cgefore
{hn
ewtqrnlQses
a treatise
on preshow
work
Q 9(o"f gtrhings
fhe A{pho $eries
Also by Mark Stfivinss Books and ihe like-Annemann For The 90 s (i994t M€nral M6lanjle Lecture Notes {1996) Mobiie Mentalism booklaudiorape set (1996)
The Unseen Edibon {1997) To Pay The Pnce (1997) Constructive Menlalism (1998)
Masic For Youns-Un's {1998) Pseudo-Psi {1999) On video and audio-Annemann's Encore (1994)
How To Make Money With Psi Parties (1996) The Annemann Upsrades Vol. I (1996)
Strlvings Speaks Vol I {1996) Slrivings Speaks Vol. ll (1996) WAM - \,\,alk tuound Mentalism 11996)
Strrvings Speaks Again (1997) Mentalisn A Viewpoini (1997)
The Mastemind Act & Cagljostro s Crystal (1997) How To Create Your Own Mtractes (1997)
The Deieri Brainshom Series (with the Six and One-Hal{. 1997), rhr€e rape set A I All Stärs Volume lll (with Juan Tamariz. Daein Orhz. Raphael Benarar, 1997)
Mark Strivings coes To Daycare (1998) Get More Oui Of Your Magjc (1998)
Marketing Your Menialism (1998) Kid Stuii The A B C's AI 'Boui Ch:ldren (1998)
lmaginatjon Is Everything (1999) A-l Convennon At The Cäpiial Live 99 (1999)
Eltecs-SymbolMinded * As ln A Minor Dalkly * A5ln A Nljnor Darkly The Sequel . Täroi Tell Challenge Name A Card + Exira Sensory Percepbon * tucane lmage
Tarot Optic'Wam Fwi6 Up Close I Tarot Tell Basic Kii * Arcane Slmbol Minded Par-Opäc Plus 'Seven Keys To Baldpar€ i The Sisht Unseen Case . pur?ter Psychic PsLrds ' Happy Meäl Mira.ie * S€a Sheil Divinaöon Kit * Open & Shur
Frossie + A Work O{ An (with Robin Dewitt) . Mask,erade . Mäsk erade ll TheJoint s Jumpin'+ Koran Style Force Deck - Koran St/e Two-Way Forc€ Deck
The Precosnilive Puppet " Chip Shoi I The Precosnitive Phinger Puppet
The Ulbmate Invisible Bminwave * Blistering . H!"no-Voque . A Binding Choice * Squeek Mel Market€d
Materials-Th€ Home Psychic Party Kit Cagliosho's Crystal - The Deluxe Set
Psychic lnluence
For more information on th€ complete line ol materials for prolessional m€ntalist's, children s and family entertaineß, pleas€ call or wiite:
Mark Strivings
8631 N. Lowell
Blvd.
Westminster,
CO 80030
USA
(303)
650-6992
email [email protected]
:
ii
6hn &ho$eries
The voltrme you now hold is part of the Alpha Series of treatises. Each of these mono-graphs will deal with very specific and underexplored areas of the art of Mentalism. It is hoped that these specialized monographs will expand the readers background and appreciation of these techniques and concepts. It is also hoped that these monographs willserve as a founda tion to a whole new era of exploration in these techniques and concepts.
Please feelfree to expand on the new vistas revealed in these works and create your own new miracles. And please let me know what you discover on your joumey. With all best thoughts to you and gout future in mentalism.
Preuious Works in the Alpha Senes
{()o[umecl - gepre @-he Qudcin !I(!;es
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' (r treqtise on prEsfror! rvork
-Before The Curtain Rises
First published 2ü)O by: Mark Strivings 8631 N. Lowell Blvd. westminster, CO 80030
USA
Copyrighto2mo by Mark D. Slrivings
This book may not be reproduccd, stored in any rstrieval system or transmitted, in any folm or by any means, electronic, mcchanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permis-sion of Mark D. Strivings, 8631 N. Lowell Blvd., westminster, Co 80030
$efore {he Qurrain
{$es
' rr trcotisc on preslrorl *'olk-- {abte of Corrtents
-Acknowledgments
Definition of Preshow & Iniroduction Types of Preshow Work - Overview
Type One: Direct Contact - Overview Type Two: Indirect Contact - Overview Direcr Contact - Derail
lndirect Contact - Detail Potenoal Pit{alls Of Preshow
Time (or the lack rhereof; . Specrarors Talking
Preshow Volunteers Leaving
Factors ln Making Preshow More Effective Verbal Misdirection .
Distance
Numbers of spectators approached Mixing Methods
Useful Devices for Preshow
The Use Of Preshow In Various Effects . 'Mulbple
Ours Rouhnes
As Part Of A Three-Part Prediction Tossed Out Deck
Add-A No
7 4
7 4
T 4
1 5
1 7
7 7
20
20
2 7
22
5
5
6
7
9
2 4
2 4
25
26
28
28
29
Psychic Yahtzee Psychic Yahtzee 2 The Miracle Prediclion Some Parting Thoughts Suggested Reading.30
J I
The 'Warming Up To Strangers' Dept.
t
{$zfor e ffhe Qurtain !(ses
- q lrcqtise on presfrou' rlork-{:knowte dgments
The treatise you hold actually started as a lowJevelproject a few years ago. Ihave a keen interest in all facets of mentalism and have noüced several 'gaps' in the Iiterature. These gaps omit critical information to the student (like myself) as to some of the inner methods, concepts and techniques that can be used to great effect in mentalism and magic. This treatise, and the oihers thai {ollow, are an attempt to fill some of these gaps with solid inlormation and background.
Over the years, there have been mang who have kept my interest in preshow work, and it's many possibilities, alive and well. Virtually all have inspired through their performance and writings. Among these are Rudy Hunter, Docc Hilford, Kreskin, John Riggs, Banachek, Craig Karges, Dunninger, Marc Salem and many others. I have been fortunate in that I can rub shoulders with mang of the verJ, best minds and performers in the world of mentalism. I have you allto thank for your inspiration and friendship. This is written as a tesiament to gour many gifts and talents. I thank you all.
As always, I have to thank my wonderfut wife, April Canter. Thank you honey, for gour love and caring, and for not letting this silly habit I have of.,,,,riting books you couldn't care less about. get in the way of our relöbonship.
And to you, dear reader. I hust this work opens your eyes to the many truly incredible miracles that can be done with this amazing technique. Thank you. Now let's get on with it!
-$zfore ffhe Qvtaain
!(!scs
' c treolise on preslrorv rvork
-$-he :{pfta $crics
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Potentiallg (and in many ways), this is the most powerful technique in the arsenal of the mentalist
-First oi all, is it 'pre show', 'pre,show' or 'preshow'? Beats me, but from this point on, I'll refer to it as preshor-u. If {or some reason that doesn't work {or you, please forgive me. In this instance, at least, it appears I know not what I do...
The simple definition
-All rjght. here's the simple definitlon: "Any advance work that is done before a performance officially begins that can directly or indirectly involve a member or members of the viewing audience, without the knowledge oI other members of that same auorence. This advance work can then be used either openly or secretively from the stage when the formal performance happens."
