Thomas Henry - One Man Parade - The Linking Ring.pdf

(1139 KB) Pobierz

The Personal Prediction Principle

Methods are seductive and props are parapsychology to get across.

(I)

I believe

even more so. I know-a classy home- that using a pre-written prediction only

made prop has made me glassy-eyed adds to the difficulty. The focus is on

more often than I care to admit. The artis- props rather than people, so it comes

tic mania hits and after hours ofwielding across more as a trick, puzzle or chal-

computer software, color printers, lami- lenge.

(2)

Consider these examples.

nation film, spray glue, comer-rounders

In Phil Goldstein's commercial effect

and the like, I'll come up with a doodad "Designated Thinker," a large prediction

for a new effect I'm sure will be commer- placard is set down at the start ofthe per-

cial. But when the cloud finally lifts and I formance.

(3)

Later, after the participant

see things clearly, I think back to what has freely chosen a card you show that

Dunninger accomplished with no more the symbol on the placard matches. As an

than an ordinary piece of chalk and a alternative, here's how I personalize

blackboard.

things. I had a local printer make up a

In many ways, props are the bane of bunch of good quality

10"

by I

writing

mentalism.

tablets (about the same size ofthe origi-

Though the concept has been right in nal placard). I dispense with the placard

front of me for years, it's only recently altogether and instead sketch the symbol

I've really come to appreciate that men- while gazing at the participant, sensing

talism is about people, not things. This the atmosphere, etc. Any person's ego is

has led me to something I call the person- inherently stroked by this individual

al prediction principle.

attention, and sketching the prediction

Here's the idea: when performing a "especially" for that participant is a form

precognition effect, I'm suggesting that offlattery I think.

the theme may be more interesting and

Here's a close-up example, this time

even more convincing if you write the

(!)

from Max Maven. It's "Positive

prediction down in the presence of the Negative," which appeared in one of his

participant. The opposite of this would popular videotapes.

(4)

In this case, you

be where you pull a pre-written predic- start by bringing a business card forward

tion or even worse, a laminated computer which you claim has a prediction written

generated gewgaw as mentioned above, on it. But why not actually remove a

from your briefcase or jacket pocket.

"blank" business card and write the pre-

In the first instance just described, you diction especially for the participant at

are apparently picking up on some vibra- the outset, again in his or her presence?

tions from that particular participant; You'll note the quote marks around the

your prediction is somehow based upon word "blank." Ethics preclude me from

personal interaction with him or her. In revealing Max's method here, but I think

the latter case, since your prediction was I can mention that there is one word

obviously packed in the briefcase before already on the card that the participants

you even arrived at the venue, the impli- aren't aware of. You'll know what this

cation is that your work is independent of word is if you're a legitimate owner of

the personalities involved.

the video.

As the late T.

Waters so eloquently

Here's another illustration. It's the

observed, precognition is inherently the wonderful Jon Tremaine effect, "Round

hardest of the three aspects of cognitive the Clock."

(5)

I absolutely love Jon's

approach to psychic entertainment, and

think this is a terrific effect. It's fast, baf-

fling, has a double whammy ending and,

best ofall, contains some superior, inher-

ent (non-forced) humor.

However, the fact that the message to

the participant is permanently printed on

the back ofthe clock prop dilutes the per-

sonal feel. Once again, the pre-fab mes-

sage makes this come across as a "trick."

It might even suggest that any yahoo who

owns the prop would be able to do the

same thing.

In my rendition, I use a plain toy

clock; there is no etched-on message.

Instead, I bring forward my trusty writ-

ing tablet and say, "Give me a moment to

ponder an event yetto come.... Let me jot

my impression down as prooffor later."

I then tear offthe sheet, fold it in quar-

ters and place it under the clock on the

center of the close-up mat, saying,

"We'll put it right here for safe keeping."

I proceed with the normal presenta-

tion. Near the end I say, "Now remem-

ber, you had complete freedom of choice

when you made your decision, and I

doubt there's any way you could have

predicted you would land on the Six of

Diamonds. But I told you, there's some-

thing about the face of a clock that syn-

chronizes our thoughts and makes future

events become clear. Recall that I wrote

a prediction way back at the start of this

experiment. Would you open it up and

read my message aloud."

I put the clock aside, exposing the

folded message again and proceed to a

delightful climax as per Jon's handling.

