_.... • FREEHOLD, NEWJERSEY 07721

1)uf/,lZif/l,,4e"t4

, Act

OPEN5 SLIPSIN S~CRE:T

1

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then passes envelope. among the audience, requsstinl1 thatgroups of slips be placed into each of them and that theybe retained by the writers. Seating himself on the stagewith slate and pencil, he calls names, etc. Under cover 0/passin[l the envelope down the aisles, for the slips, themagietan secretly palms some 0/ the slips, permitting therest and blank duplicates to remain in the envelope. T1uIcontents 0/ palmed slip. are subsequentlll read;

Copyright (1983) by AME

(201) 431 -2429

Reading SecretA Mind

POST OFFICE BOX 144 • FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 07728

~arly in 1926, at the age of 34, Joseph Dunninger, who con­sidered himself a greater magician than Houdini, foresaw thathe could make more money and become world famous if he stoppedcompeting with Houdini as a stage magician and devote his fulltime to being a 'mindreaderJ' So he put his tons of illusionsaway and went to baffle the world with slips of paper as hesigned a contract to Headline in the Keith Vaudeville Circuit.

The following details of his show were taken by an anony­mous observer. A manuscript with the details was secretly soldto magicians without Dunninger's permission. Dunninger was soirked by it that he exposed his own method in the November 1927issue of Science and Invention, and then denied that it was themethod he used. (Fig. 1 below)

-D~I4v/'il4~"4 Act:art ~eien~

Ifc.ny dealers in magical equipment are chargin.q exorbi­:-t price« for this effect, claiming it u the fMthod .".."..:r/~d by me in my performances on the Keith circuit. .7'0~. that it is not I am disclosing the system herewith,s.n~al IUJsistants walk among the audience distributing_A~l .1itp, of paper. The mind reader requests that the-:'dl<:e write names, addresses, etc. on the sli1J1I and fold~ s(t'eral times 30 that the writing cannot be seen. He

AL MANN (8.xd'~

Fig. 1

"(;z,e /fct : "Usher s have been de tailed to pass out s lips ofpape r so t hat you can writ e down your thoughts . Let me i mpressup on you the necessity of al l of you writi ng something. Wr i tedo wn t he secret t houghts of your mind . You women , wr i te downsomet hing your ne i ghbors know nothing of . And you Gentlemen ,write s omething down your wives know nothing of, if t hat i s pos ­sible . If you don 't want t o use the paper handed you, use yourprogram or your own personal stationery .

Write down your t hought s so as to keep them thoroughly in yourmind . Rememberl I do not collect a thing. You write your quest ionsand keep them in your possesion!

I shall now assist the ushers in passing out the s l ips andalso assist you fo lks i n anyway I can. We will also have theassistance of our talented orchestra."

The orchestra s tarts to play soft music.Dunninger picks up a stack of papers to be used for questions.

Thes e papers are 2t by 3-3/4 inches. White paper . He also carriesabout 50 white envelopes , size 3-3/4 by 7l inches. He rushes up

Staq-e SettGVt.rr : Ordinary hou se drop curtain, red , of asilky-folds t ype .

FURNITUR~I A davenport table on center stage against drop.Upholster seat chair at one end of table.A comfortable fireside chair at other end.~nvelopes . raper , slate, blackboard , chalk

a nd Dunninger 's note pad to be described) sit on table.

eiltt..."a llLce , While orchest ra plays a heavy entrance number ,Dunni nger walks on f rom l ef t wing to center of stage .DR~SS I He is neatly dressed with ~nglish cutaway coat andstripped t rousers, black shoes with spats and carnation bout­tonier. (the above means t hat Dunninger was dressed in sar­torial splendor according to the times. AM)

.J:.el!tu.'lC : "Ladi es and Gentlemen l In presenting my experimentsfor your entertainment t hi s evening, I first of all want to tho­roughly impress upon your minds , that I am not a fortune t el l er,neither am I a mind r eader . I can not tell your past , present orfuture , any more than any other human being can do . That i simpossible .

