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AL MANN ?8.rc/~ (201 ) 431-2429

5'.Just aft he reaches a sma,1 ~rassy point of land. another fillhattacks him, lashing: furiously ",ith his tail.

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PHANTA-GRAPHSCopyright by Al Mann Exclusives

FORWORD

THE MAG-EYE MOVE catapults the center-tear methodof thought reading into the Space~Agel

The technique given here makes obsolete most ofthe former writings on the C-T, including the author'sown. Such is progress. But bear in mind that occasionally the mentalist will have need of resorting to theoriginal method of stealing the fold~d center pieceas some spectators write a message and fold it andbring it to you for a test.

At this writing only two persons know the secretof the Mag-~ye move.

Only three persons know the secret of "Cistella"and only one has presented in public. So the AME rons.remain exclusive as promised.

~ FIRST APHORISIl"Whofoever would know fecrets, let him

know how to keep fecret things fecretly, andto reveal thofe things that are to be revealed, and to feal thofe things that are to befealeda and 'not to give holy things to dogs,nor to caft pearls before fwine.' "

"Obferve the law, and the eyes of thyunderftanding fhall be opened, to underftandfecret things, --"

The ARBATEL of MAGICThe Conjuror's Magazine

December, 1791

Fin n/tt/vt

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(201 ) 431-2429

Qt3J~~eli~AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

EFFECT. A spectator is given a book and a sealedenvelope. He is then instructed to open the book toany page and to choose any word from the page.

Next he is told to please open the sealed envelope. 'henthe envelope is opened it is found to contain a tiny keyl

Performer then calls attention to a lockedbox that sits on the table. Spectator isdirected to please open the box with thetiny key. From the box the spectator removes I===~=~a duplicate book which has an index card~ .sticking out from the same page he justchose and the card has written on it theword he just chose. Fig. 1

The book is ungimmicked and the spectatorhas an absolute free choice of page and word1

That, Gentlemen, is the masterful effect and that is exactlywhat happens in the minds of the audience. Behind the scenes,the story is a bit different.

~E SECRET. You will need two duplicate books about 1iinches thick in hard covers. Plus a box with a lock and keyjust large enough to accomodate the one book snugly. The boxis of the type that opens exactly in half as per fig. 1.

TO PREPARE, one book is locked into the box with the spinetowards the locked side and an index card sticking out aboutthe middle of the book pages and out the back of the box. Fig. 1.

The card has a message, "From this page you will selectthe word "


lL MANN gze/~

A space has been left in the message on the card so thatthe performer can fill in the chosen word as called with anail writer. The card is bent down outside the box.

PRESENTATION, Pass the book and sealed envelope to the spec.Ask him to stick the envelope anywhere into the book, (withluck he will stick the envelope into about the middle of thebook, but if not it does not matter). He is then asked to selec~ any word from the page and to also callout the pagenumber, (he may be asked to choose a short word).

Performer has been holding in his hands the locked boxwith the front of the box facing the audience. A soon as theword is called, he writes the word on the card with the nailwriter and then straightens the card and pushes it into thebox. And places the locked box on the table.

PHANTA-GRAPHS

CISTELLA .....• cont.

2

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIV~

Spectator is then asked to open the sealed envelepe andtake out the tiny key and open the locked box on the table.

When the box is opened, spectator is told to please takeout the book and attention is called to the fact that it isan identical book to the other one.

Spectator is then asked to please take the index card outand read the prediction. By this ruse, no one will know justwhere the card was taken from, but the performer has takenthe book back and opened it to the correct page while thespec. reads the predictionl

Performer then informs the audience just what has takenplace. The audience will not believe you of course, theywill say that the spec is a stooge. Cette Ie viel

NOTE. If you can not find a suitable box for the bookand you must have one built, be sure that the hinges in theback are separated enough to allow the card to pass through.

A PRELUDE, No recommendations are made here as to what typeof nail writer ~o use. One man's food is another's poisonwhen it comes to the preferance in nail writers. Dunningeralways used the band type. This writer, due to an injuredright thumb tip can only work with a thumb-tip writer. Thatis, the writer part of a band wrlter is cemented to a magician's thumb tip.

Some mentalists work wonders with the boon writer Whileothers can not.

The nail writers corne in many shapes and sizes. They havebeen made to write with a thin or thick pencil lead, chinamarker, crayon. chalk and ink. The writing gimmick has beenmade to fit on the thumb or finger nail tip. or on the ballof the thumb or finger or toe. on the end of a wand or under a stack of envelopes. The swami stylus is used to writea carbon impression through a sealed envelope.

TO lV1AK~ A SWAMI STYLUS. cement the male end of a snapfastener to a thumb or finger tip as desired.

So here is wishing you good luckwith the Phanta-Graphs

The Mastet Secret of the SwamiAn Oriential Feat Supreme - SecretCommunicated to Alexander by Dr."Q"

POSITIVE PROOF OF THE PROJECTION OFTHOUGHT - THE MASTER TRICK OF THATSLICK HINDU FAKER AND LECTURER, "SWAMIABDHUL GUHA SHING." This is one that convincedmany a would-be wise skeptic for many years all overthe world. The gifted Swami gave lectures on Hinduphilosophy all over the country and claimed to be ableto project his mind to any part of the world and causehis thoughts to be felt by anyone he desired, and tobe able to control their actions. I personally know ofmany men and women that he collected hundreds andperhaps thousands of dollars from, with the promisethat he would influence their sweethearts to returnto them-that he would influence anyone they desiredto do anything that was desired-even though at adistance.

