The Art of Mentalism 1, Magic and card tricks
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The Art of Mentalism
(Part One Revisited)
This .pdf edition copyright 2002 by Robert E Cassidy
(NOTE: This e-book comprises the essence of the first edition of the
Art of Mentalism
, privately published by the author and copyrighted in
1984. The second and third editions were published and copyrighted by
Collector’s Workshop and Vicking Magic. Both were revised versions of
the original to which I retained copyright. The author has no
connection whatsoever to the edition presently being published by
Viking, nor was he contacted at all for suggestions or additions to
their latest release. He does not receive any royalties pursuant to the
original contract with Collector’s Workshop which, presumably, was
transferred to Viking. Not being of a particularly litigious nature, he
has decided to let it ride – their version does look very nice!)
INTRODUCTION
1
THE PRESENTATION OF MENTALISM
2
AUDIENCE READING-THE MAJOR EFFECT OF MENTALISM
6
THE FINAL VERSION OF THE THREE ENVELOPE TEST (1984)
12
THE TWO ENVELOPE TEST
16
A PICTURE AND A WORD
17
THE ATLAS TEST
17
THE ESQUIRE MAGAZINE TEST
18
THE MEMORY DRIVE
20
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
22
THE ETHICS OF MENTALISM
26
INTRODUCTION
"Art," according to Webster's New World Dictionary, is the human
ability to make things-the creativity of man as distinguished from the
world of nature. It is set apart from "craft" in that the latter
applies to a lesser skill involving little or no creative thought.
The performance of mentalism is necessarily a creative process.
To be successful the performer must tailor each presentation-not only
to a particular audience, but to the individual volunteers he uses in
his program. No two performances of a mentalist are exactly the same.
He must always be ready to capitalize on unexpected luck and to
compensate for unforeseeable error.
HANDLING THE AUDIENCE
8
The creative process is equally at work in the area of
methodology.
This book is not intended to be merely a means of adding new
effects to the reader's repertoire. I have tried to give an insight
into how my own approach to the art has resulted in methods, and
combinations of methods, which serve to create the illusion of
mentalism.
I hope that it will serve to stimulate your own creative process.
Good thoughts to all of you.
THE PRESENTATION OF MENTALISM
Mentalism is the art of presenting seemingly paranormal effects
in an entertaining manner. Its essence lies in the performer's ability
to successfully suspend the disbelief of his audience. Fortunately,
there is already substantial belief among the public in psychic and
other paranormal phenomena. But it is a large mistake to assume that
simple public acceptance of the possibility of E.S.P. is sufficient to
carry a successful performance of mentalism. Such a view has been the
cause of many a bad act. And, believe me, there are plenty of bad
mentalism acts around today.
So what is it that makes an act good? There are many factors, of
course, but the main thing is that the performance must be
entertaining. Anyone who thinks otherwise and has the nerve to perform
a standup act in a theatrical selling is a fool-and probably an
egotistical fool to boot. If a performer really thinks that the
mechanical performance of technically flawless mental effects will
cause an audience to sit in awe of his "powers" and bring him success,
he is sadly mistaken.
Now, obviously, entertainment value alone does not make a mental
act. But it is very difficult to be entertaining if the audience
doesn't like you and whatever it is that you're doing. So we arrive at
a very simple rule-to succeed you have got to do everything in your
power to be likeable. So many mentalists nowadays try to affect a
threatening, superman-type image. That sort of thing may intrigue
people for a while, but in the long run it puts them off-they may like
to go to freak shows on occasion, but they go there to gawk, not to
interact. And if a mentalist cannot get people to interact- i.e., to
volunteer, to participate- he doesn't have an act.
How many times have you heard the complaint "I just can't seem to
get people to volunteer?" Those who have that problem would do well to
look at their image. Are they presenting likeable personalities, or do
they pose a threat to their audience? Or, worse yet, are they coming on
so strong that people just don't want to be seen on the same stage with
them?
And that's one of the reasons that mentalism is so difficult to do
well. Reading people's minds is inherently threatening. Consider- do
people really want to have their minds read? Would you like to have
your mind read? For real? Suppose you really could read minds and
reveal people's innermost thoughts. Do you think they would like you?