My work is not at al l supernatural, but purely scientific .I claim that if you wil l think certain thoughts and hold themin your mind , I can tune i n and get them just as a radio setpicks up a broadcasting station. You may l augh and say that i tis imposs ible , but I say to you that fifty years ago the subma­rine was impossible, t he telephone was i mpos s i ble, the r adi o wasimpossible.

Before my act is f i nished I shal l convince you that what Isay is t ruel"

DUNNINGER'S ACT

2

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

3AN AL MANN EJCCLUS IVE

cont.

DUNNIN G'lR ' S Am

r HE ACT

~he l eft aisle giving out ten or more slips at a time t o oneper s on to pass out . He t hen goes around t he back of t he theatreand c omes down the right aisle passing out t he r emaining s l i ps .

T~ STEAL, Dunninger walks up and down t he aisle giving ins ­truct i ons and occassional ly handing out an envelope here and t her e .

Af t er he has handed out about ten or twelve of them he is r eadyto steal the first bunch of que stions, in the following manner.

Taking next env el ope from stack i n righthand , the rest of the stack is placedunder left armpit . The one envelope, whichhad been prepared before t he s how, by break­

m ing the flap so that it extends out, isplaced i n left hand as shown i n Fig. 2 .There are some dummy papers at "A" whiler eal questions are placed at "Btl insidethe envelope under the left t humb.

The operator can tell by feeling whenhe comes to a prepared envelope.

To collect s ome papers , persons are askedto place their questions into the envelope

Fig. 2 but actually Dunninger takes the papersf r om them, writing-side -down , and placesthe papers into the envelope . The pa lm of

the r i ght hand faces up as this is done. About one dozen questionsar e col lected , plac i ng one on t op of t he other . One or t woquest ions are col lected i n one row , then a few rows are skippedand a few more are col lected. The same is done on the other s i deof the aisle . When enough ques t i ons are collected i n one en ­velope~ t he questions are folded once and once again and areheld by pressur e of t he l eft thumb and fingers . Then anotherquestion i s c ollected and placed with the dummies. This t i mehowever , the right hand i s palm down and the real questions arefinger palmed out of t he envelope I And the right hand is placedunder the envelope, giving it perfect cOVer.

Immediately , t he ope rator turns to the other side of the aisleand during this move , the billets are secretly trans ferred f romthe right hand palm to the left hand palm. The right hand thentakes away the envelope and hands it to a person saying, "Pleaseplace your question i n t he envelope and pass it along , so thatot her s can put their questions in it." During this move , theleft hand places the stolen slips into t he left trouser pocket:

Dunninger then goes to the other aisle and repeats the samemaneuv er thereby s teal ing some more questions. The third envelopef r om the bot t om of the s tack is also a prepared envelope. Whent hi s envelope is l oaded and the questions stolen, he passes outthe envelope and also t he other two envel ope S l eft.

He t hen walks back to the stage with hi s hands he l d hi gh in

4

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

cant .HE ACT

DUNNING'!R' S ACT

~he air showing his hands empty so that the audienc e can seethat he has col lected absol utely nothingl

On stage Dunninger picks up his writ i ng note padshown i n Fig . J . This is a large pad measur ingabout 12 by 15 i nches and has sides 4 i ncheshigh , on hinges . I t also has t wo metal springc l i ps that hold down s he et s of writi ng paper.I t is a tray-like gimmi ck covered with blac kc l ot h or paper . The s i des are t o conceal t hereadi ng of bi l let s from the boxes and ge11ery.The s i des f ol d down f or st or i ng .

As Dunninger walks towards foot light s , hehas hi s left hand in trouser poc ket and i shol d i ng the tra y with hi s right hand at Fig . 3" X . U The t ray is hel d s o t hat it cover s t heleft trous er pocket . .

During the pat ter t hat fo llows , Dunninger has time to openand organize t he question papers in his pocket and then palmthem and t ake his hand out unde r cover of the pad and then hetakes the pad with his l eft hand at "y" Fig. 3. hiding the palmedpaper s behind the side f lap .

