# I give up. Could someone explain how Lou Holtz did the newspaper trick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801 "2007-10-06T23:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/1 "2007-10-06T23:53:59Z")
Clip [here](http://deadspin.com/sports/hey!-where.s-my-wallet%3F/for-lou-holtzs-next-trick-he-will-need-a-volunteer-from-the-audience-307475.php). He had to have switched papers, but where? His sleeves are billowy in traditional wizard style, but I don’t see him do anything with them. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/2 "2007-10-07T00:08:30Z")
Most probably there’s a pocket inside his original newspaper that contains the second. I believe I recall the trick from a childhood book of magic. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/3 "2007-10-07T00:12:01Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Most probably there’s a pocket inside his original newspaper that contains the second. I believe I recall the trick from a childhood book of magic. [/QUOTE] I thought maybe something like that, but then what became of the torn one? ---
**Author:** ![BACI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@BACI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BACI)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/4 "2007-10-07T01:21:18Z")
You can see him stuffing the pieces of the torn paper into a pocket (or something) just prior to him revealing the intact paper. His hand motion changes from tearing to poking. So to speak. M ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/5 "2007-10-07T03:14:04Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I thought maybe something like that, but then what became of the torn one? [/QUOTE] Another pocket in the second paper, or perhaps he’s just holding it hidden behind the last page of the new newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/6 "2007-10-07T08:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] I believe I recall the trick from a childhood book of magic. [/QUOTE] _Illusion_, Michael. Tricks are something whores do for money… or candy. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/7 "2007-10-07T09:07:02Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Another pocket in the second paper, or perhaps he’s just holding it hidden behind the last page of the new newspaper. [/QUOTE] It did kinda look like he was folding it back into the unwrapped version. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/8 "2007-10-07T15:12:28Z")
That’s the Gene Anderson Newspaper Tear, one of several different methods of doing the torn and restored newspaper illusion. Naturally, I can’t tell you how it’s done, that’s against the magician’s code, but if you’d like to learn how to perform it yourself, you now know all you need to know. Oh, no pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/9 "2007-10-07T15:36:05Z")
At around 27 seconds left, you see him folding the torn pages and they stiffly hold, suggesting a hidden wire of some sort. Then the fingers of his right hand poke into the bundle and find the hidden intact sheets, to which the bundle is glued. The shredded pages, in their tight bundle, are hidden inside the intact pages, likely behind the page with the full-size photograph of a woman at :17, which he does _not_ turn to show the audience. Well, that’s one valid hypothesis. There are variations, and in any case I think the bit is very well done. Made _me_ laugh. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/10 "2007-10-07T15:56:55Z")
“Here you have the front page, for people who want to read the news. And here’s the comics, for people who can’t read, and here’s the editorials, for people who can’t think!” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/11 "2007-10-07T18:23:27Z")
What I don’t understand about the magician’s code, is a honorable magician can’t tell you for free how a trick is done, but he will for 20 bucks? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/12 "2007-10-07T19:28:45Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] What I don’t understand about the magician’s code, is a honorable magician can’t tell you for free how a trick is done, but he will for 20 bucks? [/QUOTE] Hey, it ain’t a _poor_ magician’s code. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-could-someone-explain-how-lou-holtz-did-the-newspaper-trick/421801/13 "2007-10-07T20:09:04Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] What I don’t understand about the magician’s code, is a honorable magician can’t tell you for free how a trick is done, but he will for 20 bucks? [/QUOTE] Here’s the way most magicians think about it. If someone (usually but not always a youngster) has a genuine, serious interest in magic, and wants to learn and to study the ‘art’, then we don’t mind sharing the knowledge we have. In fact, magicians share information all the time, through DVDs and lectures and books and one-on-one sessions. Not just the secrets and methods, but other stuff as well, like building a business and stage craft and presentation skills and so on. However, we figure that if someone doesn’t have a serious and significant interest, and if they are just idly curious about how the tricks are done, we prefer to keep the secrets to ourselves as far as we can, and within reason. We do this for a variety of reasons. One is that part of the job is to create pleasing, entertaining illusions of magical and impossible events, and that’s not so easy if the secrets are well and widely known. Another is that not everyone wants to know how the tricks are done… some people just enjoy the mystery and the entertainment, and are happy to leave it at that. So, in general, we discourage just ‘giving away’ the secrets and methods we use, especially when these are broadcast to people who don’t even have to go to any trouble to watch (i.e. the Masked Magician shows) and don’t have any particular interest. But we don’t mind sharing with those who have a serious interest and who are willing to take some time and trouble to learn. If someone is willing to go to a magic dealer and pay $20 for a trick or a DVD, we figure that this person is probably not just idly curious, and is probably really interested in learning. Another factor is a person’s right to earn some profit from their creativity. In some cases, a magician spends a lot of time developing and inventing a particular trick, or a magic routine, book or DVD. When people pay their $20, he gets some reward for his intellectual property. If they pay nothing, he gets nothing.