Al Mann - The TKares Set

POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHO LD, NEW JERSEY 07728

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An ALMANN

ULTRA ·EX CL US IVE

With the secre t of The TKare s Set, the posse sor will creat e the illusi on of great telep athic power ! But the creat er of this illusi on will be the only perso n who knows that it is an illusi on. While every member of your audie nce will be baffle d For you see Illusi on thinki ng they are witne ssing the real pheno menon . is every thing! to THE TKARES SET: Five members of your audie nce are asked a , house A they wish. secre tly draw simpl e desig ns. They may draw anyth ing secre t choic e. and free a have They etc. gle, tree, a boat, bird, trian finish ed paper s are They are given paper and penci l for the purpo se. The them into an envel ope. then folded and the perfor mer colle cts them and puts nce. This perso n is The envelo pe is given to anoth er member of the audie far away, the perso n is invite d on stage , and while the perfor mer is stand ing open it and conce ntrate told to take out of the envel ope any slip desire d. To The perfor mer draws a desig n on a large slate and then on the drawi ng. desig n on a black board instru cts the assis tant spect ator to pleas e draw the The perfor mer shows his drawi ng to the large enoug h for the audie nce to see. Appla use! board . audien ce which is a dupli cate of the one on the black ly the perfor mer The same is repea ted with a secon d drawi ng, and final and has them ackno wledg e dupli cates all the desig ns drawn by the five perso ns Yet all Some appla use! Some profou nd silenc e! Much amaze ment! it. is illusi on! No carbo n impre ssions . No collu sion with the audie nce. It is purel y a Menta l Swind le. Magic of the Mind in NO two-p erson codes . its pures t form. Let's look behin d the scene s. s: The slips of paper you pass out are of diffe rent color THE SECRETS: sey widel The spect ators are chose n White , Blue, Green , Pink and Yellow . Maste r Mind colle cts the slips , he the When parat ed. They draw anyth ing. ins simil ar color slips switc hes them for anoth er loaded envelo pe which conta The dummy envel ope is with drawi ngs, any drawi ngs as it does not matte r! to pleas e come on stage given to a sixth member of the audie nce who is told

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THE TKARES SET

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

slip from the envel ope. and told to stand befor e a black board , to remov e any the desig n by the know You To open it and to conce ntrate Ofi the desig n. tell the spect ator then and color of the slip, so you draw that on a large slate ! Voila ! match ns The desig to pleas e draw it also on the black board . desig n on the the drew So, you think , What happe ns with the perso n who He or she does ! Wrong same color slip2 He will know it is not his desig n! perso n did this as color not know if someo ne else also got a slip of the same away from far were which not see the slips given to the other four spect ators ns! him/h er! will appla ud includ ing the five perso ns who drew desig Every one thing - That the desig n Each one of the five perso ns will be think ing the same four! just drawn was drawn by one of the other ator on stage to So you can repea t the test again by tellin g the spect If you went no furth er after the secon d test you pleas e pick anoth er slip. just walk off the stage would have create d the perfe ct illusi on and you could ts! leavin g a very baffle d audie nce, includ ing the five artis ample time to But letis not be so merci ful. By this time you have had that were stole n by have secre tly peeke d at the five drawi ngs from the siips actua lly drawn by the the envelo pe switc h. These are the five desig ns that were If you can not memo rize five drawi ngs, five volun teers in the audie nce. on a small card which you can draw them with lead penci l on your slate , or you palm as a promp ter. tant spect ator So, after the secon d test is over, walk up to the assis perso n as you this ss dismi and take the envel ope from him/h er and thank and IMPRESSIONS OF LOT A G GETTIN "I am amaze d! I am overw helme d! I AM say, So now ingl" anyth drawn from the audie nce, even from perso ns that have not ! waves athic telep the h throug you draw all the desig ns that are comin g to you one no if then And . drawn You draw first the five desig ns that were actua lly etc. has thoug ht of it draw also a tree, a triang le or star, "Did I get your ask, and THE GAFF IS IN! Point to the five perso ns ask, "Who in Then y. loudl Have the five ackno wledg e thoug hts corre ctly? " You will see etc. and le?" the audie nce was think ing of a tree and a triang some hands go up! black board . NOTE: YOU do your drawi ngs on your own slate or on the just perfor med In the eyes, ears and mind of your audie nce, you have (Entr e Nous, you have just done The Tesse ract backw ards!) a mirac le! The reade r proba bly has his own pet metho d for h will do. switc hing one loaded envel ope for anoth er. Any good switc from Inner -Spac e h Switc ope Envel ey Odyss the I prefe r a varia tion of Odyss ey. The Odyss ey envelo pe is made by using the busin ess glassi ne-en velop es as shown in Fig. 1. The beaut y about this switc h is that any artic le place d into the Odyss ey envelo pe can be seen insta ntly throug h the glass ine window! The illusi on is perfe ct. You place , say, a red colore d bille t into the envelo pe and hand the envelo pe imme diatel y to anyon e and they can see the red color bille t thr~ugh the window! Yet a switch The switc h is direc t and undet ected ! has been made! Fig. 1

