Thank goodness for fashionistas Candin!

What I'm saying is that you can't count on pencil and paper being there, and even less in the future. Bring all you want, you're just getting away from pure impromptu that we're mentioning.

Using paper and pencil is, of course, more necessary for what we're doing. But, people won't be having them on hand as much, taking away from the organic nature of our truest, more beautiful work. My girlfriend doesn't even carry a pen in her purse. She's much younger, and just doesn't really see the point. See?

It's getting harder and harder to find the stuff to do our stuff. I'm not saying that our work is over. Even chalkboards and chalk have gone away from the boardroom. I'm just saying that someday, it will look like you had to make special arrangements for a show to get paper, pens, pencils, cards and chalkboards.

The thinking that will come from the future will boggle us now, but hit us like a ton of bricks then...

Every time that you ask for a pencil for mentalism, and they can't find one, but they DO have a pen, you've already experienced what I'm talking about.

Admit it, you're using less and less printed matter over the years... Newspapers, brochures, bills... look at everything that's gone over to electronic, and how relatively quickly it has gone there!

JF

This is all very off topic, but has any one used the new wireless digital pens?

There are, I believe, some standalone ones that do not need a special pad, touch screen, or specially chemically embedded paper, if my understanding of the ads is correct. The pen itself has the memory of the writing and transmits it wirelessly when needed.

To try to bring it back to topic, when do you think these will have their first appearance in a mental act, if not already?
Dick

Already!!! Absolutely!!!

When will doing our acts require heavy examination of the media for electronics? A fake electronics detector for when we DO use electronics, but want to represent that we don't...

Spy vs. Spy at that point, right?

In regards to the digital pens, it's not currently a viable option because of the technology being used for digital pens. On the nib end of a digital pen is a optical lens that scans pre-printed dots on a piece of paper (basically recording coordinates). The paper itself is not normal looking and does not resemble normal blank, lined, or even graphing paper. Even if this technology becomes mainstream (currently it is not), at that point it's the last thing you want to use since people will at that point not only know about the technology and how it works, but will be using it regularly in their normal lives. Now, using a different method to pen writing capture (different from the current commercially available technology) and embedding it into standard recognizable writing instruments such as a Papermate pen or a pencil, that's a different story (clever use of hidden technology).

Back to the subject at hand though, the answer to the initial question of the thread really does depend on if one wishes to find the roots to the development of mentalism in a historical context or if one wishes to find where the term originated from or where modern mentalism first appeared. Both of these which were answered quite well by both Bob Cassidy and Richard Osterlind.

That pen will come. Trust me someone is working on it as we speak.
Dick

Getting back to early use of the term mentalism, and such -- the actual subject of this thread (?)

Thanks, Bob for taking the time to post that section from your book. I had not heard of Norman Baker and Pearl Tangley before.

I am very interested in learning more about the many man-woman code acts (second sight, mind reading, and blindfold acts) of the late 19th and early 20th century. My hands-down favourites so far are Agnes Zanzig with her partner Julius Zancig, with Millie Lammar / LaMar "The Blind Albino Ceylonese Seeress" as a close runner-up, if only because of the beauty of her many cabinet photos.

Has anyone ever written a book on this type of mentalism act? Is there a web page on these acts?

Julieann-

William Rauscher's rather eccentric book The Mind Readers, Masters of Deception (2002, Mystic Light Press) contains brief bios of numerous two person acts from that time period complete with many interesting photos.I'm not sure if it is still available though you may be able to find a used copy. The book also contains good material on the legendary Gene Dennis.

As far as I know there is no book or website devoted exclusively to to two person acts. Perhaps you'd like to give it a shot?

Good thoughts-

Bob

Dick,

I am no expert, but here is a short excerpt from Wikipedia.

When Robert-Houdin first opened his theatre, it was sparsely attended. Though his inventions were good, they needed a draw that would bring the public to his little theatre. So he came upon the idea of doing a two person mindreading act. He even concocted a silly story on how his son Emile created a game of hot and cold that resulted into Robert-Houdin utilizing that for the stage. [4]

He took the title that was used by such magicians as John Henry Anderson, but the effect was entirely different. Anderson had a box into which items were inserted. The medium would then describe the contents inside. In Robert-Houdin’s version, he walked into the audience and touched items that the audience held up and his blindfolded assistant, played by his son, described each one in detail. It caused a sensation and brought the throng to see his Soirees.

Eventually Robert-Houdin changed the method so instead of asking his son what was in his hands, he simply rang a bell. This stunned those that suspected a spoken code. He would even set the bell off to the side and remain silent and his son still described every object handed to his father.

Richard

Bob,

Yes, I really think we are seeing eye to eye on this.

If we really want to go way back, we can certainly see all kinds of examples of "mental phenomena" in the Bible from the Egyptian priests, the dream interpreters in Daniel right up to Jesus's encounter with the woman at the well. In fact, if you had to narrowly divide all supernatural occurances referenced in Scripture into either "magic" or "mentalism", the numbers would be very close.

Richard

Richard, thanks for that information.

I had no idea that Robert-Houdin and his son had an early (the earliest?) 2-person blindfold act ...

Thank you.

And, to Bob, now you can see why I have not written on the subject of 19th century and early 20th century 2-person mind-reader / code / blindfold acts - my historical knowledge is too scant.