The method for forcing an item on a list by having someone name a number and then check the list item at that number seems to be Edward Victor's. See his “A Novel 'force' for a Series of Names” in Further Magic of the Hands, 1946, p. 103. Victor uses six lists that rotate six names. He brings out the correct list after the spectator names his number. This principle was later put to use for the Card Diary effect.