Al Mann - The Kolophon

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POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY

07728

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POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY

07728

'7~~ ~otO/lJ()f4 Copyright by Al Mann Exclusives

1980

FORWORD In January of 1979, Bobby Huges of Columbus Ohio, showed me his amazing presentation which we have called, "The Kolophon." It seems that just a year before, Bobby was busy buying many props and gimmicks to use in his mental show. Today all of the props and most of the gimmicks have been eliminated and Bobby now works out of his pocket or with borrowed scraps of paper. That is the type of mentalism prefered and what is offered in this book. Therefor AME Salutes Bobby Hughes for his unique effect with envelopes. The Kolophon is a threshold that reveals a huge landscape and we hope to come up with more miracles. AME also salutes Stan Alexander for the excellent principle used in The Dyad of Chronos. Wishing you a happy Halloween,

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POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHO LD, NEW JERSEY

07728

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dA-j a vu (fr.) . the illus ion of havin g expe rienc ed some thing actu ally being encoun tered for the firs t time . and preThis effe ct was crea ted by the auth or in 1975 wall et and sente d in paid show s. At this time a Dr. Jaks doub lea doub le writi ng fing er gimm ick were used . The ssary and writi ng gimm ick was disca rded as not being nece the intro then the Dr. Jaks wall et was made obso lete beby seen from all duct ion of a strea mlin e wall et that could side s and angl es. ell in The strea mlin e effe ct was firs t shown to Ed Mish the poin t to essed Jack Flos so's Magi c shop in NYC. Ed was imprfindi secr etl the ng that he asked to exam ine the wall et with out audie nce is found The effe ct is that any name calle d by the e a wall et that writ ten on a card seale d in an enve lope insidbe seale d with has been in sigh t at all time s and shown to the Magi c Cast le rubb er band s. This effe ct was prese nted at d. "Memory lane - a Holly wood , in Janu ary of 1979 and was calle deja vu expe rienc el" becom ing publ ic Unfo rtuna tely by that time , the effe ct wassecr et in a priv ate prop erty, since the auth or had devu lged the ed to the offer lectu re in NYC: The effe ct has since then been prof essio n in an infe rior meth od. corr ect The read er will have the bene fit of learn ing the seale d three meth od plus also a far supe rior effe ct invo lving enve lopes . Ml!."'MORY LANE wall et in Effe ct and pres enta tion. Perfo rmer , hold ing his ed) whic h hand t righ his left hand (assu ming the perfo rmer is righ t hand his in e whil is seale d with rubb er band s all aroun d rmer 's perfo the is he hold s a penc il (On top of the wall et t I had nigh last n, busin ess card) says , "Lad ies and Gent leme with share to like d a beau tiful deja vu expe rienc e that I woul if n perso that asks you." pp.rf orme r poin ting to one spec tator rmer perfo tion, he wish es to part icipa te. Rece iving conf irma proc eeds . your "Sir. Plea se go back throu gh the memory lane s of 10 . wish you as life , the plea sant memory lane s, as far back there was one perso n 20 or more year s. Somewhere alone the line , t insp irathat stand s out in your life . This perso n was a grea ess." tion to you and assis ted you on your road to succ "For the bene fit of the audie nce will you plea se tell us the firs t name only of this perso n."

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AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

THE KOLPHON Memory Lane

••• cont.

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After the spectator calls out the name, the performer writes this name on the business card on top of the wallet, then signs and dates the card and gives it out to someone in the audience as a souveneer of the occassion. Performer then says, "Would you believe? that last night I wrote a similar name. sealed it in an envelope and I have it here before you inside this sealed wallet?" . Performer shows the wallet all around. then removes the rubber bands, opens the wallet and takes out the sealed envelope. The wallet is put away and the performer tears open the sealed envelope and has anyone take out the card inside and has that person read what the card says. The card may read p "Someone tonight will think of the name of Mary." Method. This involves a sealed slit envelope. The envelope is sealed (with sealing wax if desired) on the flap side and it has a slit on the address side as shown in Fig. 1. The envelope should be a white coin envelope that measures 2; by 4i inches. The slit is made on the address side only about 1 inch from the bottom. The Wallet also has a slit on it. Fig. 2 shows a design of a wallet as used by the author. This is a fine black leather wallet sometimes called a secretary wallet because it carries a pen and paper memo pad for taking notes. The wallet has a Fig. 1 large flap marked "A" in Fig. 2 which is used for holding bills behind it. It also has a smaller flap marked "B" used for business cards or stamps. etc. A slit is made on the flap side of the wallet all the way through including flap "A" but not Flap "B." This slit is made about 1 and 5/8 inch A from the bottom of the wallet and is about 2i inches wide. Stage money bills or duplicates of real dollar bills should be placed behind the "A" flap, but these bills must be slit also. Next. a business card is prepared with the message, "Someone tonight will think of the name "leaving a space at the bottom Fig. 2 for inserting the name later. This business card is inserted through the back of the wallet through the slit and all the way through flap "A" and into the sealed envelope. The card sticks out of the back of the wallet for about an li". The wallet is then closed and crisscrossed with rubber bands. The closed wallet now looks like in Fig. J and is ready for the presentation.

