I first saw Slydini perform Paper Balls Over the Head in March 1978, when he appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, a popular talk show of the time. I was entranced and immediately purchased The Best of Slydini… and More by Karl Fulves. These volumes taught the routine with dozens of photos, breaking down the moments to help me learn it.
I first worked on the routine by incorporating it into a year of my touring school show for middle-school-aged children. This gave me the opportunity to gain some mastery, performing it over 100 times.
A few years later, I met Avner Eisenberg, aka Avner the Eccentric when he was performing in Chicago. Much to my amazement, in his one-man show, he performed it silently! It astounded me how he was able to control his volunteers without speaking. He and I had more than one discussion about the routine and discovered that providing a false explanation/demonstration of “how the napkin is vanishing,” greatly enhanced it.