Tue Very Mopern | | Minpreaper | and other miracles RD Richard OsterlindTur Very MopERN MINDREADER RD ‘There i a wondesful booklet called Annemann’s Mental Bargein Ejecs which I acquired when I first became a performer. It con~ tains some ofthe Finest ideas ever published in mentalises. One of| these, "The Modern Mindreader” hy Hewitt is one of those gems {The exact routine also appears ia Greater Magic. There are simi lar idee in Burling Hulls Eneyclopedia of Mentaism.) ‘began performing the effect om a regular bass. Over the years, T changed and augmented certain axpects and now, I believe it it diferent enough to present this offering. There are good reasons or these changes (besides my personal quirks) and I will try to ‘explain the loge as Igo along Tue Errect ‘The performer passes out eight to ten blank business cards and pencils to audience members. Thespecators are natrcted to print thee names atthe top of the card and a number of personal pieces of information below. These Fats can be names of loved ones tele phone numbers, vacation spots favorite hobbies or whatever the performer chooses. (The act could also be presented asa Q&A rou- a aa a a eeBe ‘The Very Modern Mindreader performer passes out coin envelopes (size 4.5 inches by 2.5 inches) {oeach person to seal them i, “Taking the stack of sealed envelopes back tothe stage, the mes tabist randomly chooses one, holds it up and divines the contents ee then uses sama pair of sitors to ut open the envelope, re- rove the card and verify the information. The card and envelope fre returned tothe spectator. The act continues with five or six readings, which is enough. The remaining unopened envelopes ere lef forthe audience's examination ‘Tue OrtcrnaL Routine Annemann's routine use a very wel disguised one-aheadprincip ‘The only preparation is to eut a sliver off the bottom of one enve- lope thus ereating an opening. When the mentalist goee into the szudience to pass out the envelopes, he holds back the bottomless tne, Taking one of the spectator’ fce-down cards, he inserts and ‘scala inte this envelope to demonstrate how the rest ofthe spec tore should seal their. ‘When they are done, the mentalist collet them (keeping the immicked envelope om the bottom of the stack) and wall back to the stage. On the way, ke alps out the card from the cut envelope and lays ton the stack. With this card on top, be removes another ‘envelope and pretends to divine the contents, He is, of course, read ing the information from th exposed ear. (Inthe orginal method, the mentalist hols the envelope to his forehead thereby shielding his eye fom looking down atthe card.) ‘When finished, he picks up a pair of scissors, cuts off the top of, ‘he envelope, and removes the card, Inthe proces of returning the card and envelope, the mentalist makes a switch ofthe eard forthe fone on the stack and retarne that one along wth the envelope he ‘ha been holding. He now ie ll set to repeat the procedure withthe second person. "The mentalist continues with all the envelopes unl he Finally comes tothe ast eard and the lst, empty, slit envelope. Holding the a ee Richard Osterlind 9 end off, pretends to extract the card from within and retwens the card and envelope to finish PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS ‘The ral performing world is often quite different from the one we Imagine when reading magical litrature. Spectators lo things we could not anticipate and things happen that were never eovered in the perfectly written instrtions [A problem I soon discovered withthe original reutne teach spectator does not get back the same envelope athe oie he oigh- tally had. Ifyou place ecard, envelope and pencil in he hands of ssadience members, one of them is likely to get the idea of marking the envelope to make sure it isthe same one he gts back! Another problem is having a card constantly out uf the enves lope and on top of the stack. During the course of returning cards and envelopes inthe audience, it becomes very difficult to keep tht hidden without looking cramped and suspicious. Its my experi fence that most actuat performing situations leave the wentlist al ‘most threesquarters surrounded when working. This require care ful consideration to angles of vision Finally, the idea of holding the envelope tothe forehead during the reading would be almost laughable today because of Johnny Carson's “Karnac” routine, Thave addressed exch ofthese issues in ‘my routine and have put them into real-world use since the mid- 70s. ‘The routine has played in some ofthe mort inhospitable situa. tions and always goes over with great affect, Tue OsTeRLiND RouTINE ‘The first change I decided to make was altering the color of the cards. Although the original instructions donot say so, iti assured ‘that white cards were used along with manila envelopes As my clone uate eee edn de