October 1: Clippo

In the October 1937 Linking Ring, William H. Wilson (Will de Seive) advertised his trick, Clippo. Strangely, the first ad featured Clippo-fix, a bottle of the proper adhesive to prepare the trick (75 cents), and it was easy to overlook the ad for the actual trick, Clippo, with 15 prepared strips (also 75 cents). The trick was unquestionably Kolar’s Magic Shears, which was sold in 1927. A marked strip of tissue was torn in fourths and then trimmed with scissors, and the strip was instantly restored. But Clippo provided the perfect combination. It was self-working, used cheap newspaper, and had a “repeat” effect that occupied time onstage and invited all sorts of mindless patter. The secret was a special preparation of the paper, using rubber cement and talc.