Al Mann - Phanta Graphs for the Mentalist

AL MANN ?8.rc/~ POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY

(201 ) 431-2429

07728

5'. Just aft he reaches a sma,1 ~rassy point of land. another fillh attacks him, lashing: furiously ",ith his tail.

tlte

POST OFFICE BOX 144

•

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY

07728

PHANTA-GRAPHS Copyright by Al Mann Exclusives FORWORD THE MAG-EYE MOVE catapults the center-tear method of thought reading into the Space~Agel The technique given here makes obsolete most of the former writings on the C-T, including the author's own. Such is progress. But bear in mind that occasionally the mentalist will have need of resorting to the original method of stealing the fold~d center piece as some spectators write a message and fold it and bring it to you for a test. At this writing only two persons know the secret of the Mag-~ye move. Only three persons know the secret of "Cistella" and only one has presented in public. So the AME rons. remain exclusive as promised. ~

FIRST APHORISIl

"Whofoever would know fecrets, let him know how to keep fecret things fecretly, and to reveal thofe things that are to be revealed, and to feal thofe things that are to be fealeda and 'not to give holy things to dogs, nor to caft pearls before fwine.' " "Obferve the law, and the eyes of thy underftanding fhall be opened, to underftand fecret things, --" The ARBATEL of MAGIC The Conjuror's Magazine December, 1791

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lL MANN gze/~ POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY

1 (201 )

431-2429

07728

Qt3J~~eli~

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

EFFECT. A spectator is given a book and a sealed envelope. He is then instructed to open the book to any page and to choose any word from the page. Next he is told to please open the sealed envelope. 'hen the envelope is opened it is found to contain a tiny keyl Performer then calls attention to a locked box that sits on the table. Spectator is directed to please open the box with the tiny key. From the box the spectator removes I===~ a duplicate book which has an index c a r d ~ sticking out from the same page he just chose and the card has written on it the word he just chose. Fig. 1 The book is ungimmicked and the spectator has an absolute free choice of page and word1

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That, Gentlemen, is the masterful effect and that is exactly what happens in the minds of the audience. Behind the scenes, the story is a bit different. ~E SECRET. You will need two duplicate books about 1i inches thick in hard covers. Plus a box with a lock and key just large enough to accomodate the one book snugly. The box is of the type that opens exactly in half as per fig. 1. TO PREPARE, one book is locked into the box with the spine towards the locked side and an index card sticking out about the middle of the book pages and out the back of the box. Fig. 1. The card has a message, "From this page you will select the word "

A space has been left in the message on the card so that the performer can fill in the chosen word as called with a nail writer. The card is bent down outside the box. PRESENTATION, Pass the book and sealed envelope to the spec. Ask him to stick the envelope anywhere into the book, (with luck he will stick the envelope into about the middle of the book, but if not it does not matter). He is then asked to selec~ any word from the page and to also callout the page number, (he may be asked to choose a short word). Performer has been holding in his hands the locked box with the front of the box facing the audience. A soon as the word is called, he writes the word on the card with the nail writer and then straightens the card and pushes it into the box. And places the locked box on the table.

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AN AL MANN

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Spectator is then asked to open the sealed envelepe and take out the tiny key and open the locked box on the table. When the box is opened, spectator is told to please take out the book and attention is called to the fact that it is an identical book to the other one. Spectator is then asked to please take the index card out and read the prediction. By this ruse, no one will know just where the card was taken from, but the performer has taken the book back and opened it to the correct page while the spec. reads the predictionl Performer then informs the audience just what has taken place. The audience will not believe you of course, they will say that the spec is a stooge. Cette Ie viel NOTE. If you can not find a suitable box for the book and you must have one built, be sure that the hinges in the back are separated enough to allow the card to pass through. A PRELUDE, No recommendations are made here as to what type of nail writer ~o use. One man's food is another's poison when it comes to the preferance in nail writers. Dunninger always used the band type. This writer, due to an injured right thumb tip can only work with a thumb-tip writer. That is, the writer part of a band wrlter is cemented to a magician's thumb tip. Some mentalists work wonders with the boon writer While others can not. The nail writers corne in many shapes and sizes. They have been made to write with a thin or thick pencil lead, china marker, crayon. chalk and ink. The writing gimmick has been made to fit on the thumb or finger nail tip. or on the ball of the thumb or finger or toe. on the end of a wand or under a stack of envelopes. The swami stylus is used to write a carbon impression through a sealed envelope. TO lV1AK~ A SWAMI STYLUS. cement the male end of a snap fastener to a thumb or finger tip as desired. So here is wishing you good luck with the Phanta-Graphs

