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One for the Books

by Mark Edward, Jan 02 2011

A wonderful week at The Magic Castle has now passed and it was a great boost for me to get back on the stage where I had worked for so many years. I was “welcomed home” by many of the people I had grown up with in magic. A lot of the old timers who were such great teachers, mentors and friends were now gone. It was sad to note their passing on and to realize that now I'm one of the older guys. Ah well, there are far worse places to watch time pass. As usual, the performing of mentalism brought with it a number of situations that as a performer I always look forward to. Mentalism is different from standard magic in that there is an underlying belief system that can add another level of mystification to the proceedings. Confirmation bias runs rampant when you say you can read minds. When you add in late evening shows, a holiday week and plenty of alcoholic beverages, the chances get even better for what we in the trade call getting a “hit.” One that I quickly worked to my advantage happened like this:

As a sort of throwaway gag, I will sometimes walk up to a woman in the audience and say to them, “…Don't give me a hint or say anything,…your name is Carol right?” I always say Carol. Most of the time, that's wrong and when they reply with their name, say, Susan. I then dismiss them with a wave my hand, turn away and say, “…Aw Susan, Carol, …close enough! It takes me a while to warm up.”

This comment usually gets a titter of laughter and sets up the more self-effacing comedic side of my act that will hopefully also work as a sort of default disclaimer. If it turns out that their name is indeed Carol (or a name like or close to it, or their mother's name was Carol or a sister, cousin, etc.) they will say so and I get all the credit for a huge psychic hit. If I get it wrong I get the chuckle and after staying on that name for a few more seconds I can also add in true John Edward style:  “Well, …I want you to watch for that name, it's going to come up in your future.” This also gets a laugh by the more savvy audience members.

On one particular night, I threw this line out and the woman replied that her name was Yolanda. I gave out my “…close enough” line and prepared to go on with the rest of my act. But after a few seconds, an Asian man sitting behind her loudly blurted out; “Wow, Carol in Korean is Yolanda, that's amazing! To which the audience applauded. Talk about confirmation bias!

But it gets even better. As the audience was leaving the room, I overheard another man say to his date: “How weird is that? That guy even reads minds in Korean.”

You can't buy moments like this in standard magic. It's rare when this occurs in mentalism, but when it does you learn to go with it, take advantage of it (thanks Uri) and simply nod to its wonderfulness.

Yes, it's a tiny bit of off-hand business, but if you do mentalism, you soon find out that these are the things people remember long after the glow of the evening and the booze has worn off. It gets “telephoned” by other people later in conversation outside the venue and if you are lucky, adds to your reputation as a thought reader.

Theo Annemann (1907-1942)

I won't go into too many other fun things that happened during the week other than to give a shout out to the valiant people who sporadically worked with me to “stooge” the audience a few times and by doing so, elevated what was a minor effect to near miracle status. Magicians in general frown on this practice, assuming that it takes no skill whatsoever to accomplish and as such is a low blow to magic. I disagree and know for a fact that David Copperfield, that shining beacon of prestidigitation, makes use of many of these folks at a time in his shows. It's a rich tradition that goes back to P.T. Barnum. How do you think Wayne Newton manages to get a standing ovation in his Las Vegas showroom night after night, show after show for over fifty years? It's not just by singing “Danke Schoen” that's for sure. Having a few “house plants” on hand is a time honored show business contrivance that works – and that's all that counts as far as I'm concerned. The patron saint of mentalism Ted Annemann held the controversial opinion that if it took twelve people working together in a room of thirteen to fool the thirteenth person, it was worth it. I may not go that far, but you get the idea. I don't think I ruffled to many magi feathers with that bit. When it works for me, it can stun the audience into a group gasp that is priceless.

How does Wayne do it?

One more quickie that wowed the audience: I had a woman on stage that looked like a kind, warm-hearted sort. Taking a leap I told her that she had once considered working in the nursing field. At first she looked a bit puzzled and it seemed like I was going to strike out, then she brightened and looked amazed, admitting that she had indeed thought about doing veterinary work as a teenager. Another stretch, but this “ah ha” moment again proves the point that when people want a psychic (or a thought reader)  to succeed, they will go way out of their way to make the most tenuous connections. I wouldn't have it any other way.

25 Responses to “One for the Books”

  1. ttch says:

    The thing I like about magic is that it is ridiculous. The most incredible feats most often have the most mundane explanations — one reason why an amateur magician should never never ever tell a non-magician how a trick was done. It just destroys the whole “magic” of magic and disappoints everyone.

    On the ridiculous side, I particularly like tales of “magic gone wrong”. E.g., in one performance of the disappearing birdcage done before other magicians, the birdcage accidentally got flung offstage. “Betcha never saw a birdcage disappear like that before!”