That's ihe easy deliniöon (as I would define it). This advance work can take many lorms and be used to achieve many ends. It's use can be disclosed openly from the stage later on, or more often, is used as a secret weapon in ef{ects or demonstrattons.
This is such a powerful weapon when used correctly, yet is seriously underexplored in the literahre. [n fact, when I embarked upon this proiect some years ago, I was immedi-ately süuck by how litde there was in the literature that specifically dealt with this subject. The overwhelming majority oI it is taken up by individual thoughts. A senrence nere, an off-hand comment there. It is so spread out, in {act, that to do a complete blbliography of it is prohibitive. There are simply too many bits and pieces.
So the work at hand is an attempt at a collecüon (albeit an incomplete one, since doing a totally complete treatise is next to impossible) of time tested ideas and techniques used by most preshow practitioners. There are also some ideas that I believe are seeing print {or the first time in these pages. These are practices that I have been using lor years in my own perlormances and I haven't seen them explained anvwhere else.
1
c$efore {he Qurtain !(ises
q treatisc on prcshs\\'rvork
-Of course a proieci of this scope, on this specialized a technique, is bound to be missing ideas and concepts that some will consider to be crucial. or at least hdue been crucial in their own work. I can't speak for everyone- So, ihis treatise will be coming pretty much exclusively from one point of view, my own. This is not an encyclopedia oI preshow work (although to date it is probably the closest thing to one), and will not try to deiineate everything under the sun- But rest assured all of what you are about to discover has been iested and used ln the real world. The only instances where that is not true, iwill say so right from the siar| These will be as yet untested ldeas that should work. Only time and experience will prove them out, oJ course.
You'll notice, too that there are relatively few complete routines contained herein. Mostiy just bare bones and ideas. That fact nohvithstanding, there is more than enough fuel ior thought here to inspire dozens of routines. Apply the logic and techniques and gou'll soon be coming up with kilier ideas of your own. These are always the best for you angrlay, so enjoy the joumey.
We will explore an awful lot of applications and iechniques for using preshow. lt seems that there is a strong emphasis everywhere on 'how' things work. The 'how' of preshow con be fairly complicated but. more often than noi, is really pretty simple. This is the only place I'll mention this in this entire treatise, but without a doubt the biggest ingre dient of 'how' to do preshow, is simply having the nerve to approach someone who you have never seen beiore and get them to help you, with or without their direct knowledge
Some oI us have a ptoblem with approaching complete strangers and just tolking to them. My suggestion on this most crucial point is to do hdro things. One, there are several good books written by people whose names you know, about the art o{ speaking with anyone. I'll note a couple of the better known titles in the bibliography. These are excellent resources and can be of immense help. lf you have even the slightest hesitation about this critical skill, get these books and read them! Even if you don't have a problem with this, get the books anyway, they couldn't possibly hurt!
And my second sugges[on is to simply practice. Obvious, right? But how many will actually go out and do if?? This is so obvious that I know it will be overlooked by most. This is a shame. What's even more criminal about it, is that you can practtce angwhere. An!^.vhere there are other people who you do not know, is a golden opporhtnity to prac-tjce and get comfortable with talking to strangers. I'm hiding one of the biggest secrets to preshow right here, so listen up. Simply being completely comlortoble speaking with some-one you do not know (and, ol course, lnitiating the conversation io begin with!) is
-$efor e {he Qurtain !(ses
- a rrcatise on prcsfrow I'ork ,
lutely vital to having good success with certain forms of preshow work. If you're noi com foltable, your potential volunteer won't be comfortable and that could cause problems later on.
This is particularly true if your volunteer is going to end up on siage with you. li you are uncomJortable in the initial{ew moments of contact during preshow, theV won't feel confident in being on stage with you. Those cribcal few seconds can make or break how successfulthe piece you're going to do will ultimately be. Do yourseli (and your audience) a favor and give this some very serious considerahon. lt willpay huge divjdends and is one of those things that truly separates the professionals Jrom the amateurs.
I'm not sure that the above discussion is really one of the hou,r,s of preshow so I put it here. It's a critical concept, so don't overlook it. But there's som€thing else that fascinates m e .
What is equally interesting as the hour of preshow, is the urhg. There,s been a fair amount of discussion about hoar preshow is to be accomplished, with much more in the following pages. In most cases it's usually fairly cut and dried. The uhy, however. hasn't been examined much and is truly fascinabng. tvhg is this technique so incredibly powerful and why is it so compietely undetectable when used properly? There have been a few, attempts at trying to put into words the 'why' of ihis powerful technique before, but I don,t ihink there's a better explanabon than is given all too briefly in MlchaelClose's essay on'Assumption'
\n "Workers 5". Allow me to paraphrase and expand...
ln essence, everyone has certain assumptions about the world they live in, the events of their lives . . . and the performances that they see. One of those assumptions is ihat lhe shou.r begins when the show begins. Strange statement, huh? Here,s another one. The ellect begins when the eJfect begins. What that means is that we all assume that the various efJects and demonstrations that we see performed in a live show st'od when the performer launches into ihe introduction. We assume that the entire process of what goes into the presentation happens while we are watching. The thought that something milht have happened long before we even entered the theater never even enters our mind. It,s a naturalthing. OI course there are several things we as performers can do ro cemenl or desfroy that impression. We'll discuss those aspects later. What is working for us from the start is that this is a completely natural unconscious assumption.
This is the primary power that is built into the use of preshow. Since preshow is inherendy an invisible technique (in that the overwhelming majority of the audience never sees it happen and are, therefore, completely unaware of it), it is all the more powerful.
-ßeprn {he Qurtain !(!ses
- a treatise o presfrqw rvork '
There is no way for any logical ihinking person to decode and unraveLa mystery that has preshow as part (or all) of the modus involved. Assuming thai they know nothing of the existence of preshow in any form, there's simply not enough information present at the time of performance to figure it all out.
I distinctly recall the firsi time I ever saw Q&A performed. lt was on 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' many years ago. What I don't recall was whether it was Kreskin or Orson Welles. I do know that I saw them both perform Q&A on Carson's show over the years. Regardless, in looking back. I now know that they had (probably) clip boarded part of the audience ahead of time and were simply revealing the information in time honored Q&A fashion. Whether they made use of clipboards or were stealing slips, I can't say with complete auihority (although, knowing Kreskin's love oI Dunninger's techniques, he prob-ably just stole slips). Regardless, some kind of information gathering was done preshow. Bottom line to the present story is that I was unaware of the concept oi preshow at that point in my li{e, as is pretty much everyone else out there. Needless to say, I was com pleiely blown away by what I sawl!
Since I had no concept of what preshow was, there was no explanation that I could possibly come up with that would explain what I had seen. The same was true for the audience. PLus I really had two strikes against me from ihe start. I had the natural uncon scious assumption that the show started when th€ show started, plus I was unaware that there was such o lhing as preshow work. The hro do go hand-in-hand, but they also reinforce one another. Everyone in your audience is in the same boat as I was back then. lt goes without saying that they don't stand a chance of figuring out a thing if this technique is used correctly.
