Edition 01/06/2008
April 29, 2018 2:19 am (GMT -1:00)
be rich, and beer would be free— am I correct?”
Extend your arms and hold, to pimp some applause
from the audience.
pass. It’s based on an existing monetary system. Any o f you who
a know that currency is always worth a little bit more in its
place o f origin. That is the key to my system: Every state will
have its own form o f currency. I know what you’re thinking, it’s
nuts, but as you ’ll see this system is foolproof. For an example,
let’s take a look at two friendly neighboring states, New York
and New Jersey ... .”
Step 2) Produce a New York dollar, the bill depicted in
Figure 1.
“This is a New York dollar. You can tell by the picture o f the
Empire State Building in the middle. As you can see, it’s worth
a dollar in New York, but only 90 cents in New Jersey. That’s
Y O R K M O N E
if T
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important, as you ’ll soon see. I also have a New Jersey dollar.”
Display the dollar shown in Figure 2.
“You can tell it’s a New Jersey dollar by the belching smoke­
stacks. As you can see, this dollar is worth only 90 cents in New
York. There’s a method to this, and to best illustrate the system
I need someone in the audience to represent the state o f New
York. How about you?”
Bring up a gentleman from the audience, leading the
applause, and have him stand to your right.
“To eliminate any memory work, I thought we might dress
you as a New Yorker. ”
I place a Yankees cap on his head.
“Now, since you are a New Yorker, feel fre e to be as rude as
you’d like, okay?”
He will respond in the affirmative. If he’s demonstrative,
he will take this opportunity to be rude, calling you a name.
This will get a big laugh from the audience. Why? While an
audience might be reticent about laughing for the benefit of
a performer, they love to laugh for one of their own. This is
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