Richard Osterlind - Mind Mysteries Guide Book 3

VOLUME 3: ASSORTED MYSTERIES • Written by

RICHARD OSTERLIND Text & Layout by

JIM SISTI

www.osterlindmysteries.com

VOLUME 3: ASSORTED MYSTERIES • Written by

RICHARD OSTERLIND Text & Layout by

JIM SISTI

www.osterlindmysteries.com

© 2006 by Richard Osterlind All rights reser reserved. ved. Reproduction or utilization of this work in in any form by any means now known or hereinafter invented, including, but not limited to, xerography, photocopying and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission from the publisher. publisher. First E-Book Edition August 2006

Foreword Richard Osterlind is a musician who happens to read minds and create wizardry. He noticed that, with only twelve notes, an infinite variety of music (good and bad) has and will be played. So he looks at basic human psychology and the classic workers of magic & mentalism. He observes what combinations of those notes, at what pitches, cause specific responses. And he produces routines which are so realistic, which pluck emotions like harp strings, that some people accused his videos of being staged with stooges. I was one of those people who called Richard’s audiences “the L&L Professional Audience.” Smug though I was, I found the routines impressive and used a few. And I got the sort of responses which we’ve seen on the Mind Mysteries DVDs – including not a few Jon or Janelle type reactions. So maybe this Osterlind fellow knew what he was doing... Really, the routines on the third volume of Mind Mysteries (which will be all but dissected in this book) sound awfully simple. A card turns over in your fingers. A torn sweetener package is restored. A spoon bends. Simple. A short clause describes each one. So simple, in fact, that an audience has absolutely no trouble following what seems to be happening. So simple that the impossibility of it strikes like an uppercut. How did we get from music to boxing? The title of the DVD is Mind Mysteries and we expect “mind power” psychic material. Yet there are at least two routines which definitely fall in the sleight of hand category, and he makes it work. Have you ever heard a piece of classical music which uses

Volume 3: Assorted Mysteries

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conflict to create an impact? Didn’t it seem like a musical version of a punch? Yet it wasn’t unpleasant, though it set up conflicting feelings in you, and you were hopelessly caught up in “What happens next?!” That’s how we got from music to boxing – and maybe to mystery. It may surprise you, as it did me, to learn some of Richard’s mysteries are of less recent vintage than we thought. It seemed to me that I’d seen magicians doing a vanishing sugar packet all my life, so I originally thought this was a new version of an old standard. Not until I read this section, did I remember that there were no sugar packets until the late 1960s or early 1970s – and they weren’t common until well into the 1970s. Sugar cubes were what one found, not sugar packets, until then. May I strongly urge you to study the autobiographical “How I Create” chapter? It is, so far, the most significant thing which I think Richard has written, and it applies to a lot more than “just” magic and mentalism. No, you’re not going to get an easy-to-follow checklist – that would defeat the entire purpose. What you’ll learn is how Richard learned to create and how his methods of creation still work today. You’ll find real secrets in this chapter, real secrets which have been openly available to anyone who wants to expand their thinking. And you’ll learn how to look at something old, something borrowed, and find something new. At the end of the DVD, he comes right out and asks the audience if they’d like to see a little magic trick, even though “everyone” knows you can’t mix magic and mentalism. To really disprove this common misconception, he actually uses the politically incorrect phrase of “magic trick.” And he still blows them away! They’re still not sure if he’s not using some mental powers on them! And if we were there, even though we know how he does it, we’d still be blown away. Remember a key moment on the video when someone blurts out the “answer” that the bill’s not in the burning envelope? And how did

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Mind Mysteries Guide Book

Richard, far from denying it, use that to increase the tension? You’ve probably seen the DVD; that’s why you’re here. You learned how these effects worked. You’re about to find out why they work. Chet Cox Farmington, MO August 2006 P.S.: On the video, Richard says, “No matter where you are, people drink coffee.” Obviously he’s never been to a Mormon party, so Cherie and I extend an invitation to him, his talented wife, Lisa, and their new granddaughter, Kadence Raine Walton. Green Jell-O provided at the door! (Yes, this P.S. was an excuse to introduce Kadence to you.)

Introduction This edition begins a new phase in the Guide Book series. Whereas Mind Mysteries 1 dealt with The Act and Mind Mys- teries 2 with the Breakthrough Card System, the remaining videos each contain diversified material from many categories of magic and mentalism. The composure of each was not structured for the purpose of reaching as many performers as possible, as has been suggested, but rather represents those effects I have developed and used constantly over the last thirty years. I perform in diversified situations and create for those en vironments. Each of these videos is not some type of category , but rather part of the whole of the accumulation. Neither was the sequence of these individual effects chosen for any particular reason nor the spanning of the two-part series, Mind Mys- teries and Mind Mysteries Too . It was only logistics and my availability that created the series as it finally finished out. Interestingly enough, there are more effects on the final three videos of Mind Mysteries Too than on the original four of Mind Mysteries . With a little investigation, the reason becomes clear. The first video, The Act , had to stand on its own. (This single video, by the way, has become one of the best selling in all magic history!) The second video, The Breakthrough Card System, also needed its own entity. This left the remaining material, recorded at that time, to be dealt with. There was far too much for one video so the decision was made to break it into two and it worked fine. When Mind Mysteries Too was recorded, we followed the same procedure and simply divided up the material as equally as possible. There are always critics and some have suggested that there

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are effects in the series that are filler . This has always struck me as an easy way for those with an agenda to attack the series without having to put themselves on the spot by explaining which ones are filler ! The fact is there is not a single item on the Mind Mysteries series that can be considered a lesser or minor effect nor is there any material offered that was not totally audience-tested and used professionally over many years. I have written about the necessity of variety and emotional diversity extensively in my trilogy ( Making Magic Real , Mak- ing Real Magic and Essays ) and in The Principles of Magic . The material on Mind Mysteries illustrates these principles in a practical way. Nor was the material in Mind Mysteries Too less significant than in the initial offering. There is, in fact, much more of my classic material (i.e. that from the discontinued Challenge Magic , Dynamic Mys- teries , etc.) on Mind Mysteries Too than Mind Mysteries . The entire series is meant to be viewed as a nearly complete representation of my output up to 2004. Finally, there needs to be some discussion concerning originality versus derivation. Let me draw an analogy. There are only twelve notes in the musical scale (Western music) and yet look what has been done with those notes! It is mind boggling to consider how much music has been created down through the ages and what continues to be shaped. Those inexperienced will write songs they think are new and revolutionary, but which are really simply minor variations of what has come before. The truly gifted, on the other hand, will create new themes and sounds that startle us with their depth of emotion and originality. Yes, it all comes from those twelve notes, but somewhere in the creational process the com bination has crossed over onto new ground. That is what I have always strived for with my magic and mentalism. In an effort to sound analytical, not egotistical, I would like to think there is something ver y “Osterlindish”


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about the effects I create. I would like to think there is just something a little bit different about what I do and the effect it achieves. Richard Osterlind Falmouth, KY August 2006

MIND MYSTERIES Volume 2 Assorted Mysteries

SWEETER AND LOWER

History I have no idea when I first created the effect Sweet and Low . I know it was long before I recorded my Challenge Magic video and that was a long time ago! I do remember that my first impression was that someone else must have done this before. It seemed so logical that I couldn’t imagine it was original. I did lectures, asked other magicians, and investigated it thoroughly and still no one claimed ownership. Finally I put it out on the video and no one ever came forth and claimed it as their invention. Since it has been well over thirty years, I am now officially claiming it as mine! As I recently told a fellow performer, the hard part of creating magic is to come up with a simple idea that is new. It is easy to make up a long and complicated routine based on previous works. The majority of the new books and manuscripts being offered contain such material, whereas the older tomes are where you find the basic ideas that form the backbone of magic. To come up with material that is of this genre is the highest achievement. I am not suggesting Sweet and Low is of that caliber, but it certainly is beautiful because of its simplicity. And, as I will show in the bonus chapter of this book, Sweet and Low creates a new effect. That is rare. I have always studied Max Malini. Much of what I try to do comes from my own interpretation of his methods and mindset. If you examine the effects Malini performed, they were almost always with ordinary articles. Whenever you have to pull out a special prop to do an effect, and here I am not talking about a pad or pen, but rather some little metal box or tube or something like that, the audience will assume the magic is in the prop. But if you can do magic with things just lying around


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which the audience can keep later, the effect is tremendously enhanced. In Dai Vernon’s Malini and His Magic , there is a nice story about the Torn and Restored Straw Cover on page 51. Malini would prepare far ahead of time for this effect and have duplicate straw covers for every hotel in town. He knew the value of doing a standard effect, i.e. the torn and restored cigarette paper, in a novel and different way. Sweet and Low falls into the same category. It is an effect that you can always perform no matter where you are. As per the opening patter I use on the video, no matter where one goes, there is always a coffee pot. Whether you are in a fine hotel, a greasy spoon, an office building, a factory, a person’s home or apartment or any other place where people spend any amount of time, there will always be coffee! And wherever you find coffee, you will find a container of sugar and sugar substitute. I have never found it a challenge to swipe a packet of Sweet and Low (or whatever brand there is in the dish) while at the table. If you wish, however, you could do as Malini and have a few of each type with you. This is really not much of a problem as there are only a few brands. In addition, the packet you switch in and out is never visible for very long so, even if your packet differs slightly in the printing, it will never be noticed. Personally, I usually just take whatever is in my hotel room with the in-room coffee maker. That usually covers me wherever I go. It was over twenty years from the time I first demonstrated Sweet and Low on Challenge Magic to the time I put it on Mind Mysteries . It was inevitable that certain changes would be made. We decided to call it Sweeter and Lower , but I still prefer to call it Sweet and Low (most magicians do as well). To keep consistency with the video, however, it will be referred to as Sweeter and Lower here. I can offer no bigger accolade for Sweeter and Lower than

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to tell you that of every routine I have ever created, this is the one I am told that is most used by other professional magicians.