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THE KOLOPHON

An Al Mann hxclusive

Memory Lane ••••• cont. • ••••• Fig. ) shows the wallet sealed with rubber bands and the message card sticking out. On top of the message card performer places another loose card just before show time. This loose card already has the date and performer's signature on it. During the presentation, performer writes in the name called and then pretends to write in the date and signature but instead he writes in the name again in the message card sticking out of the wallet! Fig. J As soon as the message card is complete, performer takes off the loose card and in the same motion pushes the message card out of sight into the envelope through the slit on the wallet. Everything is now ready. Performer states that he has been holding his sealed billfold in sight at all times and shows the wallet all ,around. Nothing can be seen to be amiss as the bottom rubber band hides the slit. But even after the rubber band is removed, the slit is hardly noticeable. Before opening the wallet it is well to say.""In order to open my wallet I must first remove the rubber bands. When I open my wallet you will see one sealed envelope only." Performer then opens the wallet by first removing the rubber bands and pocketing them. Then opens the wallet to show the sealed envelope. The envelope is removed pinching the card inside and being careful not to expose the back of the envelope. performer tears open the envelope and has someone extract the card. Then performer tears the envelope again to destroy the slit. NOTE. The effect can be presented as described or it can be worked with a nail writer. Some spectators suspect that you have written in the name somehow but they are puzzled when the card is found to contain a long message. TRIPLE-SIGHT This effect completely mystifies the audience and gets a good reaction and plenty of comments. EFFECT. Three items called by the audience are predicted by the performer in three sealed envelopes I METHOD. This effect is worked exactly like "Memory Lane" using the same wallet and the same principle except that the three predictions appear to be sealed in three separate envelopesl Prepare the wallet with three message cards sticking out the back and into one sealed envelope. Place 2 more sealed envelopes into the pocket with the gaffed envelope. Again these envelopes should be white coin envelopes and sealed with colored gummed notary seals in three different colors. Both the top and bottom flaps should be sealed. The two top envelopes are sealed empty.

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THE KOLOPHON

AN AL MANN

bXCLUSIV~

TRIPLE-SIGHT ••••• cont ••••••. The Set-Upi Refer to Fig. 2. When the wallet is opened it will show three sealed envelopes behind the "B" flap pocket. Two of the envelopes are empty while the last envelope contains J message cardsl Refer to Fig. J. For the "Triple-Sight" effect the wallet is not wrapped with rubber bands. But three cards are sticking out through the slit and are staggered. This is shown in Fig. 4. Each of the cards has a message on it. "The number chosen will be ----." "The name chosen ....... etc. or whatever needs to be predicted. THE PRESENTATION. Performer on center stage takes out his wallet and says ..... I have written three predictions and se aled them in three envelopes and here they are. Performer opens his wallet. keeping his left hand over the exposed cards on the back and takes out the t=j t,wo top sealed envelopes and displays them. Two envelopes are held in the right hand while the third Fig. 4 envelope, the prepared one. is left in the pocket of the wallet and is shown to the audience. The two top envelopes are placed back into the wallet and the wallet is closed. Performer then takes out a business card and a pencil and collects the three thoughts from the audience. using the wallet to lay his card on to write. The first card sticking out should be used for a number. the middle card for a name and the last bottom card for a word. etc. As soon as the items are called. performer writes them on the top loose card and also in the correct message card. If performer writes very fast this is not noticed. Or at the end the performer can pretend to write the date and his signature (which should be on the loose card already) but instead writes in the three items on the message cards. When the message cards are complete they are pushed into the envelope. here the wallet does not have to be shown all around. Performer just takes out the three sealed envelopes. stacks them together and cuts them open with a pair of scisors and takes out the three cards. As each card is taken out. one empty envelope is discarded. The moves are very convincing. The last envelope is torn up together with the other two to show that they contain nothing else. The loose card and the three message cards can be left with the audience as souveneers. The proof of sealed predictions is very strong. It dumbfounds the senses and will get you fame and paying dates so do not undersell it. It

