Paper Hat Tears

Type: parlor, stage

Skill Level:

Retail Price: $7 - $11 (pack of 10) depending on brand

Effect: Two papers are torn-up, rolled into a ball and transformed into a paper hat.

Performance Time: 30 seconds to 5 minutes, depending on the routine

Reset Time: Single use

Angles:

Quality: There are several manufacturer's of hat tears. We looked at two brands Bumpers and Uday. Bumpers' are made in the US and Uday's in India. No surprise, the Bumpers' are more expensive and better.

Mike Maione: Hat tears are used by very many magicians. They are super simple to use, so you can concentrate on your routine. The effect is as described above... not much. But when you call an assistant to help and add some other bits of business to your routine, you and your audience can have a really good time with hat tears. I use them in nearly every kiddie show I do.

Hat tears come in a variety of styles. The traditional is a bonnet (my favorite) but, you can get hat tears that come in the shape of wizard hat, Santa Claus hats, boxer shorts and panties. (I don't recommend the panties variety for your kiddie show for obvious reasons. At least, I hope they're obvious.) Bumpers makes a sampler with a couple of each of their hats. It's worth checking out.

Warning, I'm going to wind up telling you the secret as I describe the the differences between the two brands we looked at, so I apologize in advance. But, to write around the secret and be able to communicate why I like Bumpers better, is just too hard. And, frankly, the principle is so basic, I really don't think I'm running the risk of becoming another Valantino. So, I won't even bother trying to conceal the secret.

Both hats are essentially the same. The load (folded paper hat) is glued to and concealed in a compartment in the dark piece of tissue. When the paper is torn the compartment is opened and the folded hat can be unfolded in the process of balling up the torn paper scraps. The difference is that in the Bumpers brand, the torn pieces can be left on the hat. (The balled up scraps look like a flower on the bonnet or a pom-pom at the end of the the wizard/Santa hats.) With the Uday hats you must remove the torn pieces and ditch them ... a little more work. Personally, I like to leave them on. So, I like Bumpers. Also, I have only seen one style in the Uday brand ... the Wizard style. They fit okay on kid's head but not to good on my fat head. The Bumpers' bonnet style is a truly one size fits all. Pay the extra.

M&M Magic Review © 1998