By the way, the tablet I use is a mini

legal type, employed throughout the act

for consistency. That's something I feel

strongly about in mentalism; ifyou start

with a certain tablet, then stick with it.

And the same thing applies to writing

implements. People will start to wonder

if you change either the tablet or pencil

during your act depending on the effect

you're performing!

June,

2005

Did you notice, above, how I folded

the prediction in quarters before putting

it under the clock? This sets a precedent

for the participant to do so likewise later

in the act -leading up to a center tear, of

course. There's nothing like teaching by

doing!

As a final example, consider Doug

Dyment's slick "Major Arcanum."

(6)

These comments refer to his Himber

wallet version by the way.

I still believe that a prediction which is

created on the spot, personally for the

participant, is stronger than bringing out

a sealed envelope, computer printed

message, whatever, in which the prophe-

cy was clearly made hours before in an

impersonal manner. So, how about this

alternative? The Himber wallet has three

folded billets with the ranging force pre-

dictions (ofwhich more, later) in the hid-

den side. The other side contains a slip of

paper and a pen is clipped to the wallet.

Bring the affair out, open it, remove the

slip, close the wallet, and using the latter

as a "clip board," inscribe the prediction

on the spot. Obviously, youjot the fourth

and remaining ranging force prediction.

Fold it identically to the other three, and

put it in the empty side of the wallet,

showing all very openly yet casually.

Actually, writing a personal prediction in

this effect offers a number ofadvantages:

• The prediction is, of course, written

extemporaneously for the participant.

This is more in keeping with the psychic

reading/Tarot theme I think.

• A Himber wallet gives me the

willies, not looking like any wallet my

friends carry. (Maybe I move in the

wrong circles). But when presented as a

pocket secretary I think it might be more

believable.

• You've clearly shown the wallet con-

tains one prediction only (since you put it

there in full view after writing it), with-

out beating the scene to death. There's no

need to remove an envelope, flick it to

show it's single, etc., as suggested in the

The Linking Ring

original presentation. I think the

approach I've proposed might seem

more natural and yet it still gets the point

across.

• Not using envelopes at all might dis-

abuse the audience ofthe idea that alter-

natives exist. Anyway, I've always won-

dered: as mentalists we all know what

pay envelopes are, but just how natural

do they appear to most laymen? A folded

slip ofpaper probably seems more com-

monplace.

• Since the Himber wallet is really just

a pocket secretary in this instance (an

ordinary workaday item), it garners little

interest compared to the Tarot cards or

the dice that are more exotic in nature

and draw the heat. Incidentally, the

Kenton Knepper verbal bit of"sealed in

this wallet" might be useful here. See his

Wonder Words

linguistic deception

audiocassettes for details.

(7)

I'm not claiming to have invented rel-

ativity, but do believe this simple idea of

a personal prediction may actually

strengthen an effect. And it certainly

doesn't cost anything to try. Perhaps it'll

tum out that the audience really doesn't

care one way or another, but only repeat-

ed trials in the field will determine this.

And then again, maybe I just have a

terminal case of "the Emperor's New

Clothes."

to. To conclude the effect, you correctly

determine that one special country.

Under this interpretation, the effect

becomes ...

Interpretation is Everything

When working up and scripting a new

Here's where the interpretation comes

item, I've found that I often take one of in, and I'll try to explain it without

two paths. Sometimes I mentally inter- revealing the subtle gaff Bruce uses (get

pret and visualize the action in terms of his book to learn the details ethically.)

the method, from the performer's point What's going on is that you, the mental-

of view. This is probably how most ist, are able to determine which item the

novices approach magic or mentalism. participant has written down first; this is

Later, I might think I'm being more the secret object she concentrates on

clever and attempt to view the method later. Then several other duds are added

from the participant's point of view, try- to the list. Interpreted baldly in terms of

ing to discern ifholes can be poked in it.

method, then...

But neither is good, at least not when it

The mentalist correctly determines

comes time to compose the script.

which item a participant has written

Instead, I should be trying to visualize

first.

how the effect (not the method) appears

Not much of an effect, is it! But that's

from the audience's standpoint. Here's because the interpretation stinks, not the

an easy to understand and practical inherent method. What if we change the

example.

focus and have the participant think of

It's the general-purpose technique her favorite travel destination, some

used in Bruce Bernstein's "Telepathy by country she's visited and absolutely

Item."