Do you think they'd volunteer once they were convinced that you could
really do it? Of course not! They'd get away from you as fast as
possible, or they'd kill you.But as a mentalist you can't come right
out and say you'rejust doing tricks. Then the act is just a puzzle. The
inherentfascination is gone.
The resolution is really pretty simple-you've got to create the
impression that you can only do this stuff sometimes. That it doesn't
always work. That it's not minds that you can read, just very clearly
defined thoughts- thoughts which a volunteer must focus on to the
exclusion of everything else. That's why they must write things down,
or make selections within clearly defined parameters. In one stroke
you've eliminated the threat and made the secret work of mentalism both
possible and plausible.
Some basic rules flow naturally from the above premises- rules
that I feel form the core of effective mentalism and are the foundation
of the effects which I perform.
1. Never use any materials that were obviously purchased at a
magic shop. If you use them people will assume you are a magician and
you will have destroyed the basic premise of the art- the suspension of
disbelief in a paranormal format.
In no way do I mean to put down the fine art of magic. Most
mentalists, myself included, have a deep love for good conjuring. But
it's a different art form- it creates a different impression. If you
want to do magic tricks, do fancy and impressive magic. "Mental magic
tricks" may be fancy, but they're not very impressive. More often than
not, they are simply boring.
For the same reason it is generally wise to avoid any mental
effects which have become popular with magicians who are in the public
eye.
2. You should strive to use an absolute minimum in the way of
visible props. It is the performer who should dominate the stage.
Don't misunderstand me on this point. I am not talking about
visual aids which focus attention on what the performer is doing (and
very often provide the modus operandi for a given effect.) I am
referring to table loads of props which too often dominate the
performing area. You just can't give the impression that you really
need all of that stuff to do mentalism.
3. All effects must be clean, direct, and as brief as
possible. Your purpose is to entertain, not to bore. Even intelligent
audiences don't want to strain to understand what a performer is doing.
While they may like to think that what they are seeing is educational,
they didn't come to see you with the idea of really getting educated.
4. Avoid effects which require the audience to do mathematics,
counting lines in books, etc. The reason should be obvious. More than
likely they will make a mistake. People tend to get nervous when doing
even the simplest tasks before a large group. Always make things as
easy as possible for your volunteers. Carefully phrase all instructions
to avoid any ambiguity.
5. Always understand the effect you are doing or you shouldn't
be doing it. I'm not referring to methods or effect from the
performer's point of view. Rather I am concerned with the effect as it
is perceived by the audience. Failure to understand that can result in
audience realization that what they are seeing is merely a trick.
For example, ask yourself this question-What is the effect of
Annemann's "Pseudo Psychometry?" Too often the performer will simply
create the impression that he is able to discover the owners of various
personal objects which have been sealed in envelopes. Presented in that
manner, it is all too easy for an audience to accidentally stumble onto
the actual method employed-marked envelopes.
The effect is far more impressive if the performer appears to
reveal things about the owners of the objects. Not what they look like,
but what they are like. Preshow work and some good cold reading is what
creates this effect. Real psychometry is the apparent ability to reveal
things about people by receiving vibrations from articles which have
been in their possession. But even those people who believe that
psychometry exists will find it hard to believe that an object's
vibrations will reveal the color of its owner's dress.
That's why you can't be convincing in this business unless you
have some plausible theory to explain what you are doing. Which
leads us to the next rule:
6. Don't claim too much. How many times have you seen mental acts
presented in a format where the performer explains all of the various
forms of paranormal phenomena and then proceeds to demonstrate each one
of them? It just doesn't work. You may get them to believe that you are
clairvoyant, or that you are telepathic, or that you are precognitive,
or that you can move objects with your mind-but not that you can really
do all of these things. Your claims must have consistency. There must
be an inner logic behind what you are doing.
It is very important, therefore, that you carefully examine the
claims you make during an act. What is it that you are doing and how do
you do it? Given the abilities you claim to possess, are your effects
consistent with the claim?
Now, realize, I am not advocating that you come right out and
make any claims at all to paranormal abilities-at least not verbally.