Analysis The beginning of Sweeter and Lower is a bit artificial as I bring out the packets. This routine would usually occur at dinner with a bowl of sweeteners sitting on the table. Although a minor point, I think you can see how much stronger it would play if it seemed impromptu like Malini’s straw routine. Speaking of Malini, I have to tell you there is a lot to learn from watching me get that thumb tip on in the beginning of the routine. Notice that after I toss the packets on the table and ask Jon to choose and sign one, both of my hands go into my pockets and come out adjusting the flaps. The right hand, of course, has copped the tip. But the point I want to stress is that the move is done right out in the open and goes by without anyone paying attention to it. There are reasons for this. I have made it a habit of often going into my pockets for different articles and also just to adjust the flaps and the way the jacket is hanging. Putting my hands into my pockets has become a normal tendency for me now and I always do it whether or not I am performing. It is an entirely natural motion and it has become my standard method for getting and ditching such things as thumb tips, nail writers, etc. Since the movement means nothing to me, it means nothing to the audience. I truly believe that Malini worked with this same mindset, enabling him to vanish and produce objects at will. We all know the notorious small size of his hands. He had to rely on this type of misdirection to be constantly so successful. Another factor that makes these kinds of moves invisible comes from years of experience in doing them so many times your subcon-


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scious mind puts no importance on them. Truly, a performer can get away with murder if his attitude while doing the dirty work is nonchalant and innocent. A small point that I should mention is when I pick up the packet, I do so with the left hand and immediately place it into my right hand. It is difficult to pick things up while wearing a thumb tip. You have no feeling! I make a big deal out of the fact that my sleeves are no where near my hands and even push my arms forward to cause them to slide back further. This is a type of the cancellation principle where it is implied that nothing can go up or down the sleeves and that’s the only place trickery could come from. It seems impossible that a duplicate packet or some kind of gimmick could be introduced. It is also a nice touch that the top of the packet has to be torn off. This makes it mandatory for the hands to come together without a wasted move. I have rewound the video at the point where the packets are switched over and over. There is really nothing to see that looks out of the ordinar y. After the top is torn off and the right hand takes the packet proper, you will see that I stand up a bit straighter and stay away from Jon. It would be next to impossible for him to notice his signature is not on the packet, but I don’t give him a chance. The packet is crumbled, covered by my fingers and far enough away from him to cover any problems. In truth, in all the years I have been performing this, no one has ever asked to see the signature at this point in the routine. I would like to mention a moment that occurred during this taping. As I was pouring the sweetener into my right fist, I used my standard line of, “How do you like it so far?” That always gets a laugh. Then Jon topped me by saying, “It’s sweet!” I was totally surprised that I had never thought of saying that myself! It is a great line and I have used it ever since! This is a perfect example, caught on video, of how routines and all the little niceties grow over the years from audience feedback and

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them writing the funny lines for you! As I have mentioned in my previous Guide Books , the actual method of an effect is only a small part of the presentation. It is the finished produc- tion, with all those little jokes, asides, facial expressions and finished details, that make for a totally polished performance. I like the nice close-up work the camera did when I was pouring the powder into my hands. The routine is just about angle-proof and that is so important in close-up performing. Even if someone were to look into the top of my fist (my view) while I am pouring in the sweetener, they really could not see anything. The only time the routine is not totally angle-proof is when the thumb tip is angled down, behind the fingers, after the torn top is put in. A slight twist of the wrist and bringing in the hand closer to the chest takes care of that. The benefits of doing the routine in this way far outweigh the slight problem of angles. The new finish of Sweeter and Lower uses a flash restoration. This, I believe, is far better than the original method of just opening the hand and showing the packet restored. Besides being more visible, it has another advantage. The right hand can be shown completely empty just before the climax. If you watch the video again, you will see that I rub my right fingers together as I say, “Watch.” The finger movement is meant to look like I am getting ready to work the magic, but the secondary reason is to draw attention to the empty hand and show its innocence. I never design any of my routines to fool magicians, but this move does have that effect for anyone looking for a thumb tip. The blowing at the hands at the flash restoration also has a twofold reason for taking place. It looks magical, but it also scatters powder into the air. It’s almost like a little puff of smoke! Now, over the years, I have had some magicians criticize the routine because there is some powder left over on the hands and the table. I never could understand the logic of the criticism. If you really tore open a packet, poured the contents into


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your hand and then restored it, it would be entirely natural for some of the sweetener to be scattered in the process. It only proves that the packet was really opened and the powder dumped out. The ending is also a perfect one. The restored packet completely covers the thumb tip and the hands can be shown very freely. If you look at the faces of the audience members, you can almost see their thought process as they shake their heads. First is the obvious look of astonishment at seeing the packet restored in such a clean manner. The second rush of astonishment comes when they realize that Jon’s signature is still intact! I would never even consider doing this routine without having the packet signed. That is what puts it into such a miracle category. I want to make a very important point here. Notice how at the end of the routine I hand the packet back to Jon and say, “Check it out. Is that your name on it? Is it all sealed up?” I use questions , not statements . If I had said, “There is the packet all sealed up and your name is on it,” it would not play nearly as well. By asking the questions, I am causing the spectators to admit that the miracle has happened. Even if they don’t ver balize it, they are mentally admitting it. It also subconsciously implies that the focus is on the miracle and not me. It comes back to me, of course, but that is not the main focus. I write about this in The Principles of Magic extensively. To sum it up here, ego is never recognized as a desirable trait. You don’t want to come across as, “Look what a great man I am.” Instead it should be, “Look at this wonderful thing that has happened!” I’m sorry for being blunt, but if you get nothing more out of this book than that, you will have spent your money well. Notice at this point in the routine that I am in no rush to get rid of the thumb tip. Even when my hand drops to my side, I don’t make an attempt to pocket it yet. I wait until I see the audience attention has dropped before going south with it. Let me finish by saying I am always leery about routines

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that need to be reset or cannot be repeated immediately. I actually wrote about this in my book, The Principles of Magic , where I stated that a routine should be so good that you should be able to repeat it instantly. I still hold by that rule and don’t feel that Sweeter and Lower violates that principle. It could be repeated before the same audience with the same results, but just as in stage performances, there are feature effects and the same holds true in close-up magic. Sweeter and Lower is one of them. It is a mini-illusion. I always give it a good build up and even invite people at other tables to come over to see this. I let them know before I begin that this is going to be very special and I don’t want them to miss it. This also implies that I am not going to do it again! I can tell you from years of performing Sweeter and Lower that people realize they have seen an event that will not be repeated that night!

CHANGE OF MIND

History This routine actually consists of two inventions. I have al ways been enamored with the one-ahead principle and Mental Epic type effects. I must have owned a dozen different versions over the years. Additionally, as of this time, I have put out the Ultra Board , the Epitome Board , two versions of Steno ESP (there is actually an improved, no-force version on my new videos to be released in 2007) and the method I use here which I call the Turnover Pad . (I also have invented a new Mental Epic effect that a noted manufacturer will be making in the near future.) So I have given a lot of thought to the effect. The Turnover Pad was developed about a year before I came out with Change of Mind in the 80’s. I used it for other purposes before that, but it seemed to go perfectly with the COM gimmick. I recently had a friendly debate with another mentalist who asked, “How can you say you own the idea of turning over a pad?” The fact is, up until I developed and published the idea, no one else had. That’s why! Yes, Max had an add-anumber effect where he used the move to switch a set of num bers, but no one had thought of using the idea for a one-ahead routine. It is the very simplicity of the idea that makes it so good. To be complete, I should also mention there are versions of the Himber Wallet that have pads in them. You could use one of these in the same way. You will, of course, have to work out a handling where you have to open and close the pad for each prediction. That should really not present too much of a problem for the thinking mentalist. There is a version of the Change of Mind gimmick in J. G. Thompson’s, My Best . It is called Ghost Coins by George Starke on page 188 of that tome. The truth is that I had not seen that prior to inventing COM . It was brought to my atten-


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tion by another magician. I still would have put out the effect, however, as the effect in the book had nothing to do with my own. The purpose of that gimmick was to vanish a handful of coins silently. On the video explanations, we happened to have used a Vermont quarter. At the time, these state quarters were relatively new. Now, they are very abundant and that only helps the routine. Instead of just predicting the coin and the date, you can also predict the state if the chosen coin is one of those. Additionally, if you notice a mark or any dirt or discoloration on the coin, you can add that to your prediction. Finally, you don’t have to stick to coins. You can keep the money theme by predicting the last four numbers of a bill’s serial number, then the last four digits of a credit card, and finally the coin. You can also dispense with the money theme completely and predict anything. Although this works, it is a bit harder to justify using the coins at the end. Finally, I would like to add that the stage coin prediction has been widely overlooked. Looking back, I almost wish I had performed that routine on one of the videos to show how strong it plays. There seems to be no apparent way for you to control the spectator’s actions when they are standing on the other side of the stage. Hopefully, after you read this, you might give it a try.

Analysis Although I had to rely on Scotty to produce some coins to use in this routine, in reviewing the performance, I don’t think that detracted. The whole thing looked very normal and everyone could see the coins were all different. When I asked Jon and Janelle to put the coins in their pockets, I said to Jon, “In your own pocket! I just read Jon’s mind!” This got a nice laugh.

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This is about as far as I would go in using this kind of humor. It was just the slightest bit risqué, but not offensive. I only mention this because the biggest blunder I see some magicians make is becoming too familiar with lady volunteers and the over use of double entendres. Whenever you perform, you have to assume the lowest common denominator of prudence in your audience. What might seem mildly offensive to one person might be hugely offensive to another. Once you cross that line, it is hard to ever go back. To some, placing the pad on the table and walking away while Janelle signs her name might seem a bit risky. You might think there is too great a chance someone might pick up the pad and turn it over. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in my many years of performing is that you can’t think that way. If you go into a routine worried about what things might go wrong or who might try to mess you up, you will have problems. But, if you are confident and put those thoughts out of your mind, they simply never happen. This, perhaps, is one of the hardest lessons to learn in magic. Let me quote Edwin T. Sachs from one of my favorite books, Sleight of Hand : “If to this delicacy of manipulation is added a suavity of manner, accompanied by a never-failing cool daring, then the perfection of a conjurer is attained.” As soon as Janelle is finished and I pick up the pad I say, “Did you even look at the coins as you put them into your pocket …?” I really don’t care here what she will say. It is the question that is important! When you ask a person a question, they immediately look into your eyes and think about it. That takes all the heat off the pad immediately. If you review the video, you won’t find one person looking at the pad. I then say, “I don’t know whether this is going to work or not” as I write my first prediction. I often use this ruse. I really want the audience to believe I am unsure of myself and might miss. If you take out the element of the possibility of failure, you destroy much of the punch of the climax at the end.


