Richard Osterlind - Essays

ssays Essays Richard Osterlind

Essays

Richard Osterlind www.osterlindmysteries.com

© 2004 by Richard Osterlind All rights reserved. Reproduction or utilization of this work in any form by any means now known or hereinafter invented, including, but not limited to, xerography, photocopying and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission from the publisher. First E-Book Edition October 2004 E-Book Layout & Design - Jim Sisti

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Dedication

his is dedicated to magic. We are magical if we find magic around us. We are magical if we make magic around us. Some people are just, in themselves, magical. Lisa is magic.

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Preface

hese essays will conclude the work begun in Making Magic Real and continued in Making Real Magic. Like those, the material here is accumulated from notes and ideas developed over the last 20 years. My opinions were often changed and refined over that time and I humbly offer to the magic fraternity what I consider to be my current thoughts on the subjects expressed. In order for the reader to better understand the purpose of these essays and their place in the trilogy, let me give a brief history of how all three books came into being. Making Magic Real was first written as a set of notes for a lecture given in Cincinnati, Ohio. The basic intent of the lecture was to convince magicians they could actually believe in their own magic. Further, if they could believe what they did was real, so would their audiences. The lecture was completed and the book was then put aside and forgotten. It was over a year later that Jim Sisti and I decided to adapt and offer it as an e-book. I had little idea at the time that it would be so well received. In addition to the sheer number of orders, the feedback from so many magicians, many of whom I greatly admire and respect, was outstanding. Because of this response, and the request of many magicians for similar material, I decided to begin work on the sequel. Making Real Magic had a different goal in mind. I wanted to define exactly what magic is and how it is a true performing art. I wanted to demonstrate where we fit in as performers and to stress that magic is not an art of deception, but one of creation – the creation of mystery and wonder. My desire was to make the magi-

cian feel proud of what he does and to give magic the respect it deserves. Finally, I wanted to show how magic should have the same deep, emotional impact on an audience as other art forms. Many topics were covered and I tried to blend them into a continuous reading experience. Often, during the writing of those pages, I found myself wanting to go elsewhere and explore other related topics. It soon became apparent to me that it would be impossible to do so and still keep the flow of the book. I knew a third work would be necessary. Essays is the completion of these thoughts. In this final volume, I have tried to touch upon many topics that magicians often ask me about or which I see discussed in the magic forums and periodicals. I have tried to travel back in time to when I was much younger and remember what my problems were then and what I did to solve them. I have tried to not take for granted things that I now take for granted. Most importantly, I have tried to show, through the use of good common sense, why these ideas are sound and ought to be followed. One of my main credos has always been the use of shortcuts. Perhaps a better phrase would be clear thinking. I have grown to understand that, in addition to working hard, one must also work smart. If there is a way to accomplish something by simple means, it is preferred over a difficult solution. As an example, in Making Real Magic, I wanted to demonstrate the need to be graceful and efficient. My solution was the silent mode concept. This shortcut allows the magician to overcome a multitude of problems in one easy and simple step. At the time, I wondered how the theory would be received. I was very gratified to find how many readers thought that was one of the best chapters in the book! Within these pages, I have tried to use similar ideas for a variety of purposes. Whenever possible, I have attempted to show a quick and effortless way to achieve results and avoid potential problems. If any of these concepts seem a bit far-fetched, please remember that I would not have offered them if I hadn’t been using them myself. I am a great believer in the ability and adaptability of the human spirit. If your subconscious mind is set on the right track, it will take over and do for you automatically what you con6

scious mind cannot. For the third and final time, I sincerely hope the reader finds real value within these pages. I sincerely hope he or she will examine his or her thinking and be somehow moved by what I write. Again, I offer all my hopes and best wishes for your success.

Richard Osterlind Falmouth, KY October 2004

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Love and Magic

his may seem like a very strange way to start off a magic book. It is, however, the single most important value I can stress. If you read nothing further, please study this first essay. First, we must love magic. There is no way we can do justice to magic if we don’t love it and all aspects of it. We must love what magic is, the principles of magic, the props of magic, the books of magic and the performances of magic. We must love how it feels to perform magic, how it feels to see magic and how it feels to read about magic. We must even love bad magic because it teaches us what is wrong and what to do right. We must especially love the hard work of magic. Like anything else in life, if it comes too easy, it probably isn’t worth having. Yin and yang, black and white, darkness and light all attest to the balance in our world. Put the labor done to accomplish something on one side of the scale and the rewards on the other side will be as great. If you ever gave up on a magical effect because you couldn’t master it, then you did not love it enough. You must decide very carefully what is important to you before you set out to do it. You must make sure it is something really valuable to you or the love won’t be there and you will never give the effort. This is why trying to master every sleight in a book is rarely a good idea. When, however, you are aching to accomplish a magicial routine that depends on a certain sleight, you will conquer it. It also means you will cherish the effect so much that you won’t run the risk of ruining it by not practicing. One of the splendors of the art of magic is the hard work involved in mastering our art is joyful toil! It is exhilarating to at8

tempt the impossible and the hours spent learning to do so are as gratifying as the final result. To anyone who has been in magic for any length of time, you know this is true. Second, we must love our audience. This is so very important! Loving others is the essential ingredient in every major religion in the world. Loving others is what will make you happy or sad. It is the prime consideration in everything we do. You cannot truly succeed in magic without understanding this. Loving your audience does not come as easily as loving magic. You must love people and respect each and every one for who they are. This comes from a far deeper level than doing a great Pass or Second Deal. It comes from what you are made of and how you view the world. When my video series Mind Mysteries was released, the most common feedback I heard was, “Richard is such a nice guy! He just comes across as a friendly person.” Sure, I received many accolades about the material, but this was still the overwhelming critique of the series. I am not saying this because of some enormous ego, but because I want to explain why it is that I give off that image and how important the philosophy is behind my thinking. It is simply because I genuinely like people! I like the feeling I get when I do something good for someone else! When I stand in front of an audience, I want to affect them, not trick them. I want to feel their sense of wonder along with them. I want to be part of the experience because I truly want to give them something extraordinary! Let me ask you some questions. Are you the kind of person who feels good about dropping a buck or two into the Salvation Army bucket at Christmastime? Are you the kind of person who would run to help a stranger in trouble? Are you the kind of person who will listen to someone else’s problems for hours in order to console them? If so, then you are probably a great magician. If not, I feel sorry for you. Think about this. Of all those in magic that you know, who are the people you admire the most? Aren’t they the ones who are friendly and want to help? Aren’t they the ones who are unafraid to share? Consider for a moment how Michael Ammar comes across on his teaching videos. Is there any doubt in your mind that he is 9

