Al Mann - Of Words and Wizards

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FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 07728

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OF WORDS AND WIZARDS Copyright by Al Mann Exclusives FOREWORD On level lines of woodwork stand My (force) books obedient to my hand. My Books It is not easy to explain why a book-test enchants an audience. Perhaps it is the power of the printed word. Or perhaps the book is looked upon as a monument, a sphinx of immutability. In the spectator's mind, the magician cannot change the book, or shuffle the middle page to the top, or do an invisible sleight with it since the spectator is holding the book in his own hands. The apparent fairness of the test and it's dramatic conclusion is what charms the senses. In 1953, your author met a group of American tourists in Brussels. They were on a group tour through Europe and the Middle East. They had many fond memories of the good times had in London, Paris, Rome and Cairo. However, one experience stood out in their minds, not as a memory but as a fascination. They had been taken to the home of Europe's most famous magician, the mysterious Svengali! Svengali's reputation was of such magnitude that he had become a tourist attraction! Svengali had entertained them with his amazing tricks, but they only remembered one in detail, the one when a lady was told to open a book to any page and choose any line and read it. "He told me exactly what I was reading. Word for word." said the lady. Take heed, Gentlemen. Do your book tests well. All the great minds of magic agree that the booktest is something to conjure with. Burling Hull stated that, "In all Mentalistic and Psychic Phenomena, there is no more mystifying and impressive feat than the baffling book-test." Best Wishes r/l/kk

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OF WORDS AND WIZARDS

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

THE GHOST OF THE UNBORN A Dunninger-A1 Mann Concept Joseph Dunninger, the master showman. often tickled the imagination of his audiences by revealing a thought. a number or word. that had not been thought of yet. This concept is used here as a mental misdirection to create a mind-boggling book test. EFFECT. The performer shows the audience 2 sealed envelopes. One envelope is marked with a large ")" on both sides Fig. 1 and the other envelope is marked with a "5" in like manner. Performer states that the ")" envelope contains a prediction for a three letter word and the "5" envelope contains a prediction for a five letter word. He further states that only one word is going to be chosen by some member of the audience. That person will have the choice of choosing either a three-letter word or a five-letter word. Yet! exclaims the magician. both of my predictions will prove to be correctl A volunteer is now called for, preferably a person that may be holding a book, newspaper or a magazine. Before opening the book, the spectator is told to choose between a)-letter word and a 5-1etter word. (let's say that he chose a)-letter word) He is next told to open the book. newspaper or magazine to any page. To run his index finger down the page and to stop at any line. Then to run his finger tip along the line and, to stop at any three letter word. and to call that word out, so that everyone can hear. He of course can change his mind and; choose another line. Let's assume that he stopped at the wor\1 "and." ! A second person is now called to the microphone to open and! read the two predictions. First, the spectator is given the "5" envelope. This prediction proves to be correct as it reads, "You did not choose a 5-1etter word. You chose a )-letter word." The performer tells the spectator not to read anymore from this prediction but to open the ")" envelope. The ")" envelope predict$ the exact three-letter word that was chosenl For the climax the performer directs the spectator to read the rest of the prediction from the "5" envelope which states,"If you had chosen a 5-1etter word it would have been the word ·there.· .. METHOD. The method used is complicated to explain but the working of it is quite simple. Four envelopes are used instead of two, but the audience only see two envelopes. A Himber

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THE GHOST OF THE UNBORN ••..... cont. type flip-over wallet is the best gimmick to use although any good switch may be used to switch two envelopes for the other two when necessary. PREPARATION, Four predictions must be prepared ahead of time as follows. With the Himber-type wallet, the compartment that opens from the left contains two envelopes marked with a "J" and "5" as shown in Fig. 1 • The "5" envelope reads, "You did not choose a S-letter word. You chose a J-letter word. However, if you had chosen a S-letter word, it would have been the word. 'there. ,,, The "J" envelope contains a message that reads. "You will choose the three letter word ." This envelope is an impression envelope with a piece of pencil-carbon paper facing the blank space left in the message. The word chosen is filled in with a thumb-tip stylus. The operator has ample time and perfect misdirection to fill in the chosen word while the audience is distracted with the opening and reading of the "S" envelope! In the wallet compartment that opens fr~m the right side, two more envelopes are contained. These two envelopes look exactly like the other two and also marked with a "J" and a "S" on both sides BUT the messages are contrary to the other two. The "J" enveI lope predicts that a three-letter word will • not be chosen, but if a three-letter wora-had been chosen it would have been the word "the." The "5" envelope is prepared withFig. 2 a prediction for a S-letter word with a space left as in Fig. 2 , for the use of the stylus! PRESENTATION. The presentation is most intriguing for the audience. It presents a challenge with a play on words. It builds up interest and suspence and with a bit of showmanship it can be a masterpiece. "Ladies and Gentlemen, in a minute I am going to ask someone in the audience to choose a word with only one limitation. A choice must be made of either a three letter word, any three-letter word, or a five-letter word. any five letter word. I have already written two predictions and sealed them in these two envelopes {the performer has taken out his wallet and displays two of the envelopes, any two envelopes)." "This envelope (performer holds up the "J" envelope) contains a prediction for a J-letter word, and this other envelope ( performer shows the ".5" envelope) contains a prediction for a five-letter word. Please note that each envelope is plainly marked. Now here is my challenge. I contend that both