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When she brings forth the coin, a quarter, I look at it, but do not mention the date. I just slide it over next to the prediction I just made. That is important. Although later I will separate the coins from these papers as I open them, I am careful here to put each paper right next to its coin. This forestalls anyone from thinking there is any funny business going on. I have to tell you my eyesight is not all that good. I had to ask Janelle to call out the date on the penny Jon chose because I couldn’t see it! If you have better vision that me, then please just note the date and do not announce it yet. When I get to my own prediction, I try to make it sound as if I just got the idea to use one of my coins. I say, “You know what I’m going to do since I have some coins in my pocket?” It’s almost as though I am only doing this because I do have some coins and wouldn’t if I didn’t. At least that is what I hope they are thinking. I have developed a style of working where I sometimes seem unsure of just what I am going to do. This is my personality and how I work, but I would never tell you to do the same. If it is natural for you, let me tell you it is very effective. The idea that you are creating the conditions of each test as you go makes it all seem ver y fair. Again, you will have to decide if this is the right approach for your own style. You probably have already noticed how I sort of jiggle my hand when I display the gimmick and loose coins. This, as per the explanation, is what really makes the coins all appear separate. Then I had one removed from my own coat pocket. Please, please, please do not do what I saw one magician do that used his pants pocket, thinking he was clever. That is not acceptable ! As soon as the coin is selected and handed to me, notice how I immediately slide the coins in a line and say, “So this was kind of the order things happened” while leaving the papers untouched. The audience attention is momentarily on the coins. Then, in one motion, I sweep up all the papers together and say, “Each time you signed the paper, I made a prediction and then you removed a coin.” This is the only time there is a

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move of any sort. Please rewind and watch this section again and notice how quickly it all goes by. If anyone suspects how the papers are now bunched together, they are immediately reminded that each paper was signed ahead of time before the coins were chosen. As I open them, I also say, “OK, and this last one was mine.” Let me tell you a little subtlety I did not mention in the explanations. I always give my own billet a special little twist so that I can tell it apart from the other two. Then I make sure I open it last so that I can use the above line and make it all seem so fair. Here is another subtlety. As I open the three papers, I turn to the girl on my right and say, “You keep an eye on me. Make sure I don’t switch anything!” Again, I am using the cancellation principle. By suggesting that only a switch would allow me to cheat, I am canceling out the true solution! Now I recap. I tell Janelle, for about the third time, how first she signed the paper, then I wrote a prediction and finally she selected a coin. I am trying to lock in the order of events. When I get to Jon, I even add, “You signed the paper. There’s no way I could have switched this prediction!” Again I am using the cancellation principle. Finally, I recap with Cassandra and end the demonstration. You might notice the last thing I say is, “Think about that one!” I say this because, after years of performing this routine, I have learned that people do go back and retrace the steps. I often have spectators come back later in the night and say, “That was totally impossible what you did with those coins!” It is almost as though they had to think it through thoroughly to really grasp how impossible it was!

SPOON BENDING

History There is so much to say about this subject. It has been many years since Uri Geller made his appearance. His metal bending demonstrations made him famous and controversial. To this day, he is still well known and talked about whenever things psychic are discussed. It was about 17 or 18 years ago that I did a lecture tour that started in New Orleans, ran through Texas and Okalahoma and ended in Philadelphia. We were on the road for over a month. While on this tour, I met Banachek in Houston. He had already been one of the Alpha Kids and I had been bending spoons for years. We had a great time showing each other what we had developed and this is where I learned how to twist a spoon. Later, I became friends with one of Japan’s top performers, Mr. Maric. While having dinner, I showed him how I bent a spoon. He used a variation of this method on his next TV special and fooled me badly with it! I then changed it further and that is the method I demonstrate on this video. What one has to remember when it comes to spoon bending is that even a slight change in angles or methods can make the effect look totally different. It is amusing to read on the Internet how different posters think this person or that person can do it better. Another person who I have to give credit to for giving me great inspiration for this bend and others is Meir Yedid. It has nothing, however, to do with spoon bending. I was watching him do his amazing Finger Fantasies! He later told me that many magicians believed he was double-jointed and could bend his fingers in all manner of contortions. In reality, he said, it was angles ! He told me that getting the perfect line of sight


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made even a simple move look like a miracle. I applied this same logic to my metal bending. One thing I can promise you is a fact is that almost no other effect hits as hard as a good metal bending demonstration. In my other books, I have talked about the power that magic should demonstrate. It should somehow reflect an idea that has meaning. When you just wave your hand over a metal object and it bends, the audience sees pure power ! It can almost look a little scary at times and certainly thoughts come into the spectators’ minds such as, “ What else can this guy do with his abilities?” When working close up, I will often approach a table that is very noisy and loud. I almost always begin by bending a spoon and the result is always the same. A hush falls over the crowd and I gain instant respect! Since it is so different, people don’t automatically assume you are just a magician wanting to do a few tricks ! Additionally, other tables can see what is happening and soon everyone in the room wants you to come to their table. That is why I always do the Matrix bend, which I demonstrate later on the video. It can be seen from everywhere and tells the house who you are and what you do. I often hear remarks like, “Look at what that guy over there is doing!” Then, when I approach their table, they are all set to listen and watch. This routine has to be the most powerful of all those on Mind Mysteries .

Analysis When I begin this routine, I say that I am going to demonstrate something I did on the TV show, Fox and Friends and later picked up by the E Network’s Talk Soup . Please understand how diabolical this is. Television is seen in many people’s minds as the supreme test of whether or not you are famous

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and important. In reality, it means little unless you have a sitcom that pays you a small fortune or a public performing venue, i.e. David Copperfield, where your appearance may bring in bigger crowds. For most entertainers, being on television means being able to say – you were on television. That’s about it. Still, saying it can mean a lot as to how you are accepted and what kind of prestige you have. Tell them in the wrong way, however, and you come across as a braggart. If, for instance, you say, “I am famous and have been on television! ” most people would look at you and think, “Who cares?” regardless of whose show you were on! There is a technique to talking about your past accomplishments. This includes not only television, but anything prestigious that you might want your audience to know about. You should always mention this kind of event in a manner that applies to what you are going to demonstrate. I did this here by explaining that I was surprised the guy on the show Talk Soup did not make fun of me when they put my performance, originally done on Fox and Friends , on their weekend edition. I made an interesting little prelude while talking about a national TV show I was on! Let me give you a few other examples I use all the time. “Let me show you something that, when I was performing it for President Ford, he told me it was his favorite!” Or … “I use this large deck of cards because sometimes the crowds I work for are quite large. Last year I did two shows at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake city for 4500 people each.” Or … “When I was in Beijing, I did this for 600 Chinese busi- nessmen who didn’t speak English! I had to use an interpreter!” Throwing in one of these little asides can boost your acceptance level 500% (or more) instantly if you do it the right way. When I get to the spoons, I toss out four of them and offer a choice as to which one I should use. Let me elaborate on a very important point here.


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In this instance, I to use my own spoons as we were shooting a video. For real shows, there is always a question as to whether it is better to bring your own silverware or use what is on the table. The story of Malini stabbing a card through an antique table comes to mind. The hostess was appalled at the knife marks, but Malini told her she should be thrilled as it was the Great Malini who did it! This makes for a good story, but I would hesitate to offer that as good advice. I always bring my own silverware. If no one objects, I can always use what’s present. I buy large tablespoons very cheaply at a local dollar store or Wal-Mart if they are carrying the right type. I also use a small vinyl pencil case that will hold about 15 spoons. By bringing out at least four or five at a time, having them examined and then letting the spectator choose the one to use, I never have a problem with anyone suspecting trick spoons. Additionally, I always let the spectator keep the spoon once it has been bent. It’s amazing how many people hang on to them as souvenirs! I always take the chosen spoon and hold it up next to another one to show it is exactly the same shape. That is important as, later, I will demonstrate how much the spoon has bent by repeating the movement. Notice that I explain that what I am about to show them is different . I tell them that whenever this has been done before, people never see it happening. They just see the results . Then I tell them they will actually see bending take place. Again, I have to stop here for a second and talk about another technique I often use. It is the technique of making what I do special ! You have to be able to do this without openly putting down another performer, but you certainly can make it sound like you are miles ahead of what others do! This is a business. You don’t become successful unless people think you are the best. There is nothing wrong with promoting your indi viduality while performing. You don’t have to do original material to talk like this. You just have to have original presenta-

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tions! I used to do the standard Linking Rings. I used it as an opener and would say, “Although you have probably seen this before, most magicians do it very fast and try to fool you with speed. Tonight I am going to do it for you very slowly and demonstrate the way the Chinese performed this over 5000 years ago!” The technique not only accomplishes a very important purpose, but also gives the necessary misdirection to make the first bend. Since the conversation is interesting, and apparently necessary, people listen to me and don’t watch my hands. Some magicians think that just talking will provide misdirection. It won’t if you don’t say something interesting. Then some magicians think that a big joke or gag is the way to go. That is OK, but if the gag is too large and causes too much of a commotion, people will know they missed something later after the effect is over. That is when you always hear: “Do that again. I wasn’t paying attention!” You have to divert attention, but you have to do it without the audience knowing you did it ! I now need to talk about angles. The camera angle on this effect was not the best for the first bend, but I was playing it for the audience. You can still see it, but not as well as they could. This is what I was talking about in the History section. It is the line of sight of the spectators that is so important in spoon bending. You can certainly see the reactions on the faces of the audience as it bends and see they are impressed. Later, in the explanations, you get the full effect. You can also see it better in the bonus sections. Now I do the comparison with the unbent spoon. This is more important than you might first think. First, you get another moment! Please think about this and understand why I think this is so important. They have already reacted to the bend, but by holding it up to the other spoon, they react again without me having to do anything! Not only do they react, but applaud! It is during this applause that I am able to put in the next bend! So not only is the first effect reinforced by this ma-


