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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
As there have been a few questions here related to billet work, I decided to post the following excerpt from "The Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy" for those who are interested in this type of work.
_______________________________________________________________ The word "billet," comes from the French "billet-doux," a love letter. (literally, a "sweet little letter.") Mentalists refer to these little pieces of paper as "billets" because that's what they were called in the heyday of fraudulent spiritualism. (Sitters were asked to write "letters" or "billets" to the dear departed in the hopes they would receive an answer through the medium. This was in the days before e-mail when people actually wrote letters to everyone they knew - even to dead people if there was no one else around who wanted to read them. Their descendants are known as spammers.) Billet work is, to me, the purest form of mentalism. With just some paper and a pencil you can work anywhere. The literature, however, is rather sparse. The reasons are simple: 1) Most mentalists don't specialize in billet work, and 2) A good portion of the written material was, and is, authored by theorists who have little real-world performing experience. Two notable exceptions are Theodore Annemann and C.L. Boarde (the late Warren Schoonmaker). Both stressed complete naturalness in handling, proper timing and the importance of treating the billet with apparent nonchalance - as a simple aid to concentration and nothing more. Annemann's analysis of the techniques of the legendary Bert Reese is essential reading for any mentalist. Boarde's encyclopedic work describes every major technique with considerable thoroughness, although he can sometimes seem obscure. (Since I came to know Warren, I decided that the obscurity was somewhat intentional. His pedantic approach concealed a quick wit and a dry sense of humor.) Many magicians, and not a few mentalists, have joined the futile search for "stop-motion camera-perfect" switches and peeks. There are, I must admit, a few modern sleights that come close to that criterion, but they are totally unnecessary. Learning them is actually a hazard, for the performer may become so proud of the sleight that he draws attention to it, destroying the illusion of mentalism with a gratuitous display of digital elegance. In other words, if you make the billet the center of attention, you are not doing mentalism- you are doing a magic trick with a slip of paper. The fact that the trick may fool an audience should not fool you. As I pointed out in Volume One, they will wonder how you secretly read the paper when they should be thinking, "Hey, that's spooky. Is he really reading my mind?" (or "my body language," or whatever your persona is supposed to be doing.) There is yet another issue that keeps many from doing billet work. It is the opinion that billets are themselves illogical. "Would they have to write anything down if you could really read minds? They wouldn't, so the very use of the paper is suspicious." This objection is invalid on its face, however, because it begs the question. To put it another way, it assumes a fact not in evidence. Look at the statement again. It simply assumes that a "real mind reader" would not need to have things written down. Is that necessarily so? If you were a real mind reader would you have them write things down? Why or why not? If I were onstage and really reading minds, I know it would make some people nervous, and some people would feel threatened. Skeptics would KNOW I was a fake before they even saw me work and would be certain to try and trip me up. Nervous volunteers sometimes find it hard to concentrate in front of an audience. The act of writing helps them, and the billet can act as a little reminder should they forget what they were thinking about. Those who feel threatened are somewhat comforted in knowing that I won't be running amok in their minds, revealing their innermost thoughts in public. They are happy to know that there is a slip of paper, which proves what they were really thinking. I am equally happy to know that there is written proof of the thought which cannot later be denied. The billet gives me comfort and security because it will prove that I really do read minds. The skeptics, of course, will refuse to write anything down and will expect me to adhere to their preconceived notion that real mind readers don't have things written. And so on. Those of you who have seen me work or who have read The Art of Mentalism 2 are familiar with the line I use in handing out a billet: "I have you write it down for two reasons, one - it helps you to focus the thought in your mind; and, two- it keeps you from changing your mind later and making me look stupid." _____________________________________________________________________________ Good thoughts, Bob |
charliewerner Regular user 164 Posts |
WOW, The best notes on billet ! Thank you.
"Seeing Joy, Sadness, Anger,Contempt,Surprise, Disgust,Fear on people faces are the motivation of my MAGIC" Charlie Werner (C.C.L)
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
You're welcome Charlie!
Best- Bob |
Lior Inner circle 1961 Posts |
Thanks Bob
All the advice you give here and in the forum is gold You should colect it and write a book from all these stuff. Thanks for sharing so much Lior
The Lior Touch
https://1amagic.com/ PEA Dave Lederman Award 2009 PEA Dunninger Award 2001 Life Time Achivmeant IUPA 2016 |
Oliver Ross Inner circle Europe 1724 Posts |
Hello Bob,
Thank you very much for all your insight in this vast world of Mentalism. Personally I'm more novice in this world. For the moment I'm still in practicing and trying out a lot of basic stuff, specially the work on billets. Could you please be so kind and give us some good ressources where someone could learn more the technical parts on billets ? I'm more a visual guy and trying to visualize technical parts written in books is rather difficult for me. So I'm looking for videos or DVDs where I could better see how the technics work. I won't go more in details, since this is an open forum, but if you don't mind I could send you a private message. Thank you very much in advance for your help. Oliver. |
mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Hi Oliver-
There are several useful DVD's out there. Obviously, I would recommend my own "The Black Box", available at dealers and directly from the publisher, Meir Yedid, at http://www.mymagic.com I also deal with billet work in my "Mental Miracles" DVD and rather extensively in my book "The Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy." Another major resource, albeit in print only, is C.L. Boarde's classic, "Mainly Mental - Volume 2." I'd also recommend Millard Longman's excellent DVDs on Acidus, Acidus Novus and Acidus Globus. You also should pick up a copy of Elliot Bressler's wonderful eBook "Switchcraft." In addition to being encyclopedic in scope, it is wonderfully illustrated and contains short videos of many of the moves. (Just do a search on Switchcraft in the Penny for your Thoughts forum here at the Café and you will see what I mean and will be able to contact Elliot.) Good thoughts, Bob |
Oliver Ross Inner circle Europe 1724 Posts |
Thank you very much for your quick reply Bob.
I'll certainly have a look at all of your suggestions, that should and certainly will help me in my work on the path to the mysteries of our mind. Oliver. |
mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Your welcome, Oliver. Enjoy your journey and remember that any path is the right path as long as it is a path with a heart.
Just don't take the wrong exit on the New Jersey Turnpike. That's how I ended up in Seattle. Good thoughts, Bob |
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