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kol-o-phon' (Gk) summit, finishing touch. Colophon, an inscription at the end of a book Random House N.Y. EFFECT. To demonstrate a psychic test, the psychic asks the spectator to furnish five envelopes of any kind, five business cards or playing cards (or five names may be used if the living and dead tes~ is to be done), plus a pencil or pen. The performer refuses to touch any of these items and makes it a point to stay away from them. For clarification we will use five business cards. Spectator is asked to secretly sign anyone of the business cards and to secretly seal the card into any one of the envelopes to turn the envelope flap-side up and to sign the envelope. He is next to seal the other four unsigned cards into the other four envelopes and when through he is to sign all four of the envelopes. He is then to mix up the envelopes so that he himself does not know which envelope contains the signed card. He is also to number the envelopes on the address side with numbers from 1 to S. This may be done under the table or in another room. Psychic returns and under these conditions and without touching any 'of the envelopes divines which envelope contains the signed business card. The reader must admit that here we have a truly psychic test under test conditions. For the mentalist, it leaves little to be desired in a test. You carry nothing but your secret techniques in your mind. This effect brings to mind the works of Dr. Schlessinger, Bert Reese, and Charles Foster who became world famous performing with little else than scraps of paper. Uri Geller is doing similar things todayl The Method. The seemingly innocent act of signing the envelopes does the trick. The Presentation. The spectator is first told to sign the business card and to seal it in one of the envelopes. He is then instructed to sign his name on the flap side, preferably on the flap. At this point, the spectator is not aware that the signatures have too much importance or that he will later be asked to sign the other four envelopes. So he signs the first envelope in an unhurried manner and no doubt does a beautiful job of i.t. When he is told to seal the other four envelopes with cards inside and then to sign all four, the performer hurries him a bit by saying, "Please let me know when you are done. Have You finished? The end result is that one of the signatures will look different than the other four. spectator is also told to number the front of the envelopes from 1 to 5 after he has mixed them up a bit. And then to hold them with the numbers facing him. The signatures will then be facing the performer and he can easily pick out the correct envelope. The reader will never realize the impact of this test until he tries it. The longer the time gap between the first

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KOLOPHON •• cont.

by Bobby Huges

AN AL

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~CLUSIV~

signature and the last four the better. So you may want to patter about things psychic for a few moments between signatures. For the last four signatures have the spectator place all four envelopes together and then sign them,that way all four signatures will be placed in about the same place and will be similar. A bit of misdirection if you deem it necessary is to have the envelopes placed numbers side up on the table with the signatures out of sight and then pass your hand over the 5 envelopes in an attemp to locate the correct one. Failing, then you instruct the spectator to please pick them up and hold them before his eyes. Close your eyes after a quick glance and proceed. When the correct envelope is spotted, take it and open it. Take the card out and destroy the envelopel The other envelopes will not matter. They should be left intact to deepen the mysteryl

Here is another effect done with signed and initialled envelopes. It is not in the same class with The Kolophon but is worth mentioning. ~FFECTI A sitter is given two coin envelopes. One envelope is larger than the other. Although nothing is mentioned about examining the envelopes, it is plainly seen that the envelopes are empty and ungimmicked. The sitter is told to please initial the flaps of both envelopes and then to sign his name on the address side of both envelopes. Performer next takes the signed envelopes and gives the sitter a card for him to write out a question or a word or phone number. When finished, performer places the card writing side down into the small coin envelope and then seals it into the larger envelope and the whole thing is now burnt. The sitter can see his name and initials on both envelopes during the handling and sees his envelopes burning. Performer then divines the thought. THE S~CR~T. The sitter initials the flaps of both envelopes on lines drawn there by the Fig. performer as in Fig. 5. The performer has 5 another small coin envelope with a line drawn also on the same place. This envelope also has a window cut out of it. When the performer takes the envelopes and turns around to allow the sitter to write his question, performer duplicates as close as possible the sitters initials on the flap of the window envelope and pockets the other. When the performer turns around to insert the card into the small envelope, the sitter's l' initials are now upside down to his view, and I\...C-") they remain in sight only for a split second. Fi The performer then seals the window envelope. The window can not be seen as it is covered by .the larger envelope.