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neuver, but I can get one-ahead for the next effect! Here I do two things I want to bring to your attention. I talk about the accusation that I have strong fingers and disprove I could be bending the spoon at one point by holding it at another. Do you see the cancellation principle at work? I am suggesting that the only way the spoon could bend by force is if I apply force it during the bending process. They will be looking for that next time and it won’t happen since it’s already bent. That brings me to the second point. The wonderful thing about bending items it that it is nearly impossible to compare the degrees of a bend. At this point in the routine, I am holding a spoon that I have just put another bend in, then I am going to pretend to bend it some more and then show that it has bent some more. That is three effects even though they only see two! Let me explain. When I talk and show the spoon after the second secret bend, I am still showing it as having the same degree of bend as after the first bend. That’s the first hidden effect. Next, I pretend to bend the spoon a second time. That’s the second effect, which is open. Finally, I show the spoon to have bent more. That’s the third open effect even though the degree of the bend is the same as before I did anything. That’s what’s so wonderful about spoon bending! The next two bends, the Karate bend and the Matrix bend, both get their additional bends through the wider use of movement. Since I don’t want to overuse the ruse of putting in a bend and then talking, I prefer to openly hold the spoon while the dialogue is going on the put the bend in at the last minute. For the Karate bend, I swing my arms left to right and get the bend in just as the spoon goes under the tabletop. The spoon immediately comes up into position ready for the motion of the karate chop. Please take a look at the faces of the audience in the background shot as this is taking place. You can see their obvious reactions. This is the bend I use in restaurants while standing to attract attention to myself from other tables and

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areas of the room. When I want to do that, I make sure I stand on the side of the table that allows most of the other tables to see me as I stand there. I actually think about this kind of thing when I first walk over and always choose the side that allows me to be best seen by the rest of the room! For the Matrix bend, I actually place the spoon on the table while talking to subtly imply that I am not even touching it ahead of time. I then pick it up and put in the bend as I move it upwards to my face. This is the only place on the video where I felt a bit restricted. Since I normally stand when I work, I had to adapt to my seated position. This worked fine for everything except this last bend. I was forced to almost lean backwards to get the best angles and maximum effect. When I look at the video, I can see that strained position. For your own edification, just know this is usually done standing and there is no such cramping. An important point I have not mentioned before is to make sure to swivel the spoon around after it bends so that the entire audience can see how much it has bent. If you don’t, those who are sitting in less ideal positions won’t get the maximum effect. This applies to any effect where the audience has to see something. I have watched other mentalists do prediction effects and sometimes they failed to turn the prediction to everyone . Take the time to make sure the whole room sees what you are doing! Notice how Cassandra jumps when I hand the spoon to her! This is not an uncommon reaction and I get it often. It shows how strongly this type of effect plays. And, also notice how I give away the spoon to her at the end. This tells everyone, not only her, that the spoon is normal. That, I should mention, is the most often expressed explanation of how the spoon bends; that it is rigged! You must give it away at the end. One of the companies I work for on a steady basis is made up of engineers. I have recently found out that some of them have actually taken the spoons back to their laboratories to test them! How I love this work!

RADIO SUM TOTAL

History Larry Becker is a good friend who I have known for many years. When his World of Super Mentalism came out, I fell in love with Some Tota otal l . I loved the idea of reversing the addition process so that you begin with the problem and the audience provides the answer! That was a stroke of genius! I immediately saw the potential to use the effect on the radio. Over the years, I must have used it over a dozen times and it always always got a tremendous response. I would always leave the building to drive home, turn on the radio to the station and listen to the callers raving about it. Many years later, later, I got a call from Larr L arr y and he asked me if I could give him something for his new book, Stunners ! I told him I would be happy to, but it would be one of his own. He laughed, said, “ OK ” and we hung up. After he got my write-up, he called me back and told me he loved it. Later, when I did Mind Mysteries , I called him again and asked if I could include it. He said, “Sure. It’s yours anyways!” I I said, “Well, of course not, but thank you!” I made only a few changes in the effect. I used cards instead of the wallet with the window and I changed the positioning of the numbers. Since people at home would be writing this down, and therefore studying it later, I wanted to make sure there was nothing to find. There isn’t as the way the num bers are ar e situated, even if you knew the t he math and tried t ried to t o say the certain numbers at those positions are always one less than the total, it would only be a guess. In a really random problem, the same situation would happen normally. No one, in fact, has ever come up with the solution. Larrr y deserves Lar deser ves 99% of all all the credit. credit. He even even added a very nice point to the routine by adding the drawing of the line just


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before making the switch. That was the finishing touch and I don’t know if this could be improved anymore. You Y ou have to think it out to appreciate it. From the home listener’s point of view, the card with the numbers on it has been laying on the table since before you begin. You apparently never touch it. The listeners actually take part in the whole procedure by just listening or by calling in. Usually Usually,, in this kind of routine, the audience has to take the host’s host’s word that everyever ything is on the up and up and that what the host says is written really is. In this case, however, they can see everything! They write the problem, write down the total, and then do the addition themselves. They take an active part! part! Don’t think they won’t wo n’t do the work, either. either. How many times time s have you watched a television show with a touch-the-screen effect and someone goes up to the TV and does it? Someone always has to! Likewise, if you set this up right, people at home will really go and get a pencil and some paper paper.. How many other effects can you think of that can do that? I have found that in almost any magician’s career, at one time or another, another, they will be asked to come onto the radio ra dio and do something. This is perfect! Even if you are a magician, this will work for for you. And unlike unlike the touch-the-screen effects performed on TV, the audience can back track this routine over and over again and never see the work. It is the perfect radio routine!

Analysis To save a bit of time I passed out some pencils to the audience before we began this segment. I decided not to pass out the cards until we began, thinking that maybe some people would think that some cards had writing or instructions on them. This is a minor point, but one which I went into in great

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detail in my new videos which will be released in 2007. As I begin, I mention how often I have performed per formed what I am going to show them on radio stations across the country. This is done for exactly the same reason as I pointed out in a previous chapter. Although not television, radio still denotes importance and makes you look good. My silent scrip t sometimes goes beyond just a script. Sometimes I find myself assuming a silent personality ! I remember sitting at the table as we filmed this and acting like David Letterman on The The Late Late Show ! I also remember letting myself go with it as that happened and, if you study my mannerisms and speech pattern, you will see I really did do that! As I show the card with the numbers, I cover the numbers at the third position. This is, of course, not necessary necessar y if you do the routine on the radio, but I wanted those watching this video to have no clue as to any changes. When I mention that the problem has over 100,000 possi bilities, I just tell them to write the number 1 on their card. card . I don’t offer further explanation, I just do it. I explained this technique in my earlier Guide Books . If you just tell the audience to do something, without trying to get fancy and justify why,, they will just do it. why You Y ou may notice that I glance over to my right just before the second number is called. This has nothing to do with this routine, but let me tell you why I did that. We were being video recorded and there were three cameras. Because of my experience on TV, I am always leery of a potential camera shooting over my back when I have something I need to hide. If you ever work on television, be aware of the fact that often cameramen, tired with just shooting a straight on shot, will look for ways to capture something that shouldn’t shouldn’t be seen! This routine requires five different responses. Just for the record, you could ask for a 2-digit number and a 3-digit num ber to speed things up. up . I wanted to use five people, however however,, for maximum effect. I knew that could get tedious. So, after


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the third number was called out, I turned to the gentleman sitting next to me and said , “You didn’t get a card, did you? ” I’m sure the audience expected me to give him a card. Then I said, “Well, you’ll just have to watch!” That got a great laugh. The lesson is you have to learn when things may be dragging a bit. Some mentalism routines are a little longer. By putting in a few jokes or clever asides, you break it up into smaller segments that don’t seem to be overly long. Notice how perfectly the card switch works. I am talking and making sense in what I am saying and that distracts any attention from my hands. In the radio station format, you would most likely have only the one host to fool, but the move is so good that it goes by even a roomful of people. As mentioned in the explanations, the idea of drawing the line was Larry’s and it is the perfect compliment to the switch. When I ask Cassandra to call out the numbers on the card, I realized she has a slight accent. That is why I began calling out loud the numbers with her. Although it was not a major concern here, let me advise you that whenever you need to have a spectator reveal some information out loud, be prepared to call it out with them in case they have a weak voice, are timid or just are unable to speak clearly. Notice how I get more and more excited as the numbers come together. When I finally call out the total, I almost shout , “164,728 – the same number you folks just formed!” Then, if you listen carefully, you will hear me yelling , “Isn’t that crazy? How could that be?!” I am building up as much excitement as I can muster. The final line, “Man! Sometimes I spook myself!” is not only very funny but also portrays me as a regular guy who is sometimes just as startled by these things as my audience. That provides a nice warm feeling to the audience and denotes a feeling of humility and fun. If you ever do this in a radio station you will miss all that great audience feedback. It is a funny feeling. But, when you

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get into your car after the show and start driving, it is wonderful to listen to callers going crazy over how it worked for them right at home. This is a wonderful routine and is possibly the best radio magic/mentalism ever!