OF WORDS AND WIZARDS THE GHOST OF THE UNBORN

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cont.

of my predictions will prove correct although only one word will be chosenl" Performer places the two envelopes back in his wallet and closes the wallet. He then calls for someone who may be holding a book, a newspaper or a magazine. He then asks that person to decide first whether he wants a J-letter word or a 5-letter word. For this routine we will assume that the person decided on a 3-letter word. The performer than knows what side of the wallet to open. In this case he will open the wallet from left to right and take out the two envelopes there. The spectator in the audience then chooses his word. Performer then calls for a second person to come on stage and read the two predictions over the microphone. When the person comes on stage performer tells the person to first open the "5" envelope to see what it says. "On your word of honor, Sir, you and I have never met till this very minute, (etc). Will you please open the "5" envelope first, (etc.)." Here the performer can proceed as desired. He can hav~ the person read the whole message in the "5" envelope which states that a 5-letter word will not be chosen, etc. and then tell the audience that his prediction was indeed correct. In the meantime, the performer has filled in the chosen J-letter word with his thumb-tip stylus. Next he has the spectator open and read the "3" envelope. This is of course also correct. NOTES. The flip-over wallet affords a clean presentation as the spectator can be allowed to open the envelope. The operator at the conclusion can tear the two envelopes to pieces, retaining back into palm position the half of one envelope that contains the small piece of carbon paper. The effect can of course be done also with two doublecompartment envelopes. The messages can be arranged so that when the top of both envelopes are snipped off with a pair of scissors, the predictions for the J-letter word will come out, and if the bottoms are snipped off the predictions for the five letter words will come out. Stiff cards must be used and the operator must retain one of the cards to write in the chosen word with a swami gimmick. The author prefers the use of the Himber wallet. A good grade of pencil-carbon paper is a must or the more expensive Excel Copying Film that does not smear. For those who may be interested, the Excel Copying Film is sold by The Hofer Company, 809 South Western Ave., Sioux Falls, S.D. 57104 and sells for $12.98 for a package of 40 sheets that seem to last forever. A good stylus is made by cementing the male half of a snap fastener to 70ur thumb tip with clear Duco cement and painting with flesh paint.

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Se~

note on page 17

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THE MASTER OF THE WORD This is an impromptu book test. It can be done anywhere without any preparation. It is done with any two ~ooks chosen by anyone. No doubt that many mentalists have thought of and used this book test. It has been in the author's notes for many years but no originality is claimed. It is by far the most amazing presentation of the book test. It is the ideal thing to do when challenged to demonstrate your talents. The test is uncanny since the perfermer has apparently no control as to what page or word is to be chosen. EFFECT. Spectators are given a free choice of any two books. The books may be chosen from the host's library by anybody. One person is told to open one book to any page and to choose any word while the performer makes a prediction on a piece of paper and places the prediction in a drinking glass in full sight. A second person is then told to take the second book and look up a word while the performer again writes a second prediction on another slip of paper and places it with the first prediction in the drinking glass. Both predictions prove to be correct. THE SECRET. Undetected by the audience the performer must know the page selected. There are a number of ways of knowing the page selected. One of the best and easiest is the "page peek." Fig. ) shows the page peek. This concept was used by Orville Meyer in his excellent "Incredo Book Test. tt In this effect it is recommended to allow the spectator choose his word at leissure from any part of the chosen page. So he is given a business card or post card to insert any where in the book as the performer holds the book in his hand by the spine as in Fig. ). The performer then takes the inserted card and tells the spectator to acknowledge that he indeed had a free choice. During the interlude Fig.) the performer has glimpse the odd numbered page (arrow in Fig. ) . The spectator is then told to return to his seat and to callout any word he likes out of his chosen page. A PRIME REQUISITE for the success of this test is to drill into the mind of the audience that you had never seen the books before, that you have no idea what.word the spectator will choose and that you do not know the page chosen. Even if the spectator in front of you may notice that you had a glimpse of the page number, the rest of the audeince does not know. Any suspiscion on the part of the one spectator are dispelled when he is given a free choice of any wordl

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5 OF WORDS AND WIZARDS THE MASTER OF THE WORD


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THE PRESENTATION, Any two books having been chosen the performer takes the books in his hands and flips the pages over to see if the page numbers are at the top or bottom of the page. If one book has the numbers at the top outer corners then that book is used with the first spectator. However if both books have the page numbers at the bottom then the operator must turn the book over so that the page numbers are now at the top as the book is upside down. One spec.ta tor is called and told to insert a card at any place in the book. Performer peeks the page number as he patters. The spectator is then told to return to his seat but not to open the book yet. The performer takes out a note paper pad that measures about 5 by 8 inches and jots down the page number so that he does not forget it. Then he patters about the unique test about to be attempted. He rightly states that he had never seen the books before today. As he says this he picks up the second book and flips through it and stops at the chosen page and keeps it open at that page as he patters. He states that each page contains about )60 words. or an average of )0 lines of 12 words each. He casually glimpses the first two or three words on the page and closes the book and places it aside. Next he tells the first spectator that he is going to write down some impressions that he has at the moment. Performer writes down a prediction as follows. "The second person will read the words. "when it happened for example. These are the three words that were glimpse from the second book. Now he directs the first spectator to choose any line and then run his fingertip along the line and stop at any word desired and to call it out for all to hear. Before the spectator has chosen his word. the performer folds the prediction paper lengthwise with the writing inside and places it on display in a drinking glass. After the word is called the performer asks the audience to remember the word and again he reminds the audience that he had no control of what word the spectator would choose as he does not even know What page he is looking at. Next he states that he wants another person to take part. Performer hands the second book to another perand tells that person to find out secretly what Fig. 4 page the first person is looking at and to open his book to that page and to notice the first sentance. Performer then makes his second prediction but actually writes out the first prediction of the word just called. The second prediction paper is also folded and placed with the first paper in the drinking glass. Fig. 4. -It