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THE TKARES SET THE SWITCH

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE CONT.

PREPARING THE ENVELOPES: Two envelopes are gimmicked. Designate one envelope "A" as shown in Fig. 2A. Envelope "A" is prepared by detaching the top edge of the glassine window so that it becomes an invisible slit. Otherwise the envelope is intact. Inside this envelope, place the five dummy multi-color billets with the planted designs. These billets will show plainly through the window! Envelope "B" is prepared firstly by glueing a piece of white paper to the inside of the glassinewindow so that nothing will show through it. If you insert color billets into this envelope, it will appear to be empty as nothing is seen through the window. Next, Detach the center back part of the envelope for only an inch as shown by the dash lines in Fig. 2B. If you then tuck the flap under this center part, the envelope will now look like in Fig. 2C. You may wish to re-enforce this center part by glueing a strip of white paper to the inside, as shown by the vertical dash lines in Fig. 2C. This part will be used like a chute, as will be seen. MOUNT THE ENVELOPES: Now you must mount the envelolopes by inserting the top of the center part of envelope "B" into the glassine window of envelope "A." This is shown in Fig. 2D. Now it is quite plain that you can easily and secretely make a switch, by pretending to place a billet into envelope "A" but actually the billet is pushed through the detached top of the glassine window and into envelope "B" by the help of the 'chute' part.

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o Another good touch is to slit the bottom of envelope "B" so that after you have given enFig. 2 velope "A" to the spectator in the audience, you can stick your right hand (assuming you are right handed) and push the billets into left hand palm position. You do this when you turn your back to the audience and return back to stage. On stage you place the envelope in your pocket and pick up your slate (or art board) then while giving instructions to the spectator on stage, attach the stolen slips to the slate onto double-sided tape that you placed there before. As you continue, you secretly open out the slips to glimpse the drawings and copy them on the slate in pencil and then remove the slips and pocket. ANOTHER FINE POINT: In covering the window from the inside in envelope "B," it is better to cover the whole inside back of the envelope. This way you will not have any obstructions when inserting the billets. You will be dealing with a smooth surface. These fine points will become apparent to the operator when he handles the Odyssey envelopes.

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THE TKARES SET

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

Do not insert each individual folded slip into the envelope as you collect them, but place them under your thumb on the outside of the envelope "A". Say that you are holding the envelopes in your left hand as shown in Fig. 2D. Your left thumb is on top while your fingers are underneath. You then pass among the audience and as each person finishes, instruct him/her to fold the slips. You collect the slips one at a time but you are moving fast, and place them all under your left thumb. When you have collected all five, Align them Fig. 3 all neatly and hold them as one in your right hand as shown in Fig. 3. Hold them up in the air as you say, "Five persons have drawn designs or symbols on these pieces of paper. Some of you in the audience may be able to guess perhaps one of the figures drawn. But I will wager a king's ransom that no one in this audience can tell us with certainty all the five drawings." "I will pass these slips of paper to someone in the audience." Here you insert the slips as one into the envelope. The way you are holding the slips makes it quite easy to pass them into envelope "B." Envelope "A" is immediately passed to the volunteer spectator who is told to come on stage (or platform). Having all five slips in a neat bunch, makes the handling and the palming easier. With a little practice you can do the above test using only one envelope! Take envelope "A" in your left hand and then take five billets as one, Fig. 3, and put them into the envelope, through the slit glassine window and into the crotch of your hand. It is easy to do. Your hand covers most of the window from below so that if you flash the glassine window, the dummy billets will not be seen. You must watch the angles, BUT since you are moving about, you have good cover, besides since the audience will see the billets (planted dummies) when you give out the envelope, no one can suspect any trickery. NOTE: The billets used measure

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by 3-3/4 inches overall.