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KOLOPHON

AN AL MANN

CXCLUSIV~

The Pseudograph •• cont ••.•••. After the small envelope is sealed, performer uses it to open the flap of the larger envelope while his fingers cover the top initials and the envelopes are held parallel to the floor. In the process the coin envelope is turned over and both envelopes are held perpendicular to the floor at which time the message will be visible ------~~ to the performer through the window! Fig. 7 shows the details. Please note that the signature on the back of the small envelope has of course been replaced by a window. BUT this side of the envelope is not seen.The sitter sees the upside down initials only for a split second and sees his signature on the back of the large envelope. So everything appears correct. Fig. 7 (this beautiful maneuver for opening one envelope with the other to expose the window is not new. It has appeared in print before but the originator is unknown at this time) Duplicating signatures and initials is quite easy. Everymentalist should try his hand at it. All it takes is a bit of study and doing it. Duplicating signatures for entertaining purposes is not a crime. When someone's signature is duplicated for the purpose of defrauding him or anyone else then it becomes 'forgery' which is a crime. This maneuver of exposing a message with a window envelope can be used in a one-ahead question answering act. since all you need is to get the drop on one person while the others are busy sealing their questions. NOTE. The envelopes in Fig. 7 are exagerated for clarity. Actually they are much smaller. Fig. 8 shows the small envelope entering the larger one with the message exposed through the window. At this time the envelopes are held ina vertical plane :.j~ perpendicular to the floor. The sitter ____ _ sees his signature on the bigger envelope. The initials on the smaller envelope are still covered by the performer's fingertips. Fig. 8 The initials on the flap of the larger envelope are also exposed to the sitter. All the moves are quite natural and most convincing.

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FLASHl Karl Fulves is coming out with a new book called. "More confessions of a Psychic" which is must reading for all mentalists. It contains secrets of psychological readings which are dynamite.

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by stan Alexander

(stan Alexander, a college student from Bricktown, N.J. is a mentalist at the age of 18 with 5 years experience in research and presentation. Before that Stan was a magicianl) AME salutes Stan Alexander for the creation of the fabulous effect that follows. It ranks in the miracle class as it can be performed totally impromptu. Too bad in came in too late for inclusion in Death Watch. Stan was 13 years of age when Death Watch was published. EFFECTs Two watches are borrowed from the audience. The mentalist uses one and an assisting spectator uses the other. The watches are tested to see that the hands can be moved by turning the stem wheel. The watches are placed behind the back or they can be turned face down and both the spectator and the performer turn the stem wheel as much as desired. No one looks at the time. Both watches are placed face down on the table. Now a piece of poster board or tablet is given to the spectator and a pen while the performer does the same. Each picks up a watch and note on the boards the time showing on the watches. When the boards are turned around the two times matchl Everything can be examined, of coursel Fabulous effectl you say? Of coursel THE SOLUTIONs Both of the watches are ungimmicked and any watches can be used. The secret is in the fact that you, the miracle man, do not turn the hands of your watch but just pretend tol However you have memorized the time that the watch was set too after you tested it! THE PRESENTATIONs After borrowing the watches and calling an assistant, tell him (or her) to take one of the watches and pull the stem out and turn the hands as a test. Both the performer and the spectator can show the audience that the hands are indeed turning freely. However the performer must stop his watch at a force time and remember it. The spectator is then told to turn the watch face down on the palm of his hand and turn the stem some mo~e. Anybody else from the audience may come up and also turn the hands BUT without looking at the face of the watch. The spectator is then told to place the watch face down on the table sight unseen of course. The performer pretends that he is still turning his stem and asks the spectator to call stop! Performer places his watch face down on the table also next to the other watch.Performer now patters a bit and recaps what has happen. After the short talk, performer picks up the spectator's watch while the spectator is told to pick up the other watch, the one the performer had before. The mass of the audience does not realize that a switch has

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THE KOLPHON

AN AL MANN

THE DYAD OF CHRONOS

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cont •

~CLUSIVE

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been made I The spectator does not know at what time his watch stoppedl The spectator thinks that the perfor~er does not know at what time the performer's watch stoppedl The spectator is now handed a piece of poster board and asked to write down the time on his watch or he may draw the face of the watch and hands. The performer does the same thing but draws in the force time! While the performer is talking and drawing in the time, he has the oportunity to set the watch he is holding to the correct time. The boards are now shown to the audience for the amazement of all. Everything can then be examined and passed back into the audience. With a little practice the mentalist can change the time on a watch or set it to any time right before the audience. Just hold the Visible fingers motionless while the thumb behind the scenes does all the work. Also after the spectator finishes turning the stem wheel, do not tell him to push in the wheel but to just place the .watch on the table face down. When you pick up the spectator's watch the wheel is already extended and ready to change the time to the correct reading. Timing is very important here. The performer should be the first to write in the time on his board then tell the spectator to do the same. While the eyes of the audience are on the spectator the performer can change the time on his watch. This effect is so beautiful and the method so simple that we can't help wondering if it has ever appeared in print before or if some one has used the same principle. We have never seen it in print or even heard of it although it does sound like, after reading it, the type of higher mentalism used by a Fogel or a 'Dunningerl stan Alexander has used it many times with great success in each performance.