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OF WORDS AND WIZARDS THE MASTER OF THE WORD

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cont •

The second paper reads. "The first word chosen will be (the word called)." The reader need not think that anyone will keep track of the order of the two slips in the drinking glass. The performer takes up the two slips and turns them over with a twist of the wrist and at the same time fans them out and passes one slip to one spectator to read and the second slip to another. SOME PATTERs "Ladies and Gentlemen. I have made two predictions of two words that were to be chosen. You may ask by what agency I am able to do this. Please let me tell ybu that it is quite simple. What. for example. does a person see when he enters a strange city? Without knowing what city we are talking about. we know a lot of what that person will see. He will see streets with familiar names such as Main street. He will see traffic and pedestrians of all ages. street corners with familiar stores. Life in any city is much the same. It is predictable. By the same logic. we can tell a great deal of what a person will see when he opens a strange book. say a novel. He will see two pages. a left hand page and a right hand page. Sentances made up of parts of speech and phrases. One or more paragraphs on each page. Nouns, verbs, subjects and predicates and words of Latin and Greek roots. We also know that these words are fSlDliliar English words." "Now for the first time. will you please callout the first two or three words on the chosen page (addressing the second spectator)." etc. NOTEs If by chance the chosen page contains a picture in the second book. so much the better as you can describe the picture telepathically. If you are lucky the chosen page may be blank in the second book in which case you instruct the second person to go to the next page which you have also glimpse! The operator should notice what page the first spectator has chosen whether the left hand page (even) or the right hand page (odd). But actually the operator can get around any mixup by simply telling the second person to please choose the odd page because the other person chose the even number pagel

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AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE THE ADONIS BOOK TEST

The Adonis book test was originally contributed to Sam Dalal of India and was published in the Swami for 1974. The book test was the end results of notes dated 10/3/71 at Kuwait. A popular book test making the rounds in 1971 was the ability to tell some words on any page of a book simply by touching the words with the finger tips. A version of the sensitive finger tips! For the Adonis book test the reader will need a book for which he has a prompter list of all the first words of every page. No doubt that most readers Fig. 5 already have such a gimmick as there are a number of them available through magic dealers. One of Peter Warlocks books that come with the "Book of the Mind" effect or one of the books from "Brain Echo" will do just fine. The books that have the page number in the middle of the bottom margin are ideal. If the reader does not have these gimmicks then he can make his own prompter list with any book of about 200 pages. For an impromptu test the reader can combine this method with the previous effect. "The Master of the Word." THE EFFECT. A book is given to a spectator who is told to open the book to any page and to remember the first word but to keep both the word and the number of the page a secret. He is then instructed to place the book face down and opened as in Fig. 5. The performer then reaches over and touches the first word on the page with his finger tips and divines the wordl METHOD. Fig. 5 shows an exaggerated view of the book as it is placed face down. In actual practice the book will no doubt lay flatter than that. As the book lies flat on the table, in tent fashion, the performer reaches over the top edge of the book with his left hand fingers and pretends to feel the first words with his finger tips, but his right hand is secretly manipulating one of the pages so that the bottom page of the right hand portion of the book is buckled enough to read the page number. It is an easy matter to finger-count one page with the first finger of the right hand and then take the page between the first finger and the second finger of the right hand for full control. The book is then moved up and to the right a bit on the table top and the page will buckle as shown in Fig. 5. Once the number is glimpse, all the performer has to do is to add 1 to the glimpse number (hence the title) if the spectator chose the left hand page and add 2 if the right hand page was chosen. Then the performer must consult his prompter

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OF WORDS AND WIZARDS THE ADONIS BOOK TEST

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contI

list to get the word or words. The beauty of this book test is that it looks so impossible. The buckled page is not seen from the audience side. The operator's hands are uncumbered. It is inconceivable how you manage to divine the word as the book is face down, and even if the audience knows that you have peeked the page number, it will not arouse any suspicion since the lay audience knows little of the preparation you have put into the effect. Your prompter list can of course be hidden behind a slate, or in your wallet, or written on the paper around the black crayons as in 'Brain Echo.' However the most amazing presentation possible with the Adonis principle is by the use of mnemonics. Then you will have only your mind to work with and the words can be given orally! You can then truely say that you are doing "mind" reading. And it will astound your audience.

ADONIS, APHRODITE AND ZEUS After presenting the effect that follows, the perpetrator will be credited with being a true mindreader or a diabolical sorcerer. EFFECTs Three different books are passed out to three spectators who are told to agree secretly on a page number. They are then told to turn to that page, notice the first word or two and then place the books face down and opened to the chosen page. The operator then reaches over and touches one word with his fingertips and divines the thoughtof word. The next book he only touches the outside cover of it and divines the word. The third word is divined by just staring at the book as it lays on the table face down! METHOD, This effect uses the three books and the prompter slate that comes with the 'Book of the Mind' effect or the three books and the prompter crayons that come with 'Brain Echo.' If the reader does not have either of the above mentioned set of books he can prepare his own books easily as will be detailed later. All the operator needs to know to divine all the first words or two of each book is the one page number from any of the three books. The prompter list gives the first word or two of each book. Keep in mind that audiences love to see a ritual and a good show so you give it to them. You pretend to feel the words of the first book with the finger tips to divine them.

