Over in the "Penny For Your Thoughts" forum, I've started a thread about Syd Bergson. I was impressed by Richard Osterlind's interpretations of Bergson's Center Read and El Numero effects on his "Easy to Master" series. Liking the thinking behind these effects, I've been looking for other sources for Bergson's material. It seems that what is in print is a little scattered.

The thread referred to above is here:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......5&16

I've come to this forum, not only to see if there's anyone here who can fill in some of the gaps in my other thread, but also because I realize I know nothing about Bergson the man. Web searches have not revealed much either. Can anyone help?

I met Syd Bergson at a couple of conventions. Syd made interesting props for mentalists. He also made some custom props.

He was one of the few magic dealers to offer a money back guarantee on his props. He said that if you did not like a prop, or if it did not fit into your act, you could return it.

He liked to use modern technology for mentalism. He had a trick, the name of which I cannot recall, that used fiber optics to read colors of items held behind the back. He made a special one for Don Alan that used coherent fiber optic cable to read serial numbers on dollar bills. It was not very practical, though.