You perhaps will say that anyone who would believe a promise of that kind would be absolutely crazy.There you are wrong, as I knowof some of the brightest andsmartest minds in the worldthat fell for it, because he gavethe proof that he could do it.Here is the proof he wouldplace before you. He wouldask yOU to give him the nameof some friend that you couldat once get on the phone, thatyou trusted, and -who did notknow him. He would then takea plain white envelope and ablank card and call your attention to the fect that he wasgoing to write something onthe card unknown to you-thishe did, then sealed the envelope.He would then ask you to callthe friend that you had mentioned and ask them to think ofthe first or last name of anyperson, and tell you the name. '1Let us now say that your friend gave the name "Robert," which you tell to the SwamI. He would then askyou to ask your friend to think of any number fromone to a million. Let us say that your friend says 654,and you mention this to the Swami. He would thentear off the end of the envelope and ask you to rem ove the card that he had written on previous to yourl-:oing to the phone. On examining the card you seewritten plainly "Mary Doe" (or whatever the nameof your friend may be) "will speak the things that Idesire. which are ROBERT and 654." Remember hehas never seen your friend, he had written on the cardprior to your calling, the envelope was signed andsealed hv you, if you so desire-there is positively noexchange of either card or envelope which are heldin the t i ps of his fingers at all times. Is this not posit in) proof that he can influence minds at a distance.even though he has never seen the party'! Anotherproof-- in an audience of a thousand people he asksvou to name some lady or gentleman who can play;1 piano-you choose anyone, even yourself If you can

play, and are skeptical. He then states that he willwrite the name of a piece of music on a card and sealit up~let you initial the envelope so you will knowthere IS no exchange, or seal same with wax If you sodesire. He writes, you seal and initial the envelope andhe holds it in the tips of his fingers in full view at alltimes and asks you to be seated at the piano and placeyour hands on the key-board, and when he says theword commence, you are to play the first piece of musicthat comes to your mind. He stands back-looks mysterious and says-"COMMENCE"-you play the firstpiece of music that comes to your mind, and on opening the envelope as before, you will see that the writing on the card says "Mary Doe (or whatever thename of the person selected may be) will play thepiece I desire her to play which is --," and there isthe name of the piece yOU played. It is positively uncanny and can be repeated any number of times with

any number of people withoutthe slightest fear of detection.At the finish, both card andenvelope are handed to youfor your inspection-even thecard may be marked for identification previous to the test.

There is positively no exchange of card or envelope;they are never out of sight.Any name may be spoken, andnumber selected, any piece ofmusic played and it is alwaysfound correct on the card,which you yourself removefrom the envelope. No confederates are used, the party whoplays the music or the oneswho speak the numbers, arejust as much in the dark as therest of the audience. Is it anywonder that the slick Swamihooked the wise ones for

thousands of dollars?A few months ago I was a guest of, a Pasadena

millionaire at a house-party-there was music andsinging by different guests, and I gave a few psychictests. A little later over a glass of wine in thehilliard room, a Senator whom I personally knew tohe a close mouthed gentleman, said to me, "Alexander, I love mystery, evcrvone does, it is the mostfascinating thing in the world-I would give $500.00to do just one trick and do it good." I said, "Sentaro, do yOU mean it'!" and he answered that he"Certainly did." I swore him to eternal secrecy, andthen gave him the secret and the apparatus (whichweighs less than a quarter of a pound) to work t.hesecret of the Swami. Twenty minutes afterwards heworked the music test and the telephone test as well,in the d ra wing-room before all the assern hla.ge, and hewas voted the lion of the evening. The following dayhe handed me his check for $500.00 with the remarkthat he would give me a thousand dollars for anotherimpromptu trick as good.

('ollll",ktl' appas-atus aml full directions aud pattr-r' 111'(, yuul's fol' 1jI5.00. Suitable for stage or pin-lor. You cando it llny plaee any ttme, Complere apparatus (whkh w/'ij.\'hs Ir-ss than four ounces) and complete Iecture orpattt'I', h worth many t imes the amount as!'-I·d. Or for $10.00 you ean have the above complete and the fullwlll'I,in~ blue prtnts of "The ~Iysterious ])1'. Q. Dark Trumpet Seance," "The Mystelious ])1'. Q. Matl'l'ializationof It HUllum Being," "Dr. Q's Miracle In Model'n Seershjl)," lind "The Original Duck Vanish." _ 'I'he F'tve, 1II10.00.C, AIJI~XAN])ER, 2:JD South Oxford Strel't, IJos Angele», ('lIllf.

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PHANTA-GRAPHS AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

Some views on the Swami Gimmick

The Swami Gimmick (nail writer) and how to use it is wellcovered in other books. It has also been exposed many timesin the public press.