We're going to look at several factors involved in preshow, as well as several tech-niques that can be used. We'll also look at a Iew examples o{ the end result when the {inal performance happens.
cSefore
{he Qurtain
!$ses
' q trectise on preslrorv rtork 'dlpes of presftow c1\rork
-4tt o1igl"tle\\t
There are basically h.\ro types of preshow work. Type one, the most common. in volves direct contact with the person(s) that are to be worked with. This contact can be done by the performer jersonally or by someone else who, either knowingly or unknow ingly, is helping the performer. Type hvo involves preshow where there is no direct contact with any audtence member{s) by the performer or anyone else in his behall Here,s a brief overview.
d-1pe
Qne, $irect fontact
-Of the two mains types of contact that we will examine here, this is the most com_ mon form of preshow work. In this first scenario, the perlonner himseff approaches ind! viduals prior to the show and asks {or their assistance in some of the dernonsuaoons ro happen later. In some cases, the assistance is asked in a 'specit'ied' manner. By this I mean that the individual involved knows that they willbe called upon to either assrsr on srage with a demonstration. or in some other fashion that the audience willwltness. There are several factors in this iype of contact and we'll look at them in detail in a moment.
There is also another scenario that is common in this {iJrm of contact. Ii is used mosi in Q&A type of performances. In this instance, the individuals who are approached
preshow don't know whether or not they will be called upon to actively participate later on in the show. Their assistance is being solicited in an ,unspeci/ied, manner. This type of work is best used ior demonstrations where large numbers of people will be {apparently) used, such as Q&A
Another form of this \pe of contact was very common in the vaudeville era (and beforei mentalist's program. Since these performers frequently traveled with at least one other person as part of the act, they could take full advantage of the situation. ln this in-stance, someone other than the perJormer would approach members of the audience and solicit information and/or assistance as above. Dunninger and Lustig are a prime example of this. Thls could be simply filling out slips for e&A later on (an .unspecifed, manner of usage), or lor specific demonstrations in the show (a tpeci/ied, usage oI the spectator).
Even if you work alone, you can still use this technique. Itis very efJect_dependent,
I
$efor z. {hz. Qpaain ((ises
' q lreqlisc on oresfror,l' 'work
-though. By ihat i mean that it's use as I'm about to describe it is somewhat limited. Here's what I mean.
Lei's say you're doing Q&A and you're having slips filled out by members of the audience as they enter the lobby of the theater. The slips are then folded and left in a large bowl or other container on display in the lobby. Later on the bowlfull of slips will be
brought to the stage and left in plain sight for the Q&A (or sightless vision or whatever) later on. This technique was very popular in vaudeville days.
Well one oI the easiest things to do is simply steal out a handful oI slips while the bowl is in transit from the lobby to the stage. Just pocket ihem and you're setl But you can only do ihat if you get the bowl yourself, right? Not necessarily. Suppose you have an employee of the theater rehieve the bowl and bring it backstage momentarily ("So I can make sure we have enough slips to do the demonstrabon later."). While they have the bowl backstage you simpiy siir the slips and steal a few right under their noses. They then iake the bowl out on stage to display it. This takes only a moment and will pass unnoticed. The employee is an accomplice and they don't even know it!
You can't do this with every ef{ect that uses preshow, but if your 'helper' can hon estly swear ihat they were not 'in on' anything, your demonstrations wiii be just thai much more credible. You may want to even consider sending an audience member out to do your clipboarding lor you! lmagine how strong this can be! You'll have to work out the actual details oI what they will say and so forth, but the end result could be devastating. While I have never done this, I can easily imagine how powerfulthis could be!
This type of contact (someone other than ihe performer himself making contact) is very effechve. However, direct contaci has become the main form of preshow since Theo Annemann came on the scene and tumed almost all mentalism acts into solo perfor-mances. Prior to Annemann, almost all mentalism acts involved at least h.vo people. Annemann changed all thal At least he was the most influenüal in that regard, so blame him.
@pa fwo,
(ln{irectContoct
-Perhaps the term 'lndirect Coniact' is a bit misleading. ln this particular case, l'm really talking about a situaäon where no direct contocthas been made by the performer or anyone else associated with the performer with the spectator(s). This is a much more
I
cSe.fore
{he Qurtain !(ises
.r trcatise on presfrou, rvork
-covert gpe o{ preshow work. It frequently involves using a computer, occasionally a pri-vate investigator is called upon, and any one o{ a number of other ruses are used. The one common denominator of all these truchniques is reseorch. Basically you,re doing research oi some Upe on those who are atiending your performance. Some of this researcn ts specific and some is very much determined by chance, but we,re getting ahead of our selves. More details follow.
That's a brief overview of these hvo main types of preshow work. Now let,s exam ine these h^,o types of contact methods in more detail.
!)irect fontact
-Anytlme someone approaches a spectator prior to a performance and solicits assis-tance oi any type, that moment is highly suspect right from the stari. Thar moment rc even more suspect when the petorrner himsef approaches a spectator. However, in ihe last seveEl decades this is exactly what has been done. Ever since the strong movemenr started wellover 75 years ago towards solo performers, the performer has had to do it all himself. There's been very little choice. This moment can make or break how well the piece to be performed later plays. It is absolutely ctihcal, and I cannot stress this enough, that everything you are going to say and do with this spectator be thoroughly thought out and rehearsed.
ln a bit we're going to discuss some ways to diminish the 'moment' of that contact and make it 'fly' a bit easier later on when the show starts. Obviousiy, this \rpe of direct contact for preshow is used most often for the current versions of e&A. Wh.neu", a per_ iormer clipboards the house, or is passing out cards and pencils, he is in dlrect contact with those whom he hopes to call on later during the show.
^ ^ . If this audience member is going to be used in a .major effect, (ala Cassidy) Iike Q&A, there will be several people who are openly being approached. In this case a large amount of the pressure will be off of both you and the participant. It simply appears thlt there are several members of the audience who are participating in a survey of some kind. No big deal, and it should be played as such by the performer. fro pr".rll..,
",.p,y u., invitation to join in on something that could be a lot of fun and very interesting later on.
Nothing in your delivery or demeanor should place any apparent importance on the activity o{ writing down a bit of inlormabon or a question. It's'simply to ,help concentra_ tion' later on. This is really quite easy from the performer,s point of'view because vou
-cSef
or e ff he Qvrtain lt(ises
a trcqtise on oresfto*' *'ork-don't know if you'll use their information or notl Whatever they write down may be worth-less to you in the show. So heat each participani with respect, bui not as if the success of your show rides on their shouldersl Q&A and effects like it are easy in this regard.
However, effecis where the spectaior is going to be involved in a specified manner ii.e., end up on stage or in some way be specifically participating in an event) are a bit more delicate. In these cases, the success of the effect does ride, in part, with your specta tor. But you cannot let them feelany pressure. There are severalthings you must establish with this person in order for things to go smoothly.
First and foremost, develop a sense o{ trust between you and the spectator. They must be at ease (which means YOU must be ai easel) and never get a sense that they will be embarrassed in any way. Of course. much of this depends on the sp€ci{ic effect in volved. So let s use a specilic example.
Let's say that your spectator is going to select a word, either djrectly from a book or simply by thinking of one. l{ it were me, I would iirst approach a person whom I got a good feeling lrom just in their appearance and demeanor. Someone who seems iriendly and a bit outgoing, without being an extrovert. Avoid exhoverts for this type of work like the plague. They can make life absolutely miserable for you later on. Ii they get to be on-stage. God only knows what might happen. If you get one of these persons in preshow, get out of the sih-ration as best you can. Don't open yourself up to this potential disaster later on.
