| Title | Professor's Nightmare |
| People | Bob Carver |
| Year | cc 1960 |
| Source | |
| Description | Three unequal ropes become the same length and revert back to their original length. |
| Details | Gene Gordon bought the trick from Paul Young, who wasn't entitled to sell it. Paul got it from Bill Spooner who showed him the trick and then was pressured into explaining it. Spooner got it personally from Carver.
When Gene found out he paid the wrong guy he was very upset.
Karl Norman bought the Gene Gordon wholesale business from Gene and eventually sold it to Rick Johnsson and Philip Willmarth. When Rick died, by the terms of their business agreement, Philip got the business and lost his best friend. Unfortunately, Karl let the trick go out of stock and while it had been ripped earlier, that really did it. In the meantime, Doc Tarbell fell in love with the trick (he showed it to Philip Willmarth in Ireland's downtown Chicago magic shop), took it to England where he showed everybody. And the equal-unequal ropes took off from there. Since then numerous variations have been developed, one of the best of which is Jon Allen's described on his recent video. |
| Researched by | Philip R. Willmarth |
| Category | routine |
| Subcategory |