The average layman know about the nail writer. They suspectthat you use it in almost every trick. They are baffled, atthe end, as they normally reason that you could not have possibly have written such a long message in the alloted time.This is the case where the performer only fills in a word ortwo to complete a formerly prepared long message.

Nevertheless, it is a very brave (or naive) mentalist whotoday uses a nail writer the way it was originally intended,that is, writing the word right after it is called and at atime when the wise ones in the audience would expect you towrite it.

Many leading mentalists have been criticized for brazinglyusing the nail writer on stage, while it is quite obvious toanyone who cares to look that the performer's thumb is wigglingexcessively when it shouldn't.

There are several ways of misdirecting the public from thisline of thought. The AME writings are peppered with excellenteffects along this line. "The Opener ~ffect" in the Tesseractand "The Ghost of the Unborne" in Words and Wizards, are twogood examples. Here are some more.

~dS'tlt ~iltt!J ~ This quikie book test was hatchedat the Magic Castle during a meeting of mentalists in 1979.

EFFECT. Mentalist passes out a book to anyone in his audienceand then passes out ~n index card (or business card) to anotherperson on the other side of the room. He asks the person withthe index card to please secretly choose a number, say 1 to 200and to write it on the card. This is a free choice. Performerthen takes the index card and shows it to the person holdingthe book and asks that person to please open the book to thatpage and remember the first word or two.

Performer then divines the word using his ESP faculties.THE SECRET. The index card used is blank on

both sides except for a short line, about half L__ -~ Iinch long that the mentalist draws on it at one I~

corner as per Fig. 2.The book given out can be any book, but the

performer has memorized the ~irst few words on Fig. 2page 75, for example.

The spectator with the card is directed to write his numberon the short line. The two spectators are widely separated.Let's say the spectator chose number ')8.'

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PRANTA-GRAPHS AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

Mightier than the Sword. Castle Catch ..•.•• cont.

Performer takes back the index card and asks the spectatorif that was a free choice, etc. In the meantime, performerwrites in the number '75' with the nail writer and then placeshis right fat thumb over the spectator's number and line andthen shows the card to the spectator holding the book and askshim to please open the book to that page. Climax followsl

Keep in mind that only two persons see the card. If youhaven't got a fat thumb, a thin one will do.

St It!)t rta6(t ~ You are in your magic den and have asitter in front of you across the table. You are going to dumbfound the sitter with your psychic abilities. So you say nothingbut stare at her with a wierd look and then take out a businesscard and pretend to write something down and then place thecard face down in front of you right at the table's edge.

Then you engage the sitter in conversation. "You recentlyhad a death in your family?"-- "Yes, but how didyou know?" -- "I just know." "What was the firstname of this person that died?" or simply askthe sitter for her first name or a word or a number.

In any event, you have in your lap anotherbusiness card plus a short pencil or the nailwriter. So after you get the information you writeit on the lapped card and then palm it. The safestway to palm a card for this move is as shown inFig. J . the card is clipped between the tips of Fig. Jthe fingers.

Next you say, "Strange that you should say that.I wrote something down on this card." As you say that, reachfor the card and pull back to lapp it and then raise your handwi th the palm facing you as you pretend to check what is wri tt'enon it and say, "Yes", my premonition was correct." and thenthrow the card writing side up to the spectator.

Fig. 4

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6p~tt'~ 8iJ1ftfft"t{\ ~ At the turn of the centuryRobert Gysel put out a secret

manuscript with the gimmicked shown in Fig. 4 . This isa swammi gimmick that is clipped at the base ofthe middle finger with the writing end resting onthe mounds of the palm. The gimmick is greatfor an opener effect. Performer comes on stagewith a scratch pad,S by 8 inches, and a pencil.He tells the audience that he is going to writea two-digit number on the pad. He then throwsthe pencil over his shoulder and covers the padwith his right hand and asks for a number.

He hesitates a bit, etc., writes the numberwith the gimmick, then peaks at it, etc. andsays "There it isl."

PHANTA-GRAPHS

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

5AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

Fig. 5

~lt'.&~t~~dtett"on .The following methods misdirect the rational thinking of

the audience as it is quite obvious that the mentalisthas had no excess to the message card.

IN A BOOK. After the mentalist gets thenecessary information. he calls attention toa book high on a shelf that has a cardsticking out. Mentalist takes the bookdown and says, "Please take the card out.It has a message written on it. And pleaseread it." During this time the mentalist has had plenty oftime to stick his thumb with writer into the well in the bookand written the messagel

The book has a well made by cutting a window in about halfthe pages. The message card rests on the uncut pages. The window is small enough so that the performer can cover it withhis hand and the book can then be handled so that all appearswell. Fig. 5

THE BOOKSHELF. The same effect can beworked with several books. Not too thick.In this case the performer picks up severalbooks or the bookshelf. Or the bookshelfmay be sitting on the mentalist's desk.

With the shelf on the mentalist's tableit is quite possible for the mentalist to i·

hide his hand behind the shelf and do the iw--I~--~

writing without arousing any suspicion Fig. 6while conversing with the sitter.

