Banachek on 'The Wizard Is Dead':

"I love your style of writing. I think it is wonderful and shows a wonderful exercise in the way mentalists produce miracles. Your thinking is superb. The work is brilliant."

From a recent email from Banachek himself, quoting with his permission.

I'm getting lots of inquiries regarding my
'The Wizard Is Dead' manuscript. I hope it will be ok to answer them all here.

Q: What exactly is the effect?
A: Well,you call someone or better yet, someone calls you.
You ask them to draw something on a piece of paper. You then tell them what they drew!

Q: Can you repeat this on the same person?
A: Can you tell the same joke twice?
I don't believe a miracle is something to be repeated.

Q: Is it a sure-fire thing that works all the time?
A: As I said in the manuscript, nothing is a sure-fire thing. A nail writer can break.
A card could be lost. But who says a miracle works all the time?

Q: Does it use pre-show or stooges of any kind?
A: No. In fact, it could be termed 'done under test conditions'.

Q: You said it is the best phone effect ever.
Could you please elaborate on that?
A: Well, as someone who has studied almost every phone effect existing in print, I know where I'm coming from when I say this. Using nothing but personality, psychology and words to create a moment of real magic, what could be better than that?!

Q: Does it have anything to do with the old
'wizard' trick?
A: Absolutely not. They both use the telephone as a part of the effect, but mine is a one man phone effect. That's why I call it The Wizard is Dead...

Q: What exactly do you mean when you call it
'impromptu'?
A: You can do it at the drop of a hat. Period.

Q: Where can I perform it?
A: Everywhere you go. It is best described as an informal effect. It isn't advisable to use it in a formal show, but you would use it to impress a journalist or to book your next show!

Soon to be published...

Yaniv Deautsch

Since Yaniv used a quote from me, with my permission, I feel I do need to qualify a few things if one buys it as a result of my Recommendation.

Eveything I said in the quote is true.

The effect is not sure fire and I doubt any but the most experienced mental perfomers could pull it off.

I also said I think that since it is not one hundred percent that it would be better to be part of a much larger book on psychological effects.

Having said that, I think everyone would benefit from reading this effect, but if you are looking for a sure thing this is not it. It will take a lot of work and experience and confidence on your part to pull it off but when you do, it is a miracle of the highest caliber.

I do recommend it as reading. It will get you thinking. And Yaniv certainly has a way with words.

Those who saw Ian Rowland talk about his picture duplication ideas at the Asylum will know pretty much what this is.

Hi guys.

Thanks for the mention, Banachek! Just to clarify, Banachek is referring to a small item I included in my not-very-good lecture last November at the otherwise superbly enjoyable 'Escape From The Asylum' day here in London. The item is called the No Method Drawing Duplication (NMDD).

I am currently preparing two sets of lecture notes, one on mentalism and another on cards. These will be ready by the end of April, when I'm due to lecture at the British Magic Society (and anywhere else that wants me!). I will probably include the NMDD in the mentalism lecture notes. I may also include it in my new book, which will be out later this year.

I have no information at all about Yaniv's new effect, 'The Wizard Is Dead', except that I would imagine, since it's from Yaniv, that it's going to be very good and well worth checking out! If there are any broad similarities between TWID and my drawing duplication item, well, that's just pure coincidence.

Ian,

It is very good, a little different than yours but along the same thoughts. His writing and thinking is great.

All the best

Despite both having the same starting point, I'm sure that the end result is very different.
Am I right?

S

Yaniv, in your list of questions you must have forgotten an important one;

What is the effect?

...alternatively, I guess; Mr. Rowland how does your effect appear?

Everyone, if Yaniv says it's a great phone effect I think there is reason to believe him. One of the first things I remember from seeing (reading) Yaniv was on the Eye(?) some 2-3 years back where he listed probably over 50 phone effects and asked if anyone knew of any other that he could get hold of.

/Matias

IN this effect. Yaniv has someone draw a picture and tells them what it is, over the phone. No stooges. No pre-set up.

As I said the thinking is what is important here, not so much the effect although the effect is a miracle. It will not always work all the time, but due to Yaniv's teaching, your odds off success are quite high.

In my lecture, I talked about three kinds of situations where you might want to do a drawing duplication effect.

