USDA journey into the golden past of mentalism!
In the late 80's and early 90's, Richard contributed a number of effects to Bascom Jones' brilliant Magick magazine. After over 30 years, and with the full blessing of George Robinson (the publisher of The Complete Magick), Richard has decided to revisit these routines in order to update the methods and devise alternative approaches for today's modern world. Remember, every one of these effects are Richard's original creations and most have not seen print outside of Magick. With the exception of one routine which uses Richard's Stainless Steel Blindfold (which many of you have already), all of these offerings require no special props and can easily be made up at home. Even with those which required articles no longer readily available, Richard tells you where to find them or gives you substitute materials to use!
But there's more - so much more! Many people consider these years to be the golden age of modern mentalism. Some of the greatest performers of all time were active and creating incredible effects. Kreskin was on television constantly and Uri Geller was confounding the world with his stunts. Ronnie Gann was still performing and Bob Cassidy was stunning audiences everywhere. Al Mann was pumping out numerous books and effects as were a ton of other inventors. There was a certain mood in the air that these were special times in mentalism.
Along with all that, there was almost a universal understanding of what a mentalist should look like and how he should act. Mentalism was direct and straight-forward and audiences truly believed that there were people in the world who really could read minds. These are the times Richard talks about. Along with the incredible effects explained in this book. Richard will take you back in time so you can feel the mood the way he did!
There are nine routines that appeared in Bascom's Magick plus one more Richard donated to the final index volume of The Complete Magick, bringing the total number of effects in Beyond Magick to ten. Here's just an idea of what's presented:
- Place two ungimmicked dice in a film canister, have someone shake it up, and divine the numbers on top of each die without touching it!
- A stage Swami effect where your hands are empty before and after the reveal!
- Turn your business card case into a perfect peek case!
- A fantastic routine where you show your audience, on your Facebook page on their own phones, what three-digit number someone would freely call out!
- Amazing gimmicks to allow you to mind read anywhere!
- A perfect design duplication routine using just an index card and subtlety!