IN THe GLASS. This method was mentioned in Corinda's1) Steps to Mentalism, but no details were given.The following handling has been found, through .:jtrial and error, to be the best. The glass is Iplaced on a table and mentalist pretends to . .wri te a word, name of a card, etc. on a card " :and the card is placed inside the glass. Whenthe item is called, mentalist picks up the glass Fig. 7and tips the card into someone's hands. The correctitem is of course written on the card.

The secret is that the glass is a magician's ball glass andhas a round hole cut near the bottom. In order to write on thecard, it must have something to rest on, so a piece of clearplexiglass as wide as the inside diameter of the glass butnot as high, is placed inside the glass. and the card whichmust have a tight fit so that it will not move while the secretwriting is being done, is placed inthe glass on the side wherethe hole is. When picking up the glass, the mentalist simply

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MIGHTIER TRAN THE SWORD, MISDIRECTION ..••.. cont•••.•.•

picks up the glass with his left hand (assuming he is righthanded) and places the glass into his right hand. As the righthand takes the glass it sticks its thumb with thumb-writer into the glass through the hole and writes the message. The cardis then tipped into the spectator's hand.

The beauty of this is that all the movements of the rightthumb as it writes are hidden by the fingers and the glass.

Plastic glasses are easier to prepare for this effect thanregular glass. The reader can experiment with how big a holeto cut and where. The hole can be made oblong or square.

THE TIME PIECE, If you happen to have an old Railroad pocketwatch, the type that has a cover over the faceand flips open when the stem wheel ispushed, don't throw it away, for with ityou have the makings of a cute littlemiracle that will appeal to all and sundry.

IN EFFECT anyone names a card or number.Performer takes out his pocket watch andflips open the cover and lodged betweenthe cover and the face of the watch isseen a small card with the name of thecard or number just chosen. Performernever touches the cardl

Sounds great? It isl Fig. 8TO PREPARE, Open the back of the watch

and take out the works, except for thestem which is left in place and may be fixed inplace insidecemented there. Throwaway the works but keep the face and hands.THE CRYSTAL may be replaced with a plastic one to make it easyto cut a window out of it, either square or round.THE BACK COVER must be prepared in like manner. Cut a windowpreferably a round one, about it inches in diameter. Thesewindows will never be seen by the audience so they need notbe very neat. Just adequate to accommodate the thumb and writer.Remove tha hands from THE FACE of the watch and also cut a window preferrably round about one inch or a bit smaller. Thencement pieces of the hands to the face at edges as shown inFig. 8 (Fig. 8 shows the face with a square window and piecesof the hands cemented in place).

The gimmick is now complete. All you need do now is to placea piece of paper or thin card, about it inches square, overthe watch face and close the cover. If the watch is held flaton the palm, it will look normal. Place a chain on it and putit in your watch poeket.

THE PRESENTATION, Ask for the name of a playing card or 2digit number. Then converse with your audience as you casually

7PRANTA-GRAPHS AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD. THE TIME PIECE .•.•.. cont......•

take out your pocket watch BUT do not oa11 attention to it,just pretend that you got the urge of winding it or just plaintoying with it and write in the initials of the card or the2-digit number. Then place the watch flat on the palm of yourleft hand and call attention to the fact that the watch is covered and that in order to open it you must push in the stemwheel. But, "Before I open it I must tell you that insidebetween the face of the watch and the cover, I have placed apiece of paper with the name of a card on it. Now, I am notgoing to do anything as naive as touching the paper, so watchme carefully." Here you open the cover but make sure that youplace your finger over it so that it will not fly up and pickup the paper and expose the window. Do it gently and let everyone see the paper under the cover. Of course they will alsosee part of the watch face. Then flip the watch over and dropthe card into someone's hands. Finalel

The psychological misdirection here is col ssal. The closedwatch is, to the rational mind, impregnable. They can see theface (or part of it) of the watch and they also see part ofthe back cover. Plus it is rationally assumed that the watchis intactl And it is made of metal ( goldl?)1

THE AME DOUBLE-WRITER. For those readers who may like adouble-writing gimmick, the AME double-writer is hard to beatlThis gimmick is made by cementing the business part of a bandwriter to a finger-tip, as shown in Fig. 9.

This gimmick is worn on the third finger ofyour writing hand. The figure shows a gimmick rr---tpfor a right-handed person. (notes 4/13/72) UL-Lt

If you hold a pencil in your writing handin the normal manner between your first andsecond finger tips and your thumb and then write Fig. 9on a tablet and restithe third-finger gimmick onthe paper, the gimmick will duplicate in secret everythingthat is written with the pencil, providing that you moveyour writing hand as a unit, sort of gliding along the paperfrom left to right as you write. The secret gimmick which istotally out of sight simply follows everymove made by thepencil.

The figure shows a lead point in the gimmick. A stylus canof course be used instead. Different color lead alsol

Some able mentalists in the past have created seeming miracles with double-writing gimmicks (this writer shys awayfrom d-w gimmicks). Note the raves in Annemann's PracticalMental effects, "Just an Echo."

~d Mellon wrote an 11 page, 8t by 11, manuscript for hiscreation called, "Instrumental" and ~d was one of the greatexponents of this art, having used it continuosly for 7 yearsplus.

