Strange Impressions.pdf

Bob Cassidy’s

Strange Impressions

Performance pieces for the mentalist and impression

techniques

herein is granted only to original purchasers of this e-book. Duplication or reproduction and distribution of this

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Table of Contents

The Enigma of #23

Epilogue to 23

Interlude - The Reverend Dr. Bob's "Bank Nite"

Signed Twice

The Art of Pre-show

Creating the Best Impression

BONUS- THE ULTIMATE MIND TRIP

The Enigma of #23

Effect and Presentation

[The performer begins in a very serious tone. As he is delivering the following

introduction, he gradually picks up the pace and volume.] [If your birthday is

not the 23 rd , either lie or omit the first line.]

“I was born on June 23 rd . Coincidentally, it is a fact that in any room of at least 23

people, at least two of them will have the same birthday. How many of you,

though, are born on the 23 rd ? Not necessarily of June, but of any month?

“Strange, isn’t it?

“Twenty–three is a very interesting number, you know. According to

researchers - there is even an entire web site devoted to the number – many

coincidences surround it.

“The ancient Egyptians observed New Years Day on July 23 rd - the day the dog

star, Sirius, rises behind the sun.

“The human biorhythm cycle is 23 days.

“The first prime number in which both digits are prime and add up to another

prime is 23 .

“It takes exactly 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body.

“During conception, the male and female each contribute 23 chromosomes.

“But it gets even stranger than that…

“Apart from the fact that AOL only allows 23 people it its chat rooms, did you

realize that the letter ‘W” – the 23 rd letter of the alphabet – has two points down

and three points up? Twenty-three again!

“Two-thirds – 2 divided by three- is .666- the number of the beast in Revelations.

“Shakespeare was born on April 23 , 1556 and died on April 23 , 1616. That’s two

twenty-threes in his life.

And, believe it or not, if you take two twenty-threes you get forty-six. That’s how

old Shakespeare was when the King James Bible was published. Check this for

yourself - look up Psalm 46 and count to the 46 th word. It is ‘shake.’ The 46 th

word back from the end is ‘spear!’

“It’s true, the more you think about the number, the more it seems to come up.

Just the other day I finished reading a book called The Rise and Fall of John Gotti.

There I learned that there are 23 organized crime families in the United States

and that Gotti’s, the Gambino family, had 23 capos. I’m sure you won’t be

surprised to hear that John Gotti was sentenced to life in prison on July 23 rd …

“Is all of this just coincidence?

“Like I said, the more you think about 23, the more it seems to keep showing up.

Now that I’ve mentioned it, watch what happens - you’re all going to start

seeing 23’s everywhere.

“It’s been driving me crazy lately. It’s actually easier for me to read other peoples

minds than to figure out what’s happening in my own!

“Let’s try to get away from this for a minute. Let me focus on your thoughts.

We’ll use a deck of cards.”

The mentalist exhibits a pack of playing cards and casually mixes them as he

continues.

“I would like two of you to each cut off a small packet of cards, about ten or

thirteen or thereabouts. Like this.” The performer, holding the pack face down in

his left hand, cuts off a small packet with his right hand and holds it with the face

of the packet against his chest.

“Just cut them off and hold them up against your chest like this. That way I can’t

see the back of the card facing your body.” The performer reshuffles the cards as

he approaches a member of the audience.

Two people each cut off small packets, as described.

“Now, each of you, peek at the card closest to your body. Remember it. Burn its

image into your minds and then shuffle up your cards. “

The mentalist now reveals the cards being thought of by both spectators.

He concludes by saying, “Well, that’s one way of getting the number 23 out of

our minds… or is it?”

Shaking his head, the mentalist apparently talking to himself, says, “No, it can’t

be possible.”

Looking at both volunteers, who are still holding their packets of cards, he says,

”Would both of you please count your cards and tell us how many you have?

You have twelve? And you have eleven?

“Twelve and eleven.

“Twenty-three.”

Method:

The whole point of this piece, of course, is the story of the number 23. All of the

facts cited in the routine are true. (The Shakespeare bit is weird, isn’t it. Chcck it

out in your King James if you don’t believe me.)

Those of you who have read Principia Mentalia should have recognized the use of

my Erisian force.