The Mastet Secret of the Swami An Oriential Feat Supreme - Secret Communicated to Alexander by Dr."Q" POSITIVE PROOF OF THE PROJECTION OF THOUGHT - THE MASTER TRICK OF THAT SLICK HINDU FAKER AND LECTURER, "SWAMI ABDHUL GUHA SHING." This is one that convinced many a would-be wise skeptic for many years all over the world. The gifted Swami gave lectures on Hindu philosophy all over the country and claimed to be able to project his mind to any part of the world and cause his thoughts to be felt by anyone he desired, and to be able to control their actions. I personally know of many men and women that he collected hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars from, with the promise that he would influence their sweethearts to return to them-that he would influence anyone they desired to do anything that was desired-even though at a distance. You perhaps will say that anyone who would believe a promise of that kind would be absolutely crazy. There you are wrong, as I know of some of the brightest and smartest minds in the world that fell for it, because he gave the proof that he could do it. Here is the proof he would place before you. He would ask yOU to give him the name of some friend that you could at once get on the phone, that you trusted, and -who did not know him. He would then take a plain white envelope and a blank card and call your attention to the fect that he was going to write something on the card unknown to you-this he did, then sealed the envelope. He would then ask you to call the friend that you had mentioned and ask them to think of the first or last name of any person, and tell you the name. '1 Let us now say that your friend gave the name "Robert," which you tell to the SwamI. He would then ask you to ask your friend to think of any number from one to a million. Let us say that your friend says 654, and you mention this to the Swami. He would then tear off the end of the envelope and ask you to rem ove the card that he had written on previous to your l-:oing to the phone. On examining the card you see written plainly "Mary Doe" (or whatever the name of your friend may be) "will speak the things that I desire. which are ROBERT and 654." Remember he has never seen your friend, he had written on the card prior to your calling, the envelope was signed and sealed hv you, if you so desire-there is positively no exchange of either card or envelope which are held in the t i ps of his fingers at all times. Is this not posit in) proof that he can influence minds at a distance. even though he has never seen the party'! Another proof-- in an audience of a thousand people he asks vou to name some lady or gentleman who can play ;1 piano-you choose anyone, even yourself If you can

play, and are skeptical. He then states that he will write the name of a piece of music on a card and seal it up~let you initial the envelope so you will know there IS no exchange, or seal same with wax If you so desire. He writes, you seal and initial the envelope and he holds it in the tips of his fingers in full view at all times and asks you to be seated at the piano and place your hands on the key-board, and when he says the word commence, you are to play the first piece of music that comes to your mind. He stands back-looks mysterious and says-"COMMENCE"-you play the first piece of music that comes to your mind, and on opening the envelope as before, you will see that the writing on the card says "Mary Doe (or whatever the name of the person selected may be) will play the piece I desire her to play which is - - , " and there is the name of the piece yOU played. It is positively uncanny and can be repeated any number of times with any number of people without the slightest fear of detection. At the finish, both card and envelope are handed to you for your inspection-even the card may be marked for identification previous to the test. There is positively no exchange of card or envelope; they are never out of sight. Any name may be spoken, and number selected, any piece of music played and it is always found correct on the card, which you yourself remove from the envelope. No confederates are used, the party who plays the music or the ones who speak the numbers, are just as much in the dark as the rest of the audience. Is it any wonder that the slick Swami hooked the wise ones for thousands of dollars? A few months ago I was a guest of, a Pasadena millionaire at a house-party-there was music and singing by different guests, and I gave a few psychic tests. A little later over a glass of wine in the hilliard room, a Senator whom I personally knew to he a close mouthed gentleman, said to me, "Alexander, I love mystery, evcrvone does, it is the most fascinating thing in the world-I would give $500.00 to do just one trick and do it good." I said, "Sentaro, do yOU mean it'!" and he answered that he "Certainly did." I swore him to eternal secrecy, and then gave him the secret and the apparatus (which weighs less than a quarter of a pound) to work t.he secret of the Swami. Twenty minutes afterwards he worked the music test and the telephone test as well, in the d ra wing-room before all the assern hla.ge, and he was voted the lion of the evening. The following day he handed me his check for $500.00 with the remark that he would give me a thousand dollars for another impromptu trick as good.

('ollll",ktl' appas-at us aml full directions aud pattr-r' 111'(, yuul's fol' 1jI5.00. Suitable for stage or pin-lor. You can do it llny plaee any ttme, Complere apparatus (whkh w/'ij.\'hs Ir-ss than four ounces) and complete Iecture or pattt'I', h worth many t imes the amount as!'-I·d. Or for $10.00 you ean have the above complete and the full wlll'I,in~ blue prtnts of "The ~Iysterious ])1'. Q. Dark Trumpet Seance," "The Mystelious ])1'. Q. Matl'l'ialization of It HUllum Being," "Dr. Q's Miracle In Model'n Seershjl)," lind "The Original Duck Vanish." _ 'I'he F'tve, 1II10.00. C, AIJI~XAN])ER, 2:JD South Oxford Strel't, IJos Angele», ('lIllf.