So I select someone who seems friendly and a bit outgoing. I would approach this person and introduce myself as the performer in the program tonight and do all the pleas-antries. Be sure to get their name. Try to establish as much rapport as possible without becoming overly friendly. I would then ask thls person ii they would be willing to assist me in a demonstration later on during the program. This assistance would be very simple and in no way would it be embarrassing {or them. I usually make a bit of a joke at this point about me being the only one who is embarrassed by this program! Big smiles at this point! Above all else, give them a chance to back out. If they are not comlortable with you by this poini, don'i force the issue. This discomfort is the exact \rpe oI thing that has been known to cause people to leave the show for fear of ending up on stage. Then you're out of luck! So do everything you can to keep them comfortable. The best thing is to be com-fortable and likable yoursell This will go far in accomplishing your mission. I would then explain that all I need lor them to do is to think o{ a word. "Eosy enough? Butl'll make it euen easier. I'ue got o dictionary here with thousonds upon thousonds ol word in it. We're going to pick one ot rondom. Tell you what, I'll just fip the pdges ond gou soy stop
-{$efore {he Qurtoin ([{ses
q treqlisc or presftorv rtork
-euer you wont. Right there? Greot. Toke o look ot that Loord ight there at the top ot' the poge. I don't wont to see it. Got it? Con gou remember it ot do vou need to wite it down? Greot, now don't lorget it.
'Loter
on duing the program I'll coll on you t'rom the stage you won't need to come up, but I will hooe you stond. I promise thot I won't do onything to emboross you in any way. ln fact I think you'll find it to be fun! I'll ask gou to conlinn thot we spoke belore the progrom ond so on. We'll do something thot will be amozing (I hope!). Sound good? "
With these few words, l'm all set to go. Later on I'll have her stand and l,ll go over basically what happened earlier before the show, using all the things in the section on verbal misdirection. See that section for more on this. What will end up happening. is ihat i ll apparently read her mind and pullout the word ihat she is thinking of. She will be
amazed, the audience will be amazed and everyone looks good. Make sure she gets a good round of applause for her participation. Take good care of your direct conract volunteers who are going to be used in a specified manner and they will take good care of you!
(Ttdi'ect
forrtoct
-As I mentioned eariier, this \rpe of work is mainly research, the gathering of infor_ mation by covert means. Thls can take any one of a thousand different forms. In fact. this is probably lhe single technique that is nentioned the most' in the literature. I can,t tell you how many times I've read something l\ke, "Just keep your eyes and ears open and you'll get information on people just by ouerheoing conuersotions ond by cosual obseruation", or words to that eifeci. Whiie this is very true, it's not terribly exacting. There,s simply no telling what informaäon you'llget, iI indeed you get any at all! So l,lltry ro grve you more specific rechniques thar you can use.
First we'll go with low-tech. I'm sure some of you reading this immediately thought about doing online searches on the intemet and the like. Well, we'llget to that in a mo_ ment. First, here ar€ some things you can do even when the power goes out!
. First of all, just ke ep your eyes and eors open ond you'll get inJormation on people just by ouerheoing conuersotions andbg casual obseruotionl Sorry, I had io do that, but it really is true. But you can obviously go much farther than that. I{ you have an assistant (or more than one), by all means use iheir eyes and ears as well. If they are an assistant who is
$efore She Qwaain
(I{ses
' q tfe4tise on prcshqw $'ork-never seen on stage, even betterl! They are, for allpracticai purposes, invisible. Thus ihe impact of information they may obtain is even more
powerful-There are performers who have been known to scope out the parking iot while patrons are aüiving for a performance. A lot of information can be gleaned by observation here. The tlpe of car a person drives, the license plate and the State it comes {rom, who is doing the driving, the mood of those in the car as they pull up. more than one car brlnging a load oI people from the same party . . . ali of this can be put to good use later on. This same technique can be applied to the lobby oi the performing venue as well.
Bottom line here is to always be aware of any opportunitv to gain information on people who are attending your performance. You never know what you might chance into that could positively kill on stage laterl
There is the famous story oJ Dr. Jaks hlding in a stall jn the men's restroom prior to a show and ljstening to the chatter, only to use the valuable information laterl l would have loved to have seen the looks on the gentlemen's facesl Well, this is still as valid today as ever. As I'm sure you already know, the ladies restroom works even betteri Of course. if you have a {emale assistant (preferably one who does not appear on stage, Ior reasons already noted... ) she can do this same thing for you without the fear of ralslng suspicion and a possibly sticky situaöon lf you tried ii yourself {like you leaving the ladies restroom!).
Obviously I'm assuming you're male. If not. here's a chance to just reverse the situationl You never know when or where an opportunity may arise to gain a bit of informa-tion that can be used later on. You've got to stay alert and on your toes. The biggest warn-ing I can give is, pleose don't just lurk around your audience prior to a show, paywarn-ing what might be perceived as undue attention to them. I've seen this happen and believe me, people do notice. This can come back to haunt you later on, so don't do it. lI you can't be
uery discreet, don't even bother!
Of course, if you throw some technology into the above mix, you can come up with miracle materiaM know of performers who carry their laptop computers with them at all times, even backstage be{ore the show. lmagine what you could do with intemet access and a name or a phone numberll You hear the stories on the news allthe time about people who can find out all about you over the intemet, right? Why not put some of that to good use. You're not going to do anything illegal or immoral, so go lor it!
There are CD-BOM's out there that have entire databases on them with all klnds oI information. You don't even need internet access to use them. I won't list any here purely
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-because, given the speed with which technology and information is changing today. a week from now any specific in{ormaüon I give you would be out of datel Suffice ro say. oo your homework and gou'll find a ton of great information out there that is ripe for use as
preshow background material.
I recall a few years making a phone call to a friend of mine at the other end of the country. He was (and stiil is) very up to date with information technology and has several computers at his command. I called him from the home of the lady I was datrng at ihe time. He asked me what the phone number was where I was calling from. Shortly aiter that, while he was talking to my lady lriend, he proceeded to describe her neighborhood, name her neighbors, describe what a couple of them do ior a livjng, and apoLogize ior the scar on her right l(neel Needless to say, she was completely blown awayl
While I don't know for cetain whai he was using to gain all this information. I do know that he was using iechnology that anyone can get. I'm quite certain he works
miracles with ihis powerful technology allthe äme. But let's say you don't have that at your command just prior to a show. What can you do?
Well let's suppose that you can get the name and address of a few of the people attending that big company {unchon you're working next week. More often than not. company secretaries are happy to supply litde tid bits of information if you make it clear that you just want to memorize a tew names before the show and maybe have some fi-rn with it. Once armed with the iniormation you have several avenues that you can follow. Having your own computer and appropriate software makes things easy. But there are oiher options.