(8)

This is an excellent minimalist loves. Get her to visualize it for several

method for divining which item out of moments, and only after she can see it

several the participant has secretly decid- clearly in her mind's eye should she

ed upon. Inparticular, she writes down write it down. Then she (or other partici-

the names of several objects on a pants for that matter) adds several other

notepad, and the mentalist correctly countries to the list, only this time they

must be places she or they've never been

determines the special one.

The mentalist correctly determines

which item the participant cares most

about.

That's a big difference! In a nutshell,

for this type ofmentalism at least, try to

see beyond the method and focus on

putting a new interpretation over.

If'the approach taken in this particular

example appeals to you, let me point you

toward Bob Cassidy's "Black Lipstick

#2," which is based upon similar think-

ing.

(9)

Bob and reporter Jerry

Mac~egor

also provide a good real-world scnpt to

give you a feel for what this type of gim-

mick/effect is capable of. Likewise,

Werry has released a commercial ver-

sion called "Pen-Sation" which is usable

with any ballpoint pen.

(10)

You might also want to think about

using this "what's written first" tech-

nique as an adjunct to other effects. For

example, Michael Sibbernsen's excel-

lent pseudo-psychometry item which

appeared in

The Linking Ring

comes to

mind.

(II)

In this case, the gimmick would

Thomas Henry

give you knowledge of which item was

written first, and this could be used to

implement a kicker of some sort or per-

haps throw in an incidental convincer.

Key-R-Reet and the Bleeding Obvious

"There's nothing so deceptive as the

obvious fact." So claimed Sherlock

Holmes in one of those cheesy Basil

Rathbone movies from the 1940s. As

performers, sometimes things right in

front of our noses go unnoticed and yet

they make all the difference in how our

mentalism is perceived by others. Here's

a classic example I stumbled upon some

years ago. It really drives home how the

simplest nuance can speak directly to the

subconscious.

It concerns the well-known and excel-

lent effect Key-R-Rect manufactured by

Merriss Magic; this is a gaffed version of

Theo. Annemann's classic "Seven Keys

to Baldpate." The standard routine

employs six ordinary keys, one hot key,

one large key ring and one small key

ring.

The original instructions with Key-R-

Rect give the full details on how to show

that the other keys don't work at the con-

clusion (i.e., that the key you psychically

detected is unique.) Does Al Baker's

line "The wicked flee when none pur-

sue'~

come to mind? I threw all of that

out, and instead use a wonderful combi-

nation ofsuggestion and subtlety to show

everything is fair at the outset, without

The Linking Ring

June, 2005

coming across as "proving" anything.

Here's how.

Begin with the six ordinary keys on

the big ring and the hot key on the small

ring. Hand the big ring to the participant,

have him open it and try each key in the

lock. They fail. Now hand the small ring

to the participant, have him open it and

try the key in the lock - it works.

What you have unconsciously sug-

gested is that the ordinary keys belong on

a separate big ring (after all, it needs to

hold more), while the small ring is espe-

cially reserved to hold the "one" working

key. So at the conclusion, while making

your final remarks as you move to the

next routine, you merely take the key that

sprung the lock (presumably the one you

originally showed as a working key) and

"return" it to its ring. This really looks

great - very subtle, and no words are

needed to convey that you were suppos-

edly using only one working key all

along! If you do Key-R-Rect already,

then you'll know at this point that actual-

ly any ofthe keys will open the lock. But

this one simple action completely dispels

that possibility from the participants'

minds, and without beating it to death.

While on the subject of overlooking

the obvious, consider how this applies to

the presentation ofKey-R-Rect as well.

Some ofthe ideas from the past seemed

pretty silly to me, things like hooking the

lock to a buttonhole, or to a ten dollar

bill. I wanted much more than a lock-

smith's Bank Night out of this. I asked

myself the obvious question: what is a

padlock used for normally? The answer,

of course, is to secure things (but not but-

tonholes!) This immediately suggested a

way to dramatically increase the "size"

of the effect. I added in a 24" length of

heavy-duty chain. Then the question is

why would I need a lock and chain on

stage? Again, the answer is clear: to have

my wrists shackled together. Last ques-

tion: why would I want to have my hands

chained? The answer: this provides the

necessary motivation, commitment or

"edge" to properly receive the psycho-

metric vibrations. Anyway, audiences

expect a certain amount ofshow biz.