DUNN INGER SPEAKING . "Now, Ladies and Gent l emen , I want to em­phaSize t he important f act t hat I have collected absolutely no ­thing at al l. You have your questions on your pers on, or t hey ar esealed i n envelopes and s ome one of you down t here are holdi ngthem s ecurely . Please place your envelope or your quest i on underyour f oot."

"I n all other acts of this nature , the qu esti ons are collectedby the s o-calle d mindreader or his ass istants . He hol ds t he que s ­t i ons one at a time, to his he ad and answers t he m. I cl a im t hatthat man i s not a mindreader, but he i s a s l i p r eader! "

"That i s tric kery , my fr iends . My work i s s c i entific, and i tis not necessary f or me t o make us e of t he mul tifarious methodsused by t hese fakers and t ricksters. "

"You yourselves have the questions in your possession , so youkno w that i t would be absolutely impossible for me, or any otherperson in the world , outsi de of yourself to know what has beenwri tten. I have been accused of being so clever that I c ould ac­tual ly get your quest ions away f rom you , r ead their contents ,and s l ip t hem back t o you again without you knowing it. Think ofi t l Another party said that I had an assistant up in t he balconyor gal lery, wi t h a high-powered spy glass , who would read yourquestions while you wer e writing them , and woul d then convey theinformation t o me . Wonderful , is it not?"

"Supp os e it were t rue that I had a s ecret method of f i ndi ngout what you had wri t t en . How would I know the answers? Howcould I t ell the date of your bir th? your t elephone number?Where you live and many other answers . You can at once see t hat

/

•'t.he ans wer is the most marvelous thing ."

"I shall now proceed to get some of your thoughts. II

"Fi rs t of al l , I wi sh to cal l your attention to t his pad.( Fi g . J ) During the cour s e of the experiment I will get impre­s sions , and I wil l have to j ot them down as I r eceive them , For'that reason I use the pad . Then too t- s ome ini tials are hard forme to get so that after a f ew strokes of the pencil I am en­abled to get t hem more clearly. "

?4e 'Read. ': After the abo ve patter , Dunni nger sits in thef i r e s i de chai r , sinking comfo~ably and crossing hi s legs . Heres t s the pad on his lap and raises t he blinds whi ch alone concealt he work of his hands, although the pad is hardly s een from thef r ont . The left hand places the stolen question papers in the' tray ' and al l that is l ef t to do is to read them of f as theyc ome .

While answering the l as t que stion , Dunninger folds up thes t ol en quest ions again i nto quart ers and finger palms them inlef t hand. He gets up from chair and walks towards f ootlightss t i l l answering l ast question. During this move , the right handhas t aken the pad while the left hand returns questions to pocket.Thes e questions can be used as dUmmy questions for the n~xt show !

SAMPL~ QUEST IONI "l s my son in Los Angel es?" signed, Jane MaryAl l I s on. DunningertUIs my son, is my s on? Whose question isthat? Who is it that wants to know about her son? The initialsar e J. M. A. Oh l It is yours lady? Stand up please. Have youever s een me before? " (She says NO! ) "Thank you, and you don'tcar e if you ever see me again , do you? I t hought so . You areinterested is some young man . Is that right? It is. Thank you.Why he is your son, isn't he? I thought so . He is quite a distancefrom here , isn't he? Isn't he in California? " (she says Yes !)"Thanks. Just think of the city he is in and I will try t o getit. Why it is LoS Angeles. I s that r i ght ? Thanks. Your middlename is Mar- -Mar--Mary. Is that cor rect? Thanks. Now think ha rdof your l ast name. It is AI - -Alli - - you have a di f fi cul t nameto get. Concentrate a l i t tle harder please. Ah, it is now clear .It is, Allison . Is that right? Thank you for standing ."