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The technique used by stan Alexander in "The Dyad of Chronos" can be used in many ways and no doubt the reader can come up with some miracles of his own. Here is one that proves the point. EFFECT. A spectator is given a book and a red ink marker or pen. He is told to open the book to any page and circle any word on the page. Performer does the same thing with a duplicate book and both circle the same word! Tha t is the effect on the audience. THE METHOD. Using two duplicate books, call an assistant from the aUdience. Assistant receives one book and one pen. The audience is asked to callout any page. Assitant opens the book to that page and so does the performer. Assistant is told to circle any word BUT to do it sight unseen. That is,he should turn the book face down and circle any part of it with the pen. He is told .to make

THE KOLOPHON The Deuce of Books

10 AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE cont. • •••••••

a small circle with the Pen on the chosen page and to place the book face down on the table. Performer has done the same thing with his book. The assistant is then dismissed and another person is called on stage. The second spectator is given a poster board and ink marker and the book that the performer has just marked and is told to please draw on the poster board the one word that stands out in the circle. Performer does the same thing writing down the same word that he marked and of course the two words match! The Fine Points. The red ink pen that is given to the first assistant does not write. It is dry. But the performer test his own pen to show that it does write and then switches pens. So the first assistant does not mark the page. When the performer picks up the book he writes the word on the board by memory and then in pointing the circle to another person when showing the books draws a circle on the pagel Everything can of course be examined. The book that the performer uses at the begining may already have a circle on it. Performer circles a word as soon as the audience calls out the page and in the act of looking for the page. Then the performer pretends to place a mark on the page sight unseen but only circles with his finger tip. That way it appears that all was done by a strange coincidence. Another fine point is to use thin books, about 3/4 inch in thickness. The books can then be closed after marking the circle on the page and placed one on top of the other on top of the poster boards. When the second spectator comes on stage, performer picks up the poster board and in the act toples the books so that the book the performer marked is now on top. This book is then given to the spectatorl who is told to open to the chosen page. The spectator is cautioned to keep the word a secret for the moment. This gives the performer a good excuse to hide the book behind the board from the audience and time enough to circle the correct word. The posters are then displayed to the audience to a dramatic climax! FLASHl Peter Reiss from West Germany (10/7/80) writes in to say that second-hand AME books in Europe are selling for more than the price of new onesl FLASH I The book "The Psychology of the Psychic" by the Prometheus Press of Buffalo, N.Y. is must reading for mentalists. Sells for $19.00 in hard cover. See your book dealer. Flashl The books Codex-X, The Damned Thing and The Lexicon Phenomena will be printed in the German language, soon.

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AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

EFFECT. Spectators write their thoughts on cards and seal the cards in envelopes and place the envelopes in their pockets. During the show a member of the audience is asked to bring one envelope forward to the stage where the mentalist stands. The mentali.t without touching the envelope divines the thought and gets a confirmation from its owner and then the envelope is returned unopened. The same is repeated many times. The act and its conditions leave little to be desired and is to many proof of the performer's ability of reading sealed messages. The act is not new. It was known to a few mindreaders a few decades ago when mindreading acts were headline news. However the method of accomplishing it have never been revealed in print. Gene Grant has a close-up version of it in his excellent book "Phantini's lost book of Mental Secrets." Augustus Rapp in his memoirs claims to have invented it. See page 77 of his "The Life and Times of Augustus Rapp" published by the Ireland Magic Co., Chicago. BUT Mr. Rapp refused to disclose the secret. The strong points about the act which follows is that the performer never touches the sealed envelopes and no one assists hi. as a confederate. The performer works alone: PREPARATION. For one presentation, about 10 coin envelopes are needed made of white paper 2i by 4i inches in size. The cards are white and square and just a hair smaller than the width of the envelope so that they make a tight fit when sealed. On one side of the cards at the top is written or printed the performer's name. A line is drawn at about the middle for the spectator to write on. On the back of the card behind the performer's name can be placed a small message that reads, "Please seal the caxd face down, Thank You." The reason for the small message is so that the spectator may seal the card correctly. Fig. 9 shows the front of the message card. If this card is turned over from top to bottom the message on the back will be right side-up. This message ALLEMANN is written or printed behind the performer's name. In any event the card should MESSAGE be inserted into the envelope so that the small message on Please seal the IL,. the back of the card is rightcard face down !~ side up. Fig. 10 Fig. 9