UNCANNY

History I grew up with Frank Garcia’s Million Dollar Card Secrets and Super Subtle Card Miracles . Those two books contain enough great card material for any magician to make a living the rest of their life as a close-up card worker. Jim Sisti, my business partner, knew Frank well and they were good friends. Time and time again, he has expressed the highest admiration for Frank’s incredible skills and remarkable character. The books mentioned were released in 1972 and 1973. Ten years later, The Close-Up Magic of Frank Garcia , Volumes 1 and 2, were released. Within the pages of the first volume is the effect, Uncanny . In its original dress, a card is selected and lost in the deck. The magician shows that neither the top or second card is the selection. That top card is taken and held face-down by the fingertips. Suddenly it turns over and it is the selection! For a card worker, I would not suggest changing a single thing. It is perfect for the purpose of showing off one’s skill with a deck of cards. But I am a mentalist and immediately saw a different application. I discovered that by carefully applying less and less pressure, I could cause the card to turn over ver y slowly in a very eerie way. The effect looked more like one of telekinesis than magic. I used it for many years and then forgot about it until I wrote the book, Making Magic Real . In that book is a chapter called The Magic State of Mind which deals with effects that work using your own ideo-motor reflexes. The idea was to just think the effect to happen without consciously moving any muscles. The result is the magic feels real because you simply will it to happen! I chose to use the Haunted Key and Un- canny as examples. When planning the contents of Mind Mys- teries , I decided to include Uncanny to show those who had read


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the book how real it could look. Hopefully, my point was made. Some changes had to be made to the original routine for this routine. I decided to discard the original idea of an indifferent card changing into the selection since this is a mental effect. I decided to use a just-think type of card selection which is explained on the video. It alone is very powerful as can be seen from the first effect (mistake!) with Cassandra. Next, I altered the grip so that the card is held from beneath instead of above. I found this looks much better for my purpose. Finally, I had the card turn over very, very slowly to enhance the apparent psychic nature of the effect. I am very pleased with the results. Frank Garcia was known as “The Man with the Million Dollar Hands.” I consider him a genius responsible for some of the greatest close-up magic ever created. I encourage the reader to look up the original routine for Uncanny to understand how clever it is. The opening proving sequence is remarkable for its simplicity and effectiveness. As a matter of fact, everything Frank Garcia did was remarkable for its simplicity and effectiveness!

Analysis The analysis of the first part of this effect should be titled: What to do when things don’t go the way you planned! As you will see, you have to stay on your toes all the time. Some people are much better spectators than others! In the opening of Uncanny , I begin the effect with Cassandra. I spring the cards in front of her eyes, which I have done thousands of times, and I am sure she had seen a card. I follow with my standard line of questioning which is, “If I took these cards like this, and went in front of your eyes like this, could you think of a card that quickly?” She says, “Yes” and I am sure

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she has the one I saw. The ruse at this point is supposed to be that I say, “Do you have one already?” She is then supposed to say, “Yes” at which point I act surprised that she already thought of one and now I am in a fix! That is what is supposed to happen! As you can see on the video, she says “No.” So I do it again and the second time, she tells me she is not sure and wants to do it one more time! Finally, on the third attempt, she gets a card. At this point, it suddenly dawns on me that if I just continue, it might look like I am trying to force a card on her and failing. After quickly thinking that out, I say to her, “Did you think of different cards each time?” and she says, “Yeah!” This gets me out of that fix and makes the routine look even fairer than planned. So, so far so good. Now I am thinking I better play it safe and I ask her, “Is it a lower card?” She says, “Yes” and I am OK. But my plan goes wrong again! I meant to spread the cards, keeping the selection under my finger, appear to get a feeling about one card and pick it up. In the process of spreading the cards however, the selection sticks to my hand and accidentally flips over! But it flips over in a very elegant way. I say, “Was that your card?” and Cassandra screams out, “Oh my God!” The audience goes nuts and I am thinking, “Man, that’s two in a row!” I decide to try it again, but elect to use good, old faithful Janelle. Let me tell you, Janelle is the perfect spectator! She is so good that I have heard magicians accuse her of being a plant or set up. She is neither of those, just someone who instinctively has fun with magic and knows how to react. I do the riffle in front of her and ask her to think of a card. I know exactly what the card is at this point, but decide to ask her if it was another black card. Besides the fact that this mimics what I did earlier with Cassandra, I will sometimes throw in a question just to make it look as though I am unsure of myself. As I have said before, if the audience doesn’t feel any suspense that you might miss, you won’t have even half of the effect. I now am getting my confidence back and am thinking


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clearly again. I say, “ Let me try something a little different with yours,” as though everything I have done so far was planned! At this point, I want to impress the audience with the fact that this is special and not just a card trick, but I don’t want to say it that way and sound like I am degrading magicians. So, instead, I say, “This is different. I’m sure a good card magician could do something better than this.” Do you see what that accomplishes? It takes away any comparisons with card tricks and yet makes me sound humble at the same time. If something miraculous does happen, it certainly can’t be the result of sleight of hand! As I pick up the card and begin the effect, I say, “Keep thinking of the card. I don’t know if I can do this. It’s been a while since I did something like this.” This may seem as though I am overanalyzing, but you have to know that I really do think out these things. Notice I didn’t say, “It’s been a while since I did this,” but rather, “something like this.” The wording implies that I am talking about moving objects with my mind, not this particular card effect and that I am unsure of whether or not it will work. This is immediately enhanced when I say, “Look. Is it starting to move?” Please turn up the volume of your video and listen to the background voices as I stare at the card and it begins to turn over. You can hear the gasps of amazement. I get the audience reacting vocally by asking, “Is it moving?” and then saying, “This is kind of weird, isn’t it?” This requires a response from them. The effect here is not one of finding someone’s card, but moving an inanimate object with the power of the mind. I keep saying, “Come on!” as though I cannot let my own mental willing of the card to move to overflow verbally. When Janelle finally screams out, “That’s my card!” it’s almost an anticlimax to the effect of the animation of the card. It certainly looks more psychic than magical. I love this kind of effect. The ability to move something is as fascinating as bending something. Please don’t restrict your

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thinking to just using playing cards. This method will work equally well with a business or index card. I’m sure, with a little thought, you can think of at least one of the myriad of effects using such cards where this principle could be applied as an adjunct. There is really so much in magic waiting to be found!

LOTTERY EFFECT

History I really cannot claim any credit for either this effect or the one that follows, the Cell Phone effect. The Swami Gimmick has been used to predict just about anything imaginable. I can tell you that I have been doing the Lottery Effect for as long as I can remember. It always seemed so much more logical to predict something of value, i.e. the lottery number, than just any three numbers called out. It also gave me the perfect excuse to use three spectators instead of one. In that way, I could do the writing on the off-beat when moving from one to another and addressing them. Even though it is a thoroughly contrived situation, people do really wonder if you can predict the actual lottery numbers! This is fascinating to me and just proves how your audience wants to give real world value to your powers! You should always bear this fact in mind. Corinda gives many great routines in the opening chapter of 13 Steps . One of them is the Living and Dead Test which he credits to Al Baker. Like Corinda, I am not a fan of this kind of effect, but one day I decided to try it. I couldn’t believe the reaction I got with this simple test. Again, because it has real world meaning, i.e. picking out who has passed on, it strikes home with ten times more effect than simply predicting a number or color. Please read this step. I remember sending away for an effect where newspaper reproductions of famous events in history were shown. One was freely chosen and, when your prediction was checked, it matched! When it arrived, I was upset at first. The method was a nail writer! Then I realized that I had been taught a valuable lesson. There is nothing you can’t predict with a nail writer and do it effectively! Besides, the newspapers really were worth the price of the effect.


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This little gimmick is “The Greatest Little Gimmick in the World” as Eric Mason says of the Boon Gimmick and Corinda about all Swami Gimmicks. Corinda also states, “The impact of the Swami Gimmick used in Mentalism is so strong that at times it appears that you must be using a stooge.” As the reader may know, the use of stooges is something I feel very strongly about. Here we have a single gimmick that can do anything a stooge can! So why even go there? There are a lot of different types of gimmicks being produced these days. I read of them on the Internet for ums. That is great and I hope, in time, to explore them all. But I am reminded of when I first started playing the drums. Even though I kept getting better and better drum sets, I was always sure I could play much better if I had a really professional set. It took years to learn the real truth. Rather than spend all your time looking for that perfect Swami, may I suggest you put in as much time practicing with it. I know on the video I talk about how even getting close to the word will pass, but the fact is, the better you get at writing, the more relaxed you will be and the better you will present your mysteries. I always have a gimmick on me and am ready to go for it at any time. And here’s a little hint: they will even make it through the metal detector in the airport!

Analysis This is going to be a real interesting comparison between this effect and the Cell Phone Effect which follows. Both are really one in the same and yet they are different as night and day. There is an idea somewhere in The Jinx for a card effect. You either learn the card taken (stack?) or force a card. The spectator thinks of the card. You pick up the pad and write something. When the person announces the card, you turn

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over the pad and show you have drawn a picture of the card! Now is the really the most basic card effect you can do, but dressed up in a way that has tremendous appeal and presentational value. It is the anti-thinking of most magicians. (Sorry if I sometime seem harsh with magicians, but I have known a lot of them!) Many magicians look at a new effect and say, “That’s really just the so-and-so routine done a bit differently.” Instead of seeing what makes magic so great and what is important, they are always just looking for new secrets. The truth is there are only so many basic principles in the art of magic. That by no means limits the possibilities. There are only twelve notes in the scale and less than that many colors in the spectrum, yet look at what has been done with them. I have always recommended the Tarbell Course in Magic as the best place to learn magic’s basic principles. I could show you how my entire act comes from variations of ideas from those pages. There certainly is nothing new in these two effects, but they hit home like dynamite! Normally I stand when I perform. When shooting a video, things are a bit more restricted. Because I had a number of people up close, if I stood while performing these effects, the camera angles would have been atrocious and close-up shots next to impossible. Because of this, I had my Swami Gimmick inside my jacket pocket instead of my pants pocket (my preference). This is why it took me a bit longer to get the gimmick on. The opening spiel about gambling and Connecticut serves as both a set-up for the effect and as a means of allowing me to get my gimmick on. Notice how long I have my hand in there and how no one is paying the slightest bit of attention to that. Instead, they are listening carefully to me talk. After I pretend to write my forecast, I make it a point of putting the pencil at the far end of the table. I do this not to prove that it is too far away for me to sneak it back, but to draw subtle attention to it so that they will remember it was out of my hand. I have always used the patter here when I do this


