Black Book Of Mentalism

THE BLURB:
Joseph Dunninger has often been credited with saying. “Every
time you add a prop to your act your price goes down.” His
reasoning should be obvious – every additional prop takes
the illusion one step away from what “real mind reading”
would look like. And, as Bob has noted many times in his
previous ebooks, every additional type of mentalism you
demonstrate (apparent telepathy, precognition,
psychokinesis, clairvoyance, etc.) also detracts from the
overall illusion.

Recently a "mentalist" challenged Bob on this point: “How
entertaining is it to demonstrate the same ability over and
over again? It is much more interesting for an audience if
you do a prediction, then perhaps a blindfold test, a key
bend, a memory test and maybe a picture duplication. My
business is to entertain them – and that means variety. How
entertaining is it to watch the same billet test presented
five or six different ways?"

Why not throw in a few jokes, a tap dance and a piano solo?
There’s some variety for you!

(I'm reminded of the heckler Dr Bob once wrote about - the
guy who yelled at Frank Sinatra after he finished a song,
“So ya can sing, what else do ya do?”)

The ability to transcend one’s material is the hallmark of
excellent performers in all areas of show business, but for
some reason, even well informed “authorities” on magic and
mentalism miss this point. A recent work on mentalism
contained the following passage:

. . . Rare is the performer who can mesmerize a crowd by
performing only mentalism. Usually these performers have
some dynamic effect that will be remembered by the audience.
Some performers can do this successfully. Others try and
fail.

The fact is that you can't mesmerize a crowd with only
mentalism. The statement that those mentalists who do
“mesmerize” rely on “some dynamic effect” that people will
remember, simply is not true. Those laypeople old enough to
remember seeing Dunninger perform; rarely recall the exact
effects he performed. They just remember that he was able to
read people’s minds. As his confidante and behind-the-scenes
man David Lustig once said, “It's not what you do, it's what
they think you do that counts.”

If you have a ton of props and do twenty-five separate
effects demonstrating every conceivable type of paranormal
phenomena, it doesn’t matter if you call yourself a psychic,
a spirit medium, or Nostradamus’ direct descendant and sole
surviving heir – no one is going to believe you anyway.

The more minimalist you get, however, the more likely there
will be audience members who believe you are doing the “real
thing.” Think of the leading “psychics” and “mediums” who
nowadays have their own syndicated television shows. They
use no props and only do one effect - the most popular being
the claimed ability to converse with the dead. They never
call themselves “mentalists” and you will never catch them
at an SAM or PEA convention.

If you feel that they operate within an ethical “no man’s
land” that you would rather avoid, the solution is simple.
Compromise - but just a little. Use a minor prop here or
there. Call yourself a mentalist. Avoid doing private
readings. Confine your “strong” performances to the stage
and limit your speaking engagements and so called
“educational” gigs to memory training, self hypnosis, and
other similar non-paranormal themes.

The effects and handlings in The Black Book of Mentalism
reflect the degree to which Bob has compromised the
minimalist concept while maintaining a believable illusion
of mentalism.

1st edition 2003; 29 pages.

MY COMMENTS:
COMING SOON!