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MISDIRECTION, cont. • •••.••.

INVISIBLE DOOR, Fig. 10 shows another type of book that can beprepared for use with a swami gimmick. This book however canbe shown all around and even thrown on a table with the gimmickside up but all will look normal as the secretdoor is not seen.

TO PREPARE the gimmick, go to a second-handbook store and look for a book (a thin one willdo) that has a printed square or box that con- ~tains the title. These are not hard to find. ~/Sometimes the square is small, at other times itcovers the hole book. Buy two or more of these Fig. 10books. Next, with a sharp knife cut a fine linealong the lines of the square to make a door or window.

Next, about half of the pages of the book are cut alsobut the window cut into the pages is about 1/2 inch smallerall around than the door-flap.

THE PRESENTATION, Pass out an ungimmicked duplicate of thegimmicked book that your are holding. Say Nothing about yourbook, but direct the spectator to open his book to any pageand to callout any short word. He may also be asked to callout the page. You have already secretly opened the door-flapin your book (by tapping the book slightly towards you) andjot down the word called with a nail writer. Then say.

"Please note that I am holding an identical book in my handsand the book has a card sticking out. I have placed the cardahead of time into the same page and I have written a word onthe card. I do not want to touch the card. Please take it outand read it." after the card is taken out the book is thrownon the table. Just like in the "Cistella" principle, the cardis of course not in the same page as called. The secret dooron the book is of course put back into place, and no attentionneed be directed to the gimmicked book.

This is a very strong effect considering that the performernever comes near the spectator.

AN IMPROMPTU DOUBLE-WRITER. Fig. 11 sho_s an easyto make double-writer. It is simply a stub of pencilattached to a long pencil with scotch tape or maskingtape.

If the reader wishes to develope the art ofdouble writing for doing mental effects. he shouldget a copy of Ed Mellon's manuscript that comeswith "Instrumental." This item is still available.Micky Hades of Canada may have it.

Some effects with "Instrumental" appear inPhantini's Mental Key.

NO~E. The pencil stub in Fig. 11 hangs loose Fig. 11and can be opened out to any angle.

A crayon can be used in lieu of the long pencil anda stylus can be used in lieu of the pencil stub. While thecrayon writes the stylus makes its mark throguh the sealedenvelope.

PHANTA-GRAPHS

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD-- MISDIRgCTION.


. •.•. cont.

A FRIEND INDEED. In an emergency, the mentalist's best friendmay turn out to be a ball-point pen that has gone dry and doesnot write! It can be used as a swami stylus right in front ofthe audience without anyone being aware of it. To wit.

EFFECT, Performer holding in his hand a sealed envelope,informs the audience that the sealed envelope contians hispredictions of two words that will be chosen by the audience.

A spectator is asked to please callout one word so thatall the audience can hear it, preferably a short one.

Performer next passes out a book to a second person andtells this person to use the sealed envelope to choose a pagein the book by sticking the envelope anywhere, open the bookand note the first word. Spectator is then to open the envelope and read the prediction. ~he prediction names the twowords exactly!

M~~HOD AND PRESENTATION, The envelope i~ ~~~led with sealing wax and on the address side which is not shown to the audience, the performer has written the present date with a ballpoint pen. The envelope is also prepared with a small pieceof pencil carbon paper at the bottom. The card inside theenvelope reads, " The word chosen from the book w1ll be

'Yes.' and the other word freely chosenwill be "

The last part of the above message is under the pieceof carbon inside the envelope. Now first word is called!

After the word is called, the performer says, "Now I wantsomeone to please come forward as I want the next word chosenin the fairest wa¥, from this book." As he says this hetakes out his 'dry pen and pointing to the spectator that iscoming on stage says, "Sir. What is the date today?" When thedate is called performer pretends to write it on the outsideof the envelope but instead writes out the first word calledand since the date is already there, unknown to the audience,everything looks normal!

The envelope is then given to the second spectator together with the book which happens to be a force book where allthe pages are alike and force only one word. Spectator sticksthe card anywhere into the book and then reads the firstword (from the left hand page, of course) and the awesomeclimax follows!

The pen of course does not write but makes an impressionover the carbon paper and onto the card. For that reason theentire prediction message should be written in black pencilcarbon paper!

FHANTA-GRAPHS10

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

C!1)t llong ll1t'*it~l!~Manufacturing rights reserved by AME

Fig. 12

Fig. i)

?•

Here is another presentation where it is quiteobvious to the lay audience that the performer nevertouches the card with the message as,

Performer comes on stage holding a short stickwith a dog clip on the top end and a card clippedin full sight. Anyone calls out a 2-digit numberand then performer offers anyone to take the card.Performer does not touch the card which has writtenon it the number just called. Fig. 12.

BEHIND THE SCENES, Hiding behind the stick andthe performer's hand is a thumb tip (or ring) whichhas a metal rod attached to it,see Fig. 13 and afelt ink marker at the top. The performer writesin the numbers called by moving his thumb accordingly.

