GEMS OF MENTAL MAGIC
by JOHN BROWN COOK and ARTHUR BUCKLEY
CHICAGO 1947
Privately Printed
Copyright, 1947, by John Brown Coock
Introduction When the magician apparently can read a secret locked in the mind of a spectator, it becomes an astounding and impressive mystery. Such an effect has an especial appeal because a spec足 tator, or one of his friends, takes a major part in the perfor足 mance. Not only is such an effect impressive, but it will be talked about for days and weeks. Not every magician has the natural aptitude to allow him to do an entire act made up solely of mental magic. However, adding a good mindreading, or prediction, effect will enhance most conjuring shows. In this book there are many extraordi足 narily fine and novel mental effects to be used singly or combined into an act. The authors have avoided the boring and involved tests, and have denounced appeals to the credulous, for it is their belief, as it is mine, that the entire purpose of any type of magic is to entertain. All their mental mysteries have the quality of being good entertainment. June 7, 1947
John Mulholland
V
Table of Contents Preface Devious Digits It’s A Small World Astral Addition Projection Pennies, Nickels and Dimes Memory Plus Miracles Psychic Vision Psychometry Date Divination Baseball Prophecy Tests In A Gold Fish Bowl A Chance in A Billion New Bills For Old The Telepathic Band Leader Dictionary Test Second Sight At First Glance As Far As You Like The Crystal Ball Astrological Mentalism Behind The Eight Ball The Crime Doctor Gaze Into My Eyes The Spirit Telepathy With Your Favorite Stars Birthday Telepathy The Great Book Test The Open Window Written Messages Better Than Rabbits Holding The Bag Impressions That Stick No Privacy In A Gold Fish Bowl The Answering Of Questions
1 5 9 12 15 18 21 27 29 32 35 38 41 44 46 49 54 57 59 62 66 69 71 74 77 80 83 90 92 94 96 98 101 107
Preface While this work is designed to appeal to the experienced magician or performer of mental miracles, a review of some fundamentals may not be out of place. Like many platitudes, we sometimes hear them so often that we forget their impor tance. The prospective performer must remember that practice is necessary for smooth presentation, that without smoothness the effect is lost because lack of assurance arouses suspicion. Each routine is a playlet in which the performer appears to do a num ber of natural things, but seems to achieve a supernatural result. And this depends upon the fact that there are small points in the performance which are not exactly what they seem. If the per former has not that ease which is only bred of practice, the play does not ring true and the outcome does not amaze. Naturally it is best to adapt the presentation of the trick to your own personality—your natural movements, mannerisms and speech. Real artistry in the performance of mental mysteries lies not in imitation of another’s presentation, but in making the trick an original expression—humorous or serious, snappy or lei surely, pretentious or modest—fitting the performer. But first he must practice each of the entertainments to be performed, ex actly as described, in order to fix all the movements well in mind. While the smooth performance of these mysteries will surely amaze an audience, it naturally takes more than that to make a first class entertainer. Such an undertaking is considered outside of the scope of this book, but the reader who wants to present his performance with as much finish as possible is referred to works or tutoring on voice, delivery and stage deportment. In all the realm of supposed telepathy, the answering of 1
questions which are apparently unseen and unheard by the per former is probably the most satisfying. The last six routines pre sent ways of performing this miracle under varying conditions. They are described in simplified form—the spectators are asked to write a phrase or a song title or the name of a city. When the performer gains confidence, and the problem of what to do next becomes second nature, he is ready to get a great deal more out of the performance by requesting spectators to write questions instead of merely names or phrases. The answering of questions with good showmanship is the most appealing effect in mental magic, and when the questioners are properly instructed, and the information on the questions is released bit by bit, the questioner is amazed that the written information is known to the per former, and the other spectators are convinced that the per former has revealed much more than was written. The final chapter, which explains how to make this information seem so extensive, describes types of questions that are likely to be asked and explains how they should be answered. It is the fruit of many years’ experience in this field. Many performers of magic are feeling a need for some mental miracles to add variety to their programs. We have per formed a few of these for some outstanding professionals and received flattering offers for their exclusive use. We hope you, too, will feel that one or more of these routines deserves a place in your act.
