Hi Guys. Some of you might remember the late great Paul Goldin. I was always more of a fan of Barry Sinclair myself, but Golden was one of the best ever.
Recently his private life has come under the spotlight in a new book by Liam Collins, called The Dark Side of Celebrity: Irish Courtroom Scandals.
It goes into depth on his private life, his many affairs, his various wives, his dodgy academic pedigree, his bogus theraputic clinics, and his troubles with the law. It has some amazing stuff in it - a larger than life character. I really envy him the crowds he was able to get back in the sixties and seventies - thousands showed up nightly to see him. The book is well worth checking out. Tony.

Tony

I certainly remember Paul Goldin. In the 60's he was the first stage hypnotist I saw, at the Olympia I believe in Dublin.

His show was amazing and having some audience members see and chase leprechauns was something I've never forgotten.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories Tony.

Best

Gerry

What happened to barry Sinclair? Is he still going? I see he still has a website but the tour on it is dated 2005.

I saw him in I think it was 89? I had just started up doing shows. He also ended the show with the Leprechauns.

He also did a past life regression that went badly wrong with a girl screaming down the theatre as lead her to her past life "death". He lost control of the situation and caused a real panic.

The past life section was removed from his show after that.

I remember Paul's show well. It was not the first hypnosis show I had seen, but in my early teens I was one of his volunteers. He was dramatic, and a great showman. He performed in my local cinema and there was great excitement in the town over it.
Barry Sinclair is still on the road, gigging regularly. And he is still very entertaining. Back at his peak I believe he was as good as it gets. He had all the showmanship of Paul, but a better sense of humour and sharper timing.
And Mindpunisher, I have already explained in a different thread his age regression did not go wrong. that's the way he intended for it to play. It was a very powerful piece of theatre and he was always in control of it. I have seen him do it a number of times. He still does it occasionally - though he does not do as many big shows any more.
He was and is one of the greats, and a lovely guy to chat to. Tony.

I disagree Tony it went wrong on that night. And he was visibly shaken so were the audience. It was like watching a trapeze artist miss the bar with no safety net.

He couldn't shut her up and was panicking and looking like he didn't have a clue what was happening. It wasn't showmanship. It was a bad abreaction that he couldn't control. It almost stopped the show. Regression on stage is now forbidden by the 1952 Hypnosis Act here because of such occurences. I couldn't see how he could do this every show because that reaction was not everyday not everybody would be so hysterical. And if he did they would shut him down.

In the bar at half time there was a strange atmosphere of concern for the girl. It done him no favours.

I enjoyed his show which I saw twice. Although even back then it was a bit dated. He also mixed a bit of magic with it. I really liked his induction. He also did something with the audience at the begining where he gave suggestions that made them shout out silly phrases? I can't remember exactly - I'm sure you could refresh my memory. Anyway I thought it was really good and would work well today. In fact I am sure Derren Brown did something similar recently at a live show?

I am surprised he is still on the go he must be getting on in age. I am sure he was one of the greats. Back then was a different time. Hypnosis was still a mystery.

Hi Mindpunisher.
I was not there on the night you saw Barry do the regression, and I will accept what you say about what happend and the effect on the audience. However whenever I saw him do that bit the person always ended up describing their death in highly emotional terms, and it always left the audience feeling they had witnessed something very edgy. It made us uncomfortable and then he brought us back with a funny routine. Most guys today just go for the fun and forget about the drama, but Barry always had a few moments in the show that would stay with you afterwards.
I remember the bit about getting the whole audience to shout out something silly. I seem to remember that he did a brief induction, then told us all that any time he asked us the time we were to shout out at the top of our voices: "It's ..., you f...ing w...er!" Easily known it was not a children's show! Then he woke us up. It only took a few minutes.
Sure enough later in the show he asked for the time and the whole audience yelled abuse at him. Very funny.
He is not as busy now as he was fifteen years ago, but he is still doing gigs. They tend to be smaller. He hasn't done a theatre show in a few years. But he still has a great name with promoters over here, and he is the only hypnotist who could claim to be a household name.
You are right about his material being a bit dated. He never moved with the times, which is about the only negative thing I could say about the guy.
Paul Goldin made hypnosis scarey, but Barry made it funny, which is why he is remembered with such affection over here. Tony.

Yes I can see how the edgy thing would work. This girl just went hysterical and screamed the place down uncontrollably. There is a lot of fascination and beliefs about past lives.

I can only remember Barry coming over here that once. The theatre type shows have almost dissapeared.

Having said that I have been looking around or a venue here but not found anything suitable.

The old Odeon cinema over here is now closed and about the only venue that would really work.

I think it might be worth a shot now with the right venue. There is a generation out there that haven't really seen stage hypnosis shows. Recently I think Derren Brown did a lot to revive interest in hypnotism with his stuck to the chair tv show.

I think it may be on the way back.

You are right. Hypnotism is due a big theatre revival. I thought that Paul McKenna would spark the upsurge, but he didn't stick around long enough, and you always got the impression watching him that he was more hypnotist than showman. Everything was perfectly scripted, choreographed and thought-out. But you knew that nothing unexpected was going to happen.
He was very good, but he lacked that edge. Barry had the edge, but he didn't have the perfect scripts and staging. I wonder who the next superstar will be?

Paul looked more like an insurance salesman...

I wouldn't mind a crack at it if any promoters are out there. I once tried to take on both Paul mckenna and Adrew Newton in newcastle. They were both on for a few weeks one after the other in Sunderland Empire I think. I hired the Odeon was big back then I think nearly 1500 seats.

However my license was refused because it was an adult show. Of all the places in the uk to reject an adult show!

I had no agents nothing just on my own. I had balls back then.