Kreskin realized when he started, that his magicians would not make his career and in fact in some ways, might very well break it.

Being part of the magic community is a choice, as with anything in life, you give certain things as a result. If one sells to the magic community, a lot of time and energy that one could better spend on furthering your career is spent on fraternizing with your peers.

On top of that, Kreskin appears to feel that associating with magicians in the bigger scale of things, cheapens his work to tricks. He may or may not have a point. However, no one can deny the influence he has had on our art. Kreskin unwillingly paved the way for many of us, as Dunninger had done for Kreskin

Kreskin is truly a genius when it comes to handing media and getting media (despite the Vegas Debacle), the only thing I think Kreskin has not learnt (but will as he is a hell of a quick learner) is that in these days of fast communication and the internet, some of the old publicity stunts (of which Kreskin knows them all and has done most of them) will not work.

Kreskin does like to walk the fine line of "Real or not" and that is another reason he would rather not associate publicly with magicians or other mentalists.

Again, just my opinion, no inside knowledge here.

Does anyone know if there are any performance videos of Kreskin around? I remember rushing home every lunch time as a kid at school to see his tv programme which was on everyday. I would love to be able to find some of these old shows on video.

Shrink

Hey All,

I used to hang out at Tannens in NYC in the 90's (back when Tannens was worth hanging out at) and I can tell you all that Kreskin does indeed hang out with magicians - and knows many of them.

Since I've met the guy and kinda like him, I'm going to post the rest of this in the Inner Thoughts section.

Best,
JS.

P.S. Shrink, I went through a couple hundred hours of tape in the performance arts library in NY looking for tape of Kreskin. It's there if you look.

As the originator of this thread, I now rather ironically wish to point to a web page which presents what I later found to be an interesting interview with Kreskin himself. In it he actually touches on some questions I had, such as why he's not known for appearing at mentalism conventions, etc.

The interview can be read at:

http://www.littleegyptmagic.com/kreskint.htm

MT, great link. Thanks!

Thanks for the link MT. It made for a nice read tonight! Good Work!
~ere-dos~

Kreskin was and is an influence on many Magicians and Mentalists. Back in the 70's his weekly television show gave North Anmerican mystery performers a chance to watch a pro at work, performing some of the classics of Magic and Mentalism. this was at a time when there was not a lot of Magic on television in North America.

Kreskin has earned the right to his very strongly held opinions regarding Magicians and the world of Magic. He has become a public ICON in North America.

Whether we agree with him or not, we can all learn from him. He is one of the true gentlemen in show business, always well liked and revered by television and theatre crews that have worked with him.

It would be interesting some day to read the REAL story of his life and rise to fame and fortune, not the Hollywoood version.

- entity

I'm trying to track down, if indeed it's even available online, what is supposed to have been a rather scathing critique of my mentalism hero Kreskin and his book "How to Be a Fake Kreskin." The article apparently appeared in Genii several years ago and was by Jamy Ian Swiss. I can't imagine why Kreskin would be deserving of the poison pen treatment as he's undoubtedly been, for decades in fact, as much an inspiration for budding mentalists as, say, both Herb Alpert and Al Hirt have been for budding trumpeters for decades. I have to think that Swiss's logic in assailing The Amazingly Successful Kreskin, if it's as vicious as I've heard, is chock full of holes.

I don't wish to speak for Mr. Swiss, but I assume that his primary objection to Kreskin is Kreskin's on-again/off again claim of genuine psychic powers.

Mr. Swiss is a member, I believe, of the skeptical movement. Many skeptics think that it is both dishonest and immoral to claim psychic or supernatural powers when the performer's effects are demonstrably achieved through trickery or other, non-supernatural means.

Although this argument has been done to death, with little chance of moving the opinions of either camp, I wonder if a rational, non-venomous re-examination of the subject would be useful and give much food for thought.

Perhaps it is a subject for another thread.

I myself am in the "honest deceiver" camp, but I am still an admirer of Kreskin's abilities and accomplishments. He did place a disclaimer on his television series stating that the show was for entertainment and was not intended to foster belief in the supernatural.

- entity