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OF WORDS AND WIZARDS ADONIS, APHRODITE AND ZEUS


... ..... . cont •

With the second book, the operator just feels the outside cover with his opened hand and with the third book, the words are divined by giving the book a hypnotic svengali stare 1 The page number is of course divined as in The Adonis Book Test. If the reader does not have the prepared set of books mentioned in the previous page, he may be surprised to know that he can perform even more amazing effects with unprepared books! This will be seen in the effects that follow. FIFTH ROW CENTER AISLE buster.

This effect has a startling ending that is a brain

EFFECT. A spectator is given a book to open to any page and to note the first word or two on the page and to remember the page number or just simply keep the book open to the chosen page. The performer divines the word or words and has also predicted that a certain word will appear on a certain line and in a certain position of the line! The reader must admit that the above effect is most amazing since the spectator is given a free choice of any page and more surprising is the fact that it can be done with an unprepared or ungimmicked book. Before giving the solution to the above, we must first find some ordinary books that can be adopted to the creation of mental miracles. A few moments spent brousing in a secondhand book store will payoff handsomely to any enterprising mentalist. There one can find inexpensive books selling for under one dollar, bound in hard cover of about 250 pages to meet the following requirements. 1. All alike books in color, size

and content. Get three or more of one kind. 2. All alike in content but of different color cover. These are easy to find. J. All alike in content but of different size and color. These are not easy to find but are indeed Fig. 6 available. Many book publishers republish novels with the same plates but the size of the book and the color are different. The author was lucky in finding

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OF WORDS AND WIZARDS FIFTH ROW, CENTER AISLE


.......... cont .

one book that was printed in three radically different sizes and color cover but all with the same exact contents in every page. The name of this book is. tiThe Broken Wings" by Kahlil Gibran. Gibran's books are very popular today and are sold everywhere. They can be found in the 'Poetry' section of book stores. The smallest of these books measures 4i bf 7i. The next size is 5i by 8i and the larger one is 6 by 9t inches! Although these books all have the title on the spine, they appear as totally different books from just a few feet away. To do the Fifth Row, Center Aisle effect without a prompter list proceed as follows. First get three books all alike and present them as different book. In an emergency the same book can be covered with different dust covers. A novel is the best. Usually it will be found that the word "that" appears in every page. So take one of the books and mark it as shown in Fig. 7. 129 Place the number of the line from the top of the page next to the line on every page. I ran upstairs and threw myself on the bed, trying to sort This prepared book will things out. Silly of me to tell that beastly detective a not be passed out to the lie-but what the hell? ..• Who could have sabotaged audience. the bulldozers? I felt sure it wasn't Adam Henry. True, Next write out a preS I'd told him.l!l!t an extra day or two's delay might make diction that reads, a difference. But I couldn't imagine him willfully dam"The word "that" will aging anyone or anything. Who else was there? appear on line ____ At that point my speculations were stormily interof the chosen page." rupted by the entry of my mother. This prediction is sealed in a carbon impression "You crazy blundering idiotic little fooll" envelope as mentioned on page 2 and the line Fig. 7 number is filled in later with a thumb-tip stylus. In Fig. 7. the number-2- would be filled in. or 2 if you wish. THE PRESENTATION, The prediction envelope is on display on the table. Performer calls attention to the envelope saying that something that is about to take place is predicted in the message. A book is then passed out and someone is asked to choose a page by inserting a card anywhere into the closed book as in Fig. J. Here we must remember that the impact of this test rests on the audience not knowing that the performer has seen the page number. After the page is chosen the performer patters and picks up the duplicate prepared book. opens it and glimpses the first three words and the number of the line which contains the word "that." The performer then divines the first three words by

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11 AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

FIFTH ROW, CENTER AISLE ..... ... cont . n, secr etly thou ght-r eadin g and then pick s up the pred ictio s the enve lope open and impr esses the number 5 with the stylu s read it. and card and allow s the spec tator to take out the is even bett er. The WITH A PROMPTER LIST , the effe ct s and word three t list simp ly give s each page with the firs t.' 'tha word the number of the line that cont ains the he knows If the read er is adap t at mnemonics then use. it's what an uncan ny pres enta tion is poss ible by NOTE. The size of any prom pter' list for a book test to 200, for can be modi fied to inclu de only page s fromof100 any page betw een exam ple. The spec tator is give n a choic e . 100 and 200 whic h is a wide choic e in the audie nce view THE SHADES OF THOUGHT to choo se EFFECT. A spec tator is given a book anda told d enve lope seale any chap ter. The perfo rmer give s the spec tator mess age The age. mess and is told to plea se open it and read the these with n begi read s, "The chap ter that you will choo se will three word s, 'In Augu st 1959 -'." of the Or the pred ictio n may read , "The third lineword s, the ains firs t parag raph ( or 2nd parag raph ) cont 'miss ing man uscr ipt'." is made Solu tions The book used is a long nove l that prep ared has rmer up of only six or seve n chap ters. The perfoenve lopes are place d one seale d enve lope for each chap ter. The As soon as the in any desir ed orde r in one or more pock ets.ter the perfo rmer spec tator open s the book to the chos en chapto the spec tator . remo ves the requ ired enve lope and hand s it spec tator does not Thes e book s are easy to find. The can tell rmer perfo tell anyo ne what chap ter he chos e, but the time it the of . Most by look ing at the top edge s of the bookbut way of one is here is quite easy to tell just by judg ing, tell will e glanc mark ing the top edge s of the book so that a to. ed exac tly at what chap ter the book has been open Get a thick book with five to seven chap ter s, with the top edge s of the page s soile d by dust and time . Then plac e spot s of bleac hing liqu id at the edge s surro undi ng each chap ter. The bleac hing liqu id will make s Fig. 8 a ligh ter shade on the soile d page edge