THE GRAND FINALE: Since you know what design was drawn by each person due the the color of the slips, remember one design, say from the blue slip of the person on your far right. Do not callout or draw her design. At the end you ask her, "Did I get yours madam?" She will "No!" So you give her a slate or invite her on stage and tell her to draw her design for all to see. You anticipate by drawing her design before!

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(201) 431-2 429 POST OFFICE BOX 144 •

FREEHO LD, NEW JERSEV 07728

~ee se's CPieees Being some furth er insig hts into the art and techn ique of Bert Reese , bille t King, here unto unpub lished . The follow ing are excer ps from two lette rs receiv ed from Profe ssor DeNel (Barlo w J. Wagman) of dated Nov. 2, 1983 and Nov. 1, Hyat tsvill e, Md. (Note s, by Ai Mann) 1984.

Tf/OIJ6HTS ON PAPER:

"Altho ugh I never had the privi lage of seein g Bert Reese work, I did know someo ne who did see him. My uncle was a physi cian in Baltim ore-in the 1920' s ity in medic ine at that and 30's. Dr. Herman Seide l was his name. His activ He told me that he had s. time made him well known to the wealt hy Baltim orian orian s. At that Baltim hy been invite d to a priva te party by some very wealt that peopl e asked he which party , a profe ssor Reese gave a demo nstrat ion in out what had called Reese and write soemt hing on paper s, fold them, hide them hts been writt en." NOTE: Reese profe ssed to have the power to read thoug that had been writte n down on paper ! althou gh he had "My uncle had a shrew ed physi cian's eye for detai l and w Reese had seen what no magic al inter ests or inform ation, he said that someho was on the paper ." NOTE: There is one in every audie nce. But they still do not know how!. "In the 1940' s I was attend ing Pharm acy schoo l at p: Tf/f PIM downtown drug e Washi ngton Unive rsity. I worke d after class es in many

the Georg in the downtown area. store s. The evenin g hours tend to bring out the dregs thief , con man and pimp, a was es One such dreg was Charl es Roseb ery. Charl physi cians in rted perve for drug addic t. He set up orgie s and porno shows consi derat ions, other among n, retur Virgi nia and the Distr ict of Colum bia. In tic presc ripnarco legal some gues the physi cians gave Charl es and his collea I worke d in. store the at filled ns tions . Mr. Roseb ery had these presc riptio have been must He past. the about talked When night busin ess was slow, we REESE SEEN HAD HE r. reade cold val in his sixty 's then, but he had been a carni could he sober or Drunk lism. menta IN ACTION! And charl es knew about magic and and Booze from shook hands His off. do a cold read that could knock your sox e!" chang che Deman The h. drugs , but he did a very neat bille t switc by C. Land Neil. NOTE: For the Demange chang e, see The Modern Conju rer

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THE TKARES SET REESE'S PIECES

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AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE cont.

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"Charlie said that Reese had a thick accent and used the accent as misdirection ••• searching in the air for the word. Charles also said that Reese had a wife and two daughters. They were introduced by a chairman at a meeting of some spiritual nature." ' "Both my uncle and Charles remembered that Reese kept smoking cigars. They were expensive cherroots - - I asked about them and both my informants remembered they were is a sort of case - - a leather cigar case! This was about 4 by 6 inches AND WOULD HAVE MADE A GREAT COVER FOR THE BILLET READ! "Charlie recalled something Reese did that I have not seen described elsewhere. That is 'THE STASH AND READ." Charlie said that Reese would steal a billet or two, open them and leave them open in some 'stash ' - a book or magazine. When Charlie discussed how the 'stash' held the billet he said something about -- In that crowd, you don't take chances- Reese did not use wax, he used some glue from flypaper." NOTE: Reese used a piece of flypaper which was what we call today, double-sided tape. He also used the back of a chair for the stash!

