Anyone using this?

I saw a video of it and immediately noticed it's just a slight variation of an old U.F. Grant effect.

Printed up some of my own strips and tried it on a few people to really good effect.

Just wondering if anyone else is using this and what their thoughts are...

Where can we find the Grant effect?

Quinn

I'm not even sure it's sold anymore.

About 20 years ago, I saw it in the Chicago "Magic Inc." catalog and it was very inexpensive.

Basically it involved cutting a long strip of classified ads, then predicting which ad the spectator would make you cut the strip at. It uses the same exact principle as "Cut Here". I don't have Sankey's version, but he should certainly credit U.F. Grant, unless the technique is even older than when Grant published it.

Very unusual effect, though, and I credit Sankey for really making it simple.

It's pretty much a self-working effect. Takes longer to print out the strips than it does to perform it.

This is actually on the Jaw Droppers Video Series, using a stock market page. Great concept, simple to do. Wish I thought of it. If anyone is interested, I could find which of the 4 tapes it's on and what the exact title of the trick is. Let me know!

Jay

Hm, doesn't surprise me that the technique is popping up again after all these years. Very simple and effective. That one sounds like the U.H. grant one I saw all those years ago. The main requirement was that the strip of newsprint be fairly homogenous and filled in with not super huge ads or anything that would stand out. The beauty of Sankey's rethinking is that the strips you print are blank except for the words "cut here"! I showed it to a few more people and it just kills 'em. (sankey's version that is)

This "clipped column" prediction was put out by Grant sometime in the 70s, if memory serves me. It was actually invented by Albert Spackman & published in the British magazine THE GEN some time before that.
I used it contantly in my Magic Castle shows at the time, adding the column heading idea later. Now Dan Harlan explains it (without credit!) on his PACKS SMALL PLAYS BIG "mentalism" video (I put "mentalism" in quotes because he does mostly Mental MAGIC, not mentalism--there's a big difference.
Oh, and it's U. F. Grant, not U. H.

U.F. Grant put it out in the 40’s! He does not credit anyone for its invention. It has been reprinted several times over the years without credit. Dunninger put it out in a little booklet that touted Camel Cigarettes in the 50’s (without credit) and Karl Fulves included it in his “Self Working Mental Magic” (without credit) in 1979.

Dan does add a little convincer to the effect that helps sell it. I don’t know if it is from someone else too. I did not watch the credits at the end of the tape to check out his credits.

I haven’t run across the Albert Spackman reference before. That was a truly interesting footnote! Thanks!

I use this effect to get away from cards and coins for a bit. Nice for me *and* the spectators!

That's just a question : Don't you think it's a little too obvious ?

In fact, I saw few days ago the demo on JBTV and I agree that's an old method, but is it really good ?
Maybe with a very good routine to make the whole thing work, but clearly not as JBTV shows us...

As I usually do, I showed this video to some layman friends of mine (3 peoples). 2 out of 3 told me the method is obvious.
And again, I think we can do something good with this "trick" but I'm not absolutly sure now.

In fact, when you cut the strip, they have no idea where the whole thing is going, therefore at the end it's harder to unravel. The demo is crap because the guy doesn't even misdirect from the one simple *move* the routine has. Properly presented, it's a fooler. Try not to present it as a "trick", just do it impromptu and call it an "experiment" or so such... A lot of times, the JBTV demos are perfunctory at best and at worst they sometimes even tip the method if you look at all closely...

Make up some of your own strips and try it out on someone who hasn't seen the lame demo on jbtv. You'll be surprised at the great reaction you get...