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KOLOPHON

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

THE UNTOUCHABLES .•. cont •••••.•. A spectator from the audience. a total stranger. is recruited to pass out the cards and envelopes. Before the show he is instructe4 in his duties. He is told to remind the writers not to let anyone see what they write and to turn the card over when they finiSh and to seal their cards and place them in their pockets. At the proper time he will be called to bring up the sealed envelopes one at a time and he is told to hold the envelopes up before the performer as shown in Fig. 11. The envelope is pinched between the thumb and the first and 2nd finger tips with the flaps towards the spectator and the address side of the envelope towards the performer. He is also instructed where he will stand. THE SECRETa Is that the spectator is asked to stand between the performer and one of the stage spot lights. Either one on the side of the stage or one of the footlights. Augustus Rapp stood in the center of the stage with his back to the audience and used no doubt one of the spot lights on the back of the stage which he carried in his act. Since all the lights in the auditorium were on. the lights were hardly suspected. The spectator is instructed to hold up the envelope about 2 feet away from the performer. Of course. if the performer wants to use a feke blindfold that can be done also. The message is seen through the envelopeS During THE PRESENTATION the performer instructs the audience that he is going to attemp the reading of sealed messages and that only a few will receive cards. The ones that receive cards are told to write on the linea a word or two, a name, a number or a design BUT not to write any questions. They may be instructed to keep their writing secret, to turn the card over after writing and that there is a message on the back of the card for their convenience, (or what have you). They are then told to seal their cards after the envelopes are passed out and to pocket the sealed envelopes. The assistant is then to collect one envelope at a time and bring it on stage. The beauty about this maneuver is that you can see to whom the envelope belongs. The secret thought is then revealed and the performer can answer it according to his teChnique. Just calling out the word or number is enough but in some cases a cold reading can be given besides. Some spectator may not follow instructions and ball up the card and seal it. When this happens, the performer changes gears and delivers a sensational psychological reading. He may point a finger at the writer and say,"You have a windfall coming within 4 weeks. You will receive money you are not expecting," etc.

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THE KOLOPHON THE UNTOUCHABLES ••

cont . • •.•.• .

ect way that the Plea se refe r to Fig. 11. This shows the corr the larg er with lope, enve assi stan t spec tator shou ld hold the e-up . t-sid righ be to flap to his left , in orde r for the word way? g wron the up s So what happ ens when the word come is, then he tells If the perfo rmer can not read the worddashisitback for a mothe spec tator to plac e the enve lope behin help er to the ucts ment whil e he gets his vibs . He furth er instr firs t he ming pinch the enve lope with his left hand also (assu to told is moment he held it with his righ t hand ). Afte r a hand enthe bring and let go of the enve lope with his righ t t righ be now velop e forw ard in his left hand . The word will way upS say it is genu ine, This act alwa ys crea tes a lot of talk. ' Some the tick et offic eS othe rs say it is trick ery. But it pays off at

any to say that ACIDUS PLUS. Toni Fors ter write s from Germ Field are comp leteal Ment the some of the big mind s in H:urope in PlusS us ly puzz led by a demo nstra tion of Acid THE APODOSIS. The Histo ry of the Cent er Tear has now been trace d to the 1850 'sl of meet ing On Apri l 24th , 1979 , this writ er had the plea sure auth or de, Boar Mr. Mr. C. L. Boar de at the NYC Round Tabl e. youn g look ing the one and of Main ly Ment al Vol. I and II is quite ry of the mediums today . histo of the best infor med perso ns in the in unifo rm. he assis ted He conf ided that in 1944 , whil e he was anot her. The medium to e an old medium in moving from one abod known of the had he that who was over 70 year s of age told him er-te ar cent the es plac cent er-te ar since the age or 10. That had move ar er-te cent back to 1874 . He also state d that the the worl d renow n bill et er, been known and used by Char les Fost king (183 3-18 85). er got it fromS All we need now is to find out wher e Mr. Fost ar" cont inue to er-Te Cent ate The "Imp rovis itor" and "The Ultim win favo r with many men talis ts. cent er-te ar move Max Cort ine of Seat tle, Wash. has perfe ctedeta will be relea sed secr This idl with a pape r folde d like a pyram late r. or writ ing in THE AME HOUDINI BIBLE. A Dr. X, anonymous auth dedi cated to the ) (1922 "On the Othe r Side of the Foot light s" ions a most rema rkab le expo sure of fraud ulan t medi umsh ip, ment ms. mediu by ry centu gimmicked bibl e, used at the turn of the page s diffe rent , but This bible had all the righ t hand side alike l the left hand page s whic h were used for forci ng, were all

14

THE KOLOPHON TH~

AME MENTAL-GRAM II

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

.,

cont .

