Someone on another thread mentioned that Excelsior! was Stan Lee's catch phrase. It reminded me of Ted Annemann's Gabatha! with which he would sometimes end his Jinx columns.

So what the heck does it mean? The best I could find out was it's the Aramaic term for Jerusalem. Some kind of Crusader thing, like Onward Christian Soldiers?

Gabbatha

The magic word Gabbatha was a favorite of legendary magician Theodore Annemann, famed editor of the magic newsletter The Jinx. (Annemann closed a great many of his editorials with the word.) Of Aramaic origin, Gabbatha can be translated as "elevation" (in the New Testament, Gabbatha appears as the name for the raised platform of Pilate's judgment seat) and the word can be spoken as an entreaty to exalt or ennoble oneself (similar to the Latin Excelsior, "ever upward"). Another meaning for the word is "open space," which recalls Ali Baba's cave of wonders—the mythologized feminine principle.

http://mysteryarts.blogspot.com/2009/04/gabbatha.html

P.S. ... sorry for the delayed response, but I only read your post at 1:31 pm (EST)

:)

Here's a thread that you might enjoy:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......&start=0

And this one, too:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=17

Well, no more of your slacking off balducci, or it's the pink slip for you.

Gabbatha is a mentalism routine originally devised by J.G. Thompson Jr. It is a living/dead routine involving spirit slates. It is in Anneman's book. I perform it every now and then.

Ya got ta be a mentalist ta be in the know;)

Thanks. Interesting to think about, even if the words are silent.

The Craig Conley book mentioned in the first thread above does look very good.

Gabatha.... wasn't that the name of the daughter on Bewitched?

Only when Samantha had a cold.

John