Al Mann - Dunninger's Act

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AL MANN g.xd~ POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

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1 (201) 431 -2429

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 07728

Copyright (1983) by AME

~arly in 1926, at the age of 34, Joseph Dunninger, who considered himself a greater magician than Houdini, foresaw that he could make more money and become world famous if he stopped competing with Houdini as a stage magician and devote his full time to being a 'mindreaderJ' So he put his tons of illusions away and went to baffle the world with slips of paper as he signed a contract to Headline in the Keith Vaudeville Circuit. The following details of his show were taken by an anonymous observer. A manuscript with the details was secretly sold to magicians without Dunninger's permission. Dunninger was so irked by it that he exposed his own method in the November 1927 issue of Science and Invention, and then denied that it was the method he used. (Fig. 1 below)

A Mind Reading Secret

JJc.ny dealers in magical equipment are chargin.q exorbipricu for this effect, claiming it u the fMthod ."... """/~d by me in my performances on the Keith circuit . . 7'0 ~. that it is not I am disclosing the system her'3w·/.th. S-~al IUlsistants walk among the audience distributing _A~I .1ilP' of paper. The mind Tead"T j"eqw,sts that the ~."la write names, addresses, etc. on the sli1'11 and fold ~ s.-t·eral times 30 that the writing cannot be seen. He ~t

Fig. 1

then passes envelope" among the audience, requsstinl1 that groups of slips be placed into each of them and that they be retained by the writers. Seating himself on the stage with slate and pencil, he calls names, etc. Under cover 0/ passinfl the envelope down the aisles, for the slips, the -magiCIan secretly palms some 0/ the slips, permitting the rest and blank duplicates to remain in the envelope. Tlua contents 0/ palmed slip" are subsequentlll read.

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DUNNING1!R'S ACT

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

Sta.9'e SettGVt9':

Ordinary house drop curtain, red, of a s ilky-folds type. FURNITUR~I A davenport table on center stage against drop. Upholster seat cha ir at one end of table. A comfortable fireside chair at other end. Envelopes, paper, slate, blackboard, chalk a nd Dunninger's note pad (to be described) sit on table.

ePlt'l.a14Ce! While orchestra plays a heavy entrance number, Dunninger walks on from left wing to center of stage. DRESS I He is neatly dressed with English cutaway coat and stripped trousers, black shoes with spats and carnation bouttonier. (the above means that Dunninger was dressed in sartorial splendor according to the times. AM)

.t.efd:""c : "Ladies and Gentlemenl In presenting my eXperiments for your entertainment this evening, I first of all want to thoroughly impress upon your minds, that I am not a fortune teller, neither am I a mind reader. I can not tell your past, present or future, any more than any other human being can do. That is impossible. My work is not at all supernatural, but purely scientific. I claim that if you will think certain thoughts and hold them in your mind, I can tune in and get them just as a radio set picks up a broadcasting station. You may laugh and say that it is impossible. but I say to you that fifty years ago the submarine was impossible, the telephone was impossible, the radio was impossible. Before my act is finished I shall convince you that what I say is true!" ?t!te ifct: "Ushers have been detailed to pass out slips of paper BO that you can write down your thoughts. Let me impress upon you the necessity of all of you writing something. Write down the secret thoughts of your mind. You women, write down something your neighbors know nothing of. And you Gentlemen, write something down your wives know nothing of, if that is possible. If you don't want to use the paper handed you. use your program or your own personal stationery. Write down your thoughts so as to keep them thoroughly in your mind. Rememberl I do not collect a thing. You write your questions and keep them in your possesion! I shall now assist the ushers in passing out the slips and also assist you folks in anyway I can. We will also have the assistance of our talented orchestra." The orchestra starts to play soft music. Dunninger picks up a stack of papers to be used for questions. Thes e papers are 21 by 3-3/4 inches. White paper. He also carries a bout 50 white envelopes, size )-)/ 4 by 7! inches. He rushes up

J AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

DUNN ING'lR'S ACT HE ACT

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the left aisle giving out ten or more slips at a time to one pers on to pass out. He then goes around the back of the theatre and comes down the right aisle passing out the remaining slips. ~~STEAL I Dunninger walks up and down the aisle giving instruct10ns and occassionally handing out an envelope here and there. After he has handed out about ten or twelve of them he is ready to steal the first bunch of questions, in the following manner. Taking next envelope from stack in right hand, the rest of the stack is placed under left armpit. The one envelope, which had been prepared before the show, by breakm ing the flap so that it extends out, is placed in left hand as shown in Fig. 2. There are some dummy papers at "A" while real questions are placed at "B" inside

the envelope under the left thumb. The operator can tell by feeling when he comes to a prepared envelope. To collect some papers, persons are asked to place their questions into the envelope

Fig. 2

but actually Dunninger takes the papers from them, writing-side-down, and places

the papers into the envelope. The palm of

the right hand faces up as this is done. About one dozen questions are collected, placing one on top of the other. One or two questions are collected in one row, then a few rows are skipped and a few more are collected. The same is done on the other side of the aisle. When enough questions are collected in one envelopes the questions are folded once and once again and are

held by pressure of the left thumb and fingers. Then another question is collected and placed with the dummies. This time however, the right hand is palm down and the real questions are

finger palmed out of the envelope I

And the right hand is placed

under the envelope, giving it perfect cover.

Immediately, the operator turns to the other side of the aisle and during this move, the billets are secretly transferred from

the right hand palm to the left hand palm. The right hand then

takes away the envelope and hands it to a person saying, "Please place your question in the envelope and pass it along, so that others can put their questions in it." During this move , the left hand places the stolen slips into the left trouser pocket! Dunninger then goes to the other aisle and repeats the same maneuver thereby stealing some more questions. The third envelope from the bottom of the stack is also a prepared envelope . When this envelope is loaded and the questions stolen, he passes out the envelope and also the other two envelopes left.

He then walks back to the stage with his hands held high in

4 DUNNING>