Pat Page invented Easy Money c.1957 and it became so popular that it was almost instantly copied, improved, and/or ripped off. It was the inspiration for the one of the greatest magicians of all time and only three time FISM Grand Prix winner, Fred Kaps, to create his version called Flash Cash which became pretty much the gold standard for decades.
Of the many ripoffs of Pat’s version, Greg Wilson’s popular and wonderful version Hundy 500 of Easy Money is not one of them and has the blessing of Pat Page. It is so great when we can all get along and credit creators and inventors and seek permission when possible.
I’ve been performing this for over ten years myself (with the same gimmick which is certainly starting to wear a little) and it pretty much is my goto non card effect and a perfect way to get the audience interested. I’ve see a few other modern versions but none of them have convinced me enough to want to stop using this version. I particularly like the part of the routine where Greg does the simple, and surprisingly effective, count of five $1 bills to ten. Even if you don’t do it that well, it sets you up nicely for the eye-popping visual change to five $100 bills at the end. The bills can be shown very cleanly and I’ve never had an issue with spectators clamoring to inspect the money … though they always ask me to do the same for them.
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