sincere? Picture Lance Burton doing an intimate segment with his audience. Can’t you somehow just tell that he likes people? There are so many others I could mention. My good friend Banachek and I have a slight disagreement. He says that any mentalist who believes he has real telepathy is self-deluded. (We’ll joke about this later!) I, on the other hand, think that we all have telepathy and that an audience can sense your intentions as soon as you walk out on stage! If you are arrogant, even if you try to hide it, they will know. If your goal is to show them how smart and clever you are and how well you can trick them, they will feel it and hate you. If, however, you smile and look around at the individual faces of your audience and try to see each and every one as an important and valued human being, you will have the right mental attitude. You won’t be able to not like them. You will want to offer them something special. You will crave to see that feeling of excitement and wonder come over them when you perform some impossible thing. Your whole goal as a magician should be to give them that which you love so much! As a magician you cannot have a sour view of the world. You cannot focus on the misery and sadness. You must, instead, learn to find goodness wherever you go. Only then can you spread delight into the hearts of those that you are trying to entertain. Only when you have an optimistic outlook on life can you create the joy and happiness that magic can bring. One of the important lessons I learned in life is never to prejudge anyone. When I began to do corporate shows, a driver would often pick me up at the airport. I assumed they were just cheap, hired hands. I was so wrong! In talking to these gentlemen, I was often shocked to find out how many were retired executives who just wanted a small part-time job on the side. Many of them had held important positions and had made enormous salaries in companies that I now did shows for! They just wanted to still be around the action. Likewise, in doing work at clubs and private parties, I have often misjudged people by my first impressions. Once a person, who I had taken for just an ordinary blue-collar worker, lent me 10

the keys to his new Porsche Boxster to take for a ride! I’m not talking just about wealth here. Getting to know members of my audience has taught me that most people have incredible stories to tell about their lives. Many have been through heroic endeavors or faced terrible challenges. I have been inspired and held in awe by some of the narratives. I could only hope to live up to the integrity of some of these individuals. Never pre-judge and never think yourself better than anyone! Nate Leipzig said, “If they like you as a person, they will like your act.” Let me add to that: In order for them to like you, you have to like them first! There is one last critical step to be learned. You must get en rapport with your audience. You need to feel as though you are one of them. You have to enter into their way of thinking and know what touches their fancy. To do this, you have to like them and want to be one of them. You have to think like they do. When you do, you will find the same things funny. You will say the appropriate line at the right time. You will know where they are coming from and can adjust your magic accordingly in order to get the maximum effect. Also, in so doing, you will place yourself on their level instead of a higher one. Then, even though you will shine, you will not come across as acting superior. There is one exception to this advice. Once in a great while, you may come across an audience that is a bit crude. Regardless of the crowd you are working for never, ever use vulgar or bathroom humor. There is no excuse to ever do this. Although you may think it will get you in good with that particular crowd, your prestige will go down, both for yourself and them. You will never work the better shows or aspire to a higher level in this field. Keep your dignity at all costs. Again let me quote Nate Leipzig: “They like to feel that a gentleman has fooled them.” Many magicians go after the wrong thing. They want elaborate apparatus, fancy sleights, crazy clothes and beautiful assistants. Do what I have said above and your success, with even the simplest magic, will be assured.

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Appearance

hat I am about to present here is basically a rewrite of an article I wrote for Jim Sisti’s The Magic Menu for the March/ April issue in 1996. It was titled A Few Tips on Close-up Magic. The Magic Menu was devoted to restaurant work. Even though these essays go beyond that field, the advice is still crucial to the success of any magician or mentalist. Many will read this and say to themselves, “Of course! Why is Richard wasting my time by telling me this?” Unfortunately, I know from personal experience that some magicians need to hear this. Most of the following is directed at the men reading this. Women already know better! In the preceding chapter, I talked about how you act before an audience and how you come across. Long before you open your mouth, however, they will see you! How you look is vital to your success as a performer. Let’s start with clothing. Good magic books have always advised the magician to wear the best clothes he can afford. This goes without saying. If you wear a suit, make sure the quality is topnotch. Remember that an expensive suit will last much longer than a cheaper one and will continue to look good after lots of use. I once heard someone say, “I don’t have enough money to buy cheap!” That was great advice. If you buy cheap clothes, you will constantly be replacing them and the cost will be higher than if you bought good stuff in the first place. You should also be aware of how dirt or wetness will show up on material. I prefer a dark gray color as I believe it is the most practical. It takes abuse very well without showing it. Black clothes, which are so popular with magicians, can show up lint and dust. 12

Some lighter colors turn very dark if they get something wet spilled on them. When choosing clothes, practicality is as important as looks. A white suit would come across as outstanding, but would be next to impossible to keep clean. Some suits look great when fresh from the dry cleaner, but look ruffled and wrinkled after traveling in a suitcase. If you wear one, pay particular attention to your tie. This, more than any other item of apparel, is noticed by your audience. A good silk tie is the only way to go and you should be very careful about the color and design. It is common for businessmen to wear bright colors as long as they are not gaudy. A red or yellow “power tie” looks great and you can never loose with silver. Be careful of any designs you might choose. I love my sister dearly, but I cannot wear the tie she gave me last Christmas that’s emblazoned with a deck of cards! If, perhaps, a suit and tie is not your style, then please pay attention to your television. I understand that many magicians want to look different and have that special look about them, but you have to have some resemblance of good taste. If you are a “rock star”-type of magician, then look at what rock stars actually wear. There is plenty of opportunity to see them on MTV. If the “Hollywood actor”-look is your cup of tea, then look to the entertainment magazines along with the late night interviews on Letterman and Leno. Just because you have seen another magician wear a particular type of outfit doesn’t mean that is the look for you (or maybe even for him!) You must seriously consider who your audience is and what they wear. Although you are the entertainer and are entitled to look a little different, if you go too far, you may not be hired back. Remember the en rapport comments in my previous essay. Jewelry is important, but it can be overdone. Watch out for the gaudy rings that so many magicians like to wear. Do not resort to cheap knock-off watches like the fake Rolexes and other brands. Knowledgeable people can spot them a mile away. You are far better off with a good quality Seiko or Citizen than pretending you have a $5000 watch. Likewise, some of the cheap gold bracelets being sold only look good for about a week. 13

A meeting planner once told my manager she knows people are fastidious with their suits, ties and jewelry, but what she looks for are the belt and shoes! That is where many let things slip. Considering the cost of the rest of your outfit, it is not much more of an investment to buy good quality shoes and belts. Now let me touch upon a subject that most magicians are a bit timid about – makeup! I am not referring to theatrical makeup worn on stage as that is a given and is a study unto itself, but rather makeup worn for normal performing occasions. Many male magicians may think they are much too manly to consider such a thing. Again, this is just being out of touch with the real world. Famous people such as presidents and heads of state wear makeup at public appearances. It is inconceivable that anyone would go on television without makeup. Celebrities won’t leave their house without makeup. You are an entertainer and are supposed to look good. That is the whole key – looking good! If you are a man, you don’t want to appear to be wearing any makeup; you just want to come across as looking special. Let me give you a few basic pointers. Try to find a liquid foundation to match your skin shade. Max Factor and Maybelline make a large variety in many different tones. It is better to err by one shade too dark than too light. Put a small drop on your fingers and dilute it with some water from your other hand. Smear it together, apply it to your face and rub it in. Make sure you don’t stop at the edges of your cheeks, but continue around so that you don’t have a line on the side of your face. The light covering should just cover any imperfections, but not look like a second skin over your face! Diluting it with some water thins it out and makes it more appropriate for men who don’t want it to show. Now find a good blush that has a darker tint to it. Use a large makeup brush and apply it sparingly to your cheeks and other parts of your face. Use a very light coating. Many companies make bronzers that work perfectly. Just make sure the one you buy doesn’t have little metallic speckles in it! Many do. When you are through, smooth out everything with your fingers to give a very natural look. If you appear to have a slight tan, that is all the better. Nothing can change your appearance as drastically as your hair. 14