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THE SHADES OF THOUGHT .•...•.... cont. and will be easily seen from your side but will be unnoticed from the spectator's side. Fig. 8 shows the book opened to chapter two. The small circles represent the clean spots where the bleaching liquid has been placed. A more impressive test is as follows. Memorize the first two or three words of each chapter or have a small prompter list made containing all the chapters. Then tell any person to open the book to any chapter and to choose any word. Then write out the first three words of the chapter on a piece of paper. Fold the paper and place it into a glass as in Fig. 4. Then tell the person to callout his chosen word to be written on a slate, etc. He is next told to read the first three words of the chapter to himself as you write the second slip that will contain the first word chosen! This is the one-ahead system again and it can be used with more than two persons or words, however it is best to use it as above stated because if the principle is overdone many members of your audience will easily surmise that you are doing everything one-ahead. THE RECAP, 1. Spectator gets 'The Shades of Thought' book. 2. He is told to choose any chapter and to notice that the page contains many words. J. Performer makes prediction and writes the first three words of the chapter (or any three words of say the second or third lines etc, as per the prompter list as prepared). ** 4. Spectator is told to callout any word from the first page of the chapter. *** 5. Performer then writes out his second prediction with the called word. 6. Spectator is next told to read the first three words of his chosen chapter, etc. It is then pointed out that all the chapters are different in content. 7. The predictions are then read by anyone and prove correct.

** In preparing your prompter list you may want to use the

first three words of the third line of the first paragraph of the chapter instead of just the first three words. *** Since the word chosen by the spectator can be any word, he can be allowed to choose the word from the second page of the chapter, etc. However the performer must know what chapter has been chosen. ";OTE, Instead of bleaching liquid, diluted blue ink may be used.

13 OF WORDS AND WIZARDS

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE THE UNINVITED

EFFECT, Three different books are passed out to the audience. Anyone is asked to callout a page, say between 50 and 150. All spectators with the three books turn to that page and note the first word. A stranger is then called on the telephone, by long distance preferably, anywhere in the world and is asked to please give any three words that come to his mind. The three words given by the stranger over the telephone are the same three words that have been chosen in the booksl Gentlemen, this is a brain buster that has already been used in night clubs. It is a one-man presentation that uses no confederates. The Secret. You will need three books that look different but with the same contents in every page. This type of book has aready been discussed in 'Fifth Row, Center Aisle.' If the reader can not find three books to use then he will have to prepare books as will be discussed in 'At The Blackboard.' The presentation is quite simple. After the three books are passed out, anyone is told to callout a page and all three spectators turn to the same page. They of course are all looking at the same word, the first word on the chosen page but do not know it. All three persons assume that each is looking at a different word, since the books are supposedly all different. The performer knows the word after peeking at his prompter list. The spectators have been given a choice of any page from 50 to 150, so a prompter list is prepared for 100 words. The best system to use is to write out the words in ink on a piece of paper and wrap the paper around black crayons as is done in 'Brain Echo.' The crayons will then be used to mark on an art board when the spectator calls his words over the telephone. It may take more than one crayon to contain the prompter list. When the page is called the performer takes out the correct crayon in readiness for what follows. Some member of the audience is then told to call any body he knows who lives in another city, over the telephone. He may wish to use the opportunity to call his brother, mother sister, etc. He is then allowed a few words with this person and the telephone is then passed on to the mentalist who informs the person about the test at hand. Mentalist then tells the person to pick out any word from the air. The person calls out the chosen word to the mentalist who makes a note of it. Next the mentalist tells the person over the telephone to please callout two more words and to tell these words to his relative who called himl The person calls out two more



THE UNINVITED .•..•.. cont. words over the telephone to his relative who passes the words to the performer who writes them on the art board to make three words. Say that the two last words called were "house and table." The performer writes these on the art board and then writes the third word, which supposedly was the first word chosen over the telephone, but actually the performer writes the forced word from his prompter list! The performer then shows and calls out the three words written on his art board and asks the three spectators holding the three books to acknowledge that their chosen words were indeed called. They will of course concede that their words were called. CAUTION, If the books being used contain too many blank pages then it is best to tell the first spectator that received a book to please open the book to a page that contains a lot of print and to callout the page number. This maneuver will avoid calling attention to trickery if someone calls a page that is blank and all three spectators notice that their pages are all blank. This is exactly the case with "The Broken Wings" books mentioned before. These books contain several blank pages. The Recap.