DETAILS, The STICK, Fig. 12A, is 6 inches longby 1 inch wide. It is painted with a white verticalstrip in the middle and black strips on the edgesto make the stick appear thinner. The front of thestick at the bottom has a ring attached, Fig. 12B.This ring (or finger tip) makes it possible to holdthe stick with the fingers to free the thumb forwriting. THE DOG CLIP is unprepared except that itis bent back to align the card with the marker.

The ink marker, Fig. l)A, is a tiny felt tipmarker with an ink reservoir. A pencil point or acrayon will not work as there is not enough pressureexerted on the card. The only thing that works hereis a felt tip marker that marks on contact.

The writing gimmick is attached to the stick onits back by a metal staple, Fig. l)C.The staple is nailed onthe stick near the bottom, but the operator may move it up ordown as needed. When the writing gimmick is down, it restsagainst the dog clip. To write the performer raises it to thelevel of the card.

This gimmick is not available at this writing. The tinyink wells have to be specially manufactured.

This gimmick makes for a flashy opener effect for a mentalprogram. The reader is of course welcomed to make his own.

Only a little practice is needed to learn to write numberswith the gimmick. Since only one person sees the numbers, theyneed not be to exact. AME notes on this gimmick are dated11/2/71.

I

PRANTA -GRAPHS

MIGHTIER THAN TH~ SWORD ... cont •

11


......THE BIG WRITER. The method used in this effectseems comical, but the effect is profoundl

IN EFFECT. a sitter at the table is askedto callout a two-digit number. After thenumber is called, performer opens a box on histable and quickly takes out a writing pad5 by 8 inches, and on it in large numbersthat cover the entire page is the chosennumber I

!Dhe SECRET. Fig. 14 shows a bottom viewof a box that sits on the performer's table. Fig. 14The bottom of the box has a slit cut out thatlead to a ledge that hangs under the table.The ledge holds the writing pad. The performer writes in thenumbers with a "knee-writer" gimmick. This gimmick is anythingthat will hold an ink marker. like a bycycle pant clip.The performer simply writes with his kneel

Instead of the box. the performer can cut a hole out ofhis desk drawer and do the same thing. He just opens out thedesk drawer and pulls out the pad.

THROW-AWAY SWAMIS. As told to this author by OrvilleMeyer. A mentalist. friend of Orville. makes swami writersby glueing a piece of lead to a double fold ofgummed packaging paper. Fig. 15. shows an enlarged ~

rough facsimili. The gum on the paper is on the ~

outside. The piece of lead is glued or cementedto the glueless side of a small strip of paper and Fig. 15then the paper is folded back and the lead is pushedthrough a hole and the two folded pieces are again gluedtogether. The gimmick is then ready and is used like a boonwriter. The thumb is wetted and performer sticks his handinto his coat pocket and attaches the gimmick to' his thumb.After the writing is done. performer just drops the gimmickon the floor and forgets about it.

The mentalist carries several of these gimmicks in hispocket.

THE PANTOGRAPH, This is an instrument for reducing or enlarging plans and diagrams. Dr. Jaks has been credited withapplying it to mentalism in producing a giant signature on aslate for some VIP in the audience. First Jaks. through crookor hook acquiered a signature from the VIP. Then backstage Jaksenlarged it on the slate by using a pantograph. This slate waslater used in a trick during the show.

It is possible, with some effort to secret a pantographwithin the frame of a slate and then reproduce a word in thecenter of the slate while holding the slate and using aswami gimmick to trace the word on the framel

PRANTA-GRAPHS

12


One hot summer day magician Jack Rahfeld of New York wassitting in Al Flosso's Magic shop visi~ing while JosephDunninger was leaning over the counter conversing with Al.

During a lull in the activity, Dunninger turned to Jackand said, "Jack, give me a number from one to 100."Jack called out something like "78." Dunninger, who had beenholding his business card in his hand then said,

"Jack, You know what a nail writer is. Don't you? WellI never have used one in my life and would never stoop tosuch petty trickery." Dunninger said this in a way thatthouroughly convinced Jack that Joe indeed did not use anail writer. Joe then showed Jack his business card which hadwritten on it the number "78." Jack was very puzzled, to saythe least.

After a few moments of profound silence, Joe turned to Jackagain and started laughing. He then stuck his hand into hiscoat pocket and pulled out, not one, but a hand full of nailwriters (the band type).

Joseph Dunninger had the uncanny ability of convincingeveryone, including his theatrical agent, that he was a realmindreader and he emphatically denied that he ever resortedto the trickery and lowly gimmicks used by other so-calledstage mindreaders.

Once, Joe said to this writer, "Al, I do the real mindreading."

"Of course, Joe, I know thatl" -----------------------

~"a: IN M~ORIUMv Another gre~t showman that is missed greatly was Syd

Bergson. In the last IBM Houston convention (1979) Syd spentmost of his time sitting in the AME booth. We were indeedvery proud. While there Syd performed one of his )-M miracles.He did the effect with the folded card.

A spectator wrote something on a card and folded itand handed it to Syd behind his back. Syd then asked for acigarette lighter, brought the card forward and ignited it andplaced it in an ash tray where it burned to ashes. Syd thenrevealed the thought. It wasl

The powerful charisma and majestic showmanship of Sydthat made it into a miracle. Needless to say, this authorput that one effect into his program.