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Some views on the Swami Gimmick The Swami Gimmick (nail writer) and how to use it is well covered in other books. It has also been exposed many times in the public press. The average layman know about the nail writer. They suspect that you use it in almost every trick. They are baffled, at the end, as they normally reason that you could not have possibly have written such a long message in the alloted time. This is the case where the performer only fills in a word or two to complete a formerly prepared long message. Nevertheless, it is a very brave (or naive) mentalist who today uses a nail writer the way it was originally intended, that is, writing the word right after it is called and at a time when the wise ones in the audience would expect you to write it. Many leading mentalists have been criticized for brazingly using the nail writer on stage, while it is quite obvious to anyone who cares to look that the performer's thumb is wiggling excessively when it shouldn't. There are several ways of misdirecting the public from this line of thought. The AME writings are peppered with excellent effects along this line. "The Opener ~ffect" in the Tesseract and "The Ghost of the Unborne" in Words and Wizards, are two good examples. Here are some more.

~dS'tlt ~iltt!J ~ This quikie book test was hatched at the Magic Castle during a meeting of mentalists in 1979. EFFECT. Mentalist passes out a book to anyone in his audience and then passes out ~n index card (or business card) to another person on the other side of the room. He asks the person with the index card to please secretly choose a number, say 1 to 200 and to write it on the card. This is a free choice. Performer then takes the index card and shows it to the person holding the book and asks that person to please open the book to that page and remember the first word or two. Performer then divines the word using his ESP faculties. THE SECRET. The index card used is blank on both sides except for a short line, about half ~ inch long that the mentalist draws on it at one I~ corner as per Fig. 2. The book given out can be any book, but the performer has memorized the ~irst few words on Fig. 2 page 75, for example. The spectator with the card is directed to write his number on the short line. The two spectators are widely separated. Let's say the spectator chose number ')8.'

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Mightier than the Sword. Castle Catch ..•.•• cont. Performer takes back the index card and asks the spectator if that was a free choice, etc. In the meantime, performer writes in the number '75' with the nail writer and then places his right fat thumb over the spectator's number and line and then shows the card to the spectator holding the book and asks him to please open the book to that page. Climax followsl Keep in mind that only two persons see the card. If you haven't got a fat thumb, a thin one will do.

St It!)t rta6(t ~ You are in your magic den and have a sitter in front of you across the table. You are going to dumbfound the sitter with your psychic abilities. So you say nothing but stare at her with a wierd look and then take out a business card and pretend to write something down and then place the card face down in front of you right at the table's edge. Then you engage the sitter in conversation. "You recently had a death in your family?"-- "Yes, but how did you know?" -- "I just know." "What was the first name of this person that died?" or simply ask the sitter for her first name or a word or a number. In any event, you have in your lap another business card plus a short pencil or the nail writer. So after you get the information you write it on the lapped card and then palm it. The safest way to palm a card for this move is as shown in Fig. J . the card is clipped between the tips of Fig. J the fingers. Next you say, "Strange that you should say that. I wrote something down on this card." As you say that, reach for the card and pull back to lapp it and then raise your hand wi th the palm facing you as you pretend to check what is wri tt'en on it and say, "Yes", my premonition was correct." and then throw the card writing side up to the spectator. 6p~tt'~

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At the turn of the century Robert Gysel put out a secret manuscript with the gimmicked shown in Fig. 4 . This is a swammi gimmick that is clipped at the base of the middle finger with the writing end resting on '\ "I • • the mounds of the palm. The gimmick is great for an opener effect. Performer comes on stage ( with a scratch pad,S by 8 inches, and a pencil. He tells the audience that he is going to write a two-digit number on the pad. He then throws the pencil over his shoulder and covers the pad with his right hand and asks for a number. He hesitates a bit, etc., writes the number with the gimmick, then peaks at it, etc. and Fig. 4 says "There it isl." '

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MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

~lt'.&~t~~dtett"on . The following methods misdirect the rational thinking of the audience as it is quite obvious that the mentalist has had no excess to the message card. IN A BOOK. After the mentalist gets the necessary information. he calls attention to a book high on a shelf that has a card sticking out. Mentalist takes the book Fig. 5 down and says, "Please take the card out. It has a message written on it. And please read it." During this time the mentalist has had plenty of time to stick his thumb with writer into the well in the book and written the messagel The book has a well made by cutting a window in about half the pages. The message card rests on the uncut pages. The window is small enough so that the performer can cover it with his hand and the book can then be handled so that all appears well. Fig. 5 THE BOOKSHELF. The same effect can be worked with several books. Not too thick. In this case the performer picks up several books or the bookshelf. Or the bookshelf may be sitting on the mentalist's desk. With the shelf on the mentalist's table it is quite possible for the mentalist to hide his hand behind the shelf and do the writing without arousing any suspicion while conversing with the sitter.