Consider how this looks to everyone. I

start with a hefty, nasty looking chain

locked in a loop. The participants try the

keys one by one. Once the chain is

unlocked, my wrists are shackled with it,

and the padlock secures everything. Do

you know that classic film clip of two

people ratcheting the straitjacket on

Houdini? They really tug at it, while

Houdini gasps and responds to the

actions. I do something similar: I insist

that the committee members really bear

down on the chain and strap my wrists in

as tightly as they can go.

This really sells, and looks quite pow-

erful! With a quick visit to the hardware

store I have magnified the size of the

effect considerably; talk about packs

small and plays big!

...And Another Incidental Convincer

Incidental convincers like the key ring

bit are my Holy Grail. There's nothing

quite like hitting upon an angle that takes

two seconds, speaks volumes and yet

isn't pushy - all at the same time. Along

these lines, here are some ideas for Max

Maven's effect "Zenvelopes," which

appeared in

The Linking Ring,

and also

popped up on his tape, VideoMind.

(12)

Naturally, I won't be detailing his

method entirely, but if you know the

effect then you'll be able to figure out my

comments.

• Pair the matching cards face-to-face

before putting them in the envelopes.

When the time comes to extract them,

cards." Uh-oh-I feel a bout of prop con-

pick up a pair of envelopes, blow an

~n.d

open and extract a card. Then (and this IS cupiscence coming on again.

• Per this presentation, here are a cou-

the killer),

turn

the envelopes over later-

ple phrases from my script you might

ally 180 degrees, blow and

extra~t

the

find useful: Now

bet you're wondering

next card. This imparts a real feelmg of

what that was all about. Well, you might

individual cards coming from separate

have heard that back in the 1960s the

envelopes without being overt. The face-

Pentagon conducted research into

to-face business guarantees that the cards

whether it's possible to sense colors by

always come out face down. The pai:s

some means other than ordinary vision.

are all extracted this way, and remam

This has been my version of an experi-

face down on the table until the time

ment in remote color viewing.

comes to reveal them at the denouement.

...nonetheless,

you're truly gifted

Note that there is a discrepancy here

with the power ofsecond sight, then per-

(after the participant shuffles the

haps you were able to sort the envelopes

envelopes, why would exactly half of

them necessarily contain face-down

in a surprising way.

• You might find the magazine article,

cards and the other half

face-up"),

but

"Ah

the Blue Smell of

It! ,"

useful for

this is so subtle and the turnover so

patt~r

ideas.

(13)

This concerns synesthe-

strong that I think it passes everyone by.

sia, where the senses get

crosse

and

Anyway, at this point in the routine, no

someone can see a sound, hear a color,

one knows what's inside the envelopes.

etc. Apparently this condition is quite

• A little linguistic deception goes a

common and affects nearly lout of2000

long way here as well. For starters, never

people. This ties in quite nicely with the

use the word "pair" until the very end.

notion of detecting a color by some

Instead, as you extract each card, use

means other than sight.

phrases like:

• Here's a probability thing that may

...here we have a card, and inside the

prove useful. Have the envelopes set in

other one is another card...

your briefcase so that they alternate.

...getting one cardfrom here, and the

(You'll know what this means ifyou're a

other cardfrom there...

legitimate owner of the effect). When

Note that these words are carefully

you hand the stack to the participant,

chosen to suggest that the cards are being

here's something that

might

happen: he

extracted from distinct places without

mixes the envelopes by a series of

being pedantic. (The words "other,"

straight cuts, or perhaps does a variation

"another," "here" and "there" are the

of the Charlier False Shuffle (the Hay

keys.)

Mow). Let's face it, envelopes are not

• I didn't want to do this as a Zener

very conducive to riffle shufflea.so the

card effect, and came up with the follow-

odds are whatever method the partICIpant

ing. I now present it as a test

oft~e p~rtic

uses to mix the envelopes maintains

ipant's talent in remote color

viewing.

large portions ofthe alternating arrange-

made a set of color spot cards: blue,

ment, perhaps even perfectly. .This

orange, red, purple and green. Double

makes the divvying up process, pnor to

blank cards provide the stock, and the

the Gilbreath Principle, much simpler

color spots are 1-1/2" in diameter, cut

and direct. And if he does a Weave

from sticky-back colored plastic sheets. I

Shuffle of the envelopes, well then,

used a circle cutter to make the spots. I

you're no worse offthan ifyou had start-

got these sheets and the circle cutter at

ed with the envelopes in a haphazard

Hobby Lobby. The result is a very visual,

professional and sturdy set of "testing arrangement.