(NOT'l. The serious student would do well to get a taperecording of Dunninger's voice to get the correct s l ant onhis amazing delivery of these answers. AM)

Each question is played up in the above manner . Sometimesthe telephone number is gi ven . At other times it is t he dateof birth , or t he address. Each answe r is built up dramatically.

Dunninger always asks each party to acknowl edge the questionby standing up. Then he says, "Have you ever seen me before?

IlUNNI NG'lR' S JlCT

5

JlN JlL MJlNN EXCLUS IVE

c orrt , • •!1lE ACT

Ar e y ou in col lusion with me in any way?"Somet imes when he asks a pers on if he ha s ever seAn him before,

h e will say, lOT he way you are smi l i ng you s eem proud of i t . " Or ,~he way you smi l e you don' t care i f you ever see me agai n."

6AN AL MANN l;:JlCLUSl VE

cont . . .

JUNIU NG':R ' S ArJr.

When pe rson won't acknowledge questions, Dunni nger s pr i ngsthe fol l owi ng patter.

"Unless you ar e willi ng to stand up and a cknowledge your ques­t ion when I call them out , it will be i mpossible t o c ont i nue t hewor k . My mind is exactly like a radio r eceiving station. I getyour thoughts but can not t ell where t hey come f r om, anymore thana radio r ec eiver can. You hear beutiful music , l ect ur es , etc. ,over t he radio but you do not kno w where i t comes fro m, unt i lt he announcer tells you t he name of the sending station . My wor ki s i dentical. Your minds are t he broadcasting station . You sendout your thought waves. I tune i n and get those t houghts, but Ican not tell wher e t hey come from unless yott~ourselve s acknow­ledge t hem. "

Dunninger answers two s tock questions in balconyl(NOT~ I Since Dunninge r did not go to the balcony t o pass out

s l i ps , et c . , the questions i n the balcony were gotten by a dif -f er ent means l i ke cl i p boards , et c . The answering of the twoquest i ons i n the balcony is indeed a dramatic bit of bus inesswhich adds to the mystery . AM)

" I shall now present my famous Tri -Cycle experiment, wherebyI will no t only tell your thoughts , but wi ll t ransfer t hem to at hird party who will name t he impressions as r ec ei ved . "

Here Dunninger is s tanding on l ef t side of stage -his lefts i de - and looks i nt o the audience and picks out some young manwho looks like he will be perfectly agreeable and r eady to do ast old. A wise guy will not do . Looking at this party, Dunningersays ,

"Will you kindly assist me , s i r , in this mos t wonderful expe­riment . You will? Thank you . I am goi ng t o ask you t o think ofthree digits i n your mi nd , like 136, 384 , etc. You under st and?Thanks . I am going to gi ve you t his bl ackboard (the board i sabout 12 by 18 inches with bla ck borders ) and I want you t o goto t he r ear of t he theatre and write down t he numbers you thoughtof. "

Here Dunninger t akes t he blackboard down into the audienceand hands it to t he young man, t ogether with a pi ece of cha lkand t hen walks up the aisle with hi m. Dunninger ha s hi s arm verya f fe ct i onat el y ar ound t he young man' s shoul der, and while walk­ing up the aisle with him, Dunninger whispers ,

"Have you got t he thre e numbers i n your mind? " Young man says"Yes ! "Then Dunninger asks , "What are they? Tell me what t hey are . to

The young man t ells Dunninger the numbers. Dunninger leavest he young man s tanding in t he aisle , about t wo/ t hi rds back intheat re and facin~ the stage . Dunninger rushes back to stage.Then looking s tra1ght ahead at the young man , he says,

"Have you got t he t hre e numbe r s i n your mind? You have.Thanks . Be sure and keep t hem there and don' t change your mind.Now I am going to ask you to write down the three numbers youthought of on your blackboard but do not let anyone see whatyou have wri t t en . Have you got them? Thanks. Now keep your mindfirmly upon t hem."

