Magic Tricks

This method is so obvious in hindsight that I'm amazed nobody marketed it sooner. For me, it appears easier than the standard method, not harder, because now I only have one object to hide.

If you think about it, a TT doesn't really solve much. You still have to block and hide it from view, and when it is removed at certain phases of the standard method, you have TWO hidden objects in play. For me, that's an uncomfortable consideration. I find the TT slippery and awkward when removed, and I'm always worried about exposing it.

With Bethea's method, you're only ever hiding one object — and it's a very small one at that. The moves are orchestrated in such a way that, from the audience's point of view, the hands are unmistakably empty aside from the bill they can see — and what a relief to be able to REALLY show both hands without any real angle considerations. Any "covering" moves you must do are completely rational, and therefore psychologically invisible.

Bethea's method has the further advantage of being almost completely impromptu. If you left your TT at home, you're still good to go with no more preparation than is required to fold a bill and stick it into your preferred hold-out.

Finally, though I'm sure the TT is not as badly overexposed for this effect as it is for, say, the vanishing silk, there are still bound to be those who suspect it. This method completely takes care of that (rare) problem.

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The first time I saw this effect performed was when I was a kid, and David Copperfield did it during one of his magic specials. Along with the rubber-band penetration melting a pencil through a dollar, and melting a cigarette through a quarter, the bill change was one of a quartet of close-up miracles performed by Copperfield that kept me up at night staring at the ceiling, even at the age of 10.

My pre-adolescent mind could imagine how a box might be tricked out in some special way to hide the lady, but I could not even CONCEIVE of how solid objects visually melted through each other, or how a one-dollar bill visually changed into a hundred IN NOTHING BUT COPPERFIELD'S BARE HANDS.

From the standpoint of the effect, this method creates an IDENTICAL impression to the one Copperfield made on me, except, in this case, the hands really are bare for all intents and purposes. Plus, as I said, it's actually easier to learn.

It's hard to beat that.