Blue Spotitis and Other Oddities
by Ken de Courcy

"In the 1956 edition of Robert Harbin's "Paper Magic" (beautifully illustrated by Rolf Harris) you will find an easily-made paper model titled "The Salt Cellar...Magic Colour Changer".

It's a paper-fold that goes back many years; in fact, in 1948, Ernie Kob marketed an amusing use for it he called "The Bug Catcher". Martin Gardner discovered a Fortune-Telling version of it amongst Manhattan school-children in 1953 and, on discussing this with my wife, I was astonished to find she, too, remembered making it in the playground when she was at school. She promptly made one to prove it!

This particular novelty was used two-handed and this same handling is shown in the Harbin book; Ernie Kob may be responsible for converting it to one-handed operation. Working at the Magic Castle in Hollywood in 1978 meant we had the pleasure of meeting George and Arlyne Sands. George, an extremely clever author and inventor showed us an amusing twist on a different paper model in which he folded a dollar bill into a purse and then produced a dime from it. This fold, incidentally, is also included in Harbin's book; I mention this to show how comprehensive Bob made it, but the addition of the coin was George's brain-child.

I have taken both the paper-folds and endeavored to increase their potential."