I am sure this must have been asked before, I did a search for it and failed to find it, so if I cover old ground then my apologies for your time.

My question is, why did you get into all this? What made you think you wanted to me a mentalist or hypnotist or even a magician?

It is a question I get asked alot, I think this may be because I am young. I know I have an answer for the puplic, as well as an answer which is real, my public answer is "because I wanted to read minds, I thought it would be cool don't you?" and from there I pray they agree with me.

Kind thoughts,

Kennedy

For the public, my answer is : "I discovered I was able to do amazing things, so I thought others could be as amazed as I am by those things"

For real, quite the same in fact. I wanted to entertain people and make them experience and feel something different.
I wanted to make others feel what I felt when I saw mentalism acts for the first times, as it was something really really good to feel (and it's still everytime I'm fooled).

To meet women (in my single and younger days).

FINALLY...an honest answer, magicinsihgt. I think I became interested in this field after reading "The Amateur Magician's Handbook." I tinkered in most effects in that book, and learned so much from it. I love to entertain myself, as well as others...deja vu.

I just like learning new things. I remember my dad getting Royal Road to Cad Magic some 45 years ago and him showing me some of the basic moves . I took it up again as I'm nearing retirement and need something to while away the time..increase my street cred with the young 'uns and who knows..even make a bit of money on the side.

Howard

Well like every thing I do,I got into this back words, Learned Tarot and other divinations systims when I was in my teens, I started for fun in a friends house and they all thought I was good, soon started making money at it thinkning I was legit.
Around the same time I started to learn basic hypnosis just to improve my memory, started to learn a lot and a Tutor in college caught me Locking other studants hands together and leving them like that when class started, just by chance he was also thought hypnosis, so I enrolled in his course. that was all over 10 years ago now.
I onlyu ever knew basic magic and decided to get more into mentalism after people kept always asking me," so what elese do you do" I must have learned ever divination systim there is.
So I've only been a few years in mentalism and I'm only starting to look into magic its self in the past year.
To answer the first question "Why?" it all seemed like a natural progression and it what I like and am some what good at.

H.W

My mother first took me and my brother to Tannens on 42nd St. when I was about 13 years old and I was fascinated by all the the tricks and illusions that were on display. They seemed so magical and alluring. My mother said I could get jsut one trick. I wanted to get the Gloves to Flowers but of course they did not have it in stock. So instead I got a paddle trick and a copy of their catalog.It was filled with so much magic that I could not beleive it. The descriptions of eaach effect, even the ones that cost $2.00, made them appear to be true miracles. I was hooked.

I was also deep down a natural ham (o.k. being Jewish and from New York, I was more of a Pastrami on rye)and liked the attention. It was also a way to get over my shyness.

I eventually met my wife through showing her some magic (sponge balls). We have been married for 10 years and we now have two babies. Magic served me well.

Best regards,

Michael

P.S. Howard,

You look a lot like either Adam West from the original 1967 Batman T.V. series or Rich Little, the famous impersonator. Any acting in your bloodline?

Hey Kennedy, you didn't tell us how you got in to this line.
H.W

Derren brown probably

joe

Sorry, yes I lead by bad example.

Mine is very sad, I'm afraid to say. in reality the reason is because when I was 14 I was attacked in the street (while performing a piece of theatre) and so was confined to my house, which was truly exciting I can tell you.

So my mind began to wander, I first began thinking, what would it be like to be able to read people's minds, I was attempting to understand what had happened to me at the time.

Then I saw Max Maven on television dong some mind controling and I was lead to thinking, what if I could conrol what other people thought, or did, that way this would never happen to me again.

Of course I eventually realised that perhaps this was not as possible as I first perceived it , but by then it was too late, I had bought books and videos and was already performing for the people who visited me.

So it all came from the want, or need, to feel safe I suppose, brings a tear to my eye .

What I tell spectators? Well, I tell them that "i wanted to be able to read minds. Of course I use natural methods to create unnatural occurances, but it's fun, I'm sure you will agree." Some thing like that.

Kind thoughts,

Kennedy

Magicinsight,
No acting in the bloodline I'm afraid although my wife might disagree. She's always saying that I...act the fool! or that I should....act my age.
Not a particulalry good photo..when I was younger and had more hair I was told I looked a bit like Cliff Richard. UK's answer to Elvis.

Howard.feeling older by the minute.

O.K. Batman. Your'e secret is safe with me. You are only as young as you feel...despite the rescending hairline.

Cheers,

Michael

Ha ,ha....You must blew his cover.

Michael,
I think the saying is ...you are only as young as the woman you feel !!!LoL

Howard

Dang...that's a nice saying, Howard. That makes me older than I am though ;(

Howard,

Very, very funny. As they also say, just because there is snow on the roof doesn't mean that there is no fire in the fireplace (or something like that).

Best regards Caped Crusader,

Michael

Michael,
Thank God none of my mates look at this sight or else I would really have the Mickey taken out of me at work...and a new Nickname to boot.

Holy Aliases .....Robin

Howard

And that's when I present Heirloom - what a wonder.

I started magic when I was 9 years old and let it go again when I was 12. In the age of 32 my mother moved to Copenhagen and told me there was a big cardboard box with my name on it in the basement. It was my old magic box. There were still some good tricks in there like "paper to money" (like hundu 500), billiard ball trick etc. SO I did a search on the net an saw plenty of magic shops and started buying. And now I'm hooked again - big time.

When I was 9 I just liked seeing magic, it triggered my fantasies and imagination. It still does - but now it's more intellectual - I'm interested in the methods and the clever thinking, the psykology and I love to create astonishment. It make me day dream and smile. that's it for me.

So you can say I already wasted 30 years of my 36 year old life, or like Dai Vernon said in his old days "I'm 82 years old, I started studying magic when I was 6, I guess I wasted the first 6 years of my life".

What got me into magic and what got me into mentalism stem from a few fronts.

My initial 'magical' interests were ventriloquism (age 9; inspired by Paul Winchell) and escapology (age 13; inspired by you-know-Hou). Magic, per-se, I got into as a sidelight to practicing escapology.

My interest in mentalism came as a result of the following influences:
1. Unlikely synchronicities in my own life and those of relatives, especially on my father's side of the family.
2. A general interest in the bizarre (I raised myself on horror movies and stories, and macabre folklore).
3. Houdini's run-ins with mediums.
4. Kreskin (top mystery entertainer in the USA at that time).

Steve

it is true, you have to suffer for your art...

I came to mentalism, because I don´t want to perform tricks. I want my audience to think: "that can´t be a trick..." - I left magic behind, because there is always this out for the spectator: They are able to feel safe and think: "there is some sort of trick - even if I don´t know it". I perform mentalism, because I want to see mentalism. (to be honest I just buy the dvds to see mentalism - performing is a sideeffect )