Performing Strong by Docc Hilford

I'm a mentalist. You're a mentalist We are mentalists. What we all have in commo n is we all want to perform unusual feats. Whether we do it in a private show, i n a bar or at a hotel show. But economic down-turns changed the landscape from the US to the UK and beyond. We all slowed down. But... NOW IS THE TIME TO GET WORK! Everyone is beginning to look for entertainment again. Corporate, private partie s and general entertainment shows are back. And if you have a really strong piec e to demonstrate what you can do, you will get work. The fundamental idea is, if you do something totally inexplicable, in public or in an office of a client, you will make a lasting impression. And that impressio n will translate into paid shows. Before we can really get started, we need to have some examples of good mentalis m, great mentalism and STRONG MENTALISM.

We won't compare anyone's contemporary effects; let's use tricks from The Jinx agazine as examples. This isn't a list of the best from The Jinx, merely clear xamples of tricks that fit either of two situations. We'll look at tricks that an be performed for a single viewer, like an agent or that work well in a bar, ub or at a private party. Places we're likely to generate work.

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If the subject is convinced you can't know his information, any revelation of a thought is an example of good mentalism, such as Two Papers and a Spectator (pag e 3). The equivalents of the modern peek wallet can be found in Compact (page 28 5) and Impromptu Vision (page 83). They're good mentalism. You have virtually th ousands of tricks available today that are good, mysterious and demonstrate pseu do psychic ability. Great mentalism might be more inexplicable, with multiple revelations like Par-O ptic Vision (page 48). A clean design duplication is great mentalism, as in Extr a Sensory Perseption (page 52). And a personal living and dead test can be quite compelling. Check out Dead or Alive! (page 11) for the inspiration to my own D. O.A. But STRONG mentalism is a level above good and great mentalism. For our definiti on it means an effect that is so unbelievable that it might be real! Early in my career as a magician / mentalist, a man performed a single mentalist ic trick for me and my friends. He built up the trick so long and so hard that I wasn't sure it was a trick. I started thinking, "This guy really believes he ca n do this stuff!". When he was successful with the trick, I thought it might hav e been real. I knew all about tricks, gimmicks and ploys. But his build up was s o strong and the effect so unbelievable, I couldn't help but consider it as bein g feasible. It's like UFO encounters. The bigger the tale, the more incredible the alleged f acts, the higher the possibility people will believe it. One of the weerdest tricks in mentalism was published in May, 1937. In issue num ber 32 of The Jinx, Arthur Monroe's contribution, Voodoo, first saw print. Here it is direct from the pages of the magazine.

In case you can't read the print, basically the effect is: The [marked] coin on string is placed In a small metal box, and with It is put a

blank piece of paper or calling card. Rubber bands are snapped around the box a nd it is handed to the host or hostess. You ask her to hide It in the most remot e corner of the house, in an old trunk, under the mattress upstairs, or in the a ttic. She can go alone or take someone with her, but no one who stays in the room know s where the box has been put. When the lady returns, she Is asked to select a ca rd from the deck and keep it in her possession. The lights are now turned out, and after a moment or two of silence, a small gre en light glows at the table where you are standing, AND YOU ARE SEEN TO BE HOLDI NG THE BOXI You give it a gentle shake and the rubber bands which are of the hea vy type and snapped tightly on, are seen to fall off. The box is opened and stri ng with coin removed. Another gentle shake and the coin drops off cord to table, leaving only the knotted cord in hand. The string Is replaced in the box and yo u pick up the piece of paper or card. Writing something on the paper you put it back in box on top of string, close the box and snap bands back on. Now the gree n light is extinguished, and after a few moments the lights are turned on. The spectator who marked the coin is asked to pick it up from where It fell on t able, and IT IS HIS IDENTIFICATION MARK! Then you ask the hostess to go and get the box from its hiding place. Upon returning, she opens it herself and finds on ly the knotted string and card upon which is written in bright green ink. "The c ard you selected was the Ace of Hearts." Wow! That's so far above revealing a word written on a business card, it's UNBEL IEVABLE! As wild as the effect is, it seems only a handful of performers have ever used i t. In over 75 years of it's existence, I've personally only heard of less than a dozen and witnessed only one performance of Voodoo. But it's a FANTASTIC effect! When mentalists have presented this piece of theate r, audiences have been stunned. Almost every mentalist has heard of Voodoo. We a ll claim a love for the effect. But why is it so often talked about, yet so seld om performed? In the next installment we'll go over some reasons STRONG mentalism is set aside for good and great effects instead. Hit Them With Your Best Shot! In Part 1 we established my belief that buyers are looking for mentalists again. There are plenty of marketing strategies, but at the end of the day, they want to see you do something. This can either be in a casual setting such as in a bar or a more formal, almost audition type setting like an office. For the record, I'm one of those who don't do auditions for mentalism shows. But like how I neve r have a boss, I only have clients, it's a matter of semantics. I don't do audit ions, but I'm certainly willing to perform something in a private setting. If th ey're they same thing to you, so mote it be.