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Fig. 6

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IN THe GLASS. This method was mentioned in Corinda's 1) Steps to Mentalism, but no details were given. The following handling has been found, through trial and error, to be the best. The glass is placed on a table and mentalist pretends to . . wri te a word, name of a card, etc. on a card " : and the card is placed inside the glass. When the item is called, mentalist picks up the glass Fig. 7 and tips the card into someone's hands. The correct item is of course written on the card. The secret is that the glass is a magician's ball glass and has a round hole cut near the bottom. In order to write on the card, it must have something to rest on, so a piece of clear plexiglass as wide as the inside diameter of the glass but not as high, is placed inside the glass. and the card which must have a tight fit so that it will not move while the secret writing is being done, is placed inthe glass on the side where the hole is. When picking up the glass, the mentalist simply

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MIGHTIER TRAN THE SWORD, MISDIRECTION ..••.. cont •••.•.• picks up the glass with his left hand (assuming he is righthanded) and places the glass into his right hand. As the right hand takes the glass it sticks its thumb with thumb-writer into the glass through the hole and writes the message. The card is then tipped into the spectator's hand. The beauty of this is that all the movements of the right thumb as it writes are hidden by the fingers and the glass. Plastic glasses are easier to prepare for this effect than regular glass. The reader can experiment with how big a hole to cut and where. The hole can be made oblong or square. THE TIME PIECE, If you happen to have an old Railroad pocket watch, the type that has a cover over the face and flips open when the stem wheel is pushed, don't throw it away, for with it you have the makings of a cute little miracle that will appeal to all and sundry. IN EFFECT anyone names a card or number. Performer takes out his pocket watch and flips open the cover and lodged between the cover and the face of the watch is seen a small card with the name of the card or number just chosen. Performer never touches the cardl Sounds great? It isl Fig. 8 TO PREPARE, Open the back of the watch and take out the works, except for the stem which is left in place and may be fixed inplace inside cemented there. Throwaway the works but keep the face and hands. THE CRYSTAL may be replaced with a plastic one to make it easy to cut a window out of it, either square or round. THE BACK COVER must be prepared in like manner. Cut a window preferably a round one, about it inches in diameter. These windows will never be seen by the audience so they need not be very neat. Just adequate to accommodate the thumb and writer. Remove tha hands from THE FACE of the watch and also cut a window preferrably round about one inch or a bit smaller. Then cement pieces of the hands to the face at edges as shown in Fig. 8 (Fig. 8 shows the face with a square window and pieces of the hands cemented in place). The gimmick is now complete. All you need do now is to place a piece of paper or thin card, about it inches square, over the watch face and close the cover. If the watch is held flat on the palm, it will look normal. Place a chain on it and put it in your watch poeket. THE PRESENTATION, Ask for the name of a playing card or 2digit number. Then converse with your audience as you casually

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MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD. THE TIME PIECE .•.•.. cont ......• take out your pocket watch BUT do not oa11 attention to it, just pretend that you got the urge of winding it or just plain toying with it and write in the initials of the card or the 2-digit number. Then place the watch flat on the palm of your left hand and call attention to the fact that the watch is covered and that in order to open it you must push in the stem wheel. But, "Before I open it I must tell you that inside between the face of the watch and the cover, I have placed a piece of paper with the name of a card on it. Now, I am not going to do anything as naive as touching the paper, so watch me carefully." Here you open the cover but make sure that you place your finger over it so that it will not fly up and pick up the paper and expose the window. Do it gently and let everyone see the paper under the cover. Of course they will also see part of the watch face. Then flip the watch over and drop the card into someone's hands. Finalel The psychological misdirection here is col ssal. The closed watch is, to the rational mind, impregnable. They can see the face (or part of it) of the watch and they also see part of the back cover. Plus it is rationally assumed that the watch is intactl And it is made of metal ( goldl?)1 THE AME DOUBLE-WRITER. For those readers who may like a double-writing gimmick, the AME double-writer is hard to beatl This gimmick is made by cementing the business part of a band writer to a finger-tip, as shown in Fig. 9. This gimmick is worn on the third finger of your writing hand. The figure shows a gimmick for a right-handed person. (notes 4/13/72) If you hold a pencil in your writing hand in the normal manner between your first and second finger tips and your thumb and then write Fig. 9 on a tablet and restithe third-finger gimmick on the paper, the gimmick will duplicate in secret everything that is written with the pencil, providing that you move your writing hand as a unit, sort of gliding along the paper from left to right as you write. The secret gimmick which is totally out of sight simply follows everymove made by the pencil. The figure shows a lead point in the gimmick. A stylus can of course be used instead. Different color lead alsol Some able mentalists in the past have created seeming miracles with double-writing gimmicks (this writer shys away from d-w gimmicks). Note the raves in Annemann's Practical Mental effects, "Just an Echo." ~d Mellon wrote an 11 page, 8t by 11, manuscript for his creation called, "Instrumental" and ~d was one of the great exponents of this art, having used it continuosly for 7 years plus.

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PRANTA-GRAPHS MISDIRECTION,

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE cont. • •••.••.

INVISIBLE DOOR, Fig. 10 shows another type of book that can be prepared for use with a swami gimmick. This book however can be shown all around and even thrown on a table with the gimmick side up but all will look normal as the secret door is not seen. TO PREPARE the gimmick, go to a second-hand book store and look for a book (a thin one will do) that has a printed square or box that con~ tains the title. These are not hard to find. ~/ Sometimes the square is small, at other times it covers the hole book. Buy two or more of these Fig. 10 books. Next, with a sharp knife cut a fine line along the lines of the square to make a door or window. Next, about half of the pages of the book are cut also but the window cut into the pages is about 1/2 inch smaller all around than the door-flap. THE PRESENTATION, Pass out an ungimmicked duplicate of the gimmicked book that your are holding. Say Nothing about your book, but direct the spectator to open his book to any page and to callout any short word. He may also be asked to call out the page. You have already secretly opened the door-flap in your book (by tapping the book slightly towards you) and jot down the word called with a nail writer. Then say. "Please note that I am holding an identical book in my hands and the book has a card sticking out. I have placed the card ahead of time into the same page and I have written a word on the card. I do not want to touch the card. Please take it out and read it." after the card is taken out the book is thrown on the table. Just like in the "Cistella" principle, the card is of course not in the same page as called. The secret door on the book is of course put back into place, and no attention need be directed to the gimmicked book. This is a very strong effect considering that the performer never comes near the spectator. AN IMPROMPTU DOUBLE-WRITER. Fig. 11 sho_s an easy to make double-writer. It is simply a stub of pencil attached to a long pencil with scotch tape or masking tape. If the reader wishes to develope the art of double writing for doing mental effects. he should get a copy of Ed Mellon's manuscript that comes with "Instrumental." This item is still available. Micky Hades of Canada may have it. Some effects with "Instrumental" appear in Phantini's Mental Key. NO~E. The pencil stub in Fig. 11 hangs loose Fig. 11 and can be opened out to any angle. A crayon can be used in lieu of the long pencil and a stylus can be used in lieu of the pencil stub. While the crayon writes the stylus makes its mark throguh the sealed envelope.

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MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD-- MISDIRgCTION. . •.•. cont. A FRIEND INDEED. In an emergency, the mentalist's may turn out to be a ball-point pen that has gone not write! It can be used as a swami stylus right the audience without anyone being aware of it. To

best friend dry and does in front of wit.

EFFECT, Performer holding in his hand a sealed envelope, informs the audience that the sealed envelope contians his predictions of two words that will be chosen by the audience. A spectator is asked to please callout one word so that all the audience can hear it, preferably a short one. Performer next passes out a book to a second person and tells this person to use the sealed envelope to choose a page in the book by sticking the envelope anywhere, open the book and note the first word. Spectator is then to open the envelope and read the prediction. ~he prediction names the two words exactly! M~~HOD AND PRESENTATION, The envelope i~ ~~~led with sealing wax and on the address side which is not shown to the audience, the performer has written the present date with a ball point pen. The envelope is also prepared with a small piece of pencil carbon paper at the bottom. The card inside the envelope reads, " The word chosen from the book w1ll be 'Yes.' and the other word freely chosen will be "

The last part of the above message is under the piece of carbon inside the envelope. Now first word is called! After the word is called, the performer says, "Now I want someone to please come forward as I want the next word chosen in the fairest wa¥, from this book." As he says this he takes out his 'dry pen and pointing to the spectator that is coming on stage says, "Sir. What is the date today?" When the date is called performer pretends to write it on the outside of the envelope but instead writes out the first word called and since the date is already there, unknown to the audience, everything looks normal! The envelope is then given to the second spectator together with the book which happens to be a force book where all the pages are alike and force only one word. Spectator sticks the card anywhere into the book and then reads the first word (from the left hand page, of course) and the awesome climax follows! The pen of course does not write but makes an impression over the carbon paper and onto the card. For that reason the entire prediction message should be written in black pencil carbon paper!

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C!1)t llong ll1t'*it~l!~

Manufacturing rights reserved by AME

Here is another presentation where it is quite obvious to the lay audience that the performer never touches the card with the message as, ?• Performer comes on stage holding a short stick with a dog clip on the top end and a card clipped in full sight. Anyone calls out a 2-digit number and then performer offers anyone to take the card. Performer does not touch the card which has written on it the number just called. Fig. 12. BEHIND THE SCENES, Hiding behind the stick and the performer's hand is a thumb tip (or ring) which has a metal rod attached to it,see Fig. 13 and a Fig. 12 felt ink marker at the top. The performer writes in the numbers called by moving his thumb accordingly. DETAILS, The STICK, Fig. 12A, is 6 inches long by 1 inch wide. It is painted with a white vertical strip in the middle and black strips on the edges to make the stick appear thinner. The front of the stick at the bottom has a ring attached, Fig. 12B. This ring (or finger tip) makes it possible to hold the stick with the fingers to free the thumb for writing. THE DOG CLIP is unprepared except that it is bent back to align the card with the marker. The ink marker, Fig. l)A, is a tiny felt tip marker with an ink reservoir. A pencil point or a Fig. i) crayon will not work as there is not enough pressure exerted on the card. The only thing that works here is a felt tip marker that marks on contact. The writing gimmick is attached to the stick on its back by a metal staple, Fig. l)C.The staple is nailed on the stick near the bottom, but the operator may move it up or down as needed. When the writing gimmick is down, it rests against the dog clip. To write the performer raises it to the level of the card. This gimmick is not available at this writing. The tiny ink wells have to be specially manufactured. This gimmick makes for a flashy opener effect for a mental program. The reader is of course welcomed to make his own. Only a little practice is needed to learn to write numbers with the gimmick. Since only one person sees the numbers, they need not be to exact. AME notes on this gimmick are dated 11/2/71.

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SWORD

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cont •

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THE BIG WRITER. The method used in this effect seems comical, but the effect is profoundl IN EFFECT. a sitter at the table is asked to callout a two-digit number. After the number is called, performer opens a box on his table and quickly takes out a writing pad 5 by 8 inches, and on it in large numbers that cover the entire page is the chosen number I !Dhe SECRET. Fig. 14 shows a bottom view of a box that sits on the performer's table. Fig. 14 The bottom of the box has a slit cut out that lead to a ledge that hangs under the table. The ledge holds the writing pad. The performer writes in the numbers with a "knee-writer" gimmick. This gimmick is anything that will hold an ink marker. like a bycycle pant clip. The performer simply writes with his kneel Instead of the box. the performer can cut a hole out of his desk drawer and do the same thing. He just opens out the desk drawer and pulls out the pad. THROW-AWAY SWAMIS. As told to this author by Orville Meyer. A mentalist. friend of Orville. makes swami writers by glueing a piece of lead to a double fold of gummed packaging paper. Fig. 15. shows an enlarged ~ rough facsimili. The gum on the paper is on the ~ outside. The piece of lead is glued or cemented to the glueless side of a small strip of paper and Fig. 15 then the paper is folded back and the lead is pushed through a hole and the two folded pieces are again glued together. The gimmick is then ready and is used like a boon writer. The thumb is wetted and performer sticks his hand into his coat pocket and attaches the gimmick to' his thumb. After the writing is done. performer just drops the gimmick on the floor and forgets about it. The mentalist carries several of these gimmicks in his pocket. THE PANTOGRAPH, This is an instrument for reducing or enlarging plans and diagrams. Dr. Jaks has been credited with applying it to mentalism in producing a giant signature on a slate for some VIP in the audience. First Jaks. through crook or hook acquiered a signature from the VIP. Then backstage Jaks enlarged it on the slate by using a pantograph. This slate was later used in a trick during the show. It is possible, with some effort to secret a pantograph within the frame of a slate and then reproduce a word in the center of the slate while holding the slate and using a swami gimmick to trace the word on the framel

12

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

PRANTA-GRAPHS

One hot summer day magician Jack Rahfeld of New York was sitting in Al Flosso's Magic shop visi~ing while Joseph Dunninger was leaning over the counter conversing with Al. During a lull in the activity, Dunninger turned to Jack and said, "Jack, give me a number from one to 100." Jack called out something like "78." Dunninger, who had been holding his business card in his hand then said, "Jack, You know what a nail writer is. Don't you? Well I never have used one in my life and would never stoop to such petty trickery." Dunninger said this in a way that thouroughly convinced Jack that Joe indeed did not use a nail writer. Joe then showed Jack his business card which had written on it the number "78." Jack was very puzzled, to say the least. After a few moments of profound silence, Joe turned to Jack again and started laughing. He then stuck his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out, not one, but a hand full of nail writers (the band type). Joseph Dunninger had the uncanny ability of convincing everyone, including his theatrical agent, that he was a real mindreader and he emphatically denied that he ever resorted to the trickery and lowly gimmicks used by other so-called stage mindreaders. Once, Joe said to this writer, "Al, I do the real mindreading." "Of course, Joe, I know thatl" -----------------------

~"

a:Another

IN M~ORIUM showman that is missed greatly was Syd Bergson. In the last IBM Houston convention (1979) Syd spent most of his time sitting in the AME booth. We were indeed very proud. While there Syd performed one of his )-M miracles. He did the effect with the folded card. A spectator wrote something on a card and folded it and handed it to Syd behind his back. Syd then asked for a cigarette lighter, brought the card forward and ignited it and placed it in an ash tray where it burned to ashes. Syd then revealed the thought. It wasl The powerful charisma and majestic showmanship of Syd that made it into a miracle. Needless to say, this author put that one effect into his program. The novice mentalist must always keep in mind that the one indispensable ingredient for miracle is ~howma~sh!~l v

gre~t

., ~L

MANN It.xc/~

POST OFFICE BOX 144

•

1J (201)

431-2429

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 0772B

Phanta-Graphs THE BONUS SECTION Introducing

1Ft 1141G.. E'£ I'ro\E

Copyright by Al Mann Exclusives

Gentlemen, The Mag-Eye Move is a breakthrough in technique for the ages-old center-tear principle of thought-reading! This new technique totally eliminates the folded-center section, the need of stealing i.t and/or opening it in the process of tearing the billet. Therefore it eliminates the umbrella move or the need for squeezing the center-fold open. The technique that follows is so simple and elementary that the reader will wonder why, during all these decades since the publishing of the center-tear, no one had thought of it before? The fact is that all the experimentation, in the past, has been done with the writing of the message on the center of the paper and the ability of stealing the folded-center piece and secretly opening it in the process of tearing the billet. IN EFFECT. A spectator is told to secretly write his thought on a piece of paper and then fold it twice. The performer divines the theught and then destroys the folded paper. THE SECRET. is in the tearing process. The message reveals itself to the performer almost automatically as he normally tears the folded paper to bitsl The new technique takes into account principles that have been established in former AME writings. Namely. 1. A prefolded slip of paper means nothing to your lay audience. They care nothing one way or the other whether the paper is prefolded or not. 2. Only one person knows, the writer, on what part of the folded paper the message is written. No one places any importance on this matter. J. Once the performer starts to tear up the folded billet, the lay audience usually gives up on the message paper, assuming that it is destroyed beyond recovery. 4. If the paper is burned, the lay audience only remembers that the billet was destroyed and pays little attention to the fact that it was torn to bits first. The performer therefor may prefold the billet and direct the spectator to write his thought on a restricted part of the paper if it is to the benefit of the performer!

14 AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

PHANTA-GRAPHS THE MAG-EYE MOVE

. .. .

cont. . •••.•

In the moves that follow keep in mind that the important thing is TO NEVER LOOK AT YOUR HANDS UNTIL THE LAST MOMENT. All the moves must be made while you are looking at the spectator and conversing with him. Let Fig. 16 represent the slip of paper approx. 21 by 4 inches. The solid lines represent the folds of the paper. The space marked "A" must be left blank. During the tearing of the billet, space "AU will come into the sight of the audience so it is best that it shows b1ank. It is very important that the spectator's thought be writ~en on the space marked with the asterisk. So the figure is quite clear. Next the paper is folded from left to right, a bit off-center so that a visible step is formed at the right side. Next the billet is folded from the top away from you, backwards, so that the step remains visible. This is shown in Figs. 17 A & B.

Fig. 16

~D A

B

Fig. 17 THE PRESENTATION. Ask a spectator to think of a short word. One of 4, 5, 6 or 7 letters and then hand him the opened slip of paper. He is ofcourse restricted to write on the designated 1/8 of the paper. He is then to fold the paper OR to place it face down on the table. Performer then takes the slip and folds it, if it is not already folded BUT, you must never look at the slip or your hands BUT continue talking to your audience and even pointing out that you must touch the folded slip with its secFet message but that you never need look at it. Place the slip to your temples and concentrate and declare that you already have the thoughtl So then you tear up the paper as follows& BUT remember never to look at your hands while you are doing it. (In public, of course).

~ loose THE FIRST TEAR. Hold the billet as in Fig. 18. corners Please note that the folded center (FC) is at the lower left. The left thumb and first and second fingers ,t==,!" ~ hold the billet at "X" while the right fingers tear the billet in half down the vertical axis as shown by the arrow. After the first tear, you will be holding the vital half of the billet, with the message, in your left hand while in your right hand you are Fe. ~ '"--==" holding some loose pieces of paper. Fig.

15 PHANTA-GRAPHS THE MAG-EYE MOVE

An Al Mann Exclusive cont. . •..•..

THE SECOND TEAR. Before the start of the second tear, you will be holding in your left hand half of the torn billet as shown in Fig. 19. This is the vital half that contains the message under the top layer. So if the top layer of paper is removed, the message will come into full sight. The folded center is still at the lower left. So reach over with your right finger tips and take the top fold of paper only at "x", the small step will help here. Peel and tear the top layer off as shown in Fig. 20. And continue by detaching it at the bottom also, as shown in Fig. 21. The message is now totally exposed, BUT it is recommended that you do not look at it at this time. The second tear is of course done fast and with one continuos move. The pieces in the right hand are all placed behind those in the left hand and the pieces are turned to the horizontal as shown in Fig. 22. Next, reach for an ash tray or tell the spectator to open out his hand as you tear the strips of paper to tiny bits, and of course you now take a fast peek and read the word.

FC Fig. 19

Fig.20

A variation of the above is to tear the pieces held in the right hand to bits and after the word i& read on the left hand pieces these ~ too are torn. > A DYNAMIC VARIATION. C) With a little practice, the reader can expose -J the message in the very first tear. Simply peel off and tear out the entire 1/4 top fold of paper. If the performer works fast, no one can follow the moves. Fig. It is also a good idea to drop a few of the 21 torn pieces! during the presentation. NOT~. The performer is not confined to using a small piece of paper. A larger piece can be used and the spectator may write in a short sentence in the restrited space. Only a little practice is needed to do all the ~~;:] tears without looking at the hands or the billet! L~~ NOTE. If the paper is folded wrong at the -------beginning, the message will not show. In Fig. Fig. 22 17, the paper can also be folded from right to left and then top to bottom towards you.

16 PRANTA-GRAPHS

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

AZRAELI The angel of death. This is a living and dead test that leaves nothing to be desired as far as effect is concerned. It has deep mystery and very easy to do. EFFECT. Psychic passes a writing pad (J"by 4") to a spectator plus a pen and instructs the spec to please write the first name only of three friends that are living. Next, psychic gives the spectator several color pens and instructs him (or her) to please choose one of the color pens secretly and write down the first name of a person that is dead. The four slips of paper are then folded by the spectator two ways and all folded exactly alike and then mixed so that no one knows which is the dead slip or the living! The psychic then picks up one slip at a time and without opening the folded slips divines which is the dead name plus the color chosen and also if needed he can tell the names on the other slips! NOTE. In the above presentation, spectator is instructed to write one name only on each slip. THE METHOD. The Mag-~ye move comes into play here. The paper pad, J by 4 inches approx., is prepared as per Fig. 16 on page 14. But the slips need not be marked in any other way. Since in the Mag-Bye Move, the performer never looks at the slips, marks will not help here. The rest of the items are unprepared. PRESENTATION. Pass out the scratch pad and a regular pen to the spec and instruct him as above. He is to fold each slip as he writes each name. Then take back the regular pen and give him 4 or 7 color pens as desired. This takes care of the primary and secondary colors. Performer does not know at this time either the names or the color chosen, but he offers to tell the dead name and color. Performer then picks up one slip at a time and declares that it is not a dead name. Then the slip is tore up and thrown aside. Performer gets the correct name on each slip as he tears them up. If the first slip turns out to be the dead name, performer says nothing as he already declared that it was not the dead name. He may proceed to read two more slips and then, either on the third or fourth slip he declares, without tearing it , that it is the dead name and calls out the color and the name. Performer has already memorised some living names and may state them if needed. If by chance the dead name comes up last, performer states, "This is the dead name. Please concentrate on the color you used." The move is made and all is then divined. "Please think of the living names." etc. NOTa. In lieu of a color, the spec may be asked to think of a design or the age of the deceased, year of death, etc.

II

17 AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

PHANTA-GRAPHS A HISTORY

Nov. 12, 1980. While visiting the family in Stockholm, Sweden, your author had a hefty mental session with Swedish magician-mentalist Per Thiman. The next day, Per forwarded to me an ad he had just received in the mail from Jeff Busby. The ad was about the Bernstein Center-Tear Technique. The ad stated that it was the best handling of the center-tear principle yet seen and different from the Al Mann 'Apodosis' handlings and "much, much easier to do than any of the older methods." Needles to say, the ad (love those ads) had me all agog with wonder and anticipation. So as soon as I returned to the States, I sent off an order to Jeff for the Bernstein rons. Needless to say, after reading the Bernstein rons. I was totally disapointed. Although the Bernstein technique is good, I found nothing new in it and not easier to do than any other method. A careful study of it proves it to be an elaboration of the Richard Osterlind's method in the 'Apodosis' of squeethe center-piece open with the finger tips. Nevertheless, lowe Jeff Busby and Bernstein a vote of thanks for firing my imagination anew. Before receiving the Bernstein rons, I wondered for many hours as to just what it was that Bernstein had corne up with that could be so different than all the other methods. I kept thinking that surely I had missed something as I surely had. In the back of my mind lurked the idea of exposing the secret message automatically while tearing it up. So, toying with the folded slip and holding it with the folded center in the lower left, -- THE MAG-EYE MOVE was born! --CISTh~LAI On Jan. 1979, had a session with west coast mentalist Robert Dorian, in Hollywood. The Cistella principle was discussed and Robert thought enough of it to put it into his program. Later he presented it on Television to a very puzzled audience.

Gysel's Gimmicks Appears here by courtesy of Bobby Hughes of Columbus, Ohio. It is part of his collection of secret rons. THE SWAMI GIMMICKs The origin of the swami gimmick is not known. All we know is that in 1850, mediums were adapt at mirror and spirit writing and the nail writer, in a crude form, was well known among them. It's possible that some form of trick writing has been known since the invention of writing. In the early days, the swami gimmick and stylus was called "the tool" by the initiates.