2
GEMS OF MENTAL MAGIC
Devious Digits THE MIRACLE:
Here is a miracle in which a number that runs into the quintillions is reached by multiplication of a random selection of numbers. Yet a spectator who calls a friend of the performer by telephone is given this long number accurately while it is being worked out by the assistant in the room. THE METHOD:
The performer has a blackboard or a large card mounted on an easel at the front of the room. His only preparation consists in having three new, crisp one-dollar bills in his pocket, and the number 588235294117647 written on the margin of another bill. Before explaining what he is going to do, the performer asks if three people who have one-dollar bills in their pockets will hold them up. Now reaching in his own pocket, he withdraws the four necessary bills and hands each of the three volunteers a new bill as he takes their old one. Returning to the blackboard, or card, he now takes a chalk or crayon and pretends to copy eight numbers — 58823529 from one bill, slipping it under the other 5
two, and then he pretends to copy seven more — 4117647 from the next. Then with a comment, “I guess that’s a long enough number,” he pokes the bills into his pocket. Every gesture so far has had a purpose. If the performer mentioned that he was going to do a trick with numbers before he asked the spectators to take out some bills, they would prob ably observe and remember the first two or three numbers on their bills. Instead, the performer has asked the spectators to hold the bills up. This is a natural thing to do as it enables him to see which people are holding the bills for him to trade, but it prevents the spectators from looking at the numbers while hold ing the bills. The performer further safeguards himself by collect ing three bills so that if any of the spectators have noticed some numbers on their bills as they removed them from their wallets and held them up, each of them can conclude that his bill was not used in the performance of the trick. The performer holds the bill before him while writing the number on the card, or blackboard. He does not say, “I am now taking down the number of this bill,” because such a statement immediately provokes a challenge. But as it is apparently a com pletely random number, and an unimportant part of the trick, there is no reason for it to be challenged. Just before placing the number on the blackboard, the per former tosses a deck of cards to the spectator, asking him to ex amine it to be sure it is an ordinary deck of cards. Now, having finished writing the long number on the board, he asks the spec tator to shuffle the deck and take any card at random from it. He is now to multiply the number on the blackboard by the num ber represented by the value of the card, counting jacks, queens and kings as 11, 12 and 13, respectively. If the spectator has drawn an ace, he is to select another card so that the number will be multiplied by a number greater than one. This spectator is asked to come forward, put the number representing the value of his card below the long number and start multiplying. As soon as he has written the card value on the board he is stopped and another spectator, agreed upon by the audience, is 6
asked to go to the telephone, with witnesses if required, to call such and such a number and ask for a certain person, naming only a girl’s first name. The spectator is to take pencil and paper and copy down the number which this person seems to feel is in the air, as she gives it, and then check it back with her. When the first assistant completes his multiplication, the performer erases the top numbers “to avoid confusion,” and waits for the second assistant with his witnesses to return from the telephone. The performer and first assistant cover the numbers on the board while the second assistant comes forward and turns with his back to the board so that there can be no suspicion that the second assistant is stooging by merely reading the numbers from the board. Because the numbers that he reads from the card are identical with the numbers on the board! All that is needed for this apparently conclusive demonstra tion of mind-reading is that the performer’s friend at the tele phone number given shall have pasted to the bottom of her tele phone a copy of the figure below: If the original number has been multiplied by two, the per son has the second spectator ask for Betty, as B is the second letter in the alphabet. The name Betty is beside the Figure 1, and the final number is read clockwise around the circle from that point. This number is 1176470588235249. If the first assistant has selected a nine from the deck, the second assistant is asked to call the performer’s friend and ask for Ida, I being the ninth letter in the alphabet, and the person at the other end of the phone by consulting the telephone base can divine that numbers are being thought of --- numbers of many digits, in fact the number seems to be 5294117647058823. The original number has a rare quality — when it is multi plied by any number from 1 to 13, the product is made up of the same digits in the same order but with a different starting point. To prevent this from being observed, the performer erases the top numbers as soon as he sees that the finished number is correct. Of course, male names may be used for cues: Bert, Charlie, Dave, etc., or a man answering the ’phone could always say, “No, 7
Kay isn’t here, but I’m her brother. Weren’t you going to ask her about a number? I share her telepathic powers, and I'm getting an impression of the number 6470588235294117. Is that right?”
8