• •••••

t. Then Hist oric ally, the mediums gimmicked a bible dfirs bible this icate dupl ig Houd ini, Thay er, Alex ande r and Zanc abou t the 1920 's or a bit earl ier. AME Houd ini Bibl e The lette rs "AME" in the title page of theCorp . or some thing nary stand for Amer ican Miss ionar y Expe ditio tly. enien like that. The "c" was dropp ed conv entio ns, a magi cian came At one of the East ern one-d ay conv leafe d throu gh it. to the AME boot h, picke d up the Bibl e and any diffe rent from bible The he aske d, "In what way is this is taken for bible the that es a regu lar bible ?" This only prov what it repre sents l Novak, at the Hous ton THE SENSATIONAL BOILER ESCAPE. John A. Boil er Escap e could al ation conv entio n rema rked that The Sens ras. cama V. T. truly be a sens ation befo re the CLASSIFIED. Men talis t Tony Devi ne of Oklahoma City , gets book ing by doing Lora nt over the telep hone ! ng the huge task CODEX-X. Ted Lesl ey of Germany is unde rtaki It will sell for age. langu an Germ the of putti ng out Codex-X in a hefty price . . If 5 secon ds of Nine book s can be arran ged in )62,8 80 ways6) days to finis h, time are used for every chan ge, it will take work ing 8 hour s per dayl Rive rdale Mary land DEATH WATCH. Barlo w J. Wagman, D.D. S. fromhis ce was kind to write down his instr uctio ns for Watch.doub le-fa watc h box that he uses with the AME Ment al Fig. 12 shows the doub le-fa ce cardb oard watc h box afte r it has been gimm icked . You will need two boxe s to make one. Barlo w's instr uctions follo w on next page .

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Fron t Fig. 12

15 AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

THE KOLOPHON The AME MENTAL-GRAM II

••

cont.

•

•••• • •

Death-Watch. "Using the gimmicked watch and the gimmicked box, I place the straight side of the watch face out and rest the gimmicked side on the box. I pullout the stem and show the hands moving. Then I slide the watch into the box but let the stem stick out. I hand the box with the watch inside to a subject and tell him to turn the stem for a while. --he has the watch and box in his hands. He can't see the hands turning but he can feel the stem moving. When he closes the box and puts it on the table, I can see the label. One side of the box is marked so I know Which face is up. I pick up the box and in the pickup set the gimmicked side up. Often the subject places the box on the table gimmick side upl I open the box and slide the watch out into my hand and ask the subject to copy down the time, (the gimmick face shows)." 5/22/79 Barlow J. Wagman, D.D.S. Sid Shep Lewis, horologist-magician from Philadelphia, does miracles with the AME Mental Watch. Sid shows the watch to the VIP, turns the stem wheel and then places the watch in the VIP's hand tells him to place the watch behind his back and turn the stem wheel all he wants. As soon as the VIP brings his hand forward, Sid takes the VIP's hand with his left and covers the watch with his right hand in the act of taking the watch back. Then Sid shows him the "right" timel Very clever. Our highly esteemed Professor of Horological Magic, Sam Samborn of Forrest Hills N.Y., passed away in March of 1980. Sam was an expert in gimmicking watches for magicians. Sam prepared 2 watches for this writer in 1979. One is a double-face gold wristwatch that is a beauty. It is easy to tell that Sam made this watch. It has his name printed on the face. It is a double-face watch that keeps perfect time on one side while the other side can be set to force any hour ,desired. The minute hand of the force face is embedded into the crystal. By rotating the crystal it can be set to any timel The other was a table clock that Sam called "Mentalarml" Anybody can set this clock to any hour and wind it \ I / / tight and seal it in a box and keep it for two ~mAU~ weeks or more. When the box is opened, performer can tell or predict at what time it stoppedl Sam only made two of these. The other went to Dick Stride. In Sept. of 1979, I asked Sam to make me a watch like the one described in Phenix #144, but he said that many

16 AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

THE KOLOPHON THE AME MENTAL-GRAM II

..

cont.