QUlft PELlf'TS:

"On pellets, Reese showed the writer how to roll the pellet, and then unrolled them for the subjects to write their words in. Pre-rolling was not only a demonstration, but also made the final pellet smaller and it wrinkled the paper so it could be opened quitely." "Reese performed in parlours, or sitting rooms, Candles or gaslight and a fireplace made flames available, but there was a place Reese could dispose of billets and paper without burning them, - THE SPITTOON! - The spittoon was present in almost every well-to-do home." "Charles seem to recall Reese used a hand-to-hand passing switch for the one-ahead. He threw the billet at someone after reading it." LOCKED PLACES: Reese had a 'thing' about locked places: lockets, watches, desk drawers. That too added to the misdirection. - More emphasis on the places the billets went, than on the billets or his handling!" NOTE: After Reese read the billet one-ahead, he then switched the billet in the act of throwing it to someone. The swing of the arm made perfect cover for the switch as the palmed billet is thrown instead of the one just read. This is the same move that magicans do when they switch a coin or die in the act of passing it from one hand to the other.

tXVJ)ATIOHS:

"I do recall that my Uncle "doc" was reluctant to talk about his visit at the gathering where Reese performed. He fel t i t was very unprofessional for him to accept the invi ta tion. He was 'the only physician there. He said there was an 'aroma' or strange smell in the room where Reese pertormed. It was in the late fall or early winter and there was a fire in the fireplace. I had a theary that Reese might have thrown some insence on the fire to cover up the smell of burning paper, but I never could prove it."I did use some insence of my own when I did parlor readings - and it is exce(lent cover for burning the center- tear material."

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'l'HE TKARES SET REESE'S PIECES

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE cont. I

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EXUDATIONS: NOTE: Actually the smell of incense or some peculiar perfume was a personal trademark that many famous mediums used including Madam Helena P. Blavatsky. It was inferred that their psychic bodies exuded this 'heavenly' aroma. It became part of their personality and could be smelled on their letter envelopes, clothing and could even be passed on to anyone whom the medium touched. Not a bad publicity stunt even today. The ringing of sweet tiny "fairy bells" in the air invisibly was also a trade mark with some, plus the floating or flashing of lights,. In closing Professor DeNel gives us one of his secrets of misdirection. "For conversation and misdirection I found a cigarette lighter that looks exactly like a small derringer (gun). It is marketed as the 'Nesor Piezo Electric Gas Lighter.' The lighter looks so much like a real gun, no one seems to remember that I am using a piece of paper. I use it with the Osterlind Ultimate Center-Tear (see The Apodosis). I have also used some watersoluble paper in my billet work,. Sure beats having to turn off the smoke alarm." I

Barlow J. Wagman is a doctor of dentistry~ He has been interested in magic and Mentalism most of his life and has a large collection of memorabilia. He did some intensive research into the life of Bert Reese some decades ago, when Annemann publish the Beert Reese secrets. But today he can not find these notes which are lost in his collection. The above information, he related from memory~ He also performs shows ih Mentalism which he loves. AME salutes Professer DeNel for his lifetime interest in the art and his contirbution as noted here under Reese's Pieces. I

Be careful how you go about removing clouds. Back around 1915, Bert Reese was arrested for 'Cloud Removal' and made the headlines. He had offered to remove a dark cloud hovering over a lady's head for $200 (a small fortune then). The lady was a police detective in disguise! CLOUD REMOVAL THE EASY WAY: Master Mentalist John Smetana, member of the AME think tank, did a show in upstate New York for a group of bankers. After the show, he went to the bar and bought a drink and then sat by a large window. As he looked up to the sky, he noticed that the clouds were slowly vanishing. - A fellow banker came by and said, "John, those things you do. They are' all tricks, aren't they?" "Some are and some are not," answered John. "Keep your eye on that cloud. I am going to make it vanish by my psychic power." The cloud soon vanished'. The fellow banker gave a laugh and walked away. 'John said to me, "He laughed, but later he is going to wonder." ' John confided that he had got the idea from reading Mental-Ettes. (TKares Set spelled backwards is Tesseract!)

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