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effect. Talking about them being in my living room has a kind of feeling of intimacy about it. I always notice a slight change in facial expressions when I do this. Perhaps people think of a performer as a distant type of individual. When I talk about coming into my house, it changes the complexion of the relationship ever so slightly. I try to make the spectators actually visualize the lottery ball container. People really do try to see a picture like this in their minds if you ask them to. By not just naming a number, but seeing a number on an imaginary ball, their minds are more occupied and less likely to tr y to look for some trickery. I don’t write the first two numbers down as they are called out, but rather work one-behind, writing the first number as I tell the second person to see the ball. Note: sometimes I will actually be holding the card in my left hand when the first number is called and then transfer it over to my right as I turn to the second person. It is interesting to note that I again unconsciously look over my right shoulder to make sure there is no camera as I talk to Jon! Here is something I didn’t mention in the explanations. After the third number is called, I write it in and drop my hand to my lap. That is when I ditched the gimmick. I just placed it on my lap and then leaned forward to show the card. Look at how clean the ending of this effect is with both hands obviously empty. Also notice how I retrieved the gimmick immediately and actually was putting it back on while I displayed the card. The reason was that I didn’t want to leave it in my lap too long and take a chance that it might move. It is easy to find a nail writer in your pocket, but not so easy to find one in your lap if you can’t look! As I talked about on the video, the reason this plays so strongly is that it is about gambling. It is about making big money using the abilities of the mentalist. Who would not like to be able to know the winning lottery number ahead of time?

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I can remember from my childhood, magic books talking about the Miser’s Dream having so much appeal because it shows the magician producing money. If a crowd can relate to seeing a few silver dollars being pulled out of the air, as far-fetched as that seems, how much more pertinent is it to see someone actually predict a lottery number worth a lot more than that? You may be wondering what I say if someone comes up to me afterwards and asks me if I can really predict the lottery number. Here is the secret of handling that! I tell them, “I was able to do that because I was working with peoples’ minds. The real lottery numbers are chosen by stupid machines that don’t have minds!” That always gets an understanding nod and then they walk away.

CELL PHONE EFFECT

History I was on stage, nail writer in place, ready to do a prediction effect, when someone’s cell phone went off in the audience. I immediately decided to use the person on the other end of the phone instead of picking a volunteer. Since then, I wait for the opportunity. There is not much to be said here that I haven’t already covered in the Lottery Effect section. Perhaps I should use this opportunity to point out that in magic, as in music, there is such a thing as improvisation! You should always be on the lookout for opportunities to apply a magic principle to something new and on the spot. Malini, who I mention often in these pages, was renowned for just that. A quote from Malini and His Magic reads: “Malini was undoubtedly a magical opportunist – he was always on the look-out to surprise people when they least sus- pected he was going to work an effect. Many of the effects or miracles attributed to Malini were performed by him only once or twice in his lifetime.” The Swami Gimmick is tailor-made for this kind of work. I was doing a show a while back in Palm Springs, California for the Betty Ford Foundation. I had the honor of having dinner with President and Betty Ford. We were discussing his early years at Yale, close by to where I used to live. I asked the President if he ever had a dog as a child. He smiled and said he had. It was his first dog. I asked him the name of the dog and he told me. Then I picked up a napkin from the table and handed it to him. On the back was the name of the dog he had as a child over 80 years ago! That is the kind of thing that makes a reputation!


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Analysis This effect is exactly like the previous. So is the method. And yet, it looks totally different and has a completely different effect on the audience. This, I feel, makes my claim that knowing a basic principle is far superior than chasing around after all the latest books and props. The idea of doing any effect over the telephone is an old one and I have countless books in my library with different methods of guessing cards using mathematical principles, stooges, etc. The premise has always been sound and doing the effect with a nail writer is so much more direct. A nice factor with this effect is, by asking who has a cell phone with them and who has someone they can call, you are actually getting a volunteer in the audience without having to actually pick one out. The routine allows them to stay in the audience and gives them little chance to try to mess you up. There are no props for them to touch or any other liberties they can take advantage of that might be harmful to the effect. You have to ask questions and keep things moving as you ask the person to get out the phone and turn it on. That takes a bit of time and you don’t want the routine to drag. Luckily, she says her boyfriend’s name is Rex and that gives me the opportunity to make a joke about it and get the audience laughing. Go back and time out how long it takes her to get that phone out and turn it on and think about the tremendous dead time there would have been if there had been no conversation and jokes. Then look at how long it took her to actually get someone on the phone. All along I was saying things and making little remarks to both her and the people around me. Whenever you do a routine where the spectator has to do something, assume it will take them twice as long as you think is reasonable and be pre-

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pared to talk through it all while they are doing it. The “Hi Luke” thing is always funny and I have never had an audience who didn’t want to scream that out. It is fun! I talked continuously about this in my first Guide Book , but go back and listen to all the funny remarks in this routine and how I am chattering almost constantly throughout. This kind of effect can go very badly if you aren’t prepared to do so and it can seem like hours before you actually get the number called out. Also, because the ending is so killer, the joking causes a relaxing of the tension of seeing a mystery until the end when they get hit right between the eyes! I say, “OK, we have Luke on the phone. Let me write something for Luke!” This is so important! I am putting the effect on the other end of the phone with Luke ! Please don’t underestimate this concept. The verbiage is vital! It is the fact that I am controlling his response on the other end of the line that puts this effect 1000 times above a simple one-on-one nail writing effect. Proof of this is in the reaction of the audience at the end. You must make this effect happen on his end , not yours! Re-read that last sentence ten times! Look at the way I toss the pencil aside. Who could miss that? Look at Cassandra’s eyes. Then I have him name a num ber between 1 and 1000. If you are going to learn to nail write a number, at least practice enough to make it a 3-digit number. There is something that just sounds so much more impressive by asking someone to name a number from 1 to 1000 rather than from 1 to 100. The number chosen is 420, which has a drug-related connotation. Whenever I get something like that, I play dumb. The same thing goes with the number 69. I just don’t go there. I would rather seem prudish than try to fall into that mindset. Also, if I pretend I don’t know the meaning of the number, it is much better for the finish than if I acknowledge the reference and then have everyone think, “Oh, yeah. Everyone must say that!” Now before I tell you, are you looking at the video and


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wondering where the Swami is at the end? Again, I was forced to improvise on the set. I usually am standing and can ditch the Swami in my pants pocket or use a ruse that I teach later in the series. On here, however, I know this is going to be my last nail writing effect. So when you see my hand drop to the floor, that’s when I ditch it! I just drop it on the floor right behind my right foot! I want to be as clean as possible for a finish I know is going to be spectacular! And spectacular it is! The reaction is what makes it all worth while! And no, no one is coaching the audience. They are just hit that hard and are showing it. I am delighted! The final bit of fun happens right before the cut when someone asks me how I knew what number he would say. Instead of some kind of lame reason, I just say, “I took a shot! Sometimes you just have to take a shot!” That is a great line, is funny and discreetly tells the audience, “Don’t ask!”

BILL IN CIGARETTE

History I mention in my final chapter that there came a point in my career that I made the decision to risk losing my magic shows and become a mentalist. I had devised the Bill in Cigarette routine and had used it for about a month. It had been my opener and it was about to be replaced with my Bank Night routine. A close friend of mine, Peter London, was doing a ton of magic shows and I offered it to him. I promised him that as long as he was doing it, I would never do it again. I typed up the whole thing, gave it to him and kept my word. For many, many years, he used it in every show as his opener and it was his trademark. He was a very funny comedian and had a million lines in the routine. It was hysterical! He retired from show business over fifteen years ago and so I felt I could now demonstrate it on the videos. I could never understand why so many advanced magicians disdain the use of what is perhaps magic’s greatest gimmick– the thumb tip! It is an invisible gimmick so there should not be any way for someone to see it: that is, if it is used in the right way. Still, I see magicians who think they are more sophisticated if they do the Bill Switch without a thumb tip, even though they now have angles to worry about. I have even heard of one mentalist who thinks he has improved on my Bank Night routine because he holds the bill behind the envelopes instead of using the gimmick. I suspect this person never performs in front of real audiences! The thumb tip is the most perfect instrument for vanishing anything that will fit within it. A bill is perfect. When I decided I wanted a Bill to Cigarette routine, I never even considered another method. Why complicate things when the simple ap-

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proach works so well. I wanted everything to be straight for ward with no spots in it so that someone could look back and say, “He must have done something when he went into his coat for a pen or some such thing.” That is why I make it a point to keep both the cigarette and the bill as visible as possible at all times. I also wanted something that was easy to do. That is another point that bothers me about some magicians’ thinking. They would rather do something the hard way instead of the easy way! There are enough sleights and moves in magic that are inherently hard, like writing with a nail writer, so why make other moves hard when you don’t have to? I knew that the cigarette needed to be place far away and in plain sight before the bill was burned. My good friend, Chet Cox, who wrote the Introduction to this book, sent me an email and said: “Your positioning of the cigarette far from you has even those who saw such an effect, and (somewhere in their minds) must have realized that XXXX had the lemon in his posses- sion all that time, he could have done something – well, their thought processes seem entirely short circuited at that point. By getting them to anticipate the climax, while keeping the cigarette far from you, you effectively cancelled out the method. I am positive that, because the cigarette was far from you, you cancelled the thought that you brought the bill with you to the cigarette. That’s how it affected me when I saw it – and, thanks to Bank Night , I already was certain that’s what you were going to do. It still made me mis-remember that you had to approach the cigarette at all – one actually remembers, ‘ He didn’t touch the cigarette at all.’ This routine is better than I think even you realized.” The smallest things make the biggest differences! It is easy to pass over what can be the crucial factor that makes something work. That is why I write these guide books.