•••••

years ago he had made such a watch for William Schneider and that he would not make another today. This means that the watch is hard to make. INNER SPACE ODYSSEY, "The envelope magic in this book is great" Jack London THE LEXICON PHENOMENA, Spurious copies of the Lex. Phen. contimue to crop up. Some lists are typed and pasted into the book. Others are hardly readible. Why anyone pays good money for trash is a mystery. Ray Buchheit of Freehold loves to do the LP in everyone of his shows. Recently he was challenged by the proprietor of the cabaret where he was working. The Boss brought out his own office dictionary. Ray decided to put on a good front and did the effect. It worked! to the complete bafflement of his boss! The LP system works with any dictionary 80% of the time. David Magus of Tulsa bought the electronic LP from the Cassini brothers for over $2000 more than a year ago. And so have others. The inventor is still waiting for his paultry $60 commission for each sale as promised by the Cassini Brothers who claim they never steal other peoples' ideas. PANDORA·S BOX. AXE has contracted John Pomeroy of Seattle for one of his "Strong Box." This prediction box has to be seen to be appreciated. It sells for $1200. The secret mechanism cannot be found even if it is minutely examined! John is an expert mechanic and master of many arts. He is building some of the finest magic available and is currently on show with his own full evening show titled "Bloody Jack." This is a magical-musical stage show with 20 illusions I The "Deluxe Ring Box" featured in Pandora II is now part of the AME collection. Ron McMillon of London makes these beautiful boxes BUT he only makes a few at a time so they are hard to get. At this writing, Bob Little, 27 Bright Road, Hatboro, Pa. 19040 has two of these that sell for $40. If interested write him, as he may be able to furnish them. THE PHOTON SHI~D, Barlow J. Wagman uses the logo decals of the hotel where he is showing as the Photon Shield. Great idea. State flag shield decals and University decals are good also. Everyone around knows what these decals stand for, so little attention is directed to them. The Transfermental Clip Board was invented by Ray Piatt of Magic Makers after he toyed with the Photon Shield clip board. He simply made a mechanical version of the Photon Shield. The trick envelope used in the Transfermental board was included by permission from AME. Ray Piatt is a master mechanic that creates great magic and is coming out with some good stuff soon.

17 THE KOLOPHON THE

AM~ M~NTAL-GRAM

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE II

. . .• cont.

. . .. . .

PSYCHO-M~NTISIS: Bill Palmer of Houston Texas presented AME with a gift of sticks of metal called Wood's Alloy. This metal melts at 150d F. and can be handled with the bare hand! while melted! The metal is highly poisonous. It is used in sprinkler systems.

MASTER SLATE SECRETS. Great news for the lovers of slate magic and the seance room. Sanford Corporation of Bellwood, Ill. 60104 sell a Japanese made white marker called "Meanstreak" that is currently available through stationery stores. This marker writes exactly like chalk and then dries instantly and permanently! THIRD ECSTASY. Cards made in Taiwan of rice paper are transparent! Stanley Lefkow of Summit, N.J. says that cards with pips in all four corners are available in europe. Ralph "Summer" Athey uses giant ESP cards to show the audience what ESP cards look like! TH~

THE DAMNED THING. "It is great. Like real mindreading" Phantini. THE "Is this a Miracle? or are we just dumb?" Department,

THE PROGRESS, Caldwell, N. J. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER lB. 1980

FLAVIAN, a rising young star in the Mental Firmament, challenged the AME Think Tank with the following: "Go to any hardware store and buy any Master combination lock." Wi did! "Now please open it but don't let me see the combination and then lock it again and turn the dial. " We did! Fabian then took the lock, fiddled with it a bit and opened it! Fabian may release his secret in some future A~~ release. Any comrrents from the readers

will

I

~e

welcomed.

Local Dlentalist to appear on TV 9 Flavian, master mentalist and psychic entertainer has been invited to appear on the Joe Franklin Show which is seen at 9 a.m. and repeated at 2 p.m. over WOR-TV Channel 9. The show which will be taped on Tuesday, has been tentatively scheduled to be· aired on Wednesday. Flavian, a Caldwell resident. will be talking about and demonstrating the latest p~sibilities of the human mind's potential. "ESP capabilities lie dormant within everyone." Flavian says. "with most people using only about 10 percent of their brain's \ power." Flavian Joe Franklin. who just celebrated his :