Of course. there is a ton of public iniormabon available on just about anyone for free at the library and your local County Courthouse. A great many useful iacts can be obiained with no problem due to the Freedom Of Information Act. OI course this means genuine research of the 'old school', getting down and dire, digging through old files and actually looking things up! But if you've got a list of some of the attendees o{ your next program and have the time to do this, it can be a powerful technique. Just be aware. it does take a fair amount of time and leg work. But the results can be well worth it. plus, the more you do it, the better you will get at it. You'll become ever more familiar with the in's and out's oI the system and maybe even make a friend or two on the staff who can be a tremendous help. Just be sure you don't 'tip' them as to your reasons lor all the researchl
Do you have a frlend who can get online frcr you? Think o{ who you know who can help you with this. But here's an even better idea. Assuming you're being paid the type of
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fee you deserve for the caliber of show you shou/d be per{orrning, consider hiring a private jnvestigator. Believe me, iI anyone can flnd out the dirt on just about anybody, fhis is the person who can! It's ach.rally best if gou can cultivate a relot'ionship with a PI if you are going to do this wlth any regularity at all. I have a couple of different friends thai I can call upon if I need the dirt on a specific person {or an upcoming gig. lt's a powerful technique and is certainly worth looking in to. You never know what they willcome up with, but even one impossible to know fact can create a sensation wjth the right crowd. Think about itl
Of course, as I have already mentioned, there's a ton of info available on the internei. Learn your way around it and you can turn up some mighty interesting things. Just be sure to use any information you get wisely and sparingly. In this technological age, it s easy to blame the internet for just about anything. Make certain that you can cover your tracks. Get your initial in{ormation (names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) as discreetly as possible with little or no room for back iracking by someone else. Perhaps you can get hold of a corporate directory or even a list oI office numbers lor specilic individuals. Use your head and, again, stag alert to any possibility.
I might as well mention here a time-honored technique that is both low-tech and very useful. If you have advance information on people attending your performance, lt would be worth your while to drive by their homes and iake a look at their property and neighborhood. Be carelul doing this as you don'i want to arouse any suspicion ("Hey, there's that stalker again!''), just do a slow drive-by during low traffic hours. Get a look at the house and visible property. You could even conceivably snoop further, but remember, you didn't hear thot t'rom me! Seriously, though, it's really not necessary. Just a simple drive-by can reveal a bunch of very useful in{ormation about the lifestyle and home liie of your potential spectator. Again, be careful, and above all else be discreet! lt wouldn't look good for you to be arrested casing someone's home before a big show This iechnique takes some time but can pay off big!
Here's another possibilig for the solo pedormer. Make sure you have a friend who ls a major computer whiz and has access to all kinds oI information. Offer to pay him a fee every üme you can use his service (and he delivers!). Whenever you get a potentiallg good lead at the perlorming uenue, call your buddy on your cell phone and tell him what in{or-mation you have and let him go to work. Let him know your cut off time (show öme!!), and to call back to your cell phone at least ten minutes before your show up time if he finds out anything that sounds promising. Having a fee attached to producing real results will be a good incentive program {or him and frees you up to pursue other matters belore show time. If he tums up nothing at all, you're out nothing (including your time), but you never know what might tum up.
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-One small word of warning here. Should you decide to pursue the above scenario, make sure you are completely comfortable with ihis individuaL you're working with. He must be completelg trustworthy and will feed you only accuraie information. There's noth ing worse than getting on stage and revealing inaccurate information. In short, you must have a good relationship with this person or they can make you look very bad on stag€ Again. it's probably a good idea to tie the iee in wiih accurate results. If they feed you solid information, you couLd easilg make a world class reputahon. That's worth paying good money for, so make it worih his while! It will be good for both of youl
The iniernet is a wonderful thing. With the advent of wireless internet oecomrng a very real occurrence, I m sure enterprising mentalists willtake full advantage oi the speed and easy access this provides to turn up some real miracles. But I aiso suspect that as ihe speed and easy access improves, the face of what the public is aware o{ will also change. Everyone will know that certain things are possible and it will be up to you to make sure that you do everything you can to eliminate even the slightest possibility of technology from their minds. Keep this in mind if you decide to pursue these avenues of covert presnou work.
Remember Dr. Jaks hiding in the men's restroom? Don't want to hide in there yourseli? Allow me to present an alternaöve. What you'll need is a micro-cassette recorder to hide in there. It needs hvo very specific functions in order for this to work. First it needs to be what is known as 'voice acävated', meaning it does not record at all until it 'hears' sound. Once lt detecis sound, it instantly begins recording. It also shuts off automatically when the sound stops.
lt will also need to have 'double speed playback'. All this means is that you can have it playback at twice the regular speed of the tape. It will sound like chipmunks talking when this happens, but it's still perfectly legible. This is the way Alvin and the Chipmunks were recorded (l'm starting to give away my age here...). You can listen to allthe talk {rom the ladies room in half the time it would normally take, plus it's all talk with no dead space. As a result you get all the good stuff you would have gotten if you were hiding in there yourself in a fraction of the time, plus you can be doing other things while the tape is re cording. Get two tape recorders and you can cover both restrooms at once. This can be a powerful weapon.
Of course you will need to work out the logistics o{ where io hide the recorder, how to retrieve it, and allowing enough time to review it and decide how to use the info. Having an offstage assistant can be a godsend in this situation. She can be reviewing the tape and
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-can get the inio out to you on-stage later in the show. That's a great situation, but for most of us 'guerrilla' performers, we'lLjust have to do it ourselves. This is a great technique. Think about it.
potentia[Fitfotf.
Of preshow
$ime 1or the [ack thereoft
-When doing preshow, you simply MUST allow plenty of time to cover all the terri tory gou need to cover. Many times the physicol situation of a program simply won't allow for preshow. For instance, let's say you're working a company banquet and are on rjght after dinner and the awards ceremony. The problem here is that, unless you plan on get ting to the venue and doing your preshow at least 2 hours prior to your show {which isn't a bad idea...), there's simply no üme window where you'll have access to the audience without interrupting the ongoing program.
The moral of the story here is to ALWAYS have extra material with you that you can do with no preshow work at all. Trust me, Murphy's Law willdefinitely rear its ugly head at the worst possible time if you don't plan ahead. Having extra material that can easily fill the slot that your preshow material would have covered, will give you tremendous peace of mind and make vour iob much easier.
Spectotors {af/rring
-Without a doubt, this is one of the biggest potential problems Ior the preshow worker. lt is not really an issue i{ you are playing in comedy clubs or general public shows. However it's a huge issue when working for corporaüons and private clubs. In these orga-nizations, most everyone knows everyone else and is much more inclined, not to mention in o position, to discuss the show they have witnessed. lf they witness a performance where
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-only those who were talked to before the perfomance were called upon, ihis couLd be reconstructed the next day, and the basic method worked out. Noi good
Richard Osierlind, in his excellent book. "Dynamic Mysteries" (Busby, 1999), men, tions an incident exactly like this happening io someone he knows. lt's not pretty. These people are in a posiäon to talk for doys and longer about the show. li you are working for these types of groups, take heed and plan appropriately.
