Little Black Book Test

THE BLURB:
Book tests are as popular with mentalists as cut and
restored rope tricks are with magicians. Finally, here is
one that stands out from the rest.

Effect

The mentalist shows a little black book filled with nearly
100 different names and addresses of women. The mentalist
gives it to a woman in the audience. She opens the book to
any page and chooses one of the names on the pages. She
shows it to a man and he also chooses a name from the open
book.

The mentalist hands a sealed envelope to the woman to be
explained later.

The mentalist starts with a single letter. He identifies a
random letter and moves swiftly. Without fumbling or
pumping, He correctly identifies the addresses, names, and
phone numbers chosen by both parties! He even gives the
zodiac signs.

Finally, The mentalist explains that he met with the same
girl as chosen by the woman! In the envelope are three
souvenirs from the previous night out, a cocktail napkin
with lipstick print, a swizzle stick from a swanky night
club and a matchbook cover. On the cover is written the same
number as was selected by the woman!

A BONUS EFFECT

Later in the show, if the mentalist desires, he can know the
zodiac sign of the woman who helped him. A simple, yet
clever ploy allows for this information to be given without
anyone knowing, all while the first effect is taking place.

The method based on two old principles, the first letter cue
and specialty identifiers combined with a breakthrough
system know as the grid means you can know everything
without touching the book. It can be examined by anyone and
there's never a force.

LITTLE BLACK BOOK TEST
Has these important features:

Uses an ordinary address book.
The book can be closely examined.
Small enough to be carried in your pocket.
Large enough for a full stage show.
Can be performed stand-up.
Is equally effective close-up.
Several participants can choose names at the same time.
Many different revelations are possible.
Never any forcing.
Performer knows everything chosen.
Performer never touches book.
A sensational ending!
No memorizing needed, yet...everything can easily be
memorized.
All names, addresses and phone numbers are different.
Comes with an address book.

MY COMMENTS:
Once again, I urge you not to take Docc Hilford's blurbs too
seriously. This is not to say that this blurb is
inaccurate. But some points may be misleading to some
people.

Basically, as the blurb suggests, this is a book test using
a little black address book. What's nice about this is that
it's portable. You can do it close-up or you can do it as
part of a parlour or stage routine. Since it would seem
natural to carry one, a mentalist can easily justify using
it in an impromptu routine to carry around in the pocket.

Now, let's talk about that line "No memorizing needed,
yet...everything can easily be memorized." As you might
have guessed, that means that there is a crib used. Now I'm
not going to explain the workings of that, since that's the
heart of the method, except to say that it's very clever.
Two small pieces of information yield everything you need
to know.

Well, almost everything. With the crib, you can get the
first name of the lady plus the phone number and zodiac
sign. With a little extra memorization, you can get
additional information, such as the web provider on the
e-mail address (aol.com, yahoo.com, etc.) It's still fairly
easy, though.

Docc details the workings and the routine in a 24-page, 5.5"
by 8.5" saddle-stitched booklet. I was a bit surprised at
the glaring typos in this booklet (one section is labeled
"PRATICE"), but they certainly don't prevent one's
understanding of the material. They're just distracting.

A few more points: The address book does not come
pre-filled. It's a one-time preparation that you must do
that yourself. This way, it will look authentic and you can
customize the book for names and street names that you'd
prefer. Finally, for those in non-English speaking
countries, you can certainly use a small address book and
adapt Docc's routine.

As I feel about most of Docc's material, I recommend this.