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Analysis “Would you like to see like a magic trick? Would that be cool?” As a mentalist, would you expect those lines, based on what the cognoscenti of mentalism advise, to be ever spoken? And yet, here they are, at the end of a lot of strong mentalism, from a guy with a big sign right behind him that says, “The Power of the Mind.” Let’s see how it plays out! The question of smoking and cigarettes can be quite touchy these days and I try to get a laugh out of getting someone to admit they do. When Scotty brings out a cigarette, I try to do everything I can to impart the idea that it will never leave anyone’s sight or be touched at all. There are two things here that are important points to follow. First, I always have the cigarette placed in the audience somewhere near the spectator who loaned it, and second, I never have any kind of special container to place the cigarette into. I always find someplace there, on the spot, to put it on or into even, as is the case here, to have it just dropped on the floor. You do not want, in any way, shape or form to do anything that could suggest you switched the cigarette. This is vital! There are lots of jokes that have become standard when borrowing a hundred dollar bill and having it signed. These are very funny…the first eight or ten times you hear them. Then, after seeing every magician who does this kind of routine run through the same ones, in the same order, you begin to lose interest. The only joke I use here is to acknowledge that, “Yes, I think signing your name on the bill is illegal.” There is an idea here on the video that I came up with many years ago and want to talk about now. I remember demonstrating this on that lecture tour in Texas. It is a major improvement over the way this kind of thing is usually handled

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and is the type of suggestion I have tried to put in these Guide- books that is worth its weight in gold. The problem: I have always disliked having someone in the audience write down the serial number of a borrowed bill. You have to pass out the paper and pen and hope they get the number right. You probably even have them repeat it to be sure. Since the audience knows someone is writing the num ber down, they don’t even bother to try to remember it. At the end of the routine, at the very moment the serial number is most important, the only person who knows for sure you are right is the one who wrote it down. Then, as often as not, they spoil everything by saying, “Nope, that’s wrong!” or some other nonsense, trying to be funny. The whole climax is killed and you look like an amateur. The solution: It is common knowledge among mentalists that to memorize the serial number on a bill, just break it down into two dates. That is the idea I use, but applied to the whole audience. I give half the group the first four numbers as a date and the other half of the group the last four numbers as a date. Then I give the person who loaned the bill the letters. All this causes the whole audience to pay attention. They, in fact, usually remember more than just their own date, but the other date as well and usually the letters, too! So, at the very end of the routine, when this information means everything, the entire audience knows it and can react! There is no way to be messed up and no way can anything go wrong! Besides the specific idea above, I really want to impart to you how this kind of creative thinking can completely change the polish of your show. Look at how the major problem above is completely eliminated while, at the same time, the whole procedure is streamlined. It is imperative to strive to think this way even when you might not even realize there is a problem. Constantly examine your performance and reexamine everything you do to see if there might not be a better way to put things together and get where you need to go. Now, let’s get


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back to the routine. After I fold the bill, I hand it to Cassandra while I get the envelope from my pocket. I want to make sure it stays in sight with no monkey business going on. Then I take it back and openly put it into the envelope. Notice how I keep asking, “OK?” until the audience repeats, “OK!” Even though there is a lot of humor in this effect, I still am going to play it up for maximum mystery and I want to use the principle of getting them to admit everything is fair (see my earlier Guide Books ) to lock that thought into their heads. I have always hated the idea of pretending to light the en velope on fire in the Bill to Wallet routines. If you are not a master like Terr y Seabrooke, it usually comes across as so fake! That is why I ask if they can see the bill through the envelope. When they say, “No,” I borrow a lighter and hold it behind the envelope. Then, instead of pretending it is a mistake, I very openly light the envelope on fire and say, “You can see that, can’t you?” That move comes as a bit of a shock as it is so deliberate! As it starts to burn I say, “Do we have a fire alarm in here?” Now comes a very interesting moment that needs discussing. As I am walking around bantering with the audience and having fun, one of the ladies says, “It’s not really in there!” I was a bit surprised and this should go a long way in showing that an L&L audience can sometimes be trouble and say things you wish they wouldn’t! I decided that to try to argue with her would be pointless. So instead, I stare at the envelope and say, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s not in there. I hope it’s not in there!” Please learn something from this. See how what could have been a very big problem just got turned around? Instead of being confrontational, I take her statement and go with it. When I hear another audience member agree with me and say, “I hope it’s not!” I know I am home free. The whole thing is now simply part of the routine!

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As the envelope burns and I put it into the ashtray, I have some fun by talking about a card trick. This gets a laugh. Then I make a reference about helicopters! Let me explain here what was going on. The day of our shoot, there were a number of forest fires in Lake Tahoe. Helicopters were flying overhead to drop chemicals on them. Every time one flew over, we had to stop shooting and wait for things to quiet down. Since I was playing with fire , I thought that would be a funny inside joke for the group! After all the byplay, I just say, out of the blue, “Your cigarette has been sitting there that entire time. Just sitting there, right like that on the floor, hasn’t it?” This is the part I love! Listen carefully to the comments as I walk over to the cigarette. You can hear, “No,” “No way,” “Get out of here,” “That’s impossible,” all before I even open it! Everyone knows what is going to happen, but no one can believe it can possibly happen! This illustrates a misconception I wrote about in The Prin- ciples of Magic . You don’t always have to surprise your audience. Sometimes it is much better if they know exactly what is going to happen and they still can’t believe it! This is the case here. You can see in their faces as they are re-thinking what they just saw. As I am walking over to the cigarette, they are trying to remember if anyone approached it. They are seeing if there is any way that bill could have gotten from the envelope or the ashtray over to the cigarette in the middle of the floor. The “No way!” comments tell you they are realizing that the cigarette was never approached. They have already been convinced they have seen a miracle before they have even seen it! “Does the serial number 5158 1964 ABU …” was spoken by me – but not alone ! Listen for the audience – most of the audience – saying it right along with me! And not just their numbers – but all the numbers! Do you now see what a significant improvement this is over having the number recorded and read back? The whole audience now has an emotional attach-

Volume 3: Assorted Mysteries ment to the finish and can feel the same degree of mystery! What an amazing thing the thumb tip is!

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Bonus Chapter HOW I CREATE

How I Create I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on March 6, 1948. My first house was a multiple story apartment building on Columbia Court which has since been torn down. It was just blocks from Seaside Park, home of P. T. Barnum. My father took me down to the park every Sunday to play ball or swim at the beach and, when it came to town, to the circus! In the 50’s, the Barnum and Bailey troupe didn’t set up in the local arena; it used a real Big Top, a huge tent, in the park. When the high wire artist was doing his thing, you could stand right at the bottom of the line where the rope was staked into the ground. You could walk right up and touch the cannon that shot the Human Cannonball into a net that seemed miles away. And, if your parents allowed you to, you could go to the sideshow and see the Lizard Lady. You could also buy revealing pictures of her if you were an adult! Besides the freak shows, there were other acts such as magicians and fortune tellers. I have to admit, I never did see any of the latter – I was too young – but I did see the former. Besides the shows, there were booths where they actually sold incredible items including real magic secrets! My first purchase was the Chinese Handcuffs and the Coin Slide Box. The handcuffs proved to be a disappointment as my friends could escape easily, but the Coin Slide was a wise investment. Put in a penny, close up the slide, open it and it was gone! Just like that. Slide it closed again and, if you did it right, the coin rematerialized when it was opened. I was off and running! Vaudeville was dead, but not all of the vaudeville artists were. The Bridgeport Police force sponsored an annual Vaude ville Show at the Klein Memorial Auditorium, a few blocks from my home. My dad and I went every year until we moved

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away. I patiently sat through all the singers, dancers and comedians waiting for the magician, who was sure to be on the bill. I have no idea who the magic men were who I saw back then, but I bet some of them were names . They were too good, or so I remembered, not to have been famous. My grandma worked in the original Reads Department Store on Main Street in Lady’s Fashions, on the second floor. If, however, you got on the elevator and told the lady wearing white gloves to take you to the top floor, she would close up the steel gate and then the heavy elevator doors and move a big brass handle. At the top of the building, when the motor stopped and the doors were opened, stood the Toy Department! I remember it totally decorated for the Christmas season and there, in the midst of erector sets, dolls, bicycles and chemistry sets, was not a Daisy Red Ryder air rifle, but an imported German Magic Kit which I wanted more than anything! I could see metal rings, silver boxes and other arcane objects inside the black box and it was the only one left. I got it that Christmas! The only objection I had with my wonderful present was the lack of any instructions to go with the props. Still, it really didn’t matter much. I figured out some of it and made up the rest. I was only about seven years old at the time and having the directions probably wouldn’t have changed a thing. That wasn’t the only Christmas that was magical. A year later, I got a Sneaky Pete’s Magic Show set made by Remco. Although mostly plastic, it was good stuff. The yellow cabinet would allow me to vanish and reproduce anything that would fit inside, and I could saw a little lady right in half. I could read your mind with the Talking Dice or make spirit writing appear on a slate. Actually, it was black cardboard, but you could still write on it! My dad got a veteran’s loan and we bought a house in Ansonia to get away from the slums of Bridgeport. I didn’t know at the time that we had been living in a slum, but that’s


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what they said. In Derby, the next town over and Ansonia’s biggest football rival, was a United Cigar Store, something you don’t see much anymore. In the back was a small magic department! The stuff in there was expensive. It cost $12.50 for a genuine metal Walsh Appearing Cane. I never did get enough money to get that, but I was able to save up for Chinese Rice Bowls, the Vanishing Quarter in a Glass and a very special clipboard that, when you took off the clip, revealed…well, I think you know what it revealed! All in all, I had a lot of magic. I could keep going on like this, but I am starting to bore myself so I can imagine your own feelings. Let’s jump ahead a few years. By the time I was in my 20’s, a friend had told me the Tarbell Course was a necessity and I took him at his word. At the time, that included six volumes. That had a profound influence on me which I will get back to. It took me about four months to get them all and it taught me the value of the classics. After that came Sachs’ Sleight of Hand, Our Magic, The Fine Art of Magic, Modern Magic, Greater Magic, Bobo’s Mod- ern Coin Magic, Stars of Magic , etc. I had, by this time, joined the IBM and Ring 59. The members were extremely helpful in recommending books and I soon had a small library. I have always been a voracious reader and read what I bought! As my knowledge of magic grew, I was attracted more and more towards mentalism. It just seemed to fit my style. The final push was the Kreskin TV series and his numerous appearances on all the talk shows. I already had Practical Mental Effects and Corinda’s 13 Steps, but now I made it a crusade to get every book on mentalism I could find. Frequent trips to Tannen’s (then on Broadway), Flosso’s and Hank Lee’s in Boston netted me quite a library. I also met Al Mann and he was another great influence. One could spend a fortune just buying his books! I had been doing magic shows since I was a kid. I had also learned hypnotism while in college. Yet I still continued to work primarily as a magician. I was unwilling to take the chance to