    The thing that I don’t like about magic is that it is power based on lies. Even though it is consensual in that the audience wants to be fooled, the fact is that everything the performer does is a lie, or done to cover a lie, all to gain personal/psychological/whatever power based on those lies. The magician has no power. It’s all lies.

    So, mixed feelings.

    • MadScientist says:

      Many see it as entertainment – they’re not there to fleece a gullible audience, they’re there to entertain the audience with very carefully planned and rehearsed routines to amaze the audience with the impression of doing what is obviously impossible. It is no more lies than the movies or theater. There is a huge difference between that and scamsters using tricks to rob people, usually repeatedly as in the case of the self-professed psychics.

      • ttch says:

        I’m not talking about anyone’s motivation. You go to the movies or theatre, everyone understands that it’s fiction. You go to a magic show, it’s right there, happening in front of you, and the magic that happens is the whole point, not just a special effect done to increase the effectiveness of a drama. There’s a reality to magic that can’t be denied by the (usual) smiling, “Aw, shucks” persona of the magician. Everyone “knows” that it’s impossible, yet it happened!

        And it could only happen because the audience was being lied to, and they accepted the lies.

      • tmac57 says:

        That’s why I only go to magic shows where they use ‘real’ magic.No one’s gonna fool me!!!

  2. MadScientist says:

    I guess I agree with “most magicians” then. I never liked David Copperfield – to me he had nothing but cheap tricks and his idea of misdirection is claiming that he doesn’t use camera tricks. I’ve always thought he has no talent and I have never seen him perform a trick to convince me otherwise. I don’t object to having the occasional plant in a trick, but when folks do it all the time (or most of the time) that’s just another version of 3-card Monte – but without the skill.

    • I’m no David Copperfield apologist (saw him on TV once, when I was much younger, and have never seen him again that I recall), but I’m reminded of an article I read a few years ago that contains some probably pretty accurate observations about David’s audience appeal. Not all that relevant, but I like it: http://is.gd/jX5MD

      • MadScientist says:

        Thanks for the link; that was an interesting article. I disagree with much of what the author wrote though – for example the bit about magicians having a “me smart, you stupid” attitude and the claim that anyone with a prop (the specific case mentioned is a magic disappearing box) can pull off the trick – that’s a bit like saying anyone in a tutu and ballet shoes can do ballet, or anyone with a trapeze and skimpy clothes on can perform trapeze in the circus. You don’t become an expert simply because you have the tools. I’m also a bit surprised that the author mentions magicians from not too long ago (whatever that means) and though he mentions Doug Henning (one of my favorites, but unfortunately he was a sucker for the woo-woo) he never mentioned the Blackstones (well, OK, Blackstone Sr. has been gone for many decades, but Jr. was lost only a few years before Henning). I find it disconcerting that the author mentions no names about these magicians with a shoddy attitude and somehow leaves out numerous magicians who were/are excellent entertainers.

  3. Max says:

    Anyone can perform a “miracle” using shills:

    Anyone: Excuse me, is your name Bort?
    Shill: Why yes, it is Bort! How did you know?
    Anyone: It’s a miracle!

    • Mark Edward says:

      Beg to differ. Not just anyone can use a shill. First you have to have reached a decent level of performing ability that allows for a fairly large group of individuals. That in itself is a skill. The more important “skill” in this instance comes in choosing the right person to do a convincing job. If someone overacts, decides to bail or is not believable, the whole show suffers.
      I use this dodge sparingly. When I have, doing so worked to create a memory in peoples’ minds that lasted for for years. I know this for a fact because when I did this sort of bit for a skeptics group many years ago, I still hear about it from people from time to time. I’m pretty sure if I asked most of those folks about other things they remember in that particular show, they probably would have forgotten everything else. That’s show-biz.

      • Max says:

        Suppose your competitors rely on shills to perform some illusion, but you can do the same illusion WITHOUT shills. How would you get credit for that?

      • Mark Edward says:

        I’m not sure I uderstand your qusetion. Yes, I can do the same show without shills. It’s just a infrequent choice I make to up the ante once in awhile. If I did it all the tme, not only would it become obvious, I’d have to split my paycheck. No way.

      • Max says:

        When I say you can do the same illusion without shills, I mean it looks exactly the same to the audience as when your competitor does it with shills.
        For example, your competitor guesses a shill’s name, while you guess a random audience member’s name. Should you get more credit and respect than your competitor?

  4. Max says:

    Carol in Korean is Yolanda? Was that Asian man in the audience a shill?

    • Mark Edward says:

      No. But he could have been – and I might use what happened as a further example some day. Thanks for reminding me!

  5. Paul says:

    Mark, I always enjoy reading your blogs! Thanks!