(1) It's a formal show, you're all prepared with your 'favourite method'... whatever it happens to be

(2) It's informal and impromptu, you aren't prepared and maybe you don't have your favourite prop with you, but you know a few impromptu methods for doing a drawing dupe (I listed these in the lecture) and it looks like you'll succeed with one or other of these

(3) It's informal and impromptu, and NONE of the usual impromptu methods look like they will work. So what to do? Well, you can duck out of it or do something else. But if you want to have some extra fun, you can do the NO METHOD drawing duplication! A sure-fire miracle? No, that would just be mentalism advertising hype. But, as I explain in the notes, you'll get a decent result 99% of the time, which isn't bad, and once in a while you'll get a bona fide miracle which will do wonders for your reputation. And yes, I have used this in real life, for real people, and even on a TV show. I've enjoyed a lot of success with it, and it's fun to do - especially for 'hard-nosed' cynical types, because there's no trick for them to find!

I will write this up in my lecture notes, and probably in my new book as well.

I do plan a full book of psychological effects {mentalism effects based on psychology} the title of which will be 'Without a Cape'.

As I said in the past, I honestly and deeply believe The Wizard Is Dead deserves it's own publication.

Although there is a HUGE demand for my phone effect, I will not get it formally published. It will be only available from me.

Yaniv

What did Teller, Luke Jermay and Derren Brown think about this effect!?
I would love to know, since it sounds like an amazing effect!

S

Have you described how to purchase it?

--Chris

I have no idea what Teller, Luke Jermay or Derren Brown think about it; since I didn't sent it to them!
Banachek is the only person who read it so far.
Those wanting to order this booklet, feel free to PM me.

Yaniv

Yaniv,
I hope I'm not getting you wrong; but it sounds like something a blind man can pull off.
Is it!?

Zod,

Yes it is. Keep in mind it is not 100 percent, and keep in mind a blind man would have to read the instructions first or have them read to him. Actually, I think a blind man might even be better at doing this.

I would like to add a few details regarding The Wizard Is Dead.
The price will be around $35.
Hopefully it will be available in 2 months.

Yaniv
P.S. If any one by any chance didn't get a personal reply to his email/PM, despite all my effort; I deeply apologize. Please understand that I got too many requests.
Please contact me again.
Many thanks...

Ian, could you give a brief description of your new book, and when you expect it to be released?

Thank you.

Pharaoh

New book will be some essays, some tricks and routines, and anything else I want to put in, probably including The World's Greatest Book Test That Only A Nutcase Would Ever Actually Perform (and yes, I have performed it). I will publish the book later this year, probably when I get back from my 'working holidays' in US and Oz, but some bits and pieces will appear first in my lecture notes.

Not sure what to call the new mentalism book. My first idea was 'It's The Thought That Counts'. When they marketed the Superman movie in the 70s they used the line 'You'll believe a man can fly', so I've been tempted to call my new thing 'You'll Believe A Man Can Lie'.

Another idea I had was to find someone in mentalism who has never published anything, never plans to, seldom if ever performs and has no claim to fame whatsoever. Suppose there is such a person, called 'X'. I'd call my new book 'The Inner Mentalism Secrets of X - Volume 2'. Just for the fun of it.

Ian:

I = X

It's true, there was a time when I was asking around for sources regarding phone effects. However, The Wizard Is Dead was created over a period of ten years.

I first thought about the idea in early 1992 after hearing a famous 'psychic' on an Israeli radio, refusing to do his drawing duplication routine because the interview was done by phone.

I kept thinking about this effect for the last ten years on and off. The product of all these years of thinking was The Wizard Is Dead. A 40 page manuscript detailing everything you will need to know in order to be able to do the following:

You ask someone over the phone to make a drawing. You then tell him what he drew!
There is no 'Visible' or 'Invisible' Compromise

It is one effect, you will be able to carry in your head. As someone mentioned here before, even a blind man can pull this off!

I shall end with a quote from the introduction to the manuscript:

"I feel that magicians are caught in a prison they created, slaves to magic possessions. The props you own end up owning you. Without giving away specifics, the
'Wizard Is Dead' strips away the reliance upon props and gimmicks. It demonstrates what happens when the reverse is acted on without hesitation, and shows how an effect can be way out of proportion to its cause."

Yaniv

Ian's idea was an interesting idea, although personally for my taste its a little too contrived - although definitely workable.

-- ws