In public someone can see you that can change your career, if not permanently, a t least for a couple of good gigs. One night I was showing off my A material in a wine bar in San Antonio, Texas and noticed a woman watching. She never smiled; she just sat and observed. After my performance I approached her to investigate why she was so bitter. She turned out to be a booking agent and I got a terrifi c job from that performance. If I had remained quiet in the wine bar, she would have never hired me. I was auditioning and I didn't even know it! I would add t hat every public performance you do, even if only one trick, has the potential t o be one of these casual auditions.

The course The Secrets of Perfect Paid Performances, explains that you're still performing after the fact when any audience member is talking about you later. T hat means word of mouth advertising. So STRONG effects translate even more to pa id work. In private, showing the booker the best you've got is essential. But hold on a m inute, what's a booker? In the above course, the Booker is defined as the person with the check. They're not the audience and they want something different from an audience. They, in fact, want the biggest bang for their buck, so to speak. And that is why hitting him with your best shot is a plan for success. Often the booker will ask you to come into his office to discuss the project and want to see something live. That's our best chance to win.

The question becomes, why don't we use the hardest hitting, or STRONG effects in public or for casual auditions? I can think of three basic reasons: We don't know a STRONG piece. We want to save the STRONG piece for the paid performance. We're afraid the viewer won't believe what we're doing! Let's examine each reason. The first reason doesn't apply to you and me. We know plenty of amazingly unbeli evable pieces. If you don't, you can check my recommendation at the end of this newsletter. The second reason does apply to us. Many mentalist stand behind this theory toda y. But it's a faulty reasoning. Bascom Jones, was the editor and publisher of Ma gick, the only mentalism newsletter greater than The Jinx. Bascom knew plenty ab out performing. Yet he was always unnerved by contributors who offered one of th e tricks from their new books. These mentalists almost always wrote up the WEAKE ST trick from the bunch. Bascom asked why and the response was, "I want to save the great effects for the buyers." Bascom tried to point out that if the STRONGE ST effect appeared in the magazine, book sales would go up! Yet many contributor s maintained that buyers would be disappointed if they got the best trick for fr ee. The logic of, Save The Best For Last is unsound. Think about it. If a sample of an entree is the best from the menu, there's a better chance of buying the meal. And if you truly love the entree you bought it doesn't diminish the value of th e side orders or dessert. A couple months ago I was performing weekly in the central plaza at a Tulum reso rt. They had a stage, lights and sound. But I usually walk from the stage into t he audience and do one-on-one readings. Because it was an outdoor plaza there we re no house lights, I walked into darkness and the audience sat in darkness. The second week I noticed a follow spot light at the far end of the plaza. I grabbe d the entertainment director and suggested, "Let's use that spot light. Everyone will see the show better." He refused. I offered to pay a staff member to opera te it. He still refused. "Why?" I asked. "We're saving it." "You mean you're saving the bulb?" "No, the spot light. It's for the karaoke show later." He thought a spot light was a special effect! He didn't want to waste it on my s how. He didn't understand that the audience would never compare the value of the show based on the a different light. But rather they base the value on whether or not they can see and enjoy the entire program!

The same holds true for us. An audience will never (dare I go that far?), no nev er, judge us on whether they saw the STRONGEST piece of our show in public. In f act, it's more likely the opposite. They will make that STRONG effect your signa ture piece. Next time we'll look at the third reason for not showing our STRONGEST effect fi rst; it's too unbelievable. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! What we've discussed thus far. That a mentalism show is becoming popular a produ ct again. That we need to perform a STRONG piece to make the best impression. An d why we don't do that. Last time we covered the three reason why we don't perform the STRONGEST piece w e know as a free sample of our talents. The first two reasons, 1) We don't know a STRONG piece. 2) We want to save the STRONG piece for the paid performance, ha ve been explained away. Now let's examine the final possible reason for not hitt ing as hard as we can.