The Linking Ring

]une,2005

• To make the envelopes, I created two

templates on sturdy cardboard. The first

is a cutting pattern that includes the nec-

essary tabs and the second is the folding

block. Using these, along with a straight

edge and X-Acto knife permits me to

rapidly manufacture the required

envelopes from black construction

paper. A glue stick secures the tabs.

• And speaking of which, did you

know that construction paper comes in

different qualities? (I didn't!) At Hobby

Lobby, I found a high quality construc-

tion paper, which looks the same as any

other, but is guaranteed to fold without

cracking or breaking.

The Expectation ofThrees

How many phases should an ESP pre-

sentation contain? For whatever reason

most Communicators, such as actors:

politicians and writers, find that things

that come in threes satisfy audiences.

This expectation seems to be built into

our genes. Ofcourse, you probably don't

want to come across as too predictable,

but it's certainly the case that three-phase

effects have a classical air about them.

Here's an example of how I've applied

this idea.

While reviewing a number of older

books, trolling for things I might have

forgotten, I came across Larry Becker's

"It's in the Bag."

(14)

It was already rou-

tined in three phases, but I was immedi-

ately struck by how an easy change in the

presentation could add to the dramatic

appeal of the thing. In Larry's original

treatment, the performer reads three peo-

ples' minds, respectively. I'd like to

humbly suggest that it is possible to

punch up the impact by making the three

instances increasingly "more difficult,"

thus giving a very natural build, so that

the audience knows when to applaud.

There's no real change in the method

(although see my comment below); it's

just the presentation that's different.

Here's the new description.

Three participants are invited on

stage. # 1 is handed a pack ofZener cards.

He mixes these, then hands them to #2

who further mixes them. And likewise

#3 is encouraged to mix the pack and

drop it into a paper bag. In the mean-

while, the performer displays a sealed

prediction that is handed to #3 for safe-

keeping.

The mentalist indicates that there are

three aspects to ESP: telepathy, clairvoy-

ance and precognition.

Telepathy is the easiest, since it

involves two minds. # 1 withdraws a

Zener card from the bag and looks at,

projecting its image to the performer.

The mentalist successfully announces

what it is.

Clairvoyance is a little harder, since

neither the performer nor the participant

knows the symbol in advance, like a dou-

ble blind. #2 selects one without looking

at it, and the mentalist accurately deter-

mines it.

But of the three aspects comprising

ESP, precognition is the hardest.

Reminding everyone that #3 has been

holding a prediction since the outset, the

participant selects one of the Zener

cards. Ofcourse, the performer has suc-

cessfully predicted it.

From a method point of view, this is

nothing more than three revelations in a

row. But the alternative interpretations

(ofwhich I spoke earlier) add variety and

interest. More importantly, see how neat-

ly this builds dramatically? And it also

allows the performer to explain a bit

about ESP, which might help the rest of

the performance. By the way, Henning

Nelms has a fair amount to say about dra-

The Linking Ring

matic structure and climaxes, which is

what got me thinking along these lines in

the first place.

(15)

Ifyou' d like to try this effect yourself,

here are a few additional tips:

• I place the three cards face-up along

the back edge ofthe bag

don't use the

narrow end as in Larry's description).

I'm trying to be careful here not to rob

him of his method, but if you read his

write-up and try out what I suggest,

you'll see what I mean immediately. In

any event, I can easily flip the bag open

in an extremely nonchalant fashion.

• I use a very cheap sandwich bag; it's

the cheesiest generic brand our local gro-

cery store has to offer. Because it's so

flimsy, it appears beyond reproach and

yet hides the secret something nicely.

• As per Larry's idea, I cut the bag

down. This not only makes it appear less

of a concealing prop, but also actually

eases the handling as the participants

reach in.

• And here's a subtle thing that cranks

up the volume a bit. I'm using a poker

sized Zener pack, with Bicycle backs

that not only match the bag size better but

.also are easier to see in a cabaret setting.

The circles are yellow, crosses are black,

waves are blue, squares are red and stars

are green. The important thing to note is

that each symbol is of a particular color

(unlike the Piatnik pack in which each

symbol is present in each color). So

when divining the participant's choice

whether by telepathy, clairvoyance or

precognition, I make a big deal out of

getting not only the symbol but the color

correctly. Larry mentions in his write-up

that participants seem to pick up on this.