1. Three apparently different books are passed out to three different persons in the audience. 2. Someone chooses any page from 50 to 150. 3. All three spectators open their books to the page called and notice the first word on the page. 4. Anyone calls an unknown person over the telephone and the person is asked to call any three words that come to his mind. 5. Performer listens in for the first word called and then passes the telephone to the person that called and tells him to listen for the next two words called by the stranger. 6. Performer write the first word called in his art board with a black crayon, but actually writes the force word from his prompter list corresponding to the page number. He writes the force word in position 3. 7. The next two words called are written in positions 1 and 2. 8. The three words on the art board are now called out and the three spectators with the books are asked to acknowledge them which they do.


OF WORDS AND WIZARDS FORCING THE WORD

It is easier to force a word from a book than to force a page. Page number 125. for example appears only once in any book while a word like 'she', 'that' and 'there' appear several times throughout any book. An effect called "She" and "The Book Nook Book Test" by the author appears in Sensational Mentalism Part IV, sold by Micky Hades. This test employs a book that is sold in the book stores and is available today. The book is a Matt Helm adventure novel by Donald Hamilton called, "The Wrecking Crew." This book is easy to find and very popular today. It is published by Fawcett PUblications. It is a paperback book. "The Wrecking Crew" contains the word 'she' as the first word of the page 13 times plus two more times as the second word on the page. 'She' is the first word on pages 17, 20, 34, 42, 84, 88.

89, 106, 123. 124. 150, 155. 169.

'She' is the second word on the page on page 50 and 78. In this case the first word can be scraped off with a pen knife leaving the word 'she' in first place. All we are interested in are the even numbered pages, so for our purpose we can ignore pages, 89 and 123. We can use pages 17, which is the first force page and which will probably never be chosen and pages 155 and 169 which are the last two force pages which will be seldom chosen. To force the word 'She' is relatively easy. We will leave "The Wrecking Crew" novel as it comes from the store, but we must get another novel that contains about 170 pages or less. Any book will do. This book is then prepared by cutting short two or three pages in front of each force page where possible. For example in front of page 21 we can cut short 3 pages. These pages are only trimmed about 1/8 inch or less by using a straight edge and a sharp knife over a hard back board. The pages cut short would be 15-16, 17-18, 19-20. This of course eliminates page 17. Now if the book is riffled with the right thumb and hand the first break will come between pages 20 and 21. This forces the word 'She' on the left hand page which is page 20. However in actual practice it is found that the average person riffles to about the center of the book. In presentation, the prepared hook with the short pages is passed out to anyone in the audienc~ and is told to please riffle the book to any page. Actually the person does not have to riffle the pages. All he has to do is to open the book and he will open the book at a force page. He is then told to call out any word from the page and then to tell the page chosen, a second person is then told to open his book, "The Wrecking Crew" to the chosen page and read the first word on the page. They will usually read the left hand page. If not then they are directed to do so or the one-ahead system is used.


OF WORDS AND WIZARDS FORCING THE WORD ......•..

cont.

If a direct force of the word 'She' is desired then "The Wrecking Crew" novel must be prepared with the short pages. This direct force of one word can of course be used for many book tests encluding "The Uninvited" effect in this book plus many others. FORCING THREE WORDS The novel mentioned above is not the only book that can be used as described. A little search for more books will payoff with a bigger variety of books and force words. The word 'She' is not the only word that is repeated several times as the first word of the page. You will find in "The Wrecking Crew" that the word "it" appears three times as the first word on even number pages, 70, 126 and 146, and the word 'have' appears twice on pages 112 and 1)0. Now if the book is prepared so that it also forces the words "it" and "have" together with the word "she", then the book can be given to three persons to select a word. They will get one of the three words or all of them. In any event, the performer predicts the three words. This brings us to a most impressive book test ........ . AT THE BLACKBOARD EFFECT, Two blackboards are seen on stage. The performer passes three books to three spectators who are told to open the books to any page and to note the first word. They are given cards to write their words on. After the three words are written performer tells the three spectators to turn to the next page to look at the first word which is different. The performer then collects the three books and the three cards and returns to the stage where he proceeds to write the three chosen words on one of the blackboards. Then he turns the other blackboard around to show that he had predicted the choice of the three words. The secret. The three books are all alike but under different cover. They force the words 'She', "It' and "have" as in "The Wrecking Crew." All the books are prepared with short pages for the forcing. The performer does not know if the three words were all forced or if all three spectators looked at the same word. However when the performer writes out the three force words on the blackboard, he writes them from memory ignoring what is written on the three cards! The three spectators can say nothing since they see their words on the blackboard. When the other board is turned around it of course matches the first onel



AT THE BLACKBOARD .••..••.••.

cont.

The important key to the success of this test is to convince the audience that all three persons had a free choice and that if another page had been chosen it would have been different. The reader may find three different books that force three different words. Any other three books that force only one word can also be used. The reader must of course practice these tests before presenting them. The audience must be told exactly what to do. A left handed person will riffle the pages from the wrong end and arrive at the wrong page. If this happens, the performer must do a special test with this one person such as the center tear or the one-ahead system. If some cases the performer may riffle the book himself and tell the person to call stop. NOTE. In all tests, like 'The Ghost of the Unborn', where a stylus and carbon-impression envelope is recommended, a slit envelope with the card sticking partly out on the back of the envelope can be used with a swami gimick. The reader may have trouble getting the correct kind of envelope and carbon paper and stylus. In most cases, the reader will find that the most direct methods are best. THE CHAIN OF THOUGHT Three spectators are given three books. They secretly choose a page number and turn to the same page. All three write down the same word but of course do not know it. Performer approaches one spectator and takes the folded billet and shows the other two persons how to tear it up. Performer gets the word from the torn center and then calls out three words and asks the three persons to acknowlege their words. This effect can be presented quite mysteriously.

