"Gene Anderson's Newspaper Act" Lecture Notes

[Photo: Newspaper Act Lecture Notes Cover]

The seven effects described in these notes (or thirteen, depending on how you count) are the heart of my newspaper act. It was the first act on the Opening Gala Show at the British Ring Convention on September 24, 2008. These notes were specially prepared for the lecture I presented at that convention.

The effects described are Five-Pointed Star, Star of David, Peace Sign, Squircle, Ship's Wheel and Paper Dolls, Corn Stalk and Newspaper Chapeaugraphy with five hats. The description has many helpful tips plus my complete patter. Each effect has been methodically honed in the forty-plus years since the act won its first trophy at the Texas Association of Magicians Convention in 1964. In fact, newspaper magic has literally taken me around the world: I have performed the newspaper act professionally (that means I was paid for it) in 21 countries on six continents.

The 102 illustrations in the notes (view a sample page)were scaled from The Daily Telegraph, Britain's best selling full-sized ("broadsheet") newspaper. It has 14 1/2 x 23 1/2 inch pages, somewhat larger and with a slightly different page aspect than USA newspapers. If the page size of your newspaper is slightly different some of your folds won't exactly match the diagrams, but you should have no problem adjusting to that minor discrepancy. The notes are A4 format, soft covers with 16 text pages, stapled. The torn and restored newspaper is not included in these notes but is available on the Gene Anderson DVD.