  6. Carl says:

    Your image links are mostly broken.

  7. Kitty says:

    Well all I know is THE BANANA NEVER LIES!!!!

    Also, I’m a total skeptic, but what I remember from my banana reading (from the fabulous Mark) are the hits. When I watch the video of my banana reading (you have to ask Mark about fruit reading) I can’t believe how much head nodding I am doing.

    My favorite from psychics is the old “you have clothes in your closet that still have the tags on them.”

    I have a friend that for years has tried as a pick up line “hmmm, let me guess your birthday, I’m kind of psychic you know.” Over 20 years of doing this, I have seen him succeed twice. He says he has been successful 18 times in two years. He always picks HIS birthday as his guess. If he’s close, like even getting the month right, he gets a lot of attention. If he gets the date right (the 3rd) even if the month is wrong he gets attention. And the two times I’ve seen him get it spot on…the reaction is over the top. It’s like someone has been raised from the dead, it’s funny he said no one has ever said “how did you do that?” It’s always “oh my gosh you are psychic!”

    • MadScientist says:

      It would take some practice to sit poker-faced through the act. It’s easier (for me anyway) to just sit and nod and go “Wow! You got every single one of them *wrong*!” Whatever you do, don’t play the game of taking them too seriously and offering any information. I prefer to let my mind drift to other things and not really listen – that sure helps with not being able to supply clues. Of course a sharp psychic might then start to say silly things to catch me out like “you had a gender change operation just this morning but in the afternoon you decided to switch back again”.

    • Max says:

      Earlier this year, there was a demo of an Augmented ID app called Recognizr, which matches photos of faces to Facebook profile photos, and automatically brings up the person’s public profile. It would make these kinds of tricks trivial.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb0pMeg1UN0

  8. Maria says:

    I am thoroughly enjoying your posts about mentalism on this blog. My mother and more than a few friends actually fall for the tricks of mentalists such as John Edward and have paid money to psychics. It’s one of my goals to study mentalism enough that I can perform a few tricks for my mother’s friends to prove that it’s nothing more than that: tricks. Keep writing about this. And best of luck at the Magic Castle — one of my favorite destinations for a night out in LA.

    • Mark Edward says:

      Thanks Maria for your kind comments. I hope I can one day help you with your goal.

      John Edward is not a mentalist, he’s a con artist. Big difference. Referring to “that other Edward” as a mentalist makes all of us who do what we do for entertainment purposes look bad.

      If (like Uri Geller)John Edward ever publically called himself a performer of mentalism, a lot of us would breathe a sigh of relief. That would mean he makes no specific claims like TALKING TO DEAD PEOPLE other than for entertaiment puposes, which he clearly has never proclaimed and isn’t likely to do as long as he makes millions of dollars more annuallly than even the best in the mentalism field. Sad fact.

      As I have always admitted: both Geller and John Edward have my profoundest and deepest respect – as PERFORMERS. They know their chops and can hold a room like no other conjuror or sleight of hand performer I have ever seen. But that’s where I draw the line. Both must have some deep seated way of daily rationalizing their swindling and defrauding of the public that utterly escapes my understanding. As Chris Rock says, “..some people are just fucking crazy.”

  9. Lorne Oliver says:

    Hi Mark, I enjoy reading your blog and have thus far had nothing I considered worthwhile to comment on. This time, maybe I do though. I live in Korea and have done so for 17+ years. I am by no means fluent in the language but I was confident upon reading your post that “yolanda” is not in any way at all a Korean word.

    It does not conform to the phonetic construction of Korean words (specifically the ‘L’ sound placed at the forefront of syllable). I went so far as to look up 요란다 and 욜란다 and several other phonetic variations of “yolanda” in a Korean-English dictionary and got no hits at all. Then, to reverse, I looked up “carol” and saw the Korean translations of it, as a noun, verb, and name… none of which contained any Korean words resembling “yolanda” in any phonetic variation.

    I don’t know what that dude was saying/thinking in the audience that night… possibly just trying to impress the girl he was with, but I am 100% certain that the words “carol” and “yolanda” have absolutely no relation to each other in Korean.

    Not to rain on the post at all, quite the opposite in fact. I think you helped that guy get a “hit” that night too.

    Cheers!

  10. Wendy Hughes says:

    Several years ago, CFI Los Angeles presented a seance & magic workshop. I attended with my grandson, and we learned a lot about magic. I still have some of the take home materials from the experience, and although I never became a skilled magician myself, it never ruined the excitement and mystery that watching a skillful magician at work holds for me. In fact, it sharpens the experience — because I think I am a little more appreciative when a particularly good practitioner of close up magic has performed admirably. My older grandson has a casual interest in magic, and still drives his little brother crazy with illusions and card tricks that he has learned :-P