The novice mentalist must always keep in mind thatthe one indispensable ingredient for miracle is ~howma~sh!~l

.,1J

(201) 431-2429

1Ft1141G..E'£ I'ro\ECopyright by Al Mann Exclusives

THE BONUS SECTION

Introducing

Phanta-Graphs

POST OFFICE BOX 144 • FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 0772B

~L MANN It.xc/~

Gentlemen, The Mag-Eye Move is a breakthrough in techniquefor the ages-old center-tear principle of thought-reading!

This new technique totally eliminates the folded-centersection, the need of stealing i.t and/or opening it in the processof tearing the billet. Therefore it eliminates the umbrella moveor the need for squeezing the center-fold open.

The technique that follows is so simple and elementary thatthe reader will wonder why, during all these decades since thepublishing of the center-tear, no one had thought of it before?

The fact is that all the experimentation, in the past, hasbeen done with the writing of the message on the center of thepaper and the ability of stealing the folded-center piece andsecretly opening it in the process of tearing the billet.

IN EFFECT. A spectator is told to secretly write his thoughton a piece of paper and then fold it twice. The performer divines thetheught and then destroys the folded paper.

THE SECRET. is in the tearing process. The message revealsitself to the performer almost automatically as he normallytears the folded paper to bitsl

The new technique takes into account principles that have beenestablished in former AME writings. Namely.

1. A prefolded slip of paper means nothing to your lay audience.They care nothing one way or the other whether the paper is prefolded or not.

2. Only one person knows, the writer, on what part of the foldedpaper the message is written. No one places any importance on thismatter.

J. Once the performer starts to tear up the folded billet, thelay audience usually gives up on the message paper, assuming thatit is destroyed beyond recovery.

4. If the paper is burned, the lay audience only remembers thatthe billet was destroyed and pays little attention to the fact thatit was torn to bits first.

The performer therefor may prefold the billet and direct thespectator to write his thought on a restricted part of the paperif it is to the benefit of the performer!

PHANTA-GRAPHS

THE MAG-EYE MOVE .... cont. . •••.•


In the moves that follow keep in mind that the importantthing is TO NEVER LOOK AT YOUR HANDS UNTIL THE LAST MOMENT.All the moves must be made while you are looking at the spectator and conversing with him.

B

Fig. 16

~DA

Let Fig. 16 represent the slipof paper approx. 21 by 4 inches.

The solid lines represent thefolds of the paper. The space marked"A" must be left blank. During thetearing of the billet, space "AU willcome into the sight of the audienceso it is best that it shows b1ank.

It is very important that thespectator's thought be writ~en on thespace marked with the asterisk. Sothe figure is quite clear.

Next the paper is folded fromleft to right, a bit off-centerso that a visible step is formedat the right side. Next thebillet is folded from the topaway from you, backwards, so thatthe step remains visible. This isshown in Figs. 17 A & B. Fig. 17

THE PRESENTATION. Ask a spectator to think of a short word.One of 4, 5, 6 or 7 letters and then hand him the opened slipof paper. He is ofcourse restricted to write on the designated1/8 of the paper. He is then to fold the paper OR to place itface down on the table.

Performer then takes the slip and folds it, if it is notalready folded BUT, you must never look at the slip or yourhands BUT continue talking to your audience and even pointingout that you must touch the folded slip with its secFet messagebut that you never need look at it.

Place the slip to your temples and concentrate and declarethat you already have the thoughtl So then you tear up the paperas follows& BUT remember never to look at your hands while youare doing it. (In public, of course).

Fe. ~ '"--=="

Fig.

THE FIRST TEAR. Hold the billet as in Fig. 18.Please note that the folded center (FC) is at thelower left. The left thumb and first and second fingershold the billet at "X" while the right fingers tearthe billet in half down the vertical axis as shownby the arrow.

After the first tear, you will be holding thevital half of the billet, with the message, inyour left hand while in your right hand you areholding some loose pieces of paper.

~ loosecorners

,t==,!"~

15PHANTA-GRAPHS

THE MAG-EYE MOVE cont. . •..•..

An Al Mann Exclusive

THE SECOND TEAR. Before the start of the secondtear, you will be holding in your left hand halfof the torn billet as shown in Fig. 19. This isthe vital half that contains the message underthe top layer. So if the top layer of paper isremoved, the message will come into full sight.The folded center is still at the lower left.

So reach over with your right finger tipsand take the top fold of paper only at "x", the FCsmall step will help here.

Peel and tear the top layer off as shown in Fig. 19Fig. 20. And continue by detaching it at thebottom also, as shown in Fig. 21. The message isnow totally exposed, BUT it is recommended thatyou do not look at it at this time.

The second tear is of course done fast andwith one continuos move.

The pieces in the right hand are all placedbehind those in the left hand and the pieces areturned to the horizontal as shown in Fig. 22.

Next, reach for an ash tray or tell the Fig.20spectator to open out his hand as you tear thestrips of paper to tiny bits, and of course younow take a fast peek and read the word.

