Tear Down is a Torn & Restored Newspaper routine. It doesn’t sound so amazing yet, does it? To truly appreciate what Tear Down is, it is best to understand the traditional method for the plot. Usually, the magician must engage in a time-draining preparation before the show requiring multiple newspapers. When showtime arrives, he pulls the newspaper out of his case and proceeds to rip it up into itty bitty pieces. I bet you’ll never guess what happens next. He restores it. Then the newspaper goes back into the case.
Tear Down opens up the handling for the plot in a devastating way. It’s based on Jim Steinmeyer’s Incessant Newspaper and, quite frankly, revolutionizes the genre. First of all, there is no preparation whatsoever. Someone can literally hand you a newspaper on the spot, and you can perform this routine even if you don’t have a Raven hooked up. Granted, when are most people in the position to borrow a newspaper when performing a show? But the performer can bring out a newspaper and hand it out to be examined. This wasn’t possible with the traditional methods.
Secondly, the newspaper can be signed. There is only one newspaper, so it can be inked up more than that guy from Prison Break. Again, this was never possible with the old method. And seventhly, the restored newspaper can be given away to keep and is fully examinable; you’re completely clean. Needless to say, a game of no-touchy-touchy was played with spectators in the old version.
Now, what I’ve just told you is pretty much spelled out on the DVD case, so I knew these claimed conditions going into it. That’s what made it all the more amazing. I was watching the newspaper get ripped up. Really ripped up. And I knew that there were no duplicate newspapers or switches, so I was getting pre-fooled by just the ripping portion itself; I had no idea how all those pieces of newspaper were going to be restored under those conditions. I was even starting to suspect misleading advertising. Sure enough, the newspaper was restored. As was my faith in the advertising.
The secret is downright diabolical. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would ever perform another version of the trick. It’s immensely practical, utterly fooling, and overall far more magical than its predecessors. If I were to ever decide to perform the plot, there is no question that Tear Down would be the version I used.
The trick is taught in extreme detail and several variations are shown for various other performing conditions (mainly, with other types of periodicals or magazines). In fact, it’s bordering on too much teaching (if that’s possible). The routine is so easy to perform, that it almost seems superfluous to go over it in so much detail. But believe me, that is much better than the alternative.
There is almost nothing in the way of presentation included. Andrew does mention that Jim Steinmeyer’s presentation from the aforementioned Incessant Newspaper routine is marvelous, but other than that, you’re on your own.