With generalpublic shows, this is not much of an issue. After the show. thev alloo iheir separate ways and won't be in a position to gather data on who talkea tä wno. ,qs-*e will discuss shortly, without a doubt the best way to handle a potential problem situation like this is to either a) noi use preshow and rely on other meihods lor your effects, or b) mix methods for your preshow. More on this highly e{iective technique to iollow.
preslroru cOofunteers
Qalin6
-How many times have you heard ihe story, "l had this guy allset up to do this killer bit with me, and when the time comes, he's left the buildingl"? If this ever happens to you, I hope you look good with egg on your face! Either that, or you are prepared for the worst {which can be the above scenario), which it' r.ui/l eventually. No mofter how close you watch thai criöcal person you worked with before the show, lhey will get up and leave. No motler how much you emphasize that their parücipation is necessary, no mofter how much they assure you that they are there Ior the entire evening, no molter how careful you are and how many safeguards you take . . . eventually someone that you have done preshow work with that you are planning on using in the show will disoppeor on you. Murphy strikes again!
Who knows where they go or why? Maybe they just got an important message on thelr pager. Maybe they are tired of your show (heaven forbid). Maybe they are in the restroom at the critical moment when you need them. The bottom line here is that thev're gone and you re sruck.
Given that the above scenario u.ri// happen to you eventually if you do preshow work, what are you going to do about it? you can,t avoid it, so what will you do?
I'm assuming a worst-case scenario here. By that I mean thai the prece you are planning on doing absolutely has to be done with that one person and no one else. More often than not Q&A won't suffer from this unless you only clipboard huo peoplel you
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q trc4lGe on oreshq\\,.work-normally should have plenty ol spectators to draw from. The person that leaves may have been your best selection. Oh u,'el/. You move on. But what if that person who leaves is the only person, the exoct' person you need to perform your miracle?
My best suggestion is one that I live by. Air-uoys have extra material on st'oge with you at all times that you can simply pick up and do without skpping a beat. Ideally this alternate material should be just as strong as the piece you ate replacing. lt's a tall order but believe me, ihe above situation only has to happen to you one fime, and you will see the wisdom of this suggestion.
You must prepare for this. The very best thing you can do is to vividly imagine this awfulsituation happening. Then try to imagine hou you're going to get out o{ that bad sihiation and into your replacement effeci. Be sure to ihink this through thoroughly. In a perfect world, ihe audience shouldn't even be aware that there was ever a problem. Your segue from your 'missing person' situation to your replacement ef{ect should be as seam less as possible and, indeed, appear to be a regular and planned part of the show in some way. Just so long as it doesn't raise any red flags lor ihe audience. Even if your preshow piece doesn't happen due to someone skipping out on you, the mere thought of something having been arranged ahead oi time (and failing somehow) should never have the oppor-tunity to €nter the minds of the rest of the audience. This is crltical. if jor no other reason than your own credlbility.
Probably rhe easiesr thing to do is to have a similar effect to the one you were going to do using the preshow, but using a difierent method which can be done right on stage. With a little thought this can be done with virhrally any effect. You may have to bend your conditions a bit, but keep in mind that this is a back up situation, not your first choice. you willprobably have to make some concesslons in the method. That's ok.
This has two advantages for you as a periormer. First of all, it keeps the basic flow and programming of your show intact. That can be very good for your timing and general mlnd set. Another huge advantage can be if your spectator (who skipped out on you) hears later about that spot in the show. He or she will be doubly fooled because you
wound up doing the shrnt with someone pulled from the audience at random. Even if they were to spout off about you working with them prior to the program, this completely null! fies their point. This would only increase your credibili\r.
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-ffactors tn makrng
praslrow
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ffsdirection
-Of all the factors in making preshow effective, this is without a doubt the most im_ poriant. lt's quite possible to completely destroy good preshow work with just a simple phrase. By that same token. it's quite possible to tum good preshow work into a mind-numbing mirocle with a simple phrase. As such, let me state here the one fhing that is by far the most important about this aspect of preshow: you simply musf practlce anct re-hearse exoctly what you're going to say on stage. One wrong word can completely blow ii lor you. Make absolutely ceftain that you know exactly what happens once you're on stage. This is critical. I've seen too many guys try to 'wing it', and end up with a small disaster on their hands. Don't say I didn't warn you.
I'll state right up front in this section that by far the best thing you can do to really make your verbal misdirection effective is to obtain allthree volumes of Kenton Knepper,s marvelous Wonder Words series of audiotapes. Kenton has a worid o{ experience and knowledge on the subject and the tapes are worth their weight in gold to any performer, regardless what type oI performing you may do. Do yourself a favor, get Wonder Words and devour every minute of them. It will help you more than anything I can say here.
That being said, I'll hit a couple of highlights here {or you. What you say when the performance starts can make or break good preshow work. Of course, if your preshow work has been of the indirect type, there will have been no contact with anyone in th€ audience. This situation is by {ar the easiest to deal with.
Let's say you have singled out an individual lrom the audience {whom you have some good dirt on). Basically allyou n€ed to do is to establish that thev have never met you before, and vice versa. No one talked to them before the show or at anv otner trme
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' 4 treqtise on oresfrou' rvork-and that there is no way you could possibLy know any'thing about them. The main thing is not to 'protest too much', meaning don't over do it. State your case and get on with the presentation of the effect. If you go too far, some will start to think maybe you know a lot more than you're saying. So be sparing about it.
That one is easy. However when there has been direct contact with the speciator's before the program, you must be very careful how you word things so that no red flags go up for anyone. Basically you must be aware of hvo different realities, one for the preshow volunteers and another lor the rest of the audience. Both of these realities must make sense to the indivlduals involved. As long as these separate realities make sense, no one will question anything.
For example, let's say you have clipboarded several members of the audience before the show and you are about to do Q&A. They have all kept their slips and have ihem in their possession. ln the introduction to the routine you can say someihing along the lines of, "We're going to try a demonstrotion in mind to mind communication. I con, on occosion, reod thoughts of a very speciJic nature ond t'hot's whot we're obout to try. lf gou would, pleose remoue o slip of poper t'rom your puße or wallet and simply wite o comment or question ond perhaps o bit of personal inlormotion. Anything ot oll will do. Keep thot slip in your. possession. I understand that some oJ you moy houe alreadg done this, if so, please toke out gour slip and reuiew what 9ou houe witten. This is the informa tion we will try to communicote". and you proceed with the Q&A.
ln ihis case the two reaLities are very close to each other, in iact virh.rally identical, but the timing is different. Those who were clipboarded will remember that they have already written something down, and those who haven't will be busy doing just that. No-äce the positioning o{ the t'xo paris of the equation. First we get those who were not clipboarded working on their slips and then bring in those who were clipboarded. Since everyone will have their slip on them lrom beginning to end, there should be no question as to the legiümacy o{ the situation.
One small word here. Although it's somewhat beyond the scope o{ this particular monograph, an excellent technique to add to the mix of the above scenario is to throw in some dummy questions. These are dealt with in some of the better Q&A manuscripts and they can be very effective.
Here's another scenario. Let's suppose you've worked with on€ individual b€fore the show, and they are thinking of a single word. This word was gotten Jrom a dictionary. It will be much more effecüve if you can give the impression that they could have chosen any
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-word in the English language. any -word at all. The volunteer knows that ihey took a -word from a dictionary. The audience does not know how the word was chosen. That,s the situabon going in to the presentatlon. Here's one possible way to word this on stage. Let,s say you ve already gotien your volunteer on stage.