Dunninge r wal ks to other side of stage."NOW, Ladies and Gent lemen , I s hal l t ry to convi nce you that

it is pos s i ble to take any person out of t he audience and havehim or he r r ead your minds just as easi ly as I do . "

He now picks out some young l ady who l oaks agreeable alsoand preferably one who i s accompanied by a gent leman friend.Addressing the ge ntleman, he says,

IIMay I borrow t he young l ady for a moment sir? - - in theinterest of science . Thank you sir. Wil l you madam be kind enoughto assist me in this wonderful experiment? Thank you. Will youstand up please . Do you think you can r ead t he mind of the gen­tleman standing way ove r t her e at t he other s i de of the theatreand tell us what di gits he has in hi s mind? You don't th~k so .Well , I'll prove to you that you can. Have you ever seen me be ­fore? No. You seem mighty proud of i t. !1m I in any way in collu­sion with you? No . "

Addressing the young man in the aisle, Dunninger asks,lI Have you ever seen me before, sir? You haven't. Have you

ever seen t hi s young l ady before? Thanks .Addressing the young lady he asks , "Have you ever seen that

young gentleman before? You haven't. "To young man again, "Unders t and , brother, this i s not a form

of introduction! II

To young lady . he says, "I shall now take your hand i n mine,but only in t he interest of science."

Dunni nger holds his r ight hand pal m up and t hen takes thegirl's f ingers of e i ther hand in his fingers , his t humb on t opof her f i ngers . He next places his l ef t hand , palm down on t opof his right hand whi ch covers up his and the gi r l 's fingers andconceals t he actual working of the secret.

Addressing t he young man , Dunninger says, "I am going to askyou t o t hink of the f irst digit of the t hree you secretly chose.Have you got i t? Keep y.our mind on i t."

To t he young lady he says. "I shall now call out t he digitsfrom one to ten , and at each one you will fee l peculiar vibra­tions all through your body, but when I cal l out t he one thegent leman i s thinking of , you will receive an extra strong pul ­sation, and when you do think and r emember t hat particular num­ber and don't let it out of your mind. You unders t and?"

DUNNI NGBR' S !lCT

THE TRI-CYCLE EXPERIMENT

==0$1 •

corrt , •.

7!IN !lL MANN EXCLUS IVE

Now Dunninger slowly and distinctly calls out t he digitsf rom one to nine and at each one he gives just a little pressureon her fingers , by his r i ght thumb and fingers, but when he callsout the correct digit , the first digit the y oung gent l eman i sthinking of, he gives her fingers an extra good squeeze.

NOT~I Dunninger's left side is towards the audience and thegirl i s in front of him and t o his right , so that the movementsof t he r i ght thumb are never seen.

Dunni nger t hen asks the l ady if she r eceived the number ands he calls it out . "Did you feel a s t r onger pulsat ion on some par­ticular digi t? You did! What was i t? Number seven! Is t hat cor­rect Si r? Thanks . "

Dunninger t hen repeats t he same routine to get the other t wodigit s . He t hen thanks t he girl and asks he r to be seated andthen returns to the s tage and asks the young man to bring theblackboard to him. Dunninger takes the black board and showsi t to the audience so t hat they can see the three digits chalkedon by the young man . Dunninger then thanks the young man anddismisses him .

To the audience Dunninger says , "There, my friends is pos ­sitive proof of my Tri -Cycle as serti on . " Then addressing theyoung lady's gent l eman friend, "Fortunat ely , my friend, t )1eyoung lady's power as a mind r eader ceas ed the moment I releasedher hand from mine 9 so that you do not have to worry at all .Go r i ght ahead and think the same as before."

NOTE. The Tri-Cycle test was sometimes done with a birthdate. Dunninger would first transmit the month by calling outt he months of t he year , then the day of t he month and l a st t heyear . Sometimes Dunninger would use a l ength of soft cottonr ope which had a palpi tator plate-l ifter gimmick embedded i nthe core. The rope was about 4 fee t i n l ength and J/4 inchdiameter . The end of the rope that contained the palpitatorbulb was placed i n the girl's hand whi le Dunninger held t he endwi t h t he