Reason 3: We're afraid the viewer won't believe what we're doing! Before we talk about what we think people won't believe, let's agree to what we think they will. Mentalists often subscribe to the plan of easing into believabi lity by starting with something like a memory test or mathematical trick and adv ancing into mind reading. A magic square is thought to be more believable than a book test. Probably the most believable demonstration of psychic ability is a r eading. I have built a reputation for walking into a place cold and within minut es have a crowd of people with their palms held out for reading. Ask Anthony Jac quin. Let's not argue about how many mentalists skip a palm reading in favor of a gimm icked effect because of ease of execution. Let's stay on the example of a good r eading being believable by the participant. If you ask around you'll discover th at most mentalists will choose to remain cold when given a choice. They don't wa nt to add known information and heat up the reading. "It's just not necessary," is their usual line of thought. Right, it's not necessary, but we're looking at why. And why is too often, "Because they won't believe it if I'm too accurate." A few years ago a well know mentalist, one who's name will remain hidden because he's reading this essay now, was performing an important public demonstration. I was there as a consultant as were several other big-name mentalists. At one po int I decided what was needed was a between-the-eyes presentation. So far the ev ent had been presented like a magic show; one trick, then another, then another. People were amazed, but not kicked out of their minds. I snuck up on a woman in the crowd. I explained that I was with the performer, b ut I wasn't sure if he was real or not. I asked her opinion. She wasn't sure eit her and so a small bond between us was formed. I proposed a small test for the m entalist. I asked her to think of something he could not possibly know. She woul d concentrate on that fact throughout his performance. If he picked it up and sa id it aloud, I'd believe he might be psychic. She agreed. "What kind of thing should I think of?" she asked. "I don't know. Something private that he couldn't know. How about the name of yo ur eighth grade teacher." "OK, Mrs. Turner."

"And I think we should make it specific so he can't guess. Did you ever see her car?" "Yes, it was a green Pontiac." "Great! Just think of that and don't tell anybody. And if he gets it, I'll admit he has something going." I left the woman concentrating on her secret information. I walked aside, wrote the info in note form on the back of a business card and called the producer ove r. I told her to casually give this note to the mentalist. He got the note, and started walking toward me to ask me a question about it! I quickly disappeared a round a corner and sent another message via the producer. He finally got the ide a. He was to stop in the middle of one of his tricks and look out into the crowd . He should say something like, "Someone here is testing me. You're thinking of their eighth grade teacher. Where are you?" When the woman identified herself he should continue, "The name is Turner!" It would create gasps. Then add, "And I see her at your school driving a green c ar. A Pontiac, right?" Imagine what would have happened. But, alas all that wonderful theater never too k place. The woman kept silently looking at me across the room. Her _expression said, "I guess he can't get it. I guess he's not really psychic." After the performance I asked him why he failed the test. "No one would believe it," he told me. He was sure that too much specific information would indicate he wasn't really a psychic. What he failed to understand is that he wasn't selling the fact that h e was real, he was selling an entertaining hour!

In reading the description of Mephisto's Journey, one fellow emailed me that he loved the effect, but would not be so stupid as to think people would ever belie ve he was in two places at once! Here we stand at a crossroads. There are severa l directions we can take. Will they believe it? Won't they believe it? Does it m atter? Belief is not the path we should choose at the crossroads. DESIRE is far better and more valuable than belief. If a viewer has a DESIRE to see more, a DESIRE to understand what he just saw or even a DESIRE to prove it all wrong, he is close to being sold on you as an entertainer. Strange demonstrations like Voodoo or Mephisto's Journey create DESIRE in an aud ience. Something lesser tricks can only do on a lower level. Create that DESIRE and you have VALUE! Create something that must be discussed further, and you hav e word of mouth advertising. Become controversial and you become rare and wanted . Next time we'll go over what in Arthur Monroe's Voodoo needed to be changed in o rder to perform it anywhere for potential clients. Even an agent's office or a b usy pub!