Hello,

I'm looking for a good Torn and Restored Newspaper trick, any advice?

-Ekia

'News Flash' by Axel Hecklau looks pretty awesome. I don't own it but I've heard great things about it.

There are a number of T&R Newspapers out there. Each with their own pros and cons. I would suggest first learning the Gene Anderson tear first. This tear has been around for many years, and is still considered to be the quintessential method. I have used it for several years.

I also used Baxt's Better Newspaper Tear. This is similar to the Anderson method, but the set up time has been greatly scaled down. However, it is expensive for a beginner....about $100.00. To a working professional though, it's well worth the money.

Speaking of $100.00 newspaper tears, the latest is Axel Hecklau's News Flash. This in my opinion is superior to the Anderson method, due to the fact that you only do 3 tears, and that they are done more cleanly than Mr. Anderson's version.

There are many more versions of this wonderful effect. I just named MY favorite 3. If you do a little research on the net, you'll find some of the others as well. I hope this gives you a little food for thought.

I still have to buy Axel's version. I do enjoy the Baxt version a lot though. Also, the No Tear Newspaper is interesting if you just want to do the restoration part. It's a great method, but I no longer use it.

Thanks for your advice brisco, it sounds like I'd better start out with Gene Anderson's tear considering I'm just starting on this piece of magic. Where would you suggest I learn it? Is there a good book/DVD?

Also, is this illusion plausable for a close-up audience?

Check out the Greater Magic Video Library set. Volume 37 is his video, and it comes some very interesting magic, including his paper tear.

As for a close up audience, it is plausible, but you would really have to work your angles on it. For close up, there are much better newspaper tears, such as Al Koran's version.

For close up you may also want to consider Joel Bauer's torn and restored newspaper. It's not as flashy as Anderson's , but it can be done close up and practically surrounded.

tear down by andrew mayne is good

If you haven't got anything yet I would agree with KingoftheKards with Tear Down it's a great routine and I tried it on one of the people that work at my local magic shop and his eyes went wide he'd never seen something so clean as this T&R there's only 1 problem with it and that's the cleanup but it's done in an offbeat and most people won't remember it anyways.

i'd go with tear down by andrew mayne. Impromptu, fairly easy to perform, and can be signed and examined.

I saw the demo for this, and I wasn't impressed. Before the restoration, it looks like he's fumbling and taking too much time for the restoration. It just looks really bad in my opinion.

If you want a signed T&R Newspaper, check out Osterlind's. It's really good, and very natural looking.

I would have to agree with Brisco. Mayne is very talented, but his torn and restored paper falls short.

My personal favorite Torn and Restored Newspaper comes from Alex Elmsley's Tahoe Session's volume 4. Rather easy to construct and the routine I found to be simple, yet very convincing to the lay audience.

I have Gene Anderson's and Torn & Restored Newspaper Illusion with Ben Salinas. I like both. Ben teaches 9 differnt tears.

None of them are really his though. The Anderson Tear is still on the market, as is the No Tear, which they knocked off while also making it less magical.