Description
Effect: Mentalism must be considered a specialized branch of magic, much the same as comedy-magic, a dove act or a silk actin that we are dealing with a specific presentation of perplexing feats. Everything in Mental ism, or Mentology as I prefer to call it, must be in keeping with the basic concept. This includes costume, props, plots and, perhaps most important, demeanor. Mental ism or Mentology deals with the mind so it should be kept dignified, and above all, logical.
That is, not to say, however, that humor is out of place within the framework of the basic concept that we have set. The lasting humor, that incident or remark that is capable of giving us a chuckle of warm satisfaction for months or years after the event, is nearly always humor on a high plane. It is the incident or remark that requires us to stretch our mental capacities that causes us to expand the thought process to see and correlate the incident or remark intellectually with some other thing or thought.
By all means be humorous, but be humorous in a manner in keeping with the subject. Educate, demonstrate and above all entertain. Save the visual comedy for the magic act. Gaudy magical gimmicks have no place in a mental routine. This includes little puzzles, mechanical props, and tricky looking boxes that are found in the average magic show. Everything in a mental routine should be logical. Bulldog Clips to hold papers, pads of paper, pens, pencils, chalk, slates, common boxes to hold things inviolate, books and magazines are all logical.
This is not always understood as can be seen by the prediction box currently on the market that is painted bright red with beautiful gold, black, green and blue stencilled decorations all over it! Or how about the fancy commercially made whirling stand with question marks embossed on it? These items are so obviously the props of a Magician – not a Mentologist.
Many of the items are good tricks in themselves, but in a routine of mindreading, that is just what they are taken for, good tricks! The forcing of a card has been presented and exposed continuously since playing cards were invented. The Mentologist is only fooling himself if he thinks that forcing a card on a person and then telling him what the card is can ever be accepted by an audience as “mindreading.” In a like manner who does the Mentologist think he is entertaining with a long drawnout presentation of a simple trick liberally sprinkled with superfluous garbage to the point where the most attentative audience looses track of the proceedings?
The basic premise of a mental act is that the performer is going to prove his ability to read minds, mentally influence selections, or to cause movement of inanimate objects. He is going to prove his ability in a sufficient variety of ways to rule out pure chance and probability.
I hope that the routine outlined above will stimulate the reader to work out a logical sequence of effects with a logical presentation. If a mental pad is used as an information gathering device then you work from there, selecting the proper effects and utilizing the tools provided in the logical sequence. The entertainment and humor comes from the presentation itself. This can be in the form of a quizzically cocked eyebrow at the thoughts(?) of a cute girl in the audience, a puzzled “you lost your what!?”
Keep it in good taste, bear down on the intensity of your concentration in order to gain your answers, be a little relieved with each correct answer, and more than a little pleased with yourself for having been able actually to tell other individuals their specific thoughts. Remember, you are performing a damn hard feat, roughly equivalent to lifting a Volkswagen over your head with only your two bare hands. It is conceivable, almost., but for sure no one else there can do it.
The motto for the Mentologist should be “Entertain, Educate, Demonstrate and Fool the Hell out of Them.”
Contents:
Foreword 3
J P Blindfold Bag 6
Dr. Q Slate Routine 9
Vi bro-Mentai 11
J P Mental Pad 16
J P Ulta-Ment Pad 19
ABC Book Test 21
Triple Mhammy Book Test 22
50-50 Prediction Chest 24
The Rapping Hand 27
Spook Bat 29
Mental Mystification 31
Telekinesticks (Act) 35
The Atomic Age 36
A Matter of Time 37
The Secret Conception 39
Putting It All Together 41
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