XVI
“His eyes are in his mind.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge—To a Lady.
Tricks which appear to be dependent entirely upon mental operations undoubtedly make the nearest possible approach to real magic. To the layman who does not know the secret, it appears to be impossible that an operator not only can tell him what he is thinking of but can even predict infallibly what he will think presently. Mental effects appeal strongly to the magician because of the absence of apparatus and tedious preparation too often associated with other magical effects.
Mental magic can be divided into two classes of tricks: those which can be done by an operator working entirely alone and those which require an assistant, generally a lady. There has been a great development in recent years in the mental effects which can be performed by one person and, while it is impossible to cover the whole field, examples will be given of the various methods used by performers who make a specialty of this work.
It is essential that no special apparatus of any kind be used. Naturally gimmicks of various kinds are employed, but of these the spectators should have no suspicion; all the visible articles should be of the most ordinary, everyday nature—such as envelopes, pencils, writing pads, slips of paper, slates, chalk, and so on. Any article which might be suspected of having been made specially to produce any certain effect must be ruled out. The performer’s manner in presenting mental magic must be carefully studied. All the gestures so dear to the manipulator must be rigidly eliminated. There must be no ostentatious showing that the hands are empty, no suggestions of sleight of hand whatever.
Many of the most subtle tricks of mind reading depend upon secret switches of billets, and these moves must be done under cover of perfectly natural moves. The audience must be led to believe that the performer is a mind reader and, therefore, to be successful he must act the part of a mind reader. All gags, jokes, and byplay must be carefully avoided. However, since the attention of the audience must be kept concentrated on every detail, great care must be taken not to make the demonstrations too long drawn out. From fifteen to twenty minutes should be regarded as the limit; but if the performer has made a specialty of the work and has devised a series of striking and well-diversified tests, the time might be lengthened to half an hour at the outside.
I. THE PERFORMER WORKING ALONE
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