It was the oldest trick in the book, but in her experience only the best tricks survived to become old tricks.
—Adam Fawer, Improbable (2005)
It was the oldest trick in the book, but we were acutely short on tricks at the moment.
—Jay Vick, Poisoned Medicine (2002)
I know, it's the oldest trick in the book, but it must work for some people or,
I assume, it wouldn't be in the book at all.
—Barbara Pachter, The Jerk with the Cell Phone (2004)
[I was] thinking about how this had to be the oldest trick in the book, and wondering if there really was a book.
—Kelli Jae Baeli, Armchair Detective (2005)
It was the oldest trick in the book, but it had worked flawlessly.
—Clive Barker, Coldheart Canyon (2002)
I fell for the oldest trick in the book, and I wrote the damned book.
—Michael Silverhawk, Drifters: The Final Testament (2004)
[E]ven the oldest trick in the world still has new life in it if you give it some thought.
—Anthony Owen, "A Review of 'Cyclops' by Bob Farmer" (2000)
Sometimes in the movies, when the bad guy is holding a gun on the good
guy, the good guy says, "It won't work, Scarfelli. My men are
right behind you with their guns drawn." And the bad guy says, "You can't fool me, Murdoch, that's the oldest trick in the
book." Well, exactly what book are these guys talking
about? Have you ever seen a book with a bunch of tricks in
it? Magic tricks, maybe, but I don't think the thing with the
guns would be in there, do you? A prostitute might have a book of
tricks, but once again, probably no mention of the two guys with the
guns. And anyway, even if there really were a book with a lot of
tricks in it, how would you know which trick was the oldest? They
were all printed at the same time. You'd have to say, "You can't
fool me, Murdoch, that's the trick that appears earliest in the
book." But that's not good movie dialogue, is it?
—George Carlin, Brain Droppings (1997)
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I saw an amazing gallery of magic-themed linotypes by Kreg Yingst (thanks, Gordon!). My very favorites are: the Vanishing Audience, who perhaps escaped through the door marked "Exit" the Disappearing Rabbit, which takes the form of a playing card and animates if you can spin in the card in your mind the Floating Finger, which promises the secret (of the optical illusion!) for $9.95. (I find this hilarious!) the Cups & Balls, in which the magician is depicted as a two-faced jester, with the bells on his cap resembling balls that he's juggling the Linking Rings, where the magician's eyeglasses resemble a monocle, which (along with the curl of the mustache) mirror the rings the Floating Sphere, which resembles an eyeball as the ring goes past it And I especially love the ones that seemingly reveal a secret of magic: the entire Card Table hidden in the magician's pocket the comical Finger Trick, reminiscent of a Mad Magazine gag the Coin Trick, revealing the secret slot in the magician's head the Die Box, where the die is shown to dive into the hat the magician's brain palmed in his hand during the Pencil Penetration the trapdoor under the hat where the rabbit hides the Vanishing Elephant who floats up into the stage curtains and the secret of the Mind Reader, which hypnotizes the viewer to buy a print
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ElicitationI couldn’t get a feel for what he was hiding or whether he even seemed capable of rape. Then a technique called “elicitation,” which we were taught at Quantico, popped into my mind. So I just sprung it on him, as if it were a foregone conclusion: “Well, then, after you raped her what did you do?”
He came back, without missing a beat, “I went into the bathroom and took a piss.”
“So that’s where we’ll find your fingerprints? On the bathroom wall—right?” I asked.
Realizing that he had just confessed, all he could say was, “Damn.”
The detectives looked at me as if I had pulled a rabbit out of a hat. I shrugged—“elicitation” was nothing but the psych-major name for one of the oldest tricks in the book, and we all knew it. I had almost been embarrassed to give it a try. But it worked—to my surprise, the guy walked right into it.
—Candice DeLong, Special Agent (2001)
“What did you say your name was?”
Tim sneered. Did this bloke think he was as dumb as all that? He wasn’t going to fall for the oldest trick in the book.
—Carla Jablonski, The Books of Magic 2 (2003)
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