But the performance of successful mentalism creates implied claims and
those claims must be consistent.
In my own act I create the impression that I can do three things-
I can receive thoughts if they are properly projected to me on sort of
a mental movie screen, I can send thoughts if you let me project them
onto your mental screen, and I can sometimes make you do things by
projecting a thought into your mind.
I don't want to claim the ability to predict the future, it's
just too hard to sustain. So when I do an effect where I am apparently
able to predict a spectator's actions-what name he will select from a
phone book or what time he will set on a watch-I give the impression
that I have mentally caused him to make the selection I wanted him to
make-that I have given him a subconscious mental command. It's entirely
consistent with the abilities I have impliedly claimed-that I can send
and receive thoughts. No more and no less.
Sure, at other shows I may demonstrate a few other abilities,
such as super memory or apparent PK, but I would never exhibit more
than a few mental faculties in any given show. It's just too hard for
an audience to swallow-they are likely to condude that there is
trickery at work.
7. Use humor effectively. Believe it or not, even a mentalist
is allowed to smile and make humorous remarks. As I've already
indicated, the humorless superman approach is not very entertaining.
It's important, I think, that you don't create the impression of taking
yourself too seriously. When an audience can laugh with you (not at
you, as is likely if you refuse to accept the fact that you are
primarily an entertainer) they start to like you and feel comfortable
with you. When that happens you start to become commercial-and when
you've done that you're on the verge of being a successful entertainer.
Using humor does not mean that you should try to be a stand-
up comic. Generally, the humor should flow naturally from the
effects you are performing.
8. Make sure that you can be seen and heard. This means that you
must learn to use a microphone and be sure your lighting is adequate.
Like it or not, amplified sound is a reality of the entertainment
business today. Regardless of how well you can project, audiences are
no longer accustomed to traditional unamplified stage delivery. There
are still performers of the old school, of course, who are convinced
that microphones are crutches and should be shunned. They have rarely,
if ever, performed in nightclub or lounge settings.
Acoustics in modern clubs are generally atrocious. Deranged
interior decorators like to put little walls and obstructions
everywhere to give a feeling of intimacy. Few clubs which provide live
entertainment were designed for that purpose.
It's a matter, then, of using a microphone or being ignored.
There are positive aspects, though- proper mike technique gives the
performer a much greater range for intonation and inflection, thus
creating a feeling of intimacy that is nearly impossible to achieve
otherwise. One needs only to see the manner in which mentalist Ken
Weber, for example, can use a whisper to maximum effect.
I used to feel, though, that it was wrong for a mentalist to use
a hidden wireless microphone. I felt that it created a feeling of
electronic wizardry and I really didn't want my audiences to be
thinking about such things during my performance. But times have
changed. Wireless mikes are becoming so common that they generally go
unnoticed. Still, I prefer to use a hand mike on a stand because I want
the voices of my onstage assistants to be amplified as well as my own.
Lavaliers are okay too, but performers should avoid hanging the
larger microphones around their necks. It makes them look too much like
Veg-O-Matic pitchmen or barkers at a jam auction.
I'm quite satisfied with a low impedance uni-directional mike, mounted
so that it is easily removed from the stand. A piece of cloth or rubber
foam wrapped around the ball serves to eliminate popping "p's" and
"b's".For a crash course in proper mike handling, watch the singers
and comics who appear on television. Here are some basics which are too
often ignored by amateurs:
Don't hang on to the microphone stand for support. Don't fiddle
with the cord. Don't blow into a microphone to test it. Do make sure
that you have a long cord for greater mobility. This is why you need a
low impedance mike.
Do plan to have the mike on the stand when you need both hands
for an effect. (If this is impossible, a good technique is to put the
mike under your arm.)
Do rehearse your routines with the microphone at hand. It is an
integral part of your act and you should be as comfortable with it as
you are with your routines.
Proper microphone technique gives your act a professional gloss-
use it.
Lighting is equally important. And in most clubs the available
lighting is terrible. It's a good idea to have your own lights. For
further information regarding lighting and sound, I refer you to the
excellent Success Book volumes published by Magic, Inc.
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