I've had this pack lying around for years

(I got it from Cards by Martin) and never

had a good use for it - now I do!

The same idea can be applied very

nicely to a book test. Consider the

approach taken by Richard Mark in his

brilliant "Peek-a-Book Plus."

(16)

This

really caught my eye, for not only does it

June,

2005

expand the typical book test into a major

three phase routine, but it's also far more

direct than most. As the late T.

Waters

wrote in his epic mentioned earlier, if

you were really going to ask someone to

choose a page in a book, you'd simply

ask them to do so-without any interven-

ing monkey business concerning page

numbers, etc.

(17)

Well, Richard met this

challenge very nicely, and with an addi-

tional tip of the hat to the memory ofT.

A., here's how I adapted things to fit my

style.

I like the three-phase approach taken

by Richard, but suggest altering the order

and the build-up slightly. Instead of sim-

ply exhibiting three instances oftelepa-

thy (which don't build dramatically) I

start with # 1 strictly as a demonstration

oftelepathy; you directly divine the word

the first participant has glimpsed.

For#2, you're exhibiting clairvoyance

(after claiming this is harder, since nei-

ther of you knows the word ahead of

time). Per Richard's method, the first

book gives you knowledge ofthe word

the second book (which #2 is holding

closed at the clairvoyant moment). This

seems much stronger than the first test.

And for #3, you do much more than

divine a word, but actually reproduce a

drawing ofthe scene he reads over in his

book. (For the books I'm using, the

drawing is that of a wineglass and a beer

bottle). Here you indicate that receiving

an entire image is even more difficult

than receiving a single word or two; it

always pays to tell them just how hard

things are! The third test is done with a

force, of course. An easily missed point

in my variation is that you'll need to set

the force book down in order to pick up

the tablet and marker with which to make

the drawing, meaning that you end clean.

The other two books still in the hands of

the participants are unfaked and of no

concern.

I'm trying to stay ethical here, but

without giving everything away, I think I

can say that in Richard Mark's approach

only one book is faked, the one you han-

dle. His method for arranging the force is

tried and true, but I'd like to suggest a

less invasive alternative. This is

described by T. A. Waters in his book

mentioned above.

(18)

There are two

advantages to the Waters' force. First,

there is less of a problem ifyou flash the

edges ofthe book - all the pages look the

same. More importantly, you can easily

change the force page from one night to

the next, in case you have repeat audi-

ences. With Richard's method you're

stuck with the same force page until you

replace the book.

Also note, by using the three partici-

pants in the way I've described above, it

won't hurt ifmore than one sees the same

page number, since each is processing

the information in differing ways. So if

the force page keeps coming up acciden-

tally (your grip is too tight or whatever),

it simply doesn't matter. In other words,

you really only need the force for #3, but

ifthe gimmick makes that page come up

for the other participants in the heat of

the moment, it's not a big deal, sort of

like the "Tossed Out Deck" in an odd sort

ofway.

(19)

Finally, David Jelinek proposed an

interesting multiple page method in a

magazine article published several years

ago.

(20)

The idea is that the force can be

continued if the participant wants to

change his mind midstream. (T. A.

Waters suggested something similar in

the mentalism bible I keep referring to).

(21)

But to my mind, using multiple force

pages and asking, "should I keep going?"

smacks of magic, not mentalism; I men-

tion it here in case you disagree.

How can these be used in mentalism?

The first thing that comes to mind is Phil

Goldstein's "Centrifugal Variations."

(22)

This depends upon having cards that fall

into two or more disjoint sets. There are a

number of ways of splitting the images

up in the Gypsy Witch cards. For exam-

ple, I've shown them divided into living

things and otherwise (denoted Land 0,

respectively, above). Note that, conve-

niently, there are exactly 26 cards in each

group. One might also try for flowers,

animals, stellar objects, etc.; the images

cover a fairly interesting array oftopics.

To use these in the centrifugal effects

mentioned above would require

mnemonics linking the cards or their

numbers

to 52) with the images, but

this is a snap using standard memory

training devices. Anyway, by making

such a link, you've actually pushed the

method back one notch, which might

a good thing if performing for extraordi-

narily alert audiences. And you could

probably tie in a psychic reading with the

effect, although that sort ofthing doesn't

appeal to me. I don't really know yet how

useful the Gypsy Witch cards are in cen-

trifugal effects and may even be dulling

Ockham's Razor just by considering it.