"Thank you so much t'or helping. lÄlould you pleose conJirm o thing or two for aur oudience. I spoke with you bnefly belore the show tonight, is thot conect? We chotted a bit ond I asked you if you would be [,i//ing t'o ossist me tn o simple demonstration duing the progtom, is thot corect? You see, I do thjs becouse some people houe stage t'nght or some other condition thot moy cause them undue onxiety b9 being on sfoge. I simply uanted to determine that gou were indeed willing to help.
I told you thot you needed to think of o word in the English languoge. you had a choice of literally ten's of thousands of words, is thot conect? you uere giuen a chonce to change your mind and you finollg lotched on to one word, conect? you hove been con_ centroting on that word eDer since, am I ight? Now let's be cleor, you did not tell me the word did you? You didn't uite onything down or mention this word to anyone else did you? So gou ond you alone know which word is locked in your mind ight now, conect? Fine. Thonk you."
You then proceed to dlvlne the word. Notjce the two realiues present here. Go back and re read the above passage and try to put yourself in the mind set of the volunteer. Everything willsound conect. They did have a choice of thousands oI words, they did not tell anyone nor write anything down, etc. It all sounds quite cofiect. It simply appears that you neglected to mention the dictionary, (if that indeed is noticed at all by your votunreer).
Now re-read the passage again from the stand point of an audience member. Again everything sounds correct, only in this case, they wiil assume that your volunteer simply chose a word at random out of the clear blue sky. Everything fits from born perspectrves. That is verbal misdirection.
The€asiest way to do this process is to write everything out clearly belorehand. Do just as.we did above and re-read your lines from the perspective of both your volunteer(s) as well as your audience. If something doesn't .fit' from either perspective, dump it and stari again. One thing I have found to be very helpfulin this process is to read the lines aloud and try to put myself into the performing situation. you may also want to tape record yourself. Go back and listen, making sure everything lines up coriectly and no red flags are raised. This is not a difficult process to do, but it has to be done aheaä of time. Don't try to make this up on stage. You're asking for trouble.
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-I've only given a couple of examples here, but l m sure you get the idea. This is not difficult, but it is vitalLy important. Give it the attention it deserues.
!)istance
-By distance I mean both physicol distance and time distance. If you can do your preshow work three hours prior to the performance, while literallg no one else is in the theater except you and your votunteer, then no one can possibly know anything ever happened at all (assuming you handle everything else conectly). That is the advantage of time distance. The more time you can allow to elapse bet'ween the execution of preshow, and the program itself, the better off you will be. This is why you'llsee Q&A workers clipboarding the house a fulL45 minutes to an hour before shor,,.rtime.
The next step is to disoppeor Do this as early in the preshow sequence as possible. By that I mean get out of sight, and therefore, out of mind. If the vast majority of your audience sees you for the very first time the moment you walk out on stage, then you re preshow work becomes even more invisible. Remember Michael Close's work on Assump tion? This is one place where it weighs the most heavily! This is a valuable point. Put os much time between gour preshow work ond your progrom as possiblel You'll be glad you did. Do your preshow work and get out of therel
What can be even better is if you can get witnesses to swear that you were actually next door at the pub before the program (or anywhere else, for that matterl). Just some-thinq to think about!
$nr6ers of spectqtors
aryroached
-This is a major lactor when doing Q&A. Let's suppose that the performer is clipboarding the house. An excellent shategy is to have both 'hot' boards as well as 'dummy'
boards working the house. All that this means is that you will have slips being written where you willget no information whatsoever. That is where the dummy boards come in. Later on, when the Q&A segment of the program happens, you can have every one else in the room get out a slip of paper and write their questions. You'll have people who will have done this before the show as well as lot's of people who did their slip during the show who do noi get picked. It will seem much more fair.
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-Obviously, it's the sheer number of people involved that helps to hide the {act that any work was done before the show. If you only ciipboard three people and they ali get called upon, the method wili become transparent
I won't labor this point because it has been dealt with very well in other publicaiions (see bibliography). Suffice to say, read those other texts and you'll see examples of this technique in action.
$Qxing
$kiftods
-One of the most devastating ways io use preshow is in conjunction with other meth ods. When the only actual method for an effect is the use ol preshow, it's a very straight line to the explanation. On the other hand, if there are a combination of methods {or the effects utilizing preshow, there's no straight line. ln fact, oll expionotion pret$ much goes right out the window.
One of the best examples of this in the literahrre is Bob Cassidy's Q&A routine from "The At O{ Mentalisn". The mixture of methods to achieve the overall efiect is marvelous and virhially impossible for anyone to reconstruct. Of course it is fairly easy to mix meihods for Q&A. Q&A is what Cassidy calls a major effect', meaning that literally everyone in the room is involved (ot at least think they are). Since so mang peopie and, therelore, poten-öal effects arc involved, it's actually very easy to mix methods.
Just using the devices that are mentioned later in this book that are good for preshow use, you can achieve a wide variety of effects. Obviously you can clipboard for just about anything. You can also use another method for a design duplication. Have a word or tlvo selected either via Flashback or the Working Mentalists Dictionary. Force another word from a book and force a card as well. Have another card mentally selecied and written down {using Annemann Outdone).
All of these bits of information can then be revealed later on. And each was utilized in a dif{erent fashion. Of course you can also use center tears, peek wallets, switches, steals and any number oI other techniques and devices. When it's all put together, it is not only de\,astating, but literally impossible to reconstruct since so mang methods were used to-gerner.
Of course that's Q&A, a major effect. What if you are doing a minor effect? Cassidy delines this as any effect where just one or a lew spectators are directlv involved. Minor
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-effects are a different animal altogether. It is possible to mix methods in minor ef{ects, particularly if you use more than one spectator. Using preshow on one spectator and an entirely dilferent procedure, say, something that can done completely on stage. with an-other spectator makes for a very effective combination. There are a couple of examples of this in the efiects section (particularly the lbssed Out Deck preseniation).
ql"nf"t ()evicesfor preslrow
-There are a number of items that can be very useful ior preshow work. In all of the cases that follow, the performer (or a representative) will be involved in direct contact with the audience. Some of these are great for gathering information, others for impafting it.
Of course the all-time classic is the clipboard. Clipboarding people is one o{ the most useful techniques you can use. By the way, l'm also including any impression device whereby written iniormation is stored and retrieved later on by the performer. Up until recently, by lar the best on the open market was that made by Lee Earle. Unfortunately, Lee has stopped making these marvelous clipboards and has come out with a new prod-uct. It is equally good (although candidly, I stilllean towards the original model). I com-pletely understand Lee's reasoning for siopping production o{ ihe 'Micro Thin' model. His newer model will q,ork just as well. And of course there are others available that will serve Ine purpose.
It is said that Dunninger favored hardcover books with carbon paper in th€ covers. These are easily made even today and look normal. Of course, more often than not it wasn't Dunninger who was 'booking' the spectator, but David Lusiig! In fact it seems that the vast majority of preshow of any sort that Dunninger used was achtally carried out by Lustig. See section on direct contact for more information on this technique.