18


OF WORDS AND WIZARDS THE BOOK MARK

This title introduces a weird presentation of the book test.

EFEECT. Two persons are given two books with book marks. They have a free choice of page and word. When the book marks are examined they are found to be sealed envelopes with the predictions of the chosen words!

That is a very strong plot. The effect is as seen by the audience. BEHIND THE SCENES. One of the two books used forces only one word. The book given to the first spectator is an unprepared book. The book mark in the first book, Fig. 9 A is marked with a "1" but it contains the second message for the force word. The book mark used in the second book, Fig. 9B is marked with a "2 1t but it contains the prediction of the first word chosen by the first spectator! THE PREPARATION. First you will need a book that forces one word only. There are a few of these on the market or you may wish to prepare your own as mentioned before. The force word, say it is "she is used to make the first prediction and reads as follows, ItThe second word chosen will be 'she."" This message is sealed in an envelope and placed in the unprepared book as a book mark. The envelope is plainly marked with a "1 1t . Another identical envelope marked on the outside with a 1t2" but not sealed, contains the following. "The first word chosen will be ." This card is placed into the envelope A upside down so that the blank space B left for filling in the first word is sticking out of the mouth of the opened envelope. Fig. 10. This prepared envelope is palced on the front of Book B, the force book and the book is placed on a table face down. Fig. 9 THE PRESENTATION. Book itA" together with the sealed envelope Itl" is passed out to one spectator who is told to open the book to any page and to callout any word. When the word is called, performer picks up the second book together with the prepared and open envelope behind it and out of sight of the audience. Performer next Fig. 10 takes out a business card and jots down the word lt



THE BOOK MARK •.•....... cont. called, but he writes the word twice. Once on the business card and also on the card sticking out of the envelope. Performer may patter that he is writing the word down although that is not necessary. Performer keeps the business card and then passes the force book together with the envelope marked "2" which has now been closed (and sealed if it is a self-sealing envelope) to a second spectator saying that he is going to have a second word chosen. NOTE. Only the spectator who is given the second book takes note of the envelope. The rest of the audience are not yet aware of the importance of the envelopes. So far the performer has only referred to the envelopes as book marks. The second spectator is now told to riffle to a page or to choose a chapter or whatever to force the one word. Spectator is told to insert the 'book mark' in place. NOW the performer retells the audience what has been done and he calls attention to the 'book marks' saying, "I will now show you a mystery." So saying he approaches the spectators holding the books and removes the two sealed envelopes. He then tells the audience that the book marks are sealed envelopes that contain messages. Performer places the envelopes together face-to-face and cuts both envelopes open at the same time with a pair of scissors and extracts both cards at the same time. The two cards have the writing facing each other and out of sight. The two cards are given to anyone to read. All can be left behind as there is nothing out of place. End of m:iracle. NOTE. The word can be filled in with a swami gimmick if desired, instead of writing it on the business card. It really does not matter. The effect is quite strong either way. No one can deny that the book marks were in place before the words were chosen. The reader need not worry that someone will notice that the cards came from the wrong envelopes. It is impossible for the audience to follow up on that one move as they do not know yet what the messages say. A twist of the wrist to turn the cards over helps.

20


AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE 50,000 WORDS

This is the author's version of Sid Lorraine's excellent effect called 40,000 words which made the headlines of the front page of Jinx #131 in March 21st, 1941. Sid Lorraine's idea intrigued me enough that I added my two cents to the method. In this version, a window is cut through all the pages of the dictionary except the front cover and two pages. The window measures 1 by 2 inches and includes the back cover. The dictionary is a pocket dictionary that measures about 2-3/4 inches by St. These sell for about $2 or less. The Webster Vest Pocket dictionany has a line on the second page from the front cover that reads, "Nearly 50,000 Words." Fig. 11A shows the dictionary with the window cut out. Fig. 11 B shows the back of the dictionary with an envelope cemented over the window to hide it. The envelope is the type used in libraries for the library card. The envelope has a button and string for locking the contents in. When the dictionary is closed it looks unprepared except B for the envelope cemented to it's back. For our purpose any kind of envelope will do. The envelope Fig. 11 measures approx. 2 by 3 inches. The prepared dictionary can be handled freely as the window is completely hidden. Another duplicate unprepared dictionary is also needed. This dictionary must also have an envelope cemented on it's back with a white card inside. The PRESENTATION is now quite obvious. The windowless dictionary is passed out to some one to choose a word. Performer takes back the dictionary and openly takes out the card from the envelope and gives it to the spectator to write his word on. Performer turns away and switches dictionaries. The window dictionary is given to the spectator for the purpose of inserting his card into the envelope and sealing it. Performer takes back the dictionary and patters, opens the front of the dictionary to show the line, "Nearly 50,000 Words," and reads the word in the meantime through the window. The dramatic conclusion follows. Readers are advised to look up Sid Lorraine"s excellent presentation of this effect in Jinx #131 or Annemann's "Practical Mental Effects."

