Magic Folks:

On Carl Cloutier's Bill in Kiwi DVD, nestled among all his amazing tricks, is a pen thru bill that just blows me away. I am (or thought I was until I saw Cloutier) familiar with the magnetic and ungimmicked methods. What makes his so perplexing is that after the penetration he slides the pen back and forth in the hole (or at least that's the way it looks as I watched the DVD. I've convinced myself from watching it dozens of times that it's not a case of making a sound to simulate movement; the pen actually seems to slide back and forth in the hole, which, of course, is impossible if magnets are used. As the bill is borrowed (and signed) it is also impossible for the bill to be gimmicked. And that's the rub. Even though he teaches most of the tricks during the instructional part of the DVD, the pen thru bill was not covered. I've asked several dealers about their knowledge of the trick and its availability without success. I do own the "perfect pen" by Cornelius, which is a great one, but I'd be willing to trade up to be able to do what Cloutier does with a pen and bill--if that's possible for a mere mortal. Any information/advice will be much appreciated.

Best,
Zipper

Can you describe the effect?

Joshua Jay's Complete Course book and DVD has a pen-thru-bill effect that uses a sticky note overing the fold in the bill. I think you could slide the pen back and forth a bit with this method.

-Dan

Dan,

Thanks for the reply. I've not seen the Jay method but Cloutier uses no cover whatsoever. The pen he uses resembles (from what I can tell from watching the Bill in Kiwi DVD) a white or tan marker. He borrows a bill and just punches the pen thru the center of it--up to that point it looks exactly like the perfect pen routine--and one would suspect magnets of some sort. However, then he slides the pen back and forth thru the hole. I hear it slide and I see it slide. I'm going out on a limb here and say that it has to be an illusion of some sort but I can't imagine how it could be. The DVD has come down in price since I bought it (I paid $60 and it was worth every penny), and even though the pen trick is not taught, it's just worth having it to watch Cloutier work his magic with the pen and everything else.

Any other thoughts will be much appreciated.

Zipper

Huh...got me.

May be a spring loaded hollow pen that gives the appearance of moving in and out

Montana Santa (I could easily believe you're the real thing from your picture):

I went back and looked at the video of Cloutier doing the pen thru bill, and if it's a spring loaded pen, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. In fact, it's so convincing, I'm ready to believe he actually did punch the pen through the bill he borrowed and just returned the bill after passing it to the Kiwi with a newly punched hole in it (assuming that the hole would not be noticed because it would have a flap over it). The trouble with that is that the pen he used wasn't the kind capable of actually tearing a hole in a bill. You really owe it to yourself to beg, borrow, or steal the DVD and watch Cloutier in action. Maybe you'll see something I didn't in the pen through bill.

Magical things,
Zipper

Wouldn't it be better to switch this discussion to Secret Sessions where there might be a better response.

Steve

It is not the Vanni Bossi system????

See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PwhTbes3qA#

Is this trick worth getting?

If you watch the video, you can make a decision whether to put it in your repertoire. It plays just like it looks. Finding his notes might be hard though.