I 'm looking for some ideas or points of reference for two person acts.
I'm not really keen on effects where one person leaves the room, more where both stay the whole time.
I know some folk here do things like this... Leondo?
Any ideas appreciated.
Rodan

I reccomend Annemann, Corinda, and the Falkensteins on this subject.

Best I've ever seen: Falkenstein and Willard. And they have vids available!

Start with the book "How to develop Mental Magic" by Paul Hadley. You can usually find a cheap copy at H & R Books, Michael Cannick, etc....which will give you the basics you need for learning the two person code act.

Then if you can find it, track down the Tommy and Liz Tucker system (considerably more expensive than the Hadley book though) and you should be well set to invest the several years of practice you will require to be able to start to work on your two person act, and be prepared for the long, hard hours that will go into making your act flow smoothly. It is not as easy as it looks.

PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat

The EASIEST method on earth can be found @ Magus Magic in the UK under the title "Lightning Telepathy"... no code! Can be "Mastered" in under an hour's rehearsal time. When used as the foundation to a code styled system YOU WILL DEVESTATE the mind of layment and pro alike (I know, I use this system along with a few of my own twists and it has left learned magi baffled!)

http://www.magus.worldaccess.co.uk/Home.htm

Thanks for your input gentelmen, that gives me some good leads to work with.

George Hallas has a terrific two person routine called Good and Bad Vibrations in his book Mindful Mentalism 3. I and my associate believe it has tremendous potential and are working on incorporating it into our two man show, "Mental Wizardry."

As to your two person act, are you looking at the traditional woman as a medium type and the man as the facilitator and mentalist? Or are you, as we did, looking for something different?

Since you intend to do this professionally, I am sure that as astute as you are, you recognize the enormous amount of work and practice involved in an act such as the Faulkenstein's have. In discussing it with them, they said that they literally practice, even now, day and night. They spent a long time rehearsing before they even attempted to present their act to a paying audience.

Since I and my associate have our own families and lives to live, we use what I would term a non-traditional two person mentalism act. If this is of more interest to you, let me know and I will do a post on our approach.

Well Lee, I must say it is a longer term plan.
My daughter is interested in getting involved and so I felt it would be good to cast a net here to see what would swim in.
I'm sure I would not be the only one interested in a few more details about your approach to this act.

You can also check a book called "the world of mentalism" by Volta Hull and a book called "en Rapport" by Annemann.
From there you will have plenty of ideas to do your own system.

Rodan,

It's good to see someone else from Sydney participating in "The Magic Cafe".

If you want to dive right into the deep end, the very deep end, Stevens Magic Emporium (USA) are selling a booklet titled "The Cézanne Code":

http://stevensmagic.com/currentcatalog/e......msme.asp

It's not cheap at $USD 155.00, but the material contained within may prove to be a most valuable source of ideas and techniques. I'd say that it will require a lot of hard work and dedication to gain any sort of proficiency with this type of code.

Regards,


John

Well Rodan, routines for our two man show, Mental Wizardry, vary from show to show because we have some repeat audience members; however, we do routinely perform audience favorites, i.e., our versions of Pseudo Psychometry, The Multiple Book Test, and Q&A. We perform at the Mercury Cafe in Denver, CO in a theater setting.

Here is one of our programs.
-Opening
-Psychological Forces. To get audience involvment.
-ESP Test. A multi-part routine involving telepathy between audience members, my associate and myself.
-Solo performance. I or my partner normally do 3 effects.
-The Multiple Book Test.
Intermission
-Pseudo Psychometry
-Solo performance. Whichever of us did not do the earlier solo performance, now performs.
-Q&A.
So there it is. Obviously, except for the solo performances, the other routines are two person routines. Every one of our effects involves the audience. They are often give credit for the success of the routine. We prefer this approach rather than us coming across as some omnipotent performers deriving mysterious powers from our extended stays in Tibet, etc.. That is not modern mentalism. Of course our sole intent is to entertain our audiences which we hear we do. Hope this gives you some insight into a two person act that is not quite as traditional as some.

Thanks Lee, I appreciate your time in doing this. It reads great.
Also thanks again to all other contributors, my 'net' runneth over.

Thanks for referring to the Hadley book, Paul. I actually found a copy at a Magic Castle swap meet last Fall. I'm definitely interested in using that code as a starting point, although it looks like we will have to update and personalize some aspects.

For everyone else, please avail yourselves of an opportunity to watch the Evasons perform. Nice work, and very subtle.

Choosing a system is the easy part, the key (and the reason there are so few "good" acts) is practice, years of it. Which is why most two person acts are husband and wife.

I also have to echo Vic's recommendation to see the Evasons. They are simply amazing. You can get more info on them at www.evason.com

I recently had an opportunity to listen to the cd about the Piddingtons. I got it through a dealer, but I think Martin Breese puts it out. It was absolutely inspiring. Listening to Mrs. Piddington "receiving" an impression was about the most convincing demonstration of thougt reading I've ever encountered. You won't find any methods in the cd, but if you want to experience the craft at its pinnacle you'll give it a listen.

--Christopher Carter

Rodan,
Sorry for the late reply. Liz and I have been "on the road" for a couple of weeks.
I think a father/daughter code act would be hard to beat. It leaves open many possibilities.
I can vouch for the fact that if you intend to do a two person act for longer than a few minutes, it is a SERIOUS commitment to practicing.
As you've already been advised, there are many codes from which to work and no matter which one you choose, you will change it to your own "version" over time.
Good luck and email me if I can help.
Ted (Leondo)

May I just mention 'Person to Person' by Lewis Jones. It's a book of telephone telepathy, and I know that's not your main focus. However, if you're getting into two-person mind-reading and telepathy routines then I do think you'll enjoy many of the ideas contained therein. LJ is a very smart thinker indeed.

Rodan, you may also want to take a look at at old booklet (1953 I believe) titled "Automentalism" by Ken deCourcy.It's the type of program that you and your daughter could put to use fairly quickly as there is nothing for the reciver(medium) to memorize and in fact the sender has no memory work either.
Ted (Leondo) speaks from experience with this type of work so he's the man to ask for advice. I do think however, he would agree that if you can get your daughter working as soon as possible and succeeding it will inspire her to take on the study necessary to progress with the more complex aspects of the work.

Best thoughts,
John Smetana