21


AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE SMALL WORLDS

Pocket dictionaries are excellent for the creation of mental mysteries. In this effect, four pocket dictionaries are used but the audience is only aware of one. The dictionaries must be from different publishers. Inspection of these dictionaries will show that the contents of each are slightly different. The word 'right' for example will appear on different pages and positions for each dictionary. For his own information, the mentalist assigns a different color to each dictionary. say blue. red, yellow and green. From the blue dictionary, the mentalist makes a list of three words and all their homonyms and writes the page number, column and position on blue cards. The three words used and their homonyms may be. right, rite, wright, write wrong, rung, wrung pear, pare, pair We now have 10 blue cards, each with a different page number, column and position of word. The same is done for the other three dictionaries. using the same three words to make a total of 40 cards in four colors. The mentalist next prepares a three way envelope with the words, 'right,' 'wrong,' and·pea~.' one word to each compartment. This is introduced as the prediction. The performer has concealed the four dictionaries in a known order about his person or in his brief case which rests on the table. THE PRESENTATION. The deck of multi-color cards are passed out and a spectator is told to choose any card he wishes. As soon as the card is chosen, the performer knows what dictionary to bring out. The dictionary is given to the spectator who is told to look up the word. He is then told that if he had chosen any other card he would of course arrive at a totally different word since the numbers are all different. It is not necessary to prove this since it is quite obvious. Another spectator is told to come on stage and read the prediction. After the spectator in the audience has announced his choice the envelope is opened to the correct compartment and the spectator on stage is told to read the prediction. Since the words are all homonyms they will sound alike. The reader can record the message on tape or on a record. Two words may be used instead of three.

22


AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE THE SURREALIST

Man's future frontier is his subconscious mind. A look into this lightly explored region reveals new areas of conscious awareness beyond current conscious comprehension. New knowledge, new problems and new puzzles are found in it's innermost explorations. Man's subconscious mind is God-lik~. It is a new threshold of miracle. It creates fantasy and il~usion in dreams. It imbues the dreamer with superhuman powers. It revives the dead. It reads thoughts and transports the body. It can see the future. It heals. It teaches and reveals secrets. In art, the surrealist depicts the visions of his subconscious mind by experimenting with new ways of scratching the surface of his canvas to create new dimensions. In magic, the magician transcends all dimensions when he through a brick wall. When he dematerializes and escapes from jails. When he defies death. The mentalist stands in a threshold of enchantment when he sees through walls. When his thoughts penetrate matter. 'tlhen his mind escapes the unescapable boundaries of mortals. wal~s

THE LOCKED BOOK A locked book has the added mystery that it is locked and that a key is needed to open it. But yet, anything that can be done with any book can be done with a locked book. Here we will create the illusion that the mentalist's mind will penetrate through locked walls. THE EFFECT. The audience is allowed a free choice of any page. The mentalist describes the contents of a page in a locked book and also divines or predicts the position of certain words! THE METHOD. First of all a page must be forced. There are a good dozen ways of doing this impressively without having to resort to cards or dice. To mind comes the limited-range-force in which the audience has a free choice of a limited number of known pages. First the digits from 1 to 9 are placed or chalked on a slate, Fig. 13. Performer goes among the audience and has three persons circle single digits. Performer then uses the digits in their numerical order instead of their called order. In Fig. 13, the number used for the page is 367 regardless of what digit was circled first. Fig. 13

2)



THE LOCKED BOOK •... ..... . cont . With the techn ique shown in Fig. 1), the audie nce is limi ted to a choic e of one in 84 page s. conThe perfo rmer can make a prom pter list witht, the and last firs the of list a tents of the 84 page s. That is, raph parag and ter chap like othe r prom inent word s on each page ars on the surfa ce. begi nnin gs. This is much easie r than it appe e list can be entir the that The read er will disco ver mnem onics . of use the and tice memo rized with a littl e prac has A secon d meth od is to get a pape rback nove l that time s. 4 t leas at page the on the word 'tha t' as the firs t word page . a to e riffl to told is The more the bett er. The spec tator he open ed the The perfo rmer then asks the spec tator what page plus he also s page the of ents book to, and desc ribes the cont is and tells page the on word t asks the spec tator what the firs 11 or er numb line on the audie nce that that word is found ! book what ever in the page of the locke d rece nThe perfo rmer ment ions that the locke d book has open ed been not has it that tly been disco vere d in an attic and the that ebs cobw and for deca des. The book is full of dust . perfo rmer has place d there for an adde dhastouch page s cut shor t few a ioned The pape rback nove l ment to force the corr ect page s. the audie nce NOTEs If your locke d book only has 400 page s, then t must be digi t firs the as only has a choic e of 64 page s s numb er page force the book a ), or less . With a )00 page only 49. THE BOOKS IN THE LOCKED CHEST book s EFFECT. A spec tator is told to choo se three locke d are s book three The es. from among many book s on shelv rmer perfo the and nce audie the in a ches t. A page is chos en by ents cont the ribes desc en who does not know what book s are chos mysthe to add To s! book of the chos en page s on all the three ! tery , one of the book s chos en has all it's page s blank es THE METHOD is quite simp le. Ther e are three shelv size rent diffe of s of book s. The top shel f cont ains book secon d shel f and colo r but all liave the same cont ents , The shel f may be third has all book s with blank page s and the rent cove r! diffe r unde composed of maga zines , all the same but book , one any se choo The spec tator is simp ly told to pter list prom a uses se f:_'om each shel f. The perfo rmer of cour or just force s one page !

Al Mann - Of Words and Wizards

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