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switch to a mentalism show and lose all my work. Finally, one day, I decided it was now or never. I immediately got some literature printed and started calling myself a mentalist . When I turned up for a show, I would just say that I was going to show them something a bit different ! Then I just did it! I also made it a point to find those types of magical effects that worked in a mentalism context, such as the Linking Finger Rings and Coin in Bottle , and interject them into the show. This made the transition smoother. It was easy to do since I had already studied Dunninger, Al Koran, Kreskin, Annemann and Al Baker. They all did some magic in their shows. In 1980, I was approached by the Landerman and Jarvis Entertainment Agency who offered to manage me exclusively. It was a choice I have never regretted. Paul Landerman and Tom Clark set out to introduce me into the corporate market. Paul later retired and Tom has been my manager and friend for over a quarter of a century. Working corporate shows required a very careful selection of material and presentation. I didn’t want to take any chances so I went straight to the classics. I knew this was tested and proven material that I could rely on if I did my part. I analyzed my choices carefully and practiced them relentlessly. Many people think the material on my video series, Easy To Master Mental Miracles , was compiled just for those videos. In truth, when Louis Falanga of L&L Publishing approached me with the idea, I knew I had the material already! Everything I performed on those DVDs was from my repertoire of those early years. That is not to say I didn’t change things a bit from the written word. Sometimes it was minor and sometimes I personalized it to a greater extent. For example, I never liked the slate pencil crib notes for Extra Sensory Perception, so I just memorized them and stacked the cards in reverse order so that I didn’t have to work backwards. I did The Modern Mindreader the way I published it in my book, The Very Modern


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Mindreader . I used a corner short for Magic vs. Mentalism and divided the envelopes over just two pockets instead of six. These may seem like minor variations, but to me, who looked on these routines with reverence, they were bold moves made only because I really thought it suited me better. This is how I started to invent – by just making minor changes because it made sense to me, not for the purpose of change for change sake. A big move forward in my creativeness came when I decided to work on a new center tear. Here is how that happened. I had just gotten hold of Al Mann’s Lexicon Phenomena . It was a wonderful dictionary test using a very clever principle. My friend, Nelson Nicholson, was having a party. We set it up that I would come in as his friend, an incredible mentalist, and he would suggest I do something. The dictionary would be on the shelf and I would grab it as though it were just one of his books laying there. Then I would perform the test. That day, at home, I decided to also add in the center tear as I wanted to make the routine a bit longer. That night, at Nelson’s house, I began the performance. First, I had someone write a name, then I tore it up and stole the center, stuck the pieces in my pants pockets while I ditched the center in another pocket! Then I did the dictionary test. As I was writing on a clipboard for that test, I secretly retrieved the center and read it. Then, after the finish of the Lexicon Phenomena , I revealed the name. Everyone was stunned, including Nelson! I didn’t know that until the next day when I went over to get my book. “How did you get that name?” he asked. I told him and he said, “I thought that somehow you had read it while you were tearing it!” That’s all it took to get me going on the quest! I figured that if it looked that good, reading it while tearing would be the way to go. So I began working on what would turn out to be years of development starting with the Ultimate Center Tear , then The Slow Motion Surrounded Cen- ter Tear and finally The Perfected Center Tear ! As you can see, it was developed from an idea that was already proven, not just

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from wanting something new. After seeing Kreskin perform live a number of times, and after reading about the workings of Dunninger’s act, I knew I wanted to do something similar. I must have made a dozen different Dunninger Pads and even had one made by a book binding method. I never was happy with any of them. I tried different vinyl folders, but they never were quite what I wanted. In my mind, I could see the perfect design. My cousin had his cabinet-making shop in the basement of my father’s tool and die business. I took my idea for the ThoughtScan board, drew up a blueprint and had my cousin make it up for me. It came out beautifully and worked perfectly. I was happy even though he charged me $200.00, and that was in the 80’s! And he was my cousin! The same thing happened with the Ultra Board. I was using the Mental Broadcasting slate, but it always jammed. It also looked quite gimmicky. I had Syd Bergson’s Eclipse . I thought the principle was clever, but wanted to improve the clips and make the idea work with an ungimmicked blackboard while using no force. I went back to my cousin and, for another $100, I had it! So, in this case, the creation came from fixing a problem, not looking for something new for its own sake. I have already written about how I created the Breakthrough Card System many times. Card Calling was already in my show, but I wanted a better stack to use for it. I understood how important a mathematically-stacked deck, which looked completely random, would be for mentalism. I wanted no exceptions to the rules and I wanted it to be cyclical so that it could be cut. I knew what I wanted and wouldn’t stop until I found it. Sometimes my creations stem from entirely different reasons. In the early days of digital clocks and watches, Richard Bloch came out with some great effects which Kreskin used on TV. I wanted something like that myself, but wanted it to be different and simpler. By this time, my show was coming together and I wanted a watch routine that would fit the feeling


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or genre of what I was already doing. I had a watch I had gotten from Richard Mark and liked the simplicity of the method. I was also working on my own handling of Acidus Novus . One day, the two thoughts came together in my mind and there I had it! To this day, the Watch Routine is still one of my most popular pieces. I could go on and on, but that is not necessar y. Everything I have created is on the Mind Mysteries series and the history of each one has been or will be discussed in the Guide Book series. The point that I wanted to make clear in this article, however, is nothing was ever created just for the sake of invention alone. There was always a reason, whether it was to solve a problem, make a routine better or find an entirely new effect to fit a particular performing agenda. Along with that, I need to point out that no Osterlind material has ever been offered that was not field-tested for a great deal of time. One of my pet gripes is the number of new magicians who, when they think they have a new idea, want to publish the routine immediately! I have seen them openly admit they have never performed the material and that the invention was only a few weeks old! You cannot offer material to the fraternity in this manner. Even after over 40 years of performing, I never know how a new idea will play until I use it over and over. Even if it plays strongly for ten shows, if it bombs in the eleventh, it needs fixing! In my book, The Principles of Magic , I quoted the following: “I’ll tell you what the problem with the magical power you’re using here. It didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves so you didn’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on the Internet and now you’re selling it.” – Jeff Goldblum from the film Jurrasic Park (paraphrased).

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This, to me, hits the mark exactly. Magicians have to have respect for that which has gone before them and try to earn that knowledge themselves before building on it. All this brings me to my final point. The opening lines of this commentary were to show you a short history of my life in magic. I have loved the art since I was a child and that love has never diminished. I have great respect for it and always want to honor it. I have also, to my complete surprise and amazement, become known as a sort of teacher. I accept that responsibility with pride and commitment and wish only to pass on whatever small knowledge I have earned in this field to those who are interested. You can see from this brief overview of my life that I place great importance on books and knowledge. Of every bit of advice I have ever offered, the most important is for you to obtain and study the Tarbell Course in Magic . I have been talking about this my whole career, but let me now show you why it is so important in learning how to create. If you read the chapter, The Science of Magic , in Tarbell Volume One, you will understand what I am about to say. Tarbell teaches you the principles and fundamentals of magic. To paraphrase him, If you learn fifty tricks, but no principles, all you know is fifty tricks. But if you learn the rudiments of magic and why they work, you become a real magician and can always create new magic! What I love so much about Tarbell is that he clearly proves he is not talking pipe dreams. Each chapter not only teaches the fundamentals, but then goes on to show actual routines created from that knowledge. But there is far more that has never been talked about and is what I want to reveal here! A common phrase today is to “think outside the box.” This, of course, refers to using original thinking to solve problems. Tarbell doesn’t do this because Tarbell was never in the box in the first place! If you take a volume and randomly open it to any subject, let’s say Card Stabbing in Volume 3, you will find nine different versions of that effect, each one of which is to-


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tally different! Unlike current magic books which will give you page after page of a magic problem with a slightly different variation for each one, Tarbell offers solutions that come at you from all different angles! Check out Volume 4, chapter 51 – Card Transition, or chapter 57 – Slate Mysteries , each one offers a multitude of effects using entirely different methods. It is amazing how many principles this course touches upon within its eight volumes. Tarbell forces you to see magic from a scientific viewpoint. If you study his words with diligent attention, you can’t help but become a creator! I firmly believe that because I grew up with this course and studied it my whole life, I have learned to think according to Dr. Tarbell’s advice. When I have a magic problem, I never feel hemmed in by what has been done before. I don’t try to solve it by trying to slightly change what others have done, but rather consider the problem matched against all the principles Doc has taught me! When I created ODDS , I thought, “Why do I need to use mirrors or impression devices or stooges to duplicate a design. What if I just know what the design is?” This led to a totally new concept in design duplication. When I created my Miracle Flying Cards , I thought, “Why do I need to get the actual signed cards into my pocket when everyone is looking? Why not use dummy cards and switch them back when they think it’s over?” This effect, before I explained it, fooled some of the best card magicians in the country. I always loved the Torn and Restored Newspaper , but wanted it to look even better. I first got the idea to give it away at the end. Then I thought it would be good to have it signed first. Finally, I got the idea of having any page chosen to do it with. I never let the word impossible enter into my thinking and didn’t stop trying until I solved the problem. I floored magicians with this effect for over ten years before I decided to share it on my videos. The method is based on principles I learned in Tarbell. But, more importantly, it was Tarbell who taught me to think that way!

Richard Osterlind - Mind Mysteries Guide Book 3

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