It makes the effect practically self working

Remove any twenty-three cards from a deck. Wrap a piece of invisible tape

around the remainder of the pack and put the twenty-three cards on top. You’ll

find it very simple to apparently overhand shuffle and cut the pack while in

reality only cutting the taped block from top to bottom. Depending on your

degree of skill with cards you can make this as convincing as you like. The

important thing, though, is not to disturb the order of the loose 23 cards. That’s

because they are stacked and marked.

Each face down card in the twenty-three card packet is marked with the name of

the card above it. Thus, when the first packet is cut off, the mark on the new top

card of the deck tells you which card is facing the spectator’s body. The second

spectator will automatically get the twenty-third card on the face of his packet

because of the Erisian force- just take a little finger break beneath the remaining

loose cards and present the cards to the spectator so that he can only cut them by

the short ends. Since you’ve told him to cut about ten to thirteen cards, it is an

easy matter to just drop your left hand as he cuts, leaving him with the

remainder of the loose cards. This is practically automatic as you will find on

your first attempt.

Those of you who are adept with cards may dispense with the taped block

merely by putting a short card in the twenty-fourth position from the top. After

the first spectator cuts off his packet, obtain your pinkie break above the short

card while approaching the second volunteer. While I’m no slouch when it

comes to card handling, I nonetheless prefer the taped block when using this

effect on stage. It makes it impossible for an obstreporous spectator to screw you

up. He can’t possibly cut off more cards than you want him to.

I mark the cards Ted Lesley style, but any easily read marking system will

suffice. Alternatively, you can just stack the cards according to Si Stebbins , Eight

Kings or, my favorite, John Mulholland’s Hungry Jackass stack. In this case you

must peek at the top card to know the identity of the previous card in the

sequence, ie- the one on the face of the first spectator’s packet.

( The Hungry Jackass can be found in Mulholland’s Book of Magic. I prefer it to Stebbins or

Eight Kings simply because it is not as widely known. The suits are in the order of your choice

–CHSD, SHCD, or whatever-

and the mnemonic rhyme is as follows:

Jack ass eight live tree. King intends to fix several for benign Queen. Which gives you the

sequence:

Jack ace eight five three King ten two six seven four nine queen)

Epilogue to 23

“Does somebody have a handful of change? Just take out a handful of change

sir.” The performer takes a quarter from the spectator’s handful of coins.

“Here, look at this quarter, sir, put the rest of your change away. Just hold on to

this one. The rest of you can try this too. Take out any coin- a penny, nickel,

dime or quarter. Just don’t use one of those new state quarters.

“Look at the head side of your coin, sir. You’ll notice that there are words and

numbers. How many words are there? Five? And what are they? Liberty and In

God We Trust . And how many numbers are on the coin?

The date, correct. That’s four digits.

“You’ll notice that there are seven letters in Liberty and In God We Trust has

twelve letters. Is that correct?

Seven and twelve- that’s nineteen. Plus the four numbers is what?

“That’s right. Twenty-three again. Coincidence? I don’t know. What’s the date on

your coin, sir? 1967?

Add those numbers ( one, nine, six and seven) together. What do you get?

“Now are you starting to believe?”

Method:

Don’t make the mistake of thinking of this just as a throw-away. This is very

powerful and acts as a double zinger to the previous effect. The method is

nothing. All US coins, with the exception of the new state quarters, have a total

of twenty-three characters (letters and numbers) on the head side.

Coins dated 1967, 1976, 1985, and 1994 total 23 if you add the digits together. Just

pretend to take a coin from the spectator’s handful of change and give him the

one you had hidden behind your right fingers. (Your own palmed quarter which

has one of the previous dates)

Since you have asked the whole audience to take out coins to follow along with

you, the spectator attaches no importance to the coin you take from his hand.

Obviously, you want to select somebody who has a whole lot of change in his

pocket. (If all he has is a dime and a nickel, you’re not going to get by with this!)

This is a very memorable bit which, presented properly, will literally get gasps

from the audience. Try not to do it when there are other magicians or mentalists

present. It’s just too good to be tipped to the fraternity at large.

Interlude – The Reverend Dr. Bob’s “Bank Nite”

Dr. Bob seemed totally devastated, which was quite understandable considering

that he had just burned fifteen hundred dollars in cash.

“Why,” I asked him, “did you have to do the bank nite bit with real money?”

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