Of particular mention in this discussion is 'Annemann Outdone' by m9 dear friend Carlyle. This is a carbon impression device built into a single p/oytng cord. The access to
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q freqlise on oresfroq' rvork
-the written impression is immediate (in faci it can be done right in lront oi -the spectators with careful handling). Obviously you can have a spectator think oi any card and have them write it down, using the deck as a writing suüace (and a Post-ltG) Note). you can figure oui the justification {or yourself. But this also makes a marvelous combination by forcing a card from the deck and having the speciator write down ony ot'her inlormation {and thus obtaining the impression). It's a great piece of mentalism and wellworth the money.
Since I'm talking about the Great Carlyle, I might as well mention one of my per sonal favorites for preshow use. His 'Working Mentalist's Dictionary' is worth it's weight in gold. It's a simple pocket dictionary. The spectaior selects any page in the dlctionary and thinks of the first word. The book is snapped shut and pocketed. you can then go back at any time and the book will tell you what uord the spectotor is thinking of!lt s not original with Carlyle by any means. It's been around for a very long time, and Carlyle makes the best one currently available. Get this,,
Of course you can force playing cards and name them later. But that,s really too easy (and obvious). A much more subtie idea is to make up a pack of cards with objects on ihem (recipes. automobiles, vacaüon destinations, etc.) and have one selected This can either be forced or the info obtained in some other fashion. When the show comes, using verbal misdirection (see verbal misdirection section) you can paint this into a scenarlo where the cards are never known by the audience and the spectator is still happy. you apparently just reach into the spectators mind and tell them where they want to go for vacation! The opportunities here are literally endless and can add a great deai to your optlons.
Forcing books can be a great boon {or preshow. ln fact ony t'orcing item canbe made to work for preshow. Obviously iI you are forcing information on your spectators ancl revealing it later, it must be made to look like the spectator chose anything at alland you got it! A big plus is that you don't really have to remember anything. The informaüon will be the same from show to show.
Regular booktests (Flashback, Mother O{ All Booktests, lnsight, etc. ) can all work just fine. You have them look at the word and you reveal it later on stage. The Mother is
particularly effecäve when done this way. There's no book in evidence orrce you are on stage and yet you are able to divine (and in most cases, drour) the picture in the spectator,s mind Powerful stuff! Flashback is particularly good if you want to have several diflerent words selected by diflerent spectators. Make sure you've got good mnemonrcs to remem_ ber all those words!!
-{Sefor e She Qurtoin lQses
q treqtise on p''esfro*' rvork-Right along those same lines is design duplication. UriGeller has been making a big splash Ior the lasi few years doing this on television. The host of the show draws something and ii is seaied in an envelope. All of this is done before the show. Later on Uri duplicates ii on the air and the two drawings are compared to be a match (or close enough, at leastl). Any impression device would work for this as wellas Lee Earle's wonderful 'Clone Pad'. Of course there are other methods as well. Search the literature and vou'll find much that will work.
ln short, anything that can either capture or impart predetermined information is very suiiable for preshow work. Look into these various devices and see which {its you and your style of working best.
{he(Jse Of preshow clncQariousQffecß
-'$Qftipfe
Quts' clQutines
-I've used this idea severaltimes. When planning on doing an effect that has multiple outs as part oI the method (let's say, various sealed predictions), I will approach a spectator before the program with one ol those outs sealed very thoroughly in a padded envelope. I'll also have my return address written on the envelope {or reasons ihat will become ap-parent shortly.
I tell them that I want them to be the guardian of the envelope. It contains some-thing that moy be of importance later on in the show. All they need to do is hold onto it and if I call {or it, simply bring it Iorward to me on stage. If, by chance, there's not enough time to do the particular piece I have in mind by (say) the intermission, they can simply bring it to me during the break (or after the show, etc. ).
-c$efore {he Qurtain !(!ses
' a treqtise on preshow uork '
Obviously I have one of my outs for a routine coniained in thai envelope. My other outs are elsewhere. I will do the routine. and if the out that they are holding is needed, I make a big deal at that point ihat I enhusted a member of the audience with a sealed envelope be{ore the program began. I have them stand and aitest to the sihlation, they haven't opened it, etc., and have them bring it forward. Once they have done so they are returned to their seat and I proceed with the effect.
Of course, a good portion of the time this out is not the one that is needed. I use the out that ls called for and when the program is over they simply return the envelope that they have been holding to me. assuming I never had time to do the piece I was considering performing. They are none-the,wiser. This is a also why I put my return address on ihe envelope. I tell them that the contents are somewhat valuable to me personally (not to anyone else, however, with no real monetary value) and I DO want the envelope back in case i decide not io use it.
Just on the off chance that they forget io retum the envelope after the program, they can easily mail it to me since the address is on the envelope. This has never happened, but it is a safeguard that is most helpful Plus it keeps them from opening the envelope and dr', overinq lhe contents.
d part Of \6hree par4 {Brediction
-When doing certain standards such as 'Mental Epic, and any one o{ a dozen other effects that require a 'one-ahead' as part of the method, preshow can be a valuable ad-junct. Many of these routines require that the final selection (out of ihree in this examDie) needs to be forced for method reasons.
lnstead, why not use preshow and call upon your audience volunteer lor that final piece of in{ormation? Instead of forcing something, you would use the information you got preshow. This looks very clean, especially if the other selections were just objects or words selected entirely at random. If your final object is a playing card that has to be selected (for instance), that can appear somewhat out of place. By using preshow, you are less limited in what you can use for presentation maierial, and it can appear that the final selection is as free as the previous two. Make sense?
This can take what is generally considered to be a weak spot in routines such as these and make it much stronger. Try itl
-Snfotn {ha Qurtain ((!ses
a lreqtise on presho*'u'ork
-flossed
Qut $eck
-Obviousiy this is an all-time classic effect. I've kept this a total secret until now, but this is the best place for it to be. This is easily the best finish for a Tossed Out Deck presen iation I've ever seen or used. This iakes what is already an extremely strong demonstration and moves it up at least a notch, maybe h.vo! This is powerful stuff!
You introduce a deck oi playing cards and wrap a rubber band around them. You demonstrate how to lift one comer and just pe€k at a card, allowing several spectators to do it. They each stand. When you get the deck back, you look over the crowd announce that you'll expand the possibilities. You point to random spectators around the room and have each one of them just thlnk of a card, noi even seeing the deckl
In time honored Tossed Out Deck fashion, you then proceed to name severalcards, having spectators sit if they hear the name of their card. Finally you have only one specta-tor left. As it happens, this is a person who merely thought oI a card. Concentrating, you now name a card and they sit immediately. It's a miraclel
Of course you know the method. The initial cards are selected by any one of several methods for performing Tossed Out Deck. The final selections were done preshowl Yet you make it seem as i{ they are thinking of cards right on the spot. "Let''s toke this a bit Jurther. You sir! You're thinlang ot' o cord, conect? Pleose stond. And you sir, you ue got one rn mind os well, conect? Pleose stondl" When these cards are revealed as well as the others. it's a maior kick in the brainl
There's no need to point out that your linal spectator is one who merely (seemingly) thought of a card. Believe me, your audience urill notice. Since you know which cards your preshow people chose, simply do not name one of them during the fißt phase of the routine. Save one or both for the finale. Of course it should go without saying that i{ your preshow spectator thinks of one of the Tossed Out Deck Cards, they will sit when that card is named. It's always under your conkol.
Try this, it's a major kick!