But see what you think.

By the way, since these cards are

poker-size, they accept a breather crimp

quite nicely, which makes cutting a stack

to the top a breeze.

And while brainstorming, you might

also want to check out how the late T. A.

Waters (in his book mentioned earlier)

has combined them with the Annemann

Mental Masterpiece impression case for

a rather compelling bit of psychic enter-

tainment.

(23)

Searching for Patterns

Here's something that might suggest

an original presentation to you. Have you

ever considered doing mentalism with

the Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling cards?

Made by U.S. Playing Card Company,

they've been around forever.

remem-

ber running across a set when I was a kid

in the early sixties).

Ifyou've never seen them before, they

1. 3H (0) Sun

2. 5H (0) Moon

3. 6H 101 house

4.4C 101 key

5. 3C (L) tree

6. 5S 10) coffin

7. 1OH (L) bouquet

B. 10010) scythe

9. AD (LI birds

10. 3S ILl pig

l1.AH (LI fox

12. QO ILl children

13. BC (L) snake

14. JO ILlthe rider

15. KO (01 letter

16. 9H 10) ship

17. 4H IL) fish

18.201Lllady

19. 2H (LI gentleman

20. 7C ILl lilies

21.7H ILl stork

22. JH (01 book

23. QH 10) ring

24. KH ILl hand-in-hand

25. 7S (01 clouds

26. 9C (01 park

Performing Naked

Well, almost: while much has been

written over the years on angles, venues,

working with microphones, dealing with

hecklers, and so forth, there is one envi-

ronmental hazard that really hasn't got-

ten the treatment it deserves. Just what

do you do if you don't have pockets?

Here's my humble contribution to the

topic.

I've always wanted to perform

Stewart James "Miraskill," but the one

thing holding me back was a lack of

pockets.

(24)

I frequently perform casually

injeans and a tee shirt, while seated at a

dinner table. Obviously, this makes

fetching the holdout cards for the second

phase difficult. Pockets in Levis don't

have nearly the flexibility of a jacket

pocket, and fumbling about in them

might give the wrong impression.

So, here's a simple utility prop I came

up with that you might find useful, too.

Since a scratch pad is needed for this

effect anyway (on which to write a pre-

June,

2005

are poker-sized and have an attractive

witch motif on the back. There are 52 of

them; each shows a playing card face, a

number from 1 to 52 and an image of

some sort in three colors (very Victorian

looking, by the way-good for atmos-

phere). I put together a list for my note-

book showing the relationships. Here 'tis

ifyou wish to examine it:

27.40 (L) dog

28.50 (01 anchor

29. 6S (LI mouse

30. lOS

(OJ

the rod

31. AC (01 crossroads

32. 8S (01 mountains

33. 5C (LI cloverleaf

34. 2S (0) star

35. lOC 101 tower

36. 8H ILl cat

37. AS (01 rapiers

38.70101 flames

39.90 ILl heart

40. QC (01 wine

41. 9S ILl rose

42. QS (L) amor

43. 6C 101 lightning

44.80101 broken glass

45. JC (01 order (medallionl

46. 2C (01 railroad

47. KS (Llbride

48.30 (01 safe

49. 4S ILleye

50. KC (Ll bear

51.60 (Lllion

52. JS (Ll shepherd

diction), it's a simple matter to modify it

to deliver the holdout cards surreptitious-

ly. Constructing it is easy. Open the

scratch pad up to the cardboard backing

and apply a single swipe of a glue stick

down the left edge, about a quarter inch

wide. Then secure the paper to this by

patting it down, and let it dry. Thus, the

last sheet of paper in the pad is firmly

attached to the cardboard backing by the

normal binding at the top (in common

with all the sheets), and the glued left

edge. This forms a pocket into which the

holdout cards are inserted.

100

The Linking Ring

101

Plik z chomika:

zajebiste6

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Al Mann - Death Watch.pdf (3445 KB)
Al Mann - Dunninger's Act.pdf (4531 KB)
Al Mann - Eff-Oes.pdf (3636 KB)
Aldo Colombini - Mammamia.pdf (60356 KB)
Al Mann - Elta.pdf (2921 KB)

Thomas Henry - One Man Parade - The Linking Ring.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: