Al Mann - The Bert Reese Docimasy

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"You have the best method (bille t reading) in the world- that is, that I have seen." H. Houdini 7/25/26 "He was without a doubt the greatest (bille t reader) we ever had and 1 have seen a great many." Elmer P. Ransom Ex-Pres. SAM

"This gentleman had the unique distinction of having struck with wonderment the skeptical eyes of' Thomas A. Edison." fulton Oursler, 1930 Editor, Liberty Mag. "All through the years, until his death in - 1926, at the age of 85, Reese was sited as a wonder worker." Joseph Rinn Society of Psychical Research, NYC

" - in the past 30 years, one man stood BERT REESE out as a charlatan par Riese, b. 18~1 in Posen ld (Bertho excellance at the business now Poland. d. 7/8/ 1926) a, Prussi of reading the folded slip. The man was Berthold Riese." Annemann, Jinx #22

"Reese produced a number of remarkable phenomena. 1 wrote out six differe nt questions, which 1 concealed about my person - • He apparently answered thel without seeing them at all, though subsequently he managed to take them into his hands." Dr. Bruno Birnbaum. Berlin

"Bert Reese, American-Polish Medium with whom remarkable experiments in clairvoyance were conducted by Baron von Screnck Notzing, Edison, Carrington and Hollaender." " - Doctor Reese should not be forgotten, because Nandor foder he was a standout in his own right." Dunninger

Rees e is ~O.cte/c,: Whil e Prof esso r Bertques 0'", tions on your own six out of the room , you write out five or

then fold each pape r with your own penc il on your own desk . You et. Then you pell a into it ques tion into a smal l squa re or roll is tion q~es what know mix up the pape rs so that you do not into goes one say ets, pell on what pell et. You next hide these your in her anot et, pock 's pant your left shoe , anot her into your etc. h, watc et desk draw er, anot her into your pock you the ques Then Prof esso r Rees e retur ns and not only tells you wher e tells then and er answ ct tions but also give s you a dire each ques tion is hidde nS they That is the brain -crip pling effe ct on the audie nceS Then " this? wond er, "What mann er of man is audie nce What actu ally happ ens is of cour se diffe rent but the is non the wise r.

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AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

BERT REESE

If we feed everything we know about billet tests into a present day computer, including audience reaction and the thoughts that race through the spectator's minds, the computer would tell us that the Bert Reese billet test stands leagues high over any other billet test yet conceivedl Place yourself at the side of the sitter. Your mind is crowded with thoughts about the billet you placed in your shoe, and the one in your pocket, and the other one in your watch, etc. The Professor has not seen or touched anyone of these billets and you are going to make sure that a team of horses will not drag them out of you. But you failed to notice that the last billet that you placed to your temple was switchedl But even if you did noticed something about the last billet, your thoughts are completely confounded when the professor tells you what is written on the billet that you placed in your shoe and that was not even touched by the psychicl Then the good professor proceeds to answer all the other questionsl Besides, you mixed up the billets before you hid them so how did the professor find out the exact question on each billetl The Bert Reese billet test is the greatest ever conceivedl By its agency Reese was able to rub shoulders with the celebrities of his time. He acted as advisor to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding. His presentation of apparent clairvoyance dazzled the minds of many learned persons of his age. Just to name a fewa Henry Ford, Thomas A. Edison, Premier Mussolini, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Charles M. Schwab and Professor Hugo Muensterberg of Harvard I

15e/r; t Ci2eecSe Bert Reese was born Berthold Riese in Posen in 1841. In 1861 at the age of 20 he came to New York and made New York City his home for the next 65 years. In 1861, Charles H. Foster, the Salem Seer and billet king of his day was 28 years of age and had been an established medium for eight years. When these two gentlemen met each other may not be known but Reese became Foster's pupil and then went on to better his teacher ten-foldl Whereas Foster's trail blazing career only lasted till his early retirement in 1874 at the age of 41, Reese's career lasted him all his life. He was still amazing people when he died abroad in 1926, at the age of 851 An object lesson is that Reese mostly performed the same effect over and over for a span of 60 years, therby making him the master of that one effect. During this time he was only detected at trickery half-a-dozen times, a record in itself, but was not exposed publicly in the U.S.A. until one month before his deathl (He was exposed in Berlin in around 1924 but we did not hear about it untill years later.

J

Cj)n.o~ess()/t, Weese: ~oltt{)..l/l,e

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In Feb. 27th of 1915, at the age of 74! Reese was arrested in New York City for pretending to be a fortune teller or clairvoyant. Reese appeared before Judge Rosalsky. Reese pleaded that he was not a fortune-teller but that he had powers to divulge written messages. He asked the judge to write anything on three pieces of paper, to fold them and to place them in three diffe~ rent pockets, but first mixing them in such a way that no one knew the contents of any particular piece. Then Judge Rosalsky took one of the pellets and pressed it against Reese's forhead. He immediately answered, "You have $15 dollars in the bank mentioned in your questionl" (Notel At the age of 74, Reese was an expert at answering questions, having been at practice for about 50 years. The above answer is indeed fabulous. Let's say that the judge asked, "How much money do I have in the Franklin Bank of New York?" So Reese assumed that the judge must have at least $15, although he may have had thousands. So his answer was correct and the judge could not dispute it.) Reese then answered the other two questions and Judge Rosalsky acquited him I Some scoopl You betl The next day Reese received a full column of print in the New York World, ~raising him for his powers! Houdini of course became quite env~ous seeing the headlines given to Reese so Houdini payed a visit to Judge Rosalsky and had a chat with him. Didn't Houdini have a similar scoop in Germany? breaking out of a safe? Reese was of course an expert at performing his marvels anywhere and anytime and before anyone.

Cf2.eese and, • ~()uciiM,l'u ~?.elL

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Shortly after his visit wittl Judge Ros~sky, Houdini obtained a sitting with Reese. Houdini accused Reese of trickery and being a 'billet reader' and not a mindreader. Reese conceeded that Houdini was the first to have detected him in trickery ( not true as Reese had been caught before by Rinn), but Reese did not reveal his method to Houdini. Reese always allowed his detractors and sitters to arrive at their own conclusions as to his methods. Reese stated to Houdini that he was not a spiritualist and had never been to any spiritualist church, neither did he claim to be supernatural but that he always posed as an entertainer. Houdini then promised never to expose him publicly as long as he did not claim to be for real. In 1922 Houdini publised "Houdini's Paper Magic~"and included in it "The Ballot or Pellet Test" and gave Reese a fabulous compliment by saying, "This is one of the methods used by Dr. Reiss, who is in my estimation, the greatest pellet reader that ever lived." (page 91) BUT Houdini gave a wrong description of Reese's methodl Whether Houdini did that on purpose, to avoid exposing Reese's method (?) or in ignorance is not known. But it is confusing to the student.

4 BERT REESE

Acco rding to Alei ster Crow ley, the self- style d "Bea st 666," had an encoun ter with Bert Rees e just before the war of 1914 . Bert Rees e's claim to fame , he state d, was base d on two item sl "Fir st, if you put your hand on his head you could some times feel a throb bing , whic h prove d beyon d all poss ibili ty of doub t the immortalit y of the soul ." (laug hter shou ld follo w abov e. AM) "Sec ond, he was able to read Alei ster Crow ley and answ er ques tions whic h had The Beas t 666 (1910 ) with been prev ious ly writ ten on slips Head -dres s of Horu s of pape r in his absen ce (pres umed ), folde d up and distr ibut ed in vario us a pape r was hand ed pock ets. Havi ng answ ered the firs t ques tion on." to him. he then answ ered the secon d and so for succ ess on "Thi s modus oper andi sugg ests that he relie safte r', ( a bette r some vari ation of the trick known as 'the one term woul d be the one befo re, AM)- ." Carr ingto n, who "The real poin t of inte rest is that Here warded lette r read ing' boas ts that he has expl ained every sing le 'seal expl ain this to that has come unde r his notic e, admi ts failu re letel y bafcomp is he case , and he has assu red me pers onal ly that lt at work ." is r powe fled and incli ned to belie ve that some occu . Many ions ultat Bert Rees e "commanded enorm ous fees for conshabi tuall y on his of the bigg est busin ess men in the State s acted arou sed by advi ce. My own inte rest was limi ted to the curi osity Carr ingto n's state men t." His perso na"I went to see him at the Savo y Hote l in Lond on. cour tesy. He ing charm lity is delig htfu l and he recei ved me with pape r as of slips then asked me to write five ques tions on five ets. - " usua l, fold them and put them in sepa rate pock answ er any of "He read my ques tions corr ectly , but faile d a tonumb er of susp imade them . Befo re answ ering the firs t time he that he mana ges to piek ciou s movements that incli ned me to think the 'one se, cour of h, one' s pock et of the firs t slip afte r whic afte r' meth od proc eeds merr ily." et picke d (Note l Crow ley's feeli ng that he had his pock bille ts hing switc for ods meth by Rees e was corr ect. One of Rees e's in it place and ts bille d was to simp ly pick up one of the folde l place in y dumm a the sitte r's coat pock et, leav ing beca use The reaso n why Rees e could not answ er the ques tions was e.) Crow ley wrote diff icul t ques tion to trick Rees e in NYC and conRees with ngs Crow ley had seve ral more sitti tinue d to play trick s on him.

5 BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

"The unknown always appeals in a mysterious way - " Thomas A. Edison Thomas A. Edison loved a mysteryl He loved the challenge of trying to solve mysteries. He loved mysticism and magicians and mindreadersl The great American inventor who owned over 1000 patents and slept only 4 hours in 24, found time in his busy schedule to consort with magiciansl For many years up to the time of his death, Edison and William J. Hilliar, the founder of the Sphinx magic magazine, were intimate friends. Edison himself was viewed as a true magician by his public. After announcing his successful test of the Edison incandescent light (1878-1879), the following article appeared in the New York Heralda

THOMAS A. EDISON 1886

"Invisible agencies are at his beck and call. He dwells in a cave, and around it are skulls and skeletons, and strange phials filled with mystic fluids whereof he gives the inquirer to drink. He has a furnace and a caldron and above him as he sits swings a quaint old silver lamp and lights up the long white hair and beard, the deep lined inscrutable face of the wizard, but shines strongest on the pages of a huge volume written in cabalistic characters.- The furnace glows and small eerie spirits dance among the flames.", (December 29, 1879, New York Herald) In 1878, at the age of 31, Edison also found time to attend classes with Madame Elena Blavatsky and received a diploma of Fellowship in the Aryan Theosophic Society in Manhattan. Together with Madame Blavatsky, Edison experimented with the swinging pendulum in relation to the laws of gravity. After his invention of the phonograph and the lamp, Edison became sure of the existence of unknown forces that were just waiting to be tapped. He started thinking about the posibility of 'mindreadingl • In his diary for July 16th, 1885, Edison stated that he tried

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BERT REESE REESE AND EDISON

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING cont.

some experiments in mindreading which were not very successful. " - Think mindreading contrary to common sense. Wise provision of the Bon Dieu that we cannot read each other's mind. 'Twould stop civilization and everybody would take to the woods. In Fifty or a thousand centuries when mankind would have become perfect by evolution then perhaps this sense could be developed with safety to the state." Edison's strong convictions about the 'unknown,' persisted to the end of his life. He believed that 'memory' was made up of subparticles of matter (electrons) that travelled through space in swarms and perhaps came from outer space bringing to earth the wisdom from other worlds. Genius, he postulated, is the result of some particular fortunate grouping of these particles, that have lodged in a person's brain creating intelligence. He also advanced the theory that sworms of these particles which he called 'entities,' would survive deathl He was credited with working on an electric apparatus that would communicate with the spirit world, (American Magazine, Oct. 1920). Around the year 1910, Henry Ford introduced Bert Reese to Edison! Reese and Edison tried some experiments in thought-reading over a span of more than two years. Reese convinced Edison that Edison had psychic powers and Edison was so impressed by Reese that he befriended and defended Reese to his dying dayl Edison published an amazing tribute to Reese while Reese was still alive. Here it is. "T he psychic forces are merel y words for perfectly natural things which as yet we do not understand. Space is alive with intelligence of which we know nothing. Wireless messages known only to the sender and the receiver may be big with portent riding on the very air we breathe and yet unknown to us. New situations will bring new necessities, and these in turn will develope new discoveries. - I have seen Roentgen through 36 inches of wood, which at one time might have appeared supernormal, but is now looked upon as natural law. It is wiser to try to solve than to deny anything. The unkown always appeals in a mysterious way, and once in a while we co.e across problems that we cannot explain by the application of known laws. I have had one such problem, and that one has baffled me. _ " "The man whose performance I am about to relate was sent to me by a lifelong friend, who said by way of introduction, 'This man Reese does some strange things. I want you to meet him. Perhaps you can explain his power.'" "At the appointed time Reese came over to my laboratory. He asked me to call some of my workmen into the room that he might experiment with them. He had the Norwegian go into another room and write on a slip of paper the maiden name of his mother, where he was born and several other items. The slip of paper was folded and held in the hand of the Norwegian. Reese gave the contents as correctly as if he had been reading print from a paper, and remarked in addition that the young man had a 10 kroner piece of money in his pocket. I did not know of the coin, and neither did Reese by any ordinary sight." "He made several experiments with other employees, and then I asked him to let me try. In my case I went into another building, wrote down the words: 'Is there anything better than

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BERT RlmSE REESE AND EDISON

THE ART OF THOUGHT

R~DING

cont.

nickel hydroxide for an alkaline storage battery?'" "At that time I was experimenting with my storage battery, and felt a little dubious about being on the right tract. In the meantime, as I folded the paper, I filled my mind with a problem and kept working on its solution, so that Reese could not by mind-reading decipher what I had written on the slip of paper, and returned to the room where I had left Reese. At the mOlent I entered the room he said, 'No, there is nothing better than nickel hydroxide for an alkaline battery.' He had read my question accurately, and to this day I am satisfied (192') that there is nothing better than nickel hydroxide. I do not pretend to understand his power. I am convinced that the urge of civilization will produce some vast knowledge through men likewise gifted, increasing the world's achievement, for the wiser the few in one generation, the wiser the multitude in the next. The normal mind of the future will develope and really grasp the work of the abnormal mind of today. About two years afterward the boy from the gatehouse on my laboratory came in and announced that Reese was in the gatehouse and wanted to see me. I took out my pencil and wrote in microscopic letters the word 'keno.' Thomas A. Edison and William I folded the paper and put it in my pocket and then told J. Hilliar reb. 11, 1930 the boy to bring Reese in. I greeted him and at once said, 'Reese, I have a slip of paper in my pocket. What is on it?' Without a moment's hesit~tion he said 'keno.' Not long after my laboratory experience I attended a test meeting at the home of the owner of a New York newspaper. Among those present were the owner of another newspaper, Judge Goff and several gentlemen. Questions were prepared by the visitors, and Reese, without any hesitation, read everything the gentlemen wrote. Later Dr. James Hanna Thompson, the well known expert on mental diseases, arranged a meeting at his home, where Reese was invited to demonstrate his peculiar gift. Dr. Thompson had denied the possibility of Reese's powers and said he was a faker, etc. This made Reese angry. After some persuasion on the part of Thompson's friend, who had known Reese for a lomg time, he was at last induced to go to Thompson's house. I was not present at this meeting but have been informed what transpired. Reese met the gentleman in the parlor of Thompson's house and told him to go into the library, write his questions on slips of paper and hide them. During the interval Reese engaged in conversation with the gentleman in the parlor until Thompson came back and announced that he was ready. Then Reese stood in the library door and said: 'In the bottom left-hand drawer of your desk is a slip of paper with the word "Opsonic." Under a book on your desk is a slip containing another word "Ambicepter;" another slip shows the word "Antigenl" He told the location and the words without hesitation. Thompson was astonished, and stated that it was inexplicable. The human brain, without doubt, will do in the future many things which it is incapable

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BERT REESE REESE AND EDISON

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING conti .

of doing now, thus ushering in a higher state of developement. Many years ago I tried some experiments to convey thought from one person to another by all kinds of contrivances, but never succeeded in the slightest. I tried to solve the phenomena by means of electrical appliances or coils clasped or harnessed about the head. Four of us gathered at one time in four different rooms each wearing the apparatus adjusted around our heads and all trying to get results. Then we sat in the four corners of the same room, gradually drawing our chairs closer to the center of the room until our knees touched, and still we achieved no results in mindreading. But Reese needs no apparatus for the demonstration of this peculiar power, and no conditions. He does not reveal his method, if he has any, but has promised me his view of it in his last will and testament." Thomas A. Edison Orange, N.J., USA

There it isl Gentlemen. Long and sweetl What could possibly parallel the unsolicited but stately testimony about a Wonder Worker from the mind of one of the leading scientists and inventors of the age? A paid propaganda minister could hardly improve on the above tribute to Reese. Little wonder that headliners like Houdini turned green with envy and cried 'fraudl' A stage magician, in all his glory, could never hope to receive such an honor. The power of the thought-reader is indeed awesomel Edison was no stranger to wonders and miracles. His laboratory and factories were an assembly line of miracles that amazed the world. Yet nothing amazes like the miracle of the mind I To Edison, nothing was or is impossible. To him, it was only a matter of time before Reese's gift of mindreading became public property. NOTE. In all his performances, Reese never claimed to be a mindreader. Only the people who witnessed his wonders, said that he was a mindreader and psychic. Reese only claimed that he possesed a strange power of X-ray vision by which he could tell what people wrote on slips of paperl But what made his demonstrations miraculous, was the amazing answers he gave to questions. According to F. Hollaender, Reese indicated to a commercial firm the page of their financial record that contained a fraudulent error. Reese was given 5% of the amount of the Fraud. For this he was credited with clairvoyant and psychometric powers. Houdini cried 'fraud' again. Many also said that Reese was a 'mediuml' But Reese never joined or aligned himself with the spiritualist cause. He said that he had never been to a spiritualist church, that he was not a medium and did not know what a medium was. Therefor he was a wonder worker with a unique gift. In the whole, Reese allowed the world to think what they wished about him.

9 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE

CReecSe

aMi ~o(,Ld..inl:

In the early 1920's, just a few years before his death, Houdini launched an all-out attack on fraudulent Spiritism. This was primarily triggered by Sir Arthur Cannon Doyle's endorsement of the Spiritist movement. In his sittings with Houdini, Reese stated that he was not a spiritualist and did not posses psychic powers but posed only as an entertainer. On these grounds, Houdini promised never to expose him. Houdini kept his promise but did turn over to Fulton Oursler a signed statement which included in it all Houdini knew about Reese. This signed and notorized letter was given to Oursler after Reese diedl It is interesting to note that Reese was never exposed to the public until just months before he died and some of the exposures appeared in print after his death at the age of 85. The Houdini letter and statement is included here for its value historically and its amazing insights. ( The following letter by Houdini was given to Fulton Oursler on July 29th, 1926, after Reese's death. The letter was printed by Oursler under the name of Samri Frikell in an article titled, "Spirit Mediums Exposed" in 1930 and was aimed primarily at Thomas Edison. It is doubtful if the letter impressed Edison at this late date or that he even read the exposure. Edison died one year later on Oct. 18, 1931.) Jul y 29, 1926 "I, Harry Houdini, being duly sworn, do hereby depose and say: My friend Dr. William Stone, informed me of a man who paid 150 for an interview with 8ert Reese and asked if he was genuine. 1 told him 'positively not,' and as I was speaking on the radio from station WOR that night (July 15th approx. 1924, AM) against fraudulent mediums and fake spiritualists, I also mentioned the fact that these people who read messages, if they say they have any abnormal powers, are tricksters, even if they don't claim to posses any so-called power of communication with the dead." "That same night at midnight I received an impassioned telephone call and was attacked by Mrs. Reese and eventually spoke to Bert Reese. I thereupon wrote him a letter of which the attached is a copy dated July 16th, 1924." (letter follows this one below, AM). "On the 25th of July (1924) he came to see me and begged me not to expose his work, that he was an old man, 83 years of age, and made his living by giving people the idea that he possesed an abnormal power." "I said, 'if you don't claim to get messages from spirits, and if you admit that it is accomplished by natural means, I will close the argument'" "Reese - 'No. I don't claim to be a medium or a spiritualist, I don't get messages from disembodied spirits. Never claimed that!"

10 BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

"Some time before I had had a seance with him he admitted that I had caught him at the ti.e. Reese said he had never been to a spiritualist seance in his life and was only known as an entertainer. 1 asked hi. for a letter to that effect." "Reese - 'No, 1 don't want to do that.'" "I said, 'Well, you have fooled a lot of people.'" "Reese - 'Oh, yes, I once went to Schiff, Otto Kahn and Warburg, and Warburg asked: How Union Pacific will be in three months, and I answered that if I knew that, why then he, Mr. Warburg, would be opening the door for me and Mr. Vanderbilt would drive the coach for me. I fooled Charcot and Richet in France. They claimed I was a psychic, and never detected me.'" "I said, 'Yes, they do claim you are psychic, and that you speak with disembodied spirits, and that you posses the power of reading minds or anything written.'" "Reese - 'Well, 1 can't keep their mouths shut. I am only an entertainer. Have been in New York sixty-three years and am 83 years of age. People have so much faith in me that I can cure them.'" "I asked him, 'What do you mean you cure them?'" "Reese - 'Oh, I can do things for them, especially if they are hypochondriacsl I talk to them. Oh, I cured thousands. Do you know I gave an entertainmant to President Harding, and he gave me a photograph, autographed "To Dr. Bert Reese, in high regard of his art." He brought me back one time when a Japanese Prince was present. He wrote a message in Japanese, held it in his hand, and I read it, although I cannot read Japanese.'" "I said, 'Do you mean to tell me that you can read a message in any language, held in the hand, a message you haven't seen?~" "Reese - 'Yes. '" "I turned around - my desk is generally littered with letters - tore a letter in half crumpled it up and said, 'All right, read this and I will give you one thousand dollars.' I had noticed that as he was speaking to me he was reading the letter on my desk, therefore I had reached under a pile of them, took one written in long hand which I knew he had not read. He grinned foolishly and said, 'Well, no, you know I cannot read it - I've got to be prepared. If preparations or conditions were right, I could read it.'" "I said, 'Then you cannot read any message? That's all I want you to admit.'" "Reese - 'I must be prepared. Otherwise I cannot do it.'" "He told me he had exposed Palldino, of which I had not heard. I asked him whether he knew Foster. Foster was a pellet reader who died in an insane asylum. " "Reese - 'Yes, I worked with him. He was a good man but he couldn't work for scientists. He wasn't clever enough. I have fooled lots of scientists. I have also advised a great many persons. '" "I told him: 'You have the best method in the world - that is, that I have seen.'" "Reese - 'Yes, and I am going to keep it for myself! I received a cable to come on to Australia.'" "I asked him whether he would pose for photographs with me, and he replied, 'No, I do not care to do that,' and, promising that he would not claim mediumShip or telepathic powers again, we shook hands and let him out. That was the last time I saw him." ( above letter signed and notarized on July 29th, 1926 by Harry Houdini) NOTE: On July 29th, 1926, Reese was already dead and Houdini only had 3 months left to live. The events in the letter took place two years before in 1924.

Summing up. As can be seen, Houdini's letter is full of valueble information and insights& In 1924 Reese was 8J years of age and still performing his thing and amazing people everywhere for a good fee. He was now world famous to the extent that many lived

11 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE REESE AND HOUDINI

.• cont. .

by his advice. After witnessing his technique, many said that Reese was a medium and had powers. (But many who saw Houdini's act also said that Houdini was a medium no matter how much he disclaimed it). Reese allowed his audiences to think whatever they wished of him even to the point of saying nothing when someone told him that he was psychic. Reese did not let a few exposures bother him. If the sitter accused him of using sleight-of-hand, Reese ignored the accusation and simply denied it and 'rested on his laurels.' Reese refused to sign a confession for Houdini and refused to have his picture taken with him. Reese stated that he had healed thousands I The reader may ask, Who is the greater of the two persons? Was it Houdini who could walk through walls? or was it Reese who healed thousands? The mind of the masses equate the power of thought reading with the power to 'heal' and to see the future and all manner of 'miraclel' Referring to a mind-reading star on television, I asked a lady, What do you think of the Mind Reader? She asked, "What good does he do for the world? So he reads minds I Big deall What can he do for the masses?" Your power as a mindreader will heal and confort people! Try it! All Reese had to do is to talk to them! Reese told Houdini that Houdini was the first to detect him but Reese always said that as though it was the first time anyone had caught him. Actually Reese had been detected in 1897 by Rinn! Reese's billet switch was so fabulous that no one ever detected itl Only his one-ahead ploy was detected. Reese told Houdini that he was going to keep his method of billet reading secret but the fact is that in 1924 several magicians and billet workers knew his method. Robert Gysel, Joseph Rinn and John Ringling of Ringling brothers were experts at the Reese test. But only Reese could shake the world with his presentationl The fact that Houdini challenged Reese to read a letter that Houdini held in his hand shows that Houdini half-believed that Reese possesed some power (or a new trick). It also shows that Houdini was definitely not a billet reader. Prior to the above meeting between Reese and Houdini, Houdini sent Reese a registered letter challenging him to prove his powers. The letter was dated July 16th, 1924. Reese did not answer the letter but came in person to visit Houdini on July 16th, 1924 as above stated. Houdini's challenge letter follows.

12 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE REESE AND HOUDINI

NEW YORK CITY JULY 16, 1924 ted Reques t Registered Mail, Return Receip Professor Bert Reese 230 West 99th St., New York City

•• con t.

My Dear Professor Reese: that there can be I was somewhat astonished at your mannerism on the telephone, and so you may be in a position no mistake of your attitud e toward me, I am writing this letter that to reply promptly. es I had written, In the seance you gave me, where you purported to read the five messag inkling paper which you surmising that you must have some adroit method of opening the non-cr 'pelle ts' so that when you handed me, you will remember I purposely made peculiar shapes of the that you had been totally started to read my questions the astonished look on your face told me unprepared for this maneuver. been engaged for You must remember that you stated regarding your trip abroad: You had y you were not to be paid a large sum of money with a proviso that if you were detected in tricker and that my detection of and you personally told me that you never were detected in your life, your move was the first time that your moves had ever been recognized. on my making a You told me that you had baffled Thomas Edison and Judge Rosalsky, and that you were psychic, special trip to Judge Rosalsky, he told me that he had never acknowledged had written, and not those but that by some adroit conjuring you had read his message which he which he had thought. who have tested I do not say that you are not psychic, but do say that the professors lations, and to prove you in Europe were not qualified or equipped to detect you in your manipu ly trust that you will see such is the case I will make you the following proposition and sincere your way clear to accept same: five separate I will write five questions, or sentances, or names, or article s, on 1100 bill for each may keep pieces of paper. I will wrap a $100 bill around each pellet and you I WILL PAY NS, FIVE QUESTIO each question that you read. SHOULD YOU BE SUCCESSFUL IN READING THE YOU AN [XTRA 1500. deceptive consYou will remember, please, that you are not to answer my questions by , but must have a direct truction or ambiguous meaning, which might apply to anything written uges. answer to my question, or the question properly read, without any subterf can write anything 1 I which on paper, own my bring to right For the test I have the submitted five answers desire . You are not to touch the pellet s at any time until you have the test is over. which you must put in writing, so that there will be no mistake when have the right to .ention I s. friend three select to right the For the test, you have the right to send a reprethree, and the six are to select an odd man, and the press shall have sentative to chronicle the feat. you can prove to the 1 claim that I can prove that you resort to adroit conjuring and if that you do posses the power contrary I will be the first one to Shake your hand and acknowledge attribu ted to you by the scient ists whom you have baffled. We are both alive, you can reply. are any further Kindly let me know with whom you want the money deposited, and if there ience, and conven st earlie partic ulars or conditions that you desire, please let me know at your 1 will do, you if for, 1 can tell you beforehand I sincerely hope that you will win my money, $1000 pay gladly would have seen the first case of psychometric clairvoyance in my life, and sincerely yours, for one unoer rigid test conditions. Awaiting your reply, beg to remain (signed) Houdini

1)

BERT REESE REESE AND

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

Fulton Oursler was chief Editor of Liberty Magazine and also filled the post of Supervising Editor of Macfadden Publications, Inc. of New York City. Mr. Oursler was also an amateur magician and member of the SAM and a prominent psychic investigator. A few weeks before Reese died, Oursler succeeded in having a sitting with Bert Reese, after many years of looking forward to it. Oursler detected Reese in trickery and then exposed him in a story that was printed in a 25 cent pulp magazine called, 'Ghost Storiesl- This monthly publication aimed primarily at the sensation-seeking street reader was published by Macfadden publicationsl Butl The story of the expose of world famous wonder worker Bert Reese apparently 'fell-by-the-waysidel' It did not attract the attention or received the accolade that Oursler expected. So then Oursler got busy and offered it to a better class publication, The Evening Graphic Magazine. It appeared on the streets about the time of Reese's death, on July 17th, 1926. Oursler got called down on this, by Reese's supporters saying that Reese was now dead and not able to defend himself, but most important of all it got to the eyes of Thomas A. Edison! Nine days later, on July 26th, Edison wrote a letter to the editor of the Graphic Magazine in support of Reese, saying. Editor Evening Graphic 25 City Hall Place New York City.

July 26, 1926

Dear Sir. In the Graphic Magazine of Saturday, July 17, 1926, you printed an article by one Samri Frikell (Oursler's pen name, AM) in which he claims to "expose" the late Professor W. Bert Reese as a fake medium. I am certain that Reese was neither a medium nor a fake. I saw him several times and on each occasion I wrote something on a piece of paper when Reese was not near or when he was in another room. In no single case was one of these papers handled by Reese and some of them he never even saw, yet he recited correctly the contents of each paper. Several people in my laboratory had the same kind of experience and there are hundreds of prominent people in New York who can testify to the same thing. Yours Truly Thomas A. Edison What happened after Edison's letter was received at the offices of the Evening Graphic, must have broken the all-time speed record for telephone communications I ( Thanks to Edison who improved the

14 BERT REESE REESE AND OURSLER

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING cont. ..

Bell telephone just a few years beforeJ) Understandingly, the editor of the Evening Graphic was dazed by Edison's rebuttal. Let's say that Edison'a letter was delivered the next day, July 27th, 1926. The editor must have telephoned Oursler immediately. In turn Oursler, who was also stunned by Edison's challenge, must have telephoned all his exposer collegues, including Houdini. Houdini, who was terribly busy with his own show, found time to immediately write out the long letter dated July 29th, 1926 (page 9 ) and have it notarized and sent to Oursler. Houdini had kept his promise all these years of not eXposing Reese, but now after Reese's death he was betraying in oath what Reese had told him in private. But Oursler was cautious. Reese had never signed a confession. One would have to take Houdini's word for it. And Reese was no longer here to defend himself. So Oursler waited and to make matters worse, Houdini died three months late~. Oursler collected more evideRce on Reese and four years later in 1930, Oursler writing under the name of Samri Frikell, put ~.&I-t~. '. out a special edition pulp expose titled, "Spirit Mediums . $Ht/dM'/.iuff~/ ExposedJ" The chapter on Reese was aimed primarily at Edisonl The magazine had soft covers ~;i:/!J~ and sold for 50 cents. It was lIIlI 16. 1..16. published by MacFadden Publications of NYC. Iftlllll. Oftpb1o, 16 lall neo.. . A good question is, "If Mr. I •• t.a 01'7. Oursler was so brave, why did lit... 11"1 he write under an assumed name? la. ~ 0l'0pb10 IfACaSlIn of hftrU7. ,'Ialr 1'. 1926. I say that Oursler was \0 -,sJO"- _ lAW h'Of... Itn It. . . . . a .. 1It,·la. wrong in publicly exposing I _ oor¥D ""' ....... "1_" • •41a .... • Reese and throwing it in the face of Edison. Since the winter of 1923, !of ... U· ... _r ro.__ la .lJIIlt ....... ot _ •• Edison had been seriously ill. In 1926, Edison was under a 7'\ III roolw4 oorroo\17 O...WIIW of .aoll paP'''' doctorVs care and could only kftJ'al 111 . , la1lO_,"1'7 1114 \!ot . _ !t11114 of work a few hours a day. It is a wonder that he had the time and energy to come to the aid of Reese. In August of 1930, Edison was too ill to accept an invitation from President Wla Hoover to visit the white house. Edison was then 83 years old!

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1.5 BERT REESE REESE AND OURSLER

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING cont ..

We are told that Mr. Oursler was an honest person. Yet his published expose on spirit mediums shows him hitching his wagon to the sensationalism of spiritualism that was then sweeping the world. He titled the chapter on Reese, "THE MAN WHO ASTOUNDED EDISONI" That is a sensation seeking title and one that must have affronted Edison if he read the article. To our knowledge, nothing 'Astounded' Edison. Miracles were second-nature to him. He produced miracles out of his laboratory on an almost daily basisl So there was no way in which Oursler could have convinced Edison against 'mindreading.' To Edison, the word 'failure' did not exist. Mindreading was just another mystery that some day could be explained by natural means. By 1930, Edison spent most of the day in a wheel chair and was looked after by his family. All trivia was kept away from him which no doubt included the Reese expose. But Edison was visited regularly by William J. Hilliar who was himself an expert at billets. One wonders what these two great minds spoke about and if Hilliar ever mentioned Reese to Edison or visa versa. Perhaps Hilliar mentioned the expose to Edison. BUT the cries of fraud and ridicule were to Edison, only meaningless rumblings from the blighted abyss of the unheralded, the by-product of fame! Edison had heard the same cries of fraud against himself. "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiams, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if fails, at least fails daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt (the above quotation was sent to the AME office by Mentalist Phil Wein, of Pa. )

16 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE

On the tenth anni versa ry of Rees e's death Annemann wrot e up Bert Rees e ( The Jinx Summer Extr a for 1936 ). Annemann was the firs t to publ ish the fabu lous expl oits of Rees e in a magi cal pape r. Annemann was only 19 year s of age when Reese e perdied , so we can assum e that he neve r saw Rees from form . Annemann got his infor mati on on Rees e who cians magi news pape r write ups and from olde r had known Rees e. the Many of the insig hts writ ten abou t Rees e in tate hesi not did Jinx were corr ect, but Annemann ine. to inje ct his own ideas into the Rees e rout 12), p. cts Effe al In the Jinx Extr a (see also Prac tical Ment the flow of bille ts ting Rees e is pictu red sitti ng at a table direc This was Anne mann 's faand finge r-sw itchi ng one in the proc ess. Rees e's. vori te bille t switc h but not nece ssari ly to that type of rted We have no reco rd that Rees e ever reso from Rinn and rts switc h. Acco rding to expe rt eye-w itnes s repo le Switc h" Temp "The Ours ler, Rees e perfo rmed most of the time t into bille one d and also did a switc h of bille ts as he place Swit ch. et Pell the to the sitte r's coat pock et, and also reso rted a table doing his The pictu re of Rees e sitti ng pass ively at es to study the thing may be misl eadin g to the stud ent who wish exac t act as same the Rees e techn ique . Actu ally Rees e did almo st these grea t of Both Char les Fost er, from whom he had learn ed it. They walk ed bille t expe rts did thei r act while on their feet! and ligh tback and forth acro ss the room , rubb ing thei r foreh eads rs. ing and relig htin g thei r ever pres ent ciga read the bille ts to w windo the to They made seve ral trips Rees e was very afte r they were answ ered (?). Ours ler said that arms afte r a reve activ e. He woul d jump with joy and swin g his and up book s latio n. He woul d move chai rs out of his way rs pick a good showl for insp irati on and as a whol e give his tsitte altho ugh he Rees e kept away from open ing a bille on his lap of getways r did reso rt to it occa ssion ally. He had much bette ly easi very rver could ting to read the bille t. An expe rt obseunde e whil , table the r d'ete ct (some did) the psyc hic fige ting of s move the wing that same expe rt woul d have a rough time folloforth and movi ng the hand s while the psyc hic pran ces back and furn iture aroun d t a In the Edit rivia of Jinx No. 112, Annemann write s abou 'down and out fake r' Rees e! and out. When he The reco rd shows that Rees e was neve r down cross ed the ocean had he died , he died abroa d whic h means that· r and rubb ing line n ocea ry in his usua l high style , aboa rd a luxu for them thing his did He ! shou lders with the elite of the world ed invit was and fee high l whil e at sea and colle cted his usua as a frien d to the abod es of the migh ty! 0

17 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE

" - the harvest truly is plenteous - " - Writ The fascination of the mind-reader's art is devastating! To the lay mind, it is a power from another world. A force out of time and belonging to a far-future era. "For three days I was completely under his spell. For three days I was unable to work. For, if these manifestations were authentic, the premises of science, such as we know it, were tottering under my feet." That is what Dr. Bruno Birnbaum, prominent Berlin attorney and psychic investigator said after witnessing Reese's workl

* * * Baron A. SChrenck-Notzing (1862-1929 Munich), a respected physician specializing in psychiatry and a pioneer of psychical research in telepathy, telekinesis and teleplastics, considered Reese - the most extraordinary man of his time!

* * * "If there is no trickery in this business, I must revise all my notions of psychology." Professor Hugo Munsterberg Harvard University Professor Munsterberg (186)-1916), eminent psychologist and philosopher and regarded as the founder of applied psychology and author of several books became famous for exposing Paladino. A profound skeptic, he was so impressed by Reese that he made plans to write a book about him, but death intervened. Professor Munsterberg wrote the following letter to Reese. Cambridge, Mass., Oct. )1, 1916 My Dear Reese. I am very anxious to understand your amazing powers a little better and to bring your case in a systematic way before the world. As I have the reputation of a distrustful skeptic in all matters pertaining to mind-reading, my acknowledgment of your abilities might impress the public more than approval from most other men. Hugo Munsterberg (b. June 1, 186). d. Dec. 16, 1916)

18

BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

Dai Vernon credits Reese with the origination of the 'Umbrella Move' that was made famous in print by Al Baker. The move has appeared in print half-a-dozen times. For the sake of completeness it will be included here. The move was a vital part of Reese's work. He only had to do it once in each performance. But, there is an easy way and a hard way of doing the move. Many magicians and novices try to do the move the hard way and fail and give up on it. The hard way to do the Umbrella move is doing it without cover. The novice tries the move with h~s hand in full sight and under the scrutiny of his audience. hat will always result in detection as the paper will surely flash and the unnatural movements of the hand will tell your audience that you are doing 'something.' The easy way is doing it the way Bert Reese did it. So here are some rules to remember I 1. The Umbrella Move is only a method of opening the folded billet with one hand. 2. If the paper is prefolded, the message always turns up right side up. (prefolding the paper may not always be possible) • J. You muat always cover your hand while doing the move. It must be done behind a book, or behind a chair, or under the table on your lap, etc. 4. The move is done in two stepsi First is the 'get ready' and second is the excecution of the move that opens out the billet. The open billet is then palmed. 5. You must never look at your hands while doing the move. 6. The message is read later, sometimes much later, at the correct momentl

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t;et ~eet.~f :

The 'get ready involves prefolding a billet, switching it for a dummy after the sitter writes on it and then secretly sticking your thumb under the top fold of paper in readiness to open out the billet like an 'umbrellal. Since you only have to prefold one billet for each performance, the matter is an easy one as you show the sitter how to fold the billets! Fig. 1 shows the three steps in pre folding the billet. A. Use billets size 2i by Ji inches. B. Fold the billet from right to left off-center. C. Fold the billet into quarters so that the off-center fold shows on the outside.

D A

Fig. 1

19 BERT REESE THE REESE TECHNIQUE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING .. cont.

THE SWITCH. After the sitter writes all her questions, say about five or six, you must switch the one prefolded billet for a dummy that you have palmed in your hand. Reese would have the lady hide all the billets and then he would take the last billet, the pre folded one and switch it. Reese had two favorite methods for switching. According to Joseph Rinn writing in "Sixty Years of Psychical Research," Reese had Rinn hide the questions in the desk drawers. then taking the last billet, he said, "There are no more drawers." so Reese took the last question and thrust it into Rinn's coat pocket thereby making the switch. But Reese's favorite switch was the 'Temple Switch.' According to newspaper reports and Oursler and Professor Hyslop, Reese would have the sitter take the last billet and hold it to Reese's temple with the fingertipsl That is of course what the viewers said. What actually happened was slightly different. Reese would pick up the last billet and place it to his temple saying. "Here place this billet on my temple and hold it there with your finger tips." By the time the person placed the fingert~ps on the billet. the Switch had already been madel The temple switch is by far. the easiest. most direct and detection-proof. It was first exposed in 1891. "The Revelations of a Spirit Medium." It is detailed in 'Acidus' an AME release. You must pick up the billet and switch it so that it ends up in your palm as shown in Fig. 2. The folded center is at the upper left at "X" and you must later stick your thumb under the top fold of paper at "Y." Reese was an expert at misdirection. No one ever caught him doing the billet switch or the umbrella move. He was only detected when the sitters realized that Reese was reading the questions one-ahead. The sitters in this case were expert psychic investigaFO t ors who were completely baffled by Reese 19. 2. Y until Reese broke the cardinal rule of not repeating the effect. On the second time around the sitters secretly marked the billets! ( IN Fig. 2, the thumb has been lifted for clarity) THE MOVE IN ACTION. Let's follow Reese around. He is on his feet. He has the billet palmed in his right hand as in Fig. 2. He then walks back and forth across the room. He has his cigar in his left hand and he is snapping his fingers of the left hand in a display of anxiety. He is rubbing his right temple with his right hand! This is masterful misdirection! While his audience is watching

20

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE THE REESE TECHNIQUE

.. cont. ..

his snapping left fingers, Reese is doing the secret work with his right hand. As he rubs his right temple with his right hand, he places the billet against his temple under full cover and then slips his thumb under the top fold of paper. He is now ready to. do the Umbrella Move! As he walks with his right side to the audience he then turns his back to the audience, lowers his right hand and does the umbrella move and places the now-opened billet into his cupped left hand. He is now walking across the room with his left side to the audience. He is still snapping his left-hand fingers and rubbing his temple with the right hand. He waits. He can actually sight the secret message as he looks into his left palm as he picks up his cigar to puff on it. He then jumps with excitement as he informs his audience of his miraculous revelation of divining the question that is written on the slip of paper that is tucked into milady's right shoe! Reese gives an answer to the question. Before his audience recover their senses Reese asks the lady to take out the slip in her right shoe and give it to him. Reese opens out the slip, smiles and recites the question that he read on the palmed slip while he gets the 'goods'on the next question. Reese again switches billets and hands the palmed billet to the sitter. This is the billet that contains the correct question that Reese just answered. The rest of the routine is most easy. Sometimes Reese walks to the window to get better light to read and verify the Vjust answered' question. While at the window the matter of switching billets is elementary. Like his teacher, Charles Foster, Reese would also sometimes strike a match to light his cigar. He could then read the message on the palmed billet and the light of the match helped!

f!"Jhe 1Cha,i'fr ' ~etld ,. Sometimes Reese could do the umbrella move, read the message refold the billet and repalm it, all with the same hand in one fast instant. He made sure that a chair got in his way while walking the floor. He either placed a chair there to sit on for a minute in the middle of the room or had someone else sit there momentarily. Feigning nervousness, Reese would move the chair back near a wall and make the move in the process! He simply picked up the chair between his right wrist and his left hand. His right wrist went behind the chair back, of course, as that made the perfect cover! and he took the seat of the chair with his left hand. REESE also made the same move by picking up a book and opening it out in the shape of a ilL" giving him a good cover.

21 BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

THE UMBRELLA MOVE IN ACTIONa Figs. ), 4 and 5 show an easy way of making the umbrella move. The billet is shown slightly larger than usual. The paper used in the billet must be of the non-crinkling kind so that no tell-tale noise is made when the billet is being secretly opened. Reese made it a habit of tearing out the fly-leaf from a book and then tearing it into small squares making six or eight pieces. The book of course was one on the occult sciences that just happened to be handy. That alone had a psychological effect on the visitor. Let's say that you have a billet secretly palmed in your right hand as shown in Fig. 2. You also have a perfect cover for your right hand. So you pinch the Folded Center of the billet, the upper left corner, between your first and middle fingers as shown in Fig. J. And then stick your thumb-tip into the top layer of paper as shown in Fig. 4. You next push the thunmb tip as far as it will go and then pinch the billet between the thumb and the first finger. This is shown in Fig. 5. Next, you lift the third and little fingers up, as shown by the arrows and at the same time apply pressure downwards on the Folded Center with the tip of the middle finger. The billet will then snap open! . After pressure is released by the third and little fingers when they move up, they can also assist in opening the billet as they are brought down again on the crease of the bill~t. Some operators prefer to just push down on the Folded Center with the tip of the first finger against the thumb tip. That will make the billet snap open like an umbrella! Fig. The reader will of course develope 4 his own method adaptable to his hand and fingers. After the question is read, the billet must be refolded and palmed. CARD STOCK: The above routine is excellent when using cheap card stock as recommended by Al Baker. The card stock makes the least noice of all. The operator must experiment with ~ different kinds of card stock to find a suitable one.

Fig. 5

22

BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT

R~DING

THE REESE TECHNIQUE .• con t. and use In an emer gency , the good showman can avoid noic es the sitte r to usly inuo any pape r avai lable simp ly by talki ng oont . heard be not so that any noic e made by the pape r will

?tu '~Um,en., ~ , "Slete~:

isl atten tion . Rees e cons idere d the Dummy bille t worth y of spec was to pick up It woul d be detri men tal to reaso n if some oneblank ! So Rees e the bille t and open it and disco ver that it is treat ed the Dummy bille t with spec ial care. woul d tell her to If there was a woman in the audie nce, he ml That was a place the last bille t ( the Dummy) in her bosso woul d stick his strok e of geniu s since who in his righ t mind hand into the lady 's bosso m to exam ine a bille t? r place the For a male sitte r, Rees e would have the sitte he woul d make dummy insid e his pock et watc h, telli ng him that t Rees e woul d ask a spec ial test with it. So for the last billewatch hi,f? temp le for the gent lema n's watch and then place the h and totake out the and divin e the ques tion and then open the watc corr ect onel bille t whic h even tuall y is switc hed for the trick , so much so Rees e became very famo us with the watch enge d Rees e to that the Beas t '666' Alei ster Crow ley once chall in his tell him what was writ ten in a piece of pape r heonehadtimel watc hl Acco rding to Craw ley, Rees e faile d this may want to Pock et watc hes are scarc e toda y, so the read er It can be locke d t. devic e othe r means of secu ring the Dummy bille place d or , book in the sitte r's desk , or safe , or in a locke dteres n step perso ted unde r the ciga rs in the box, or have an unin on it! you can place the ( with the orig inal AME 'Acid us' techn ique , and then hand back age mess folde d bille t to your temp le, cop the to plac e it him tell and r the still -fol ded bille t to the sitte t hims elf bille the ve remo insid e his pock et watc h. He can then and veri fy that you are corr ect!) the read er THE FINE POINTS. With a littl e thou ght, I am sure Umb rella the doing for er' can devic e many ways to make the 'cov draw er to desk the into go can Move. For exam ple, the righ t hand As the ns! essio impr wn take out pape r and penc il for jottin g.do drop and move the utes exec righ t hand goes into the draw er, it be to seen is hand The il. ping the bille t and takin g out a penc inles fumb then hand t righ beyon d susp icion at this poin t. The h time the ques side the draw er look ing for a pape r pad, at whic ed, palm tion is read and the bille t refol ded andturne d his etc. back while the Rees e some times made the move as he sitte r wrote anot her ques tion. to sitte r, to Anot her good meth od is to stoop down, righ t side floo r, pick up a book that has acci dent ally (?) dropp ed on the

23 Blm TREESE THE BERT REESE TECHNIQUE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING .. cont.

and then walk to a shelf to replace the book, left side to sitter, and then stop for a moment to read a passage on the book, doing the move and reading the question in the processl THE LOST LETTER. Place a letter without the envelope into a book so that it lies just inside the edges of the pages. In the act of moving the book out of the way, the letter drops to the floor. "I am in luck today. Here is a letter that I was just thinking aboutl" So saying you open the letter out for a quike look and excecute the Umbrella Move, etc. and then put the letter away. TWO HANDS. Shove the folded billet in your right hand into the cupped left hand and press against the palm of the left hand. The billet will snap open and then remain in palm position. You do that as you turn around. This is a two-hand move but it is fast with a minimum of fumbling. You can read the billet later .

.,t1,e "Bi.eef. tA.: The size of the billets must of course depend on the size of your hand. The reader may find it easier to work with billets 2 by 3 inches. STRIPS. For doing the Umbrella Move, a rectangular billet is prefered since it can easily be folded two-ways. But some observers claimed that Reese would take the fly leaf from a book and tear it into six long strips, say 1i by 5 inchesl This was a psychological ruse, a carryover from Charles Foster, as a strip of paper can be torn out from the bottom margin of a newspaperl Newspaper is noislessl But strips of paper are hard to manipulate. This is where the trips to the window for better light came in. By turning his back the switch of papers came easy. The observers failed to notice that one of the strips was torn in half and given to another person to write something onl So the billet was now 1i by 2i. That is all that Reese neededl Just one rectangular billet while he palmed the other rectangular piecel for the dummy. The billets are then torn up as they are answered. Many sitters became suspicious and assumed that somehow the psychic could see the written message on a neatly folded paper, so they insisted that the billets should be rolled up into tiny wadsl Unknown to the sitter that made it even easier to switch one ball of paper for another! '?~e 'PeUec SruitcA,:

The Pellet Switch, where one balled up piece of paper with a message, is switched for another is very old and very easy to do. It may have been invented by mediums. It has appeared in print many times and magicians have used it to switch balled up bills and cigarette papers, etc. By necessity all billet workers had to be masters of the Pellet Switch and Reese was an expert at it. Several methods have seen print both as one-hand and two-hand

24 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE THE BERT REESE TECHNIQUE

•. cont .

