"Little Black Book Test" by Docc Hilford
Suggested Retail USD$45.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 5 Out of 10

"Little Black Book Test", the latest by Docc Hilford, is a grand idea, beautifully executed, but marred -- if not scarred -- by atrocious directions which will have many scratching their heads and scratching the trick entirely.

That's a shame, too, because this is a great piece of work that is fun, unique, and flat-out entertaining, everything you'd want in a book test. That it packs small is just another plus that makes this one valuable.

Here's the way it goes:

A sealed envelope is given to a spectator to hold. A little black book -- yep, one of those -- is brought out and given to a spectator who opens the book to any page and chooses any one of the names on those pages. This is shown to a second spectator who also picks a name from those pages. The performer then identifies the thought-of names in the book, along with the phone numbers and other information in the book, including the zodiac signs of the listed names. The performer then says that he met the same girl chosen by the first spectator. The envelope is opened and inside is found a cocktail napkin, complete with lipstick print on it, a swizzle stick, and a matchbook cover. On the cover is written the same number as selected by the first spectator.

It's a great effect. Shoot, just reading it gets the blood and brain cells pumping. Then you get into the details and you start getting really thrilled. The little black book is completely ordinary -- in fact, you can buy them at office supply shops for next to nothing -- so it can be examined until the cows come home. Because of its size, carrying it in the pocket is a breeze and using it close-up or in platform settings is easily possible. There is absolutely no forcing at all. Period. And there is no duplication of things: every one of the listings is unique. For the perfectionists among us, you don't even need to touch the book once you've given it to the spectator -- you ask two questions and you're ready to go with all the information you can give them.

And who can pass up that climax? It's bring a great sense of closure to the whole routine. If you don't like it, though, the method Hilford uses here is certainly alterable to any ending you'd like from any book test you've seen.

So what in the world is the problem, then? After all, isn't this the Holy Grail of booktests for intimate situations?

Yes, it is. If you can get the thing to work based on the instructions. Chances are, you won't, you'll get extremely frustrated and aggravated, and you'll toss this away never to touch it again. More likely, though, you'll follow the instructions explicitly, go to rehearse it or, worse yet, perform it, and find the problems that make working this one simply impossible.

"Little Black Book Test' is based on an exact, mathematical working. This working, to be honest, is brilliant. All you need is two pieces of info and you know -- without pumping -- the names and phone numbers being thought of. The closet mathematician in me loves that; the performer in me adores it. But it is a very exact thing. It's unforgiving. Everything must be stated and placed exactly so and without variance otherwise the whole thing comes tumbling down on your head.

The problem is that the directions are anything but precise. Let me give you my experience with getting this into a workable piece.

I opened the package, read the instructions, and fell in love with this. Okay, so far so good. Then I noticed that the matrix Hilford mentions in his ads doesn't match the text describing it. A typo? Probably. But which one is correct: the matrix or the description. One will work and one won't. So I worked it through and picked one. Not a big deal, just a little frustrating. The next thing I noticed was that the information you should fill into the blank address book was missing a column that was plainly mentioned in the instructions. A whole column, seventy-two pieces of info that evidently are critical to the working, each affecting each entry... gone. Okay, so maybe it's not that critical after all if it was left out of the entry data and mentioned in the instructions. Maybe it just wasn't edited out of the instructions. So I pressed on. I began copying the info into the address book, listing by listing, item by item, word for word and number for number. Then I noticed that some of the information didn't match the math, making several of the entries useless. One trip to the office supply store later, another address book later, and now I'm filling in the book and making corrections to the instructions as I go. Finally, I get it done and I begin practicing... and I find a lot of entries that simply don't add up (pun not intended, but it'll work). I go step by step and find about a dozen entries that I cannot make work with the math. It begins to look like an entire section of the instructions is missing. And it probably applies to the missing column of information. Now frustration has given way to anger so I toss aside the worthless little black book, I put the instructions away, and I use Hilford's ideas to make my own version. And it works. The end.

There. That's what I went through with this "Little Black Book Test". And to be perfectly honest, if this were an item in some lecture notes or a piece of a larger book, I wouldn't gripe much about it. I'd say something like, "It doesn't work as described, but if you put in the time and trouble to re-work the ideas, this will fly and fly quite well" and move on.

This, though, is a whopping $45. For that much money, I expect something that works either out of the box or is so well described that putting it together requires little effort or time on my part. "Little Black Book" is neither of those. And, as such, is way overpriced and way under-edited.

Okay, so let's say you made it as far as I did and you caught everything and you worked your way through it all and you're ready to go. What about the rest of the working?

The math does most of the work for you, supplying you with the names and phone numbers being thought of. Other pieces of information -- street addresses, email addresses, zodiac signs, and the like -- will require memorization. Hilford suggests using names and places you're "familiar" with already, but while that may work for Hilford, it won't work for the majority of folks putting this one together. So you're on your own there, you and your memory. Believe it or not, even with completely bogus entries, after a short while it all seems to click and you find yourself remembering more and more details as you go. Not that any of that extra detail is necessary -- the name and number is the crux of the matter -- but it does make things just a bit more challenging in appearance and that always helps.

In the end, though, it's about the workability of things and, simply, "Little Black Book Test" doesn't work as directed. If you're really after this one, if you're really taken with the idea of a portable, unique, and flexible book test, then you can make this one work... with more than $45 in sweat and frustration. It might be worth it to you -- it was to me but then I really, really like this whole premise -- or it might just be a lot of money spent for a lot of stress.

I'd bet for most people it's the latter and not the former.

"Little Black Book Test" by Docc Hilford
In a Blink: 5 Out of 10

Practicality: 5
The routine as explained takes up a bit of space and becomes problematic if you're planning on repeating this, as does reseting things. The basic idea, though, is certainly flexible enough for other presentations which would be more workable in more situations.

Workmanship: n/a
The supplied blank "little black book" is non-gimmicked and straight from the office supply shop.

Documentation: 1
This killed "Little Black Book Test" for me. Typos are one thing: typos that affect the working of a trick are another. Typos and weak explanations that have me filling out multiple "black books" until I caught them all ruins the trick's value. Big let-down here.

Effect: 10
Booktests almost always play well. This one, with it's personalized touches and little mind-twisting climax, really creates great reactions. This is, simply, a great idea.

Presentation: 10
A friend's little black book, a psychic bit of business, and a climax that is purposefully vague and simultaneously powerful... this is a fine presentation for unique take on the classic.


Shane

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