Try to never get a haircut the day before a show. Always get it cut a few days earlier, so it can grow in slightly and not look freshly cut. (This is assuming you don’t wear a crew cut or shave your head!) If you feel as though your hair is a bit gray and want to color it, don’t be timid. If it will make you look better, then do it. Do not be coerced into thinking that only men’s hair colorings are your choices! There is basically no difference between a man’s hair and a woman’s. The men’s brands offer just a few shades, whereas the women’s offer every shade imaginable. Just remember one golden rule. If you are not sure about what shade to use, always go with one a bit lighter than darker (the opposite of the makeup.) Nothing looks as phony as a man’s hair color that is obviously too dark for him. Since so many magicians and mentalists sport them, I should also mention mustaches and beards. They should always be well trimmed and cared for. There are dozens of products on the market to help you with this, so there is no excuse. If you wear facial hair, keep it looking good. The next bit of advice comes from my wife, Lisa. Please pay attention to your eyebrows! Many men seem oblivious to the fact that too long or overly bushy eyebrows can ruin your appearance. Take one day to study all the men you talk to, pass on the street and just generally encounter. You will be amazed at how badly some of them look simply because of their eyebrows. Take the time to trim them accordingly or do what my wife makes me do – get your eyebrows done professionally! No, it doesn’t feel very manly lying in a chair getting them waxed, but what a revelation later! It changes your whole facial look and greatly enhances your eyes. This should go without saying, but hands and fingernails are crucial and that’s where your audience’s attention is constantly focused. Pay attention to your hands! Wear gloves when you cut the grass and do other yard chores and, if you have a day job that gets your nails dirty, use the strongest soap that you can (along with a brush) to clean them. As a magician or mentalist, you are more in the face of your audience than just about any other entertainer. There is nothing as foreign to the idea of magic as dirty fingernails. Also, make sure they are of a good length. Take a look 15

at magazine ads and you will readily see what is proper. There are some models that specialize in just hand ads. On a side note, as a mentalist, for years I have been reading that some magicians say their fingernails are too short to wear a Swami gimmick. Even though there are other types available, I always wondered just how short their nails were! My nails are not overly long and I have no trouble with a nail writer. Aside from the equipment choice, I can’t help but wonder if they don’t bite their fingernails! How bad does that look? One night I was watching Letterman and he had Jerry Lewis as a guest. When Jerry sat down, Letterman leaned over and said, “You smell like a star!” That got me to thinking. The next day I went out and tried about twenty different types of colognes to find one that I thought made me smell like a star! You should never use too much, but the better brands will last all night. If you do this, you will be amazed at how people seem to just like you more! I don’t think it’s necessary for me to mention the mandatory box of mints in your pocket. I prefer the “originally celebrated, curiously strong” Altoids. In the Preface, I promised some shortcuts. Here is one. Rather than guessing how to look, pick someone who you really admire and would like to emulate. I’m not talking about just magicians, but actors, singers or anyone else in the public light. Make sure you pick someone who approximates your looks, your general appearance, your hair type, etc. Then, simply do your best to copy them. Look at how they style their hair and the clothes they wear. See what looks good on them and apply it to yourself. You will make changes, of course, but that is good. You will, however, have a reliable starting point on which to build. Learn from the success of others. There is a reason why they are where they are.

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What Are You Trying to Accomplish as a Mentalist?

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know I have touched on this topic before, but from conversations I have had with aspiring performers and from what I have read on the Internet forums, I believe this question needs to be addressed in detail. As a mentalist, I sometimes want to pull my hair out when I read remarks such as, “What would a real mindreader do?” or “Why would you have someone write something down if you were a real mindreader?” First of all, ESP is an unproven ability! There are no rules for something that might not exist in the first place! Even if your goal were to prove you had such powers, and I will deal more with that in a moment, how can you imitate something that isn’t tangible? Why put all kinds of limitations on yourself when your basic starting logic is faulty? ESP may or may not exist. We all have our theories about that. Based on what many magic writers have written, ESP can be divided into various areas such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis and maybe a few others of the more occult nature. In an effort to give their performances more credibility, some men17

talists also use mnemonics, hypnotism, suggestion and, lately, NLP (or pseudo NLP!) in their acts. There have been countless volumes written as to how we should act or what we should claim. Arguments run rampant as to what is acceptable and what is not. It is my position that the first goal of a mentalist is to entertain! People hire you to come in and do stuff for an audience that amazes them, makes them laugh, and gives them something to think about. This should be your primary goal! To set your sights onto proving you have special powers, with only that in mind, will not do the job. As a matter of fact, it will court disaster! Let me state right here and now that if anyone were to come to me and claim they had psychic ability and try to prove it by doing tricks, I would see right through them! I have been around long enough and know enough about this art that I could expose them in a moment. Not only that, but I am not the smartest guy in the group. Others a lot more knowledgeable than I am, could do an even better job. These are not just mentalists or magicians either. There are plenty of lay people who have the instinct and insight to see through such lies. If you set your sights on succeeding as a mentalist by convincing people you are real, you will end up disgraced and, worse still, you will end up a liar! Since so many misinformed mentalists (and these individuals are usually very young and inexperienced) want to use pure logic to advance their arguments, let me throw it right back at them. If they want to say, “If you were a real mindreader, why would you have anyone write anything down?” then I would say back to them, “If you were a real mindreader, then why have an act at all? Why not just walk out on stage, announce that you are psychic and let the audience challenge you with their own tests?” That is where the logic goes! You can’t make claims and then try to control the conditions you prove them in. Even if you have a set show, somewhere along the line someone will say, “If you are real, then do it this way!” That is the problem with your primary aim being the proof of your powers. And yet, this is exactly how so many young mentalists think and then they wonder why they have so many problems in their shows! 18

To go even further with the lameness of these arguments, just the question, “If you were a real mindreader…” shows total ignorance. Mindreading is just a small part of mentalism. Demonstrating that alone will cause complete boredom in a very short time and will completely limit your choice of material. People want variety. They need to see different things and want surprises. The same holds true for other types of mentalism such as prediction effects, psychometry, clairvoyance, etc. To limit yourself to just one type of demonstration will soon become uninteresting no matter how strong the material. This all leads to another age-old question. Should and can I mix magic and mentalism? I, personally, see nothing wrong with that. Top mentalists such as Dunninger, Annemann, Al Baker and Al Koran had no problem mixing the two. Neither have some of today’s top performers such as Kreskin, Craig Karges, Tim Conover and many, many others. I am not proposing that you must mix magic in, but am saying that you can. Again, the topic is variety and that is what some magic offers. If you choose not to do this, then try to use some common sense and program your show to offer different directions. Keep your audience guessing what you are going to do next and what the limits of your “powers” are. Make them feel that the moment they think they have seen everything, there is still more! Entertainment is the key. Good mystery is, by itself, great entertainment. Add to this variety, charm, friendliness and good manners and you have a winning combination. Take away just one of those qualities and you will not succeed.