meth ods. Here is a favo rite. t thumb The dummy ball is clipp ed betw een the tips of t.theTherigh ball real and firs t and secon d fing er-ti ps and out of sigh it of t righ to the pell et is on the table and abou t five inch espick ball real the s up is a penc il. The righ t hand comes over and then relea ses and b-tip thum the and p er-ti betw een the ring -fing sure of the firs t and the dumm~ by sligh tly relea sing the pres . secon d f1ng er-ti ps. The fing ers move inpe rcep tibly penc il whic h the The hand with the stole n pell et then pick s up wayl help s conc eal the stole n pell et in a most natu ral that when the so The hidd en pell et is place d over the penc ilpell et farth er up the push will il penc penc il is picke d up, the into the hand . your righ t hand PELLET SWITCH III Plac e the hidd en pell et ineze pell ets dire ctly over the pell et on the table and sque ofboth pape r and toge ther. Now they will look like a sing le ball to your temp le you can show your hand free ly and place thethewadpOSi of the for vibs . By a twitc h of the fing er tips, y' is now tion most l outer two pell ets is reve rsed so that the 'dummfire bowl or stick it Next , eithe r throw the dummy into the on a ha~ pin or simp ly tear it up and disca rd a it. slate or tabl et. You can now read the stole n pell et behin d ht is pref erred TWO-HAND PELLET SWITCHI This beau tiful sleig ght read ing. thou of by many magi cians who do a demo nstra tion ball and the d table The dummy ball is place d dire ctly over the hand there by reve rsleft two balls are then trans fered into the l most outer ing thei r posi tions . The dummy is now pape r This is a beau tiful move, espe ciall y when the balls of eter. are larg e, say abou t one inch in diam of a pea. At Usua lly, the pell ets are smal l, abou t the size pape r. That rette ciga with one time Men talis ts did the test t the abou e littl cares r sitte only confi rms the fact that the size or kind of pape r used . like on Thes e smal l pell ets can be displ ayed in nove l a ways ty pin on safe into d locke or pin the poin t of a penc il or hat the ladi es' dres ses, etc. a tea cup from Seve ral pell ets can be bunc hed toge ther intime . Havi ng glim pse a at one out them whic h the Men talis t takes into the cup the firs t pell et secr etly, the Men talis t can reach the known pell et and pick up anot her pelle~ and switc h it for hold . Men talis t to and pass out the known pell et to someone time gets the 'drop ' on divin es the held pell et and at the same the next onel flash pape r or A furth er bit of myst ery can be added by using destr oyed in are pape r that diso lves in wate rl Then the pell ets a magi cal fashi onl

25 THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

BERT REESE THE BERT REESE TECHNIQUE

cont. .•

For Reese, the pellet switch was an easy matter. His cigar covered more than it was given credit for by his exposers. According to Rinn, Reese left the room while he wrote out his questions and rolled them up into tiny balls. Reese then came back and said, "The pellets must be in a straight line." and he placed one pellet back in line. He was of course smoking his cigar and held it in the usual way in his right hand. He also held the dummy pellet pinched between the tips of his Fig. 5 thumb and ring and middle fingers. As he touched the real·pellet, he picked it up with the tips of the ring and little fingers and thumb. As he pushed the pellet into line, he released the dummy and then curled his fingers in a natural way with the real pellet inside. This is a snapS Try it. For the reader who doesn't smoke cigars, use a fountain pen as shown in Fig. 5 and 6. The fountain pen gives you a good excuse for pinching your finger-tips together and your hand looks natural. The dummy pellet is held between the tips of the right thumb and first and second fingers. The real pellet is picked up between the tips of the thumb, little and ring fingers. It is then an easy Fig. 6 ma tter to drop the dummy. The left hand then comes up and removes the top of the pen in readiness for jotting notes. Rinn .did not tell us the secret of Reese's cigar. That came from another source. It appears in print for the first timeS

HOUDINI'S INSIGHT INTO BILLET WORK, "For one entire season, - Jenny, daughter of Jumbo Hippodrome. If that can be be easy to get away with a

1918, I made a 10,000 pound elephant, - vanish twice daily, at the New York done without detection, it should half-inch pellet." Harry Houdini Houdini's Paper Magic, p. 90

26 BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

~ee0e and the 'Celll..teh.J 'i:feaft..' Bert Reese knew the center-tear method of thought reading, but he performed the method only in dire emergencies. He had learned the 'center-tear' from Charles Foster. In those early years, billet workers had a free hand. The unsophisticated audiences who saw these tests knew nothing of billet-switches. The mediums therefor had little use for the center-tear method. They could switch a billet unsuspected by the sitter and then open it and read the whole question, so why bother with the center-tear method which only revealed one or two words. While in Berlin (about two years before his death) Reese was detected in trickery by psychic researcher and prominent lawyer Dr. Bruno Birnbaum. On his second sitting with Reese, Dr. Birnbaum used his own paper that made a cracking noise when opened. This noise was detected by Birnbaum (although he had not seen the switch) and Reese became aware of the trap so then Reese resorted to the center-tear. "At one time, to divert my attention or perhaps to destroy some evidence of his trickery, Reese attempted to burn some of my questions on an ash tray." Dr. Birnbaum. "Why do you do this?"he asked. "The flame kindles my imaginationl" answered Reese! NOTEI Here again, the sitter gives little importance to the tearing of the billet. Only the final destruction of the papers by fire is noticed. Reese did not need to burn a billet to destroy evidence since he could easily switch the billets. Nor would he burn the papers to misdirect the sitter. It is quite evident that Reese was executing the center-tearprinciple that was later released by Al Baker in his book, "Mental Magic." That is that he could read the message in the act of tearing it. Dai Vernon credits Bert Reese with the invention of the 'unbrella move' that must be used in the method. And since he had some 50 years or more of practice he could have easily invented the new method which remained exclusive for perhaps 50 years until Al Baker released it in 1949. The conventional method of stealing the folded center is of no value here since the paper would still make the cracking noise when opened later. For the reader (you) this is an object lesson! If you can read the secret message while tearing the folded paper to bits, the noise the paper makes is meaninglessl NOTE III Only the first billet that Reese stole had to be opened secretly in his lap. Once the first billet had been secretly read, Reese then proceeded one-ahead. The next billet was openly unfolded and the next message read in pretence of reading the previous one! that had just been answered 0

27

BERT REESE

THE ART OF THOUGHT READING

on July 8th, Prof esso r W. Bert Rees e died in Hamburg Germany, 11th , 1926 . July s 1926 . A notic e appe ared in the New York Time to Germany to bathe gone Due to a linge ring illne ss, Rees e had also to visi t his in the world famous spa in Bad Nauheim, and in. Berl in broth er I. Reis s, a disti ngui shed judge psyc holo gist. er mast Many who knew Rees e said that he was a recei ved and ity All agree d that he had a delig htfu l pers onal worl d trawas He tesy. and treat ed every one with the utmo st cour accus tome d ato fine was vell er who spok e seve ral langu ages and very rich could affor d livin g. His fee was enormous and only the seve ral doll ars per as a sitti ng with him. His fee was quote d lette r in the sitte r's firs t name. the To many, Rees e was also a prop het I He corr ectly pred icted end of the Span ish Amer ican war. "an old man who The New York Hera ld of 1900 , wrote him up as, had in thei r they y mone told famous finan ciers exac tly how much pock etsl" , he told the Crown Rees e pred icted the Firs t Worl d Warl In 1913 soon to be was war world t Princ e of Germany that a grea foug ht I would take place He pred icted that the Japan ese-A meri can war was off by 16 he if even ght in 19251 This was an amaz ing forsi year s. also a grea t read er. As a mast er psyc holo gist, he was of cour se a lady that she had a mold on her back that the He once told lady did not know abou t! on Rees e became world famous in 1910 , due to his asso ciati with Thomas A. Edis on. " Come, see a man, whic h told me all thing s " that ever I didl John 4129 Gods peed,