2 Papers and a Spectator

In Your Mind Ben Salinas

A technical refinement of the Annemann classic ‘Two Papers and a Spectator’

FIRST...SOME HISTORY In1944 Max Holden published Practical Mental Effects, a collection of Ted Annemann’s greatest effects from the pages of The Jinx. On page 43 is ‘Two Papers and a Spectator’; a double mind reading miracle. The original was done using a thumbtip to affect the switch of the billets. I loved the effect, but I don’t like relying on a prop for my mentalism. I have done away with the thumbtip and replaced it with a couple of easy to do billet switches.

PROPS AND SET-UP

- Cut a stack of 3x5 index cards in half to get cards approximately 2.5 x 2.75 - a stack of pre-folded billets in the RIGHT pocket - a pen

PERFORMANCE

Remove stack Pre-fold 1 Paper and hand it to the spectator  TURN YOUR BACK (fold a dummy and set it behind the stack of papers (between the hand and the stack) She writes a NAME on the billet Take the NAME billet on top of the RH stack, press the creases flat, FLIPAWAY SWITCH for the DUMMY billet onto the table

Place the switched-in DUMMY billet to your left.

1 paper to the spectator  She writes a PLACE on the billet, you TURN YOUR BACK

READ the NAME billet & REFOLD Finger Palm the NAME billet in LH Place the stack of papers in your right pocket Take the PLACE billet in your RH and EB SWITCH it for the NAME billet as you reach for an object to place it under  Place the NAME billet to your right

Position Check: The DUMMY billet is on the table to the left (spectator thinks it is the NAME billet) The NAME billet is on the table to the right (spectator thinks it is the PLACE billet) The PLACE billet is finger palmed in your RH  Spec Thinks: Reality:

Name Dummy

Place Name

Place (finger palmed)

RH retrieves the papers from your pocket, use the UMBRELLA MOVE to open the billet against the stack before you remove the papers from your pocket. Read and remember the PLACE, then pretend to write a prediction on the PLACE billet. I use my finger to scratch along the paper as if I am writing, not letting the tip of  the pen touch the paper.  Act as if you have changed your mind; pretend to scratch out what you wrote. Refold the PLACE billet and move it to the back of the stack. Write the PLACE prediction on a fresh billet. Fold it up and drop on the table between the tabled NAME billet (to the right) and you. LH finger palms the PLACE billet. RH pockets the papers

She opens your (PLACE) billet; you grab her (NAME) billet

and do the UNFOLDING SWITCH.

RH picks up the DUMMY billet and ANNEMANN SWITCH it for the NAME billet as you bring the billet to your forehead to concentrate on it. Reveal the NAME you memorized earlier. Open out the NAME billet to check if you were correct. I like to open it on top of the folded DUMMY billet, so I can reveal her writing in a clean way while the DUMMY is hidden beneath. FLIPAWAY SWITCH – T.A. Waters Mind, Myth and Magic pp 159-160 The billet to be switched is placed on the stack of papers UNFOLDING SWITCH – Elliot Bressler SwitchCraft pp ???-??? Switch while unfolding the hidden billet  ANNEMANN SWITCH – Theodore Annemann, Practical Mental Effects pp ???-??? Switch billet fingerpalmed billet for visible billet