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What Are You Trying to Accomplish as a Magician?

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hen I first got into mentalism, many friends who were magicians criticized me. They told me that mentalism was too strong and that people would believe I really had ESP. I finally wrote a book in which I said, “It’s not that mentalism is too strong, it’s that a lot of magic isn’t strong enough!” Yes, there is a large number of mentalists who seem to have no other objective in life than to convince others they have real powers, but there are many magicians who seem to have no other goal in life than to convince everyone that “It’s just a trick!” Everything they do seems to want to pull the plug on what audiences want most – real mystery! In addition to using the term magic trick in front of their audiences, they also take delight in using the term illusion every chance they get. “What I do is create illusion. Everything I do is illusion.” I’m sorry, but I take offense at that constantly-used term. If you stop and think a bit about it, it really is a derogatory term. It implies not real – fake – you can’t really believe what I do! I was doing a convention in another country along with two other noted magicians (I won’t mention their names.) We had a 20

news conference. The first magician did some really wonderful magic. Then I performed some of my metal bending and mind reading. The press was stunned and said they never saw anything like that before. Then, this third magician, who I had just met and previously respected because of his fame in the community, immediately began talking about how everything we did was just an illusion! Then he performed a sponge ball routine! I was furious. It wasn’t as though he was trying to undermine me; he was doing his best to destroy the very mood of mystery I had created. He couldn’t stand seeing the state of mind the audience was now in and, of course, he was immensely jealous. Throughout the next few days, he showed his true colors and I feel very sorry that a man as old as he should not have learned more moral qualities in his lifetime. The point is, however, that he had to use the word illusion to attempt to destroy the mood. Let me give you another example to show my point. When David Blaine first came onto the magic scene, he performed standard magic on the street that blew away people. You would have thought the general magic population would have applauded his abilities to cause this kind of excitement with the same magic they were doing. Instead, many were furious and outraged that someone could get that kind of publicity and attention by doing “ordinary” tricks! They couldn’t wait to put him down and expose many of his stunts. Many just had to say that all he was doing was illusions . What in the name of all that’s good is the reason for that? Let me answer my own question – jealousy! He got the kind of reactions they never get and they were resentful! Now, if they were jealous because they tried to get those kinds of reactions – and couldn’t – then it might make some sense. The real problem is that they don’t try or even want those reactions! That’s right. If they do create that kind of mystery, they get scared! They are actually afraid of doing their job too well! I talked about this guilt in my book Making Real Magic. Because they feel that they are doing something dishonest when performing magic, they go out of their way to diminish its impact. 21

Perhaps some have this deluded belief that they possess some kind of power that could lead people astray if used wrongly and therefore have to remind the audience its all just a trick. That, of course, is nonsense and they couldn’t do that if they wanted to. Talking about nonsense, I recently heard that a noted “guru” in magic had stated that the reason so many younger magicians were getting into mentalism is they were unable to master close-up magic well enough to get the same kind of response they can with mentalism. Talk about self-centered, self-serving, just plain stupid logic! All this may seem like I am advancing my own interests and personal beliefs. I don’t think that is the case. I am just trying to look at things from a distance and analyze what I see. Magicians today idolize famous performers of the past: Houdini, Blackstone, Dunninger, Malini and on and on. Was there even one of them who acted like so many magicians act today? Did even one of those great magicians want to present themselves as someone who did simple tricks? No. They presented themselves as great miracle men and their magic as a thing of great importance. Their mysteries were so profound that they were the wonders of the world! They weren’t afraid to let it all hang out and do whatever they could to make their show spectacular. When a magic show came to town, it was the event of the year! I just wish today’s magicians would read about the past masters. I wish they would read about the effect these magicians had on their audiences. Then I wish today’s magicians wouldn’t be afraid to go out and do their job correctly and create real mystery.

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The Right Magic

n the preface of this book, I mentioned I have searched my mind trying to remember what things I used to do wrong in my performances and what I did to correct them. I can recall how I would often come home after a show feeling I didn’t do nearly as good a job as I had wanted. I might have spent days preparing for the performance and trying to foresee every angle to insure a good performance. Then I would get there and things just didn’t work as planned. Here, I believe, is one of the main reasons why. It is very usual and natural for a magician to predict in his or her mind all the conditions of a show. When you are booked, you project in your imagination what the room will look like, what kind of people will be in the audience, how your stage will be set up and, most importantly, how you will be received. You might picture the audience being in awe of your amazing powers and wildly applauding your wonders! Then you get there and things are not what you anticipated. The room may be set up differently than you had foreseen. There may be more or less people than you were told. The guests might be older, younger, better dressed, worse dressed, quieter, louder, in short, anything at all except what you expected. You then go out and try to do a show under the conditions you predicted instead of the conditions as they actually are. It is very hard to succeed given that scenario. Experience, of course, will teach you what to be prepared for. You cannot do anything for years without getting better at it! (At least, I hope so!) This essay, however, is meant to give some insight into the problem before experience teaches you the hard way! I have found the first consideration to be angles. The more 23

effects you can do surrounded, the better off you will be. I believe it was Art Emerson who once told me, “If an effect cannot be done surrounded, I don’t want to know about it.” I am not implying that every item in your repertoire must be angle proof, but you should always have backup items that can substitute for effects that need special conditions to work. It is important for good staging to have most of the audience in front of you, as you want them to be able to see everything clearly, but the practicalities of the real world are such that very often, you will be in an almost surrounded situation. Perhaps the limitations of the room will make it necessary for you to work with some tables on your sides. Perhaps the lighting will be such that you cannot be seen unless you stand in a certain spot. I have been in this business for over 35 years and, despite the fact that my manager sends out an elaborate rider that states the conditions I need for my show, I still encounter new and challenging situations all the time. When you find yourself in a predicament where you have to step back to hide some behind-the-scenes work or you run the risk of a few people seeing how you do your miracles, you cannot function as a true artist. Just the worry alone of dealing with that situation will subtract from your performing ability. As an example, one of the primary effects in my show is my Ultra Board. It plays very strong and I have been doing it for most of my professional career. If the room allows for the audience to be basically in front of me, I do it, but, if the conditions are such that some people might spot the working, I don’t even consider it. I have another item to use in its place. If you study my act in Volume One of the Mind Mysteries video series, you will see that every item can be done surrounded. Even my Thought Scan apparatus allows me to work in the middle of the floor. That gives me the peace of mind and freedom to concentrate on the performance. By having an act that can be done in virtually any performing situation, I can devote my full attention to dealing with showmanship instead of having to worry about bad angles. On a side note, let me point out that if you do arrive at a show and the conditions are not what they ought to be, you have every 24