A variation of the above is to tear thepieces held in the right hand to bits and afterthe word i& read on the left hand pieces these ~too are torn. >

A DYNAMIC VARIATION. C)With a little practice, the reader can expose -J

the message in the very first tear. Simply peeloff and tear out the entire 1/4 top fold ofpaper. If the performer works fast, no one canfollow the moves. Fig.

It is also a good idea to drop a few of the 21torn pieces! during the presentation.

NOT~. The performer is not confined to usinga small piece of paper. A larger piece can be usedand the spectator may write in a short sentence in the restrited space.

Only a little practice is needed to do all the ~~;:]tears without looking at the hands or the billet! L~~

NOTE. If the paper is folded wrong at the --------beginning, the message will not show. In Fig. Fig. 2217, the paper can also be folded from right toleft and then top to bottom towards you.

PRANTA-GRAPHS

16


death. This is a livingnothing to be desiredcerned. It has deep mys-

AZRAELI The angel ofand dead test that leavesas far as effect is contery and very easy to do.

EFFECT. Psychic passes a writing pad (J"by 4")to a spectator plus a pen and instructs the specto please write the first name only of three friendsthat are living. Next, psychic gives the spectator severalcolor pens and instructs him (or her) to please choose one ofthe color pens secretly and write down the first name of a person that is dead. The four slips of paper are then folded bythe spectator two ways and all folded exactly alike and thenmixed so that no one knows which is the dead slip or the living!

The psychic then picks up one slip at a time and withoutopening the folded slips divines which is the dead name plusthe color chosen and also if needed he can tell the names onthe other slips!

NOTE. In the above presentation, spectator is instructedto write one name only on each slip.

THE METHOD. The Mag-~ye move comes into play here. Thepaper pad, J by 4 inches approx., is prepared as per Fig. 16on page 14. But the slips need not be marked in any other way.Since in the Mag-Bye Move, the performer never looks at theslips, marks will not help here. The rest of the items are unprepared.

PRESENTATION. Pass out the scratch pad and a regular pen tothe spec and instruct him as above. He is to fold each slip ashe writes each name. Then take back the regular pen and givehim 4 or 7 color pens as desired. This takes care of the primary and secondary colors.

Performer does not know at this time either the names orthe color chosen, but he offers to tell the dead name and color.

Performer then picks up one slip at a time and declares thatit is not a dead name. Then the slip is tore up and thrownaside. Performer gets the correct name on each slip as he tearsthem up. If the first slip turns out to be the dead name, performer says nothing as he already declared that it was not thedead name. He may proceed to read two more slips and then,either on the third or fourth slip he declares, without tearingit , that it is the dead name and calls out the color and thename. Performer has already memorised some living names andmay state them if needed.

If by chance the dead name comes up last, performer states,"This is the dead name. Please concentrate on the color youused." The move is made and all is then divined. "Please thinkof the living names." etc.

NOTa. In lieu of a color, the spec may be asked to think ofa design or the age of the deceased, year of death, etc.

II

PHANTA-GRAPHS

A HISTORY

17


Nov. 12, 1980. While visiting the family in Stockholm,Sweden, your author had a hefty mental session with Swedishmagician-mentalist Per Thiman. The next day, Per forwarded tome an ad he had just received in the mail from Jeff Busby.

The ad was about the Bernstein Center-Tear Technique. Thead stated that it was the best handling of the center-tearprinciple yet seen and different from the Al Mann 'Apodosis'handlings and "much, much easier to do than any of the oldermethods."

Needles to say, the ad (love those ads) had me all agogwith wonder and anticipation. So as soon as I returned to theStates, I sent off an order to Jeff for the Bernstein rons.

Needless to say, after reading the Bernstein rons. I wastotally disapointed. Although the Bernstein technique is good,I found nothing new in it and not easier to do than any othermethod. A careful study of it proves it to be an elaborationof the Richard Osterlind's method in the 'Apodosis' of squee-

the center-piece open with the finger tips.Nevertheless, lowe Jeff Busby and Bernstein a vote of

thanks for firing my imagination anew. Before receiving theBernstein rons, I wondered for many hours as to just what itwas that Bernstein had corne up with that could be so differentthan all the other methods. I kept thinking that surely I hadmissed something as I surely had. In the back of my mind lurkedthe idea of exposing the secret message automatically whiletearing it up. So, toying with the folded slip and holding itwith the folded center in the lower left, -- THE MAG-EYE MOVEwas born! ---

CISTh~LAI On Jan. 1979, had a session with west coast mentalistRobert Dorian, in Hollywood. The Cistella principle was discussed and Robert thought enough of it to put it into his program. Later he presented it on Television to a very puzzledaudience.

Gysel's Gimmicks Appears here by courtesy of Bobby Hughesof Columbus, Ohio. It is part of his collection of secret rons.

THE SWAMI GIMMICKs The origin of the swami gimmick is notknown. All we know is that in 1850, mediums were adapt atmirror and spirit writing and the nail writer, in a crudeform, was well known among them.It's possible that some form of trick writing has been known

since the invention of writing.In the early days, the swami gimmick and stylus was called

"the tool" by the initiates.

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