An incredible moment was brought to me this afternoon as I watched the Best Moments of the Amazing Kreskin.

He performed the MOST beautiful and brilliant piece of mentalism I have ever seen. And to boot it was a totall fooler.

My brain is fried...

Here is what went down...


After a short interview with Loretta, and brief discussion of intuition...

Kreskin produces a deck of cards, and gives loretta instructions on how to cut cards.

At this point he takes position seated at a piano, and instructs her to cut off a pile of cards, and look at the card she cut to. The jack of clubs...

She cuts the card into the middle of the deck, and Kreskin begins to play a beautiful piano piece...

"cut the cards once more..."

"I don't claim to be psychic -- it's just a sensitivity I have..."

"Do you know where your card is?"

"No"

"Niether do I!"

(Laughter...)

As he plays the piano she cuts the cards 6 times. The cards have been in her hands the entire time...

"turn the deck face up"

she does, and is instructed to cut it twice more...

"Turn the deck face down, and cut it once more..."

"Do you know where your card is?"

"No"

"Place your finger on the deck..."

"Press"


"12 from the bottom"

"Press harder"

"10 from the top..."

"Press harder..."


"You're not going to believe this Loretta...Now it is three from the top..."

He stops playing, and rests his arms on the piano -- looking away from the cards and Loretta...

"Press a little bit more..."


"Take your hand off of the deck. I haven't touched the deck since we started this, you put the card in the deck -- and cut the cards. I din't tell even the camera man or the staff that I was going to try for this..."


"what is the card that you chose?"

"The Jack of Clubs..."

"turn over the top card..."

At this point you could hear a pin drop in the audience, everyone,, including me at home watching this 20 plus years later is silent, and on the edge of thier seats...

"She turns it over..."

And it is the jack of clubs. The audience goes wild...


Kreskin did it...


A simple effect, elevated to a point of destructive ellegance...

This blew me away. In my mind this is the best example of mentalism I personally have ever seen...

We can all learn something from Kreskin...

The moment is on disc two, episode 1...

Check it out...

I would love to discuss the effect with anyone who wishes. PM me if you are interested, or post your comments here -- but please, no exposure....


Jeff

I just learned this routine and it's awesome! I'm not much into card tricks but this one I will always do.

That's the brilliant Kreskin for you... he got a ton of mileage out of the Lazy Man's Card Trick. You have to bow to that guy. We should all learn from the man. He could probably make a showstopper out of Nickels To Dimes.

:applause:

Greg

It's true Greg...

The simplest of effects, are the most effective for him...

I saw Kreskin do this effect live when he performed here about 10 years ago. As Jeff stated, it was simple, elegant, and most definitely mind-blowing! It was the highlight of what was quite an eventful evening.

Ron

Right now he is performing Sefalaljia -- what an event!


He turns the most simple effect into a real experience for all involved...

I remember when he did that on either Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas. He turned what I thought was a stupid trick into this incredible psychic event. I remember being stunned by his presentation because months earlier I had seen that effect in a Tannen's catalog and thought it was the stupidest thing I had seen. Boy was I wrong.

greg

I didn't see it for myself but I heard that Kreskin did the Chinese Sticks as a mental effect on national television. He used the cheap plastic sticks that kids get!

I bow to Kreskin!

Tony Brent
Outta Control Magic Show
Orlando, Florida

I also remember that Sefalaljia performance so many decades ago...it really was wonderful. If I remember correctly, the box -- a simple box with a little curtain on rings -- sat on a plank between two chairs, and he used a clipboard as a means of moving the red ball. Incredibly impressive.

If it's Lazy Man's Card Trick, doesn't the last cut (or the last several cuts) have to take place face-up? As I was reading the description, I thought, "Svengali Deck."

--Josh

Makes you wonder if there's a way to 'Kreskinize' the old 21-card trick...

Josho, the last cut happens face down...


and the deck is straight.

And his Sef box is resting on a piece of glass between two chairs. A candle is what makes it work.

See Ted Lesley's Paramiracles for a complete discussion of specific key cards (Jontay, Koornwinder) that would get the job done.

Best,
Neil

I saw Kreskin peform this effect in Arizona about 4 years ago. Since I had just finished reading Paramiracles a few months prior to watching the performance I immediately thought the method was the one mentioned by Neil concerning the key cards.

Mike

Jeff,

Maybe we saw two different Sefalaljia performances (I seem to remember that the one I saw was on the Tonight Show). He kept the clipboard on top of the box at first, then took it off...

--Josh

Oh, yes you are correct Josh, The one I am reffering to is the original on the tv series...

Kreskin also did a blow-out effect of Regis & Kelly a few years ago.

It simultaneously involved the hosts, the live audience and a volunteer isolated in another room.

The cameras tracked him thru the whole studio as he built...up...the...suspense...for...

...a freely announced card that wound up turned over in an (ID) deck he had in his pocket!!!

He also blew out Letterman (and Paul) with a g**fed deck the same year.

The old guy is the showman, make no mistake!

(P.S.: the only Kreskin TV Sefalaljia version I heard of involved a candle holder!)

Check out Marlo's work on the 21 Card Trick. There's a lot of subtlety in his various handlings of the trick. I occasionally use one of them with the major arcana from a tarot deck. I remove the death card so that there are just 21 cards. Basically, the cards are dealt into three piles. Someone looks at any card in any pile and shuffles the pile. The three piles are combined and then shuffled. The cards are laid out in three rows and you know exactly which card is the selected card. The best finish is when you have dealt all the cards but one and that is the selected card. This doesn't happen everytime but it happens often enough.

Oh, I'm a Kreskin fan, too. Just want to keep this post on topic.

John Cornelius has the best handling of the 21 card trick I have ever seen. It will knock your socks off.

I'm a big Kreskin fan.

He is an excellente showman. I took the late Cal Emmett to see him in concert. About ten minutes into the show, Cal turned to me and said, "I usually hate mentalists. I like this guy. He doesn't take himself too seriously."

I have been very partial to the late Jules Lenier's version of the 21 card trick myself. it appears as if you are showing the audience how to test for ESP.
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat

Once again Kreskin proved it....it's not what we do, it's how we do it. Presentation, presentation, presentation.