right to try to make them so. If your rider was not followed correctly or if the staff simply set up the room in an unflattering way, it is your show and reputation on the line. I have often insisted a stage be moved or the lighting changed. Twice in my career I have arrived at a hotel where they had a loud band in the adjacent room. In both cases, the noise would have made a successful performance virtually impossible. I insisted the party be changed to a different room and in both situations it was done and the shows were successful. No one objected to my demands, as it was obvious it was the only way for me to succeed. Do not be afraid to speak up when there is a problem. I always envision myself as Kreskin or Dunninger and try to imagine what they would do in such a situation. Another consideration is how visual your show is. I can remember from my early days of performing that often I would arrive at a show expecting a crowd of 80 to 100 people and encounter one of 500! This is not a large crowd in theater seating, but in banquet seating (where everyone is sitting at tables.) This is huge! An effect that is perfect for a smaller group might get lost in such a large setting. Items that play too small may have to be discarded, but sometimes only a small change is needed to make them work. Using a jumbo-sized deck instead of an ordinary one might be the solution. Writing on a slate instead of a piece of paper will make a routine much more visible. Another trick I learned early on as a mentalist is to use people as your props! Whenever possible, have your effect rely heavily on the spectator’s reaction! When I do my Watch Routine, only the front row spectators can see the actual time on the watch, but their reactions tell the rest of the audience that it is the right time. My whole point is make sure you aren’t surprised when you arrive at a date to find that your act is not appropriate. You must do your best to have as flexible a show as possible and the ability to alter your performance to fit the requirements. Likewise, you have to have the ability to alter your style to fit the people you have to work with. You may be planning an intimate evening of clever magic only to find the crowd loud and boisterous. To attempt to do complicated routines requiring some think25

ing on their part is courting disaster. You have to be able to adapt and hit them between the eyes with something simple and powerful. Then you will win them over and, once you have their respect, you can move onto something more involved. My standard opening is my Bank Night routine. If I walk out on stage and feel as if half the routine will be lost because of the noise or too much talking, I begin instead with a straight forward, nail writer effect using the back of my business card. It goes something like this: “You, sir! Name a number! Read out loud what is on the back of this card! That gets their attention and quiets them down. The reverse can also be true. You may be expecting to make your entrance like gangbusters, only to find the crowd quiet and conservative. In such a case, it might be much better to tone down your demeanor and assume a more soft-spoken and intellectual attitude. A clever, introductory talk at the beginning of such a show might be better than any ten effects. To sum it all up, try to develop an act that can be done in almost any situation and completely surrounded. Have backup effects for anything angle prone and be willing to change your demeanor to one that is appropriate for the performing situation you find yourself in. When you succeed at this, your confidence level will rise tremendously and you will feel so much more professional.

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I

Wheat the Goose

have mentioned elsewhere that I often get inspiration from strange places. Here is one story that I think is worth telling. Living in Kentucky is a wonderful experience. People are real and life is down to earth. My brother-in-law lives about a half-hour away. He has three dogs, three or more cats, some horses and a goose! Canadian geese are not indigenous around here. They fly through a couple times a year on their way north or south. A friend gave the goose to him while it was still a baby. It was raised along with the other animals and considers itself to be one of the family! Now here is the interesting part. The goose runs around the property playing with the other animals and fighting for food. It bathes in the creek, eats well and is in perfect physical condition. It has everything a goose could possibly want – but it has never flown! There were never any other geese to teach it to. My brotherin-law has tried to make it fly, but the best the goose can do is run, flap its wings, and sometimes get off the ground for a few inches. Above is the beautiful Kentucky sky. That goose could be off soaring high above, looking down on the rolling hills and doing what man has only imagined and wished he could do from the beginning of time. But the goose doesn’t know it can! Does that tell you something?

27

Magic and Music

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suppose having spent so many of my formative years involved as a musician makes me predisposed to compare music and magic. It is very interesting to discover that many prominent magicians and mentalists are, and were, also musicians. Most people, whether they have such training or not, still have a great love for music. There is a lot to be learned by comparing the one art form to the other. To do so can be a very enlightening, and sometimes humbling, experience. Let us begin with the difficulty index. I have encountered two different types of magicians in regards to their outlook of the sleights used in magic. One group believes these moves to be the hardest things in the world to master and, once learned, represent a major achievement in life. This bunch often arrogantly struts their ability to perform a Pass or other difficult move. The second group believes these sleights to be simply a part of the total component of magic. They are skills necessary to perform their craft, and nothing more. Very often, members of this latter group are also musicians. I don’t want to be cynical here, but learning the physical rudiments of almost any musical instrument is far more difficult and demanding than learning the physical rudiments of magic. If anyone doubts this, he has never sat down and tried to learn to play the piano, the guitar, the violin or the trumpet. The intense study necessary to not only play the basics of an instrument, but also to make them sound good, can be overwhelming. Yes, some magic sleights can also be difficult, but the majority can be learned in an hour or two. Even the most difficult moves, such as the Second 28

Deal or Back Palming, pose no more difficulty than fingering certain guitar chords, mastering runs on a piano or learning to close a perfect double stroke roll on the drum. The difficulty of these sleights is simply not as high as some magicians would lead you to believe. Furthermore, the advanced musician does not aim to show off his skill on his instrument, but rather strives to create – music! Compare that to the antics of some magicians whose finger flinging is done for no other apparent reason than to show off their skill. The goal of the magician should be to create magic and mystery. Finally, one cannot hope to perform musically in front of a live audience without years of practice. To appear in concert on stage after a few weeks study would be ludicrous. The performer would be booed off the stage. That is obviously not the case with magic. There are plenty of people who think that if they buy a few tricks and can make them work, they are ready to do a show. The results are usually deplorable. A second comparison can be made between a magic performance and a musical concert. The seasoned musician attempts a satisfying blend of different styles of music, interweaving ballads with faster numbers and perhaps a humorous song or two. He knows he has to hit his audience with different moods and feelings. An evening of just one type of music, regardless of the quality of the performance, would soon become boring. The magician must likewise be aware of the emotions he is invoking in his audience. His aim must be to make them feel something. Even then, it is important that these feelings be many and diverse. One lighthearted effect after another will soon become tiresome. On the other hand, too many serious, bombastic numbers will make the audience tense and ill at ease. Balance is the key. You must give the audience a chance to come down from a startling effect and lighten up the mood with a comical one. You must know when the audience is ready for a surprise or when the time is right for that killer effect. And finally, you must end your performance in the same way an accomplished musician does, with 29

a tremendous closing number that will stick with them for weeks. Try your best to view the next musical event you attend or watch on television with a critical eye. Try to understand what makes it work and why the artist or producers arranged things in the way they did. Study the way the show is presented so as to almost control the audience into each phase of the production and see how the numbers seem to feed just what the audience wants at any given time. Then try to transpose this logic to your own show. If you do this, you will see your performing improve tenfold!

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Magic and Comedy

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here is a very close correlation between performers of comedy and magic. Both types usually stand on stage alone and rely on their own wits to entertain their audience. Both interact with the audience on a very personal level and both rely on basic similarities of human nature to succeed. Finally, both can be amazingly wonderful or woefully pitiful. I would very much advise any young comedian or any young magician to study the great, past masters of comedy. Try to find videos of Red Skelton, Jack Benny, George Burns, Bob Hope and other legends. Study their sincerity. Study how they used their comedic skills to unite their audience into a common denominator of life’s experiences we all face. Study how they were not afraid to make fun of themselves or become the brunt of a joke. Their humor made their audiences feel warm and happy. They took life’s problems and made light of them. They showed the world that we are really all the same regardless of social or financial standing. They raised the human spirit to a higher level. There is nothing that can so easily defeat depression and hopelessness than comedy. Now compare that to some of the arrogant, young comedians we see today. They act superior, self-righteous and egotistical, making fun of everyone and everything. Although some of the material may be funny, how often do we feel ill at ease because of some jab at ourselves or something we love? When audiences left a Will Rogers show, they felt elated, enlightened and wonderful! Today, when we leave a comedy club, we often feel degraded and abused. Add to the above the incredibly foul language so often heard at 31

the local comedy club or the comedy channel on TV. Much of the language can only be described as filth. Although these comedians would lead you to believe that this is the way normal people talk and act, I would hate to live in a world made up of persons like them! They are as far removed from the artists mentioned above as hot is from cold. Magic is a very special art form. Its very existence shows the possibility of accomplishing the impossible. It shows the ability of man to surmount impregnable barriers and to fly high above the limitations we find ourselves in. It is a leftover part of our hearts from childhood that never really went away. It lies dormant, hoping that one day it will live again as it did when we were children. It wants to believe in Santa Claus, Peter Pan and all those other astonishing feelings and wonders of youth. It is the duty of the magician to find that part of the hearts of man and make it come alive. No matter how sophisticated an audience may be, no matter how intelligent or how well educated they are, the magic part of them is the same. The most high and mighty intellectual will shrink down to the innocence of a child if touched in the right way. It is not a loss of perspective, but rather a widening of enlightenment to understand the joy once lost and then regained. It is the realization that the toils of years of life are really only trying to find what is before them now! You should not corrupt magic with obscenities and vulgarities any more than comedians should corrupt their art. You should never lower the dignity of magic or abuse the trust your audience puts in you. When you read about wonderful magicians from the past who created amazement and delight with their skill and humanity, you should strive to act like them. You should live up to their high standards. There is nothing outdated about respect, integrity and humility. As a magician, you are a special person and must act like one.

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T

Audience Management

his may be the most important essay in this work for many magicians and mentalists. I know it would have been 30 years ago if I had read it. It could have been titled Why Do Things Work For Him And Not For Me? I can vividly remember watching magicians and mentalists on television performing routines and wondering, “Why isn’t anyone suspicious of that prop?” or “Why isn’t anyone calling him on that move?” I would try the same routines with my friends and they would always mess me up! They would grab for things, questions things, suspect things and just foul up the act altogether. There were times I was just about ready to quit as it seemed like nothing I did could fool or impress anyone. Now I get a kick out of some postings I read on the Internet forums. I suppose I could go into a diatribe about young, inexperienced magicians getting on the Internet and voicing opinions that are totally ludicrous and show a complete lack of understanding of the art or magic or a respect for those who have been in it for any amount of time. I have often been tempted to do this, but in the end, I realize they are just ignorant, uneducated and, unfortunately, have been given the “magic keyboard” that lets them vocalize thoughts to the world that a few years ago would have remained unheard (and rightly so!) I have seen these beginners criticize routines that have been perfected over a lifetime by the world’s best magicians. They feel 33

that since they encounter some difficulties, it is the routine that is at fault and not them! The real problem is they have no understanding of audience management. Audience management is almost always the key to making routines work. I am not just referring to where you make a volunteer stand or how you arrange a number of people on stage, I am referring to how you direct the audience’s way of thinking. I am talking about the frame of mind you get them into and how they accept you. Given the right approach, the performer really has little to worry about in the way of troublemakers. An excellent way to demonstrate this principle is to discuss the hypnotism show. The main work of the hypnotist is done long before he ever walks onto the stage. The venue (whether it is a college, a nightclub or a theater) advertises the hypnotist weeks in advance. People read about the show and start thinking about it. Those people who are most susceptible to hypnotism are already feeling the effects of the show! Perhaps they are thinking of the last time they saw the hypnotist and went under. Maybe they have never been hypnotized but can’t wait to try. Whatever the case, there are a certain number of people who are ready, willing and able to be hypnotized. As the evening draws closer, they think more and more about it. Finally, the night of the show comes and they are in their seats waiting for the performance to begin. On walks the hypnotist and he delivers his opening address. They are thinking, “Oh, my! There he is! There is the hypnotist!” By the time volunteers are invited on stage, they are almost under already! The performer hardly needs to do anything to put them asleep! If you have TV fame, that will work for you. I have seen the Amazing Kreskin numerous times. The man is a legend and has appeared on television thousands of times over the years. When he walks on stage, the audience knows about him and respects what he does. He is, of course, a wonderful entertainer and never lets the audience down, but the celebrity status he enjoys helps tremendously with his material being accepted. Whether you are a mentalist, magician or hypnotist, this same type of management can work for you. I have the benefit of having spent years performing for some of the top companies around the 34

world. Very rarely do I ever have a show in front of a group where some of them have not seen me before. My reputation and prepublicity help me tremendously when I arrive at the performance. Many have been told that I am an incredible mentalist and that I do impossible things. I always make it a point to walk around during the reception and perform some close-up material for a few of the guests. Then, when they go in to eat dinner, I am the talk of the table! (I should point out that I never eat with my clients as I believe it is unprofessional and would dampen the conversation during dinner.) When I come back to do my stage performance, most of the group is waiting with great anticipation to see this great mindreader they have heard so much about! So you may be asking what you can do if you are relatively new to the profession and do not have any of the above benefits working for you. You must always do your best to promote yourself as a step above everyone else, whether you are a mentalist or a magician. You must spread the word that you are different and what you do is special. This can begin in the form of advertising, but it is your performing and abilities that will spread the word. Always be prepared to work wonders whenever and wherever you go. Malini was one of the top magicians of all time because he lived by this golden rule. There should never be a place you are not prepared to perform! You should also look for, and perform, effects that other magicians and mentalists are not doing. If you want to be thought of as unique, your performance needs to be unique. That applies to both how you act and the effects you perform. You must keep drumming into your head to not just be as good as someone else, but to be better. I am not just referring to skill level, but augmenting your own being and self. Everything you do must be a reflection of your own personality and every word you speak and every move you make must be your own! I have a saying that I have lived by for years: I only perform my own original effects. There is no one else in the world who can do my stuff better than I can! So if you like what you see, you have to get me! 35

You must also act like you are something special! This does not mean to be arrogant or aloof. You must stand out as being special! Let me give you the simple trick to accomplish this. You must convince yourself you are special - then just be yourself! You must have a mindset that there is no one else like you and what you are is God-given and sacred. You must act from within what and who you are and you must be convinced that is enough. Good looks, a good height, a good figure, good hair and all the rest of what is considered to be attractive these days means nothing! If you are comfortable with yourself, you will shine! If you can believe this, you will give off an air of self-confidence and selfassuredness that few will dare question. You are what you believe you are and you will become what you believe you are! I should also mention that dressing and grooming accordingly will work wonders both for your own state of mind and how you are accepted. To paraphrase Shakespeare: The dress makes the person. If you are a person who can supposedly do miracles, then you ought to look like you can! As I look back in my life and wonder at what point my magic started becoming effective, I realize there is an important consideration that is almost never touched upon. That is the ability to do real magic and real stunts. I have talked about this time and time again, but I have to add more here. In my book, Making Real Magic, I gave away one of my most cherished routines, the Amazing Memory Demonstration. For those of you who think this was a pipe dream, let me assure you that I have performed this for a future set of videos in which you will see everything I wrote about performed right to the letter. The reason this routine is so important is that you are really doing what you are claiming to do! Even in the studio, I could see an instant, added respect for my abilities after I performed this routine. Because it is real and you really do what most people would consider almost impossible, and certainly a great accomplishment, how can you help but get adoration? Likewise, if you perform this routine for your friends and relatives around the house (most magicians’ first audiences and some of the hardest!) you will get new esteem with them. Once they are convinced you can really do some36

thing special, they will look on the other stuff in a different way. Suddenly you will find yourself doing routines you never thought you could get away with. You will find yourself making moves without thought and without raising the suspicions of your audience. Contact mind reading or muscle reading is another great device for doing real magic. If you practice and get good at it (and with Banachek’s new videos, PSI Series, there is no excuse not to), you will feel like a real mindreader. You will not need special props or gimmicks to work your wonders. You will be able to perform anywhere and everywhere and never have to worry about being caught. Question answering is another such device as is palm reading and hypnotism. For magicians, you have Martin Gardner’s Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic. If you don’t have this, for God’s sake, run out and get it now! This wonderful classic is filled with magic, stunts, gags and so much more that you can do with every possible object you can imagine. As a magician, you have to be able to do all kinds of extraordinary things. This book will teach you how! You will never be at a loss to demonstrate your abilities and, since so many do not rely on sleight of hand, you never have to worry about being exposed. You really do what you are claiming to do. When you know you can entertain anywhere, at any time, you develop a self-confidence that is infectious. You will not have to try to be special – you will be! People will not look on you as a person who does puzzles and who challenges them; they will look up you as – magic ! For years, I have been imploring magicians to get the complete Tarbell Course in Magic . I have talked about this repeatedly in Making Magic Real and Making Real Magic. Harlan Tarbell teaches in this course how to become a real magician. As he says right in the beginning of Volume One, “One can give medicine to a friend, but that does not make him a doctor.” Tarbell trains people to be real magicians knowing the mechanics and fundamentals of magic. Far too many young performers think that mastering magic is learning just sleights and words. Studying Tarbell teaches you what it is really all about. When you understand the total concept of what it means to be a magician, you will act and perform accord37

ingly. When you do, your audience will recognize you as a skilled performer and give you the attention and respect necessary to work your miracles. Audience management means controlling your audience so they are not bent on trying to figure out your tricks. It means controlling them so they will understand what you are doing is very important and is worth seeing. It is causing them to know something exists far outside their normal spectrum of living and they are privileged and lucky to be witnessing your performance. Audience management is, in the final analysis, making them believe there is real magic!

38

Osterlind Design Duplication System (ODDS)

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hat you are about to read has been one of my pet secrets for over 20 years. I have used it constantly in ever y imaginable situation and performing venue. I have never shared this with anyone and it is seeing print here for the first time. I shall explain the basic effect first, along with instructions for making the apparatus, then show how you can incorporate the idea in many other ways. You will then have a system that will enable you to do fantastic design duplication in any situation and with whatever items you may have lying around. The more you play with this idea, the more you will love it! BACKGROUND Many years ago, I read with great interest the techniques used to test Uri Geller in the laboratory for his telepathic abilities. The investigators would choose an object word from a dictionary and one of the scientists would then draw a picture of that object. Uri would then duplicate the picture while in another room. Without going into the particulars of the experiment, the basic premise led me to develop the following. 39

EFFECT The mentalist displays a stack of cards with the names of different objects written on them. A spectator freely chooses one and can change his mind if he wishes. He is now given a pad and asked to draw a picture of his object. The mentalist also takes a pad and draws a design on his from across the room. When the two pictures are compared, they are almost identical! APPARATUS You will need 26 cards. These can be index cards, ticket cards, blank playing cards or just your normal business cards. You must list the following words on the cards. AUTOMOBILE BICYCLE CHANDELIER DANDELIONS ELEPHANT FERRIS W HEEL G RAPES HOUSE IGLOO JACK O’ LANTERN KANGAROO LADDER MERMAID NECKLACE OCTOPUS P ARACHUTE QUILL PEN ROLLER SKATE STOPWATCH TURTLE UMBRELLA VIOLIN WHEELBARROW XYLOPHONE 40

VIOLIN ZEBRA You will, of course, notice that there is one word for each letter of the alphabet. You will need to memorize this list and you will probably have it done by the time you have finished making up the cards. If not, running through the words a few times will set it in your memory. There is something very distinctive about this list and the words chosen are ones that I worked on for years to get just the right effect. Each one represents an object that, when drawn, is unique. Each object cannot be drawn with just a simple design, but must be elaborated on. For instance, the word ball might seem like a good choice, but many might just draw a simple circle. The word bicycle, on the other hand, requires a more elaborate drawing to get the point across. This is true with all the words and, again, these were chosen after much trial and error. I will show you how to use them in just a moment. Next, you must stack the deck as follows: AUTOMOBILE DANDELIONS G RAPES JACK O’ LANTERN MERMAID P ARACHUTE STOPWATCH VIOLIN YACHT BICYCLE ELEPHANT HOUSE KITE NECKLACE QUILL PEN TURTLE WHEELBARROW 41

ZEBRA CHANDELIER FERRIS W HEEL IGLOO LADDER OCTOPUS ROLLER-SKATE UMBRELLA XYLOPHONE You can see that each card is three letters beyond the previous card. You will need to run through the alphabet three times to use up all the cards. The last card in the stack, Xylophone, will lead you back to Automobile. The cards can be cut as often as you wish and still the stack will be intact. The reason for doing this is to hide the stack if the cards are picked up and examined. When a card is removed, break the cards at that point and give the stack a complete cut. The card that was above the removed one will now be on the bottom. You can then glance at that card, count three forward in the alphabet and know what card was removed. In essence, you have created a Si Stebbins deck with word cards! You will also need two pads and marking pens or two slates and pieces of chalk. Make sure that the pens or chalk are of the thick kind making it necessary to draw the pictures in a fairly simple fashion. THE WORKING Have the cards and two pads, slates, etc. ready for the experiment. Select a spectator and mention that when asked to draw a picture, many people feel put on the spot and have difficulty coming up with something. Also mention that in that situation, many people tend to draw the same thing. So in order to make it fair and interesting, you have compiled a list of words of objects that are different and distinctive. Spread the cards and show the wide range of objects. Close up the cards, turn them face down and give them a series 42

of cuts. Please do not make any card moves here, but just handle them as what they are, a small pile of cards. Spread the stack and have the spectator choose one. As he withdraws the card, cut the stack at that point and complete the cut. Ask him to look at the card and tell you whether he likes that one or if he would like another. You turn away during this and casually glimpse the bottom card. If he says he is happy with the card, immediately hand him the rest of the cards and tell him to replace it anywhere. If he says he wants another, take his card back, replace it on top and spread the cards for another selection. You, of course, will know his choice. Have him place the cards aside as you hand him a pad. You take the other and position both of you on different sides of the room or stage. This is the first really nice part about this routine. You will actually be doing this in the same way as a real ESP test and can therefore set up whatever test conditions you would like! Make the most out of this by sending the person far away from you. If in a private home, you can send him into a different room; if on stage, you can send him to the far end of the stage or perhaps even to the back of the audience! Make it look as impossible as you can. Now you both begin to draw. Simply draw a picture of the object the way you normally would! Even though you may think there are thousands of ways for people to draw things, given the above objects and the fact that you both have stubby, fat marking pens or wide chalk, both drawings will be very similar! When you first try this, you will be amazed at how close the drawings will be. But there is more to help you and this is the part that I love! Please think like a mentalist and not a magician doing a trick . You are not supposed to have any idea of what the object is and you have taken all these precautions to make sure it is evident you cannot see the spectator’s drawing. You both make the drawings far from each other. Just the fact that both drawings will be of the same thing will be dynamic even if they both look very different! But they won’t be. You also point out all the similar characteristics of the drawings. For instance, if the bicycle or the automobile are both facing the same way – point that out! (Almost always it will be 43

facing left.) If you both draw a tail on the kite, make a big deal out of it! If you both draw a similar number of stripes on your zebras, show that it must be real ESP! Most of the time, there will be so many similarities to point out, nobody will believe it could be coincidence. That is what makes this play so strong. The fact that you really are hitting without seeing the drawing makes it seem impossible you could do it from just knowing the word alone. I don’t believe this principle has ever been explored before. Usually, the cards contain designs and pictures already drawn and you attempt to duplicate what the spectator concentrates on or you have the spectator redraw the design. This is how Annemann’s Extra Sensory Perception works as well as the Mental Pictoria deck. Although they are strong effects, I don’t believe they have as much effect as the Osterlind Design Duplication System. In the Annemann effect, only the performer draws, so there is no comparison at the end. In the Mental Pictoria deck there is really no reason to have the spectator re-draw what they have just looked at! The ODDS looks just like a real ESP test! Comparing a message reading routine and a question-and-answer act shows a further elaboration of this philosophy. In the former, you name only the items the spectators write down. Some may suspect you somehow saw the written slips. In the latter, you actually answer the questions and supply further details. It seems impossible that you could know so much, that the idea you somehow saw the questions doesn’t seem to really matter! That is the effect we are trying to achieve here. It should appear that even if you somehow knew what the object was which the volunteer is drawing, the similar nature of both is too close to explain by that means. This is truly a very strong item! FURTHER THOUGHT ON THE ODDS Making up the cards and carrying them around is an easy matter. I have done so for years and if you have the right attitude (see my essay on Audience Management), no one will suspect them. After all, they are really nothing more than innocent index or business cards. You could even make a set up on the spot if you needed to perform unexpectedly. Doing so right in front of the audience 44

would be fine if you made it look like you were dreaming up these words at that moment. There are, however, other ideas that really make the ODDS an entire system. I will list a few here, but I am sure that, with a little thought, you will be coming up with ones of your own. Instead of having a stack of cards, you can just give the spectator one blank business card and have him write the name of some type of object on the back. This you can learn by placing the card in some type of peek wallet such as a Jaks Wallet or one of Mark Striving’s Sight Unseen Cases. You could also use a sleight-of-hand method such as the peek I demonstrated on Volume One of Mind Mysteries in my Watch Routine. I would not use a Center Tear method for this effect as you might want to be able to compare the written word at the end to tie up all the loose ends. I should also mention that you could use an impression device to get the word, although I prefer a gimmicked wallet or straight peek myself. There are many methods for doing this and a study of my friend Richard Busch’s peek books is in order. If you perform the effect in this way, it is very important that you give the spectator good instructions on what kind of word to write down. You must tell him the word should be of some type of object that he can picture in his mind. You should also instruct him that you want a more complicated object as something too simple might be misconstrued. One person might, for instance, picture a pen while someone else might mentally see it as a nail or a stick. The object must therefore be complex enough to make it distinctive. Another possible in working the ODDS is to use a book test. This really goes right back to the original intent of the routine. There are many ways to force a page in a book and consequently a word. For purposes of explanation, let’s use the simple, but effective, Hoy Book Test. Simply look through a book (or dictionary) and find a page where the first word on that page is an appropriate word to use. Take another book and riffle through it while having someone call out, “Stop.” You simply miscall the page number for the one you need and have the person with the other book open it there. Nothing could be simpler. There are many other ways to 45

force a page in a book with or without gaffed books. I cover a number of such ways in my new video series, Easy To Master Mental Miracles. A quick look through Annemann’s Practical Mental Effects or Corinda’s 13 Steps To Mentalism will give you many more. And please don’t overlook Annemann’s 202 Methods of Forcing which is one of the best, and most overlooked, books on mentalism. As you can see, there are countless ways to present the ODDS . If you analyze the intention, you only have to either force a single word or learn a single word. I have not even begun to exhaust the many different ways to do this. Change bags, window envelopes, and mathematical subtleties all can be used. There are many more which will occur to you once you begin thinking about it. I sincerely hope you will try the above routine. Once you do, I am convinced you will have a brand new principle in mentalism that will serve you as well as it has me!

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About the Author

ichard Osterlind has been a prolific performer and creator of mentalism and magic for his entire life. Besides doing scores of shows yearly for Fortune 500 companies, he’s found time to create some of mentalism and magic’s most original effects. Besides the Osterlind Breakthrough Card System, he’s the originator of the Slow-Motion Surrounded Center Tear, the Radar Deck, Industrial Strength Link, Thought Scan, the Osterlind Stainless Steel Blindfold, the Epitome and Ultra Boards, and many other marketed magic and mentalism effects.

His published works include Dynamic Mysteries , Three Miracle Routines, Two Perfected Routines, The Very Modern Mindreader, The Perfected Center Tear, and the best-selling e-book, Making Magic Real. He also appeared in the Challenge Magic video in addition to the recent best-selling Mind Mysteries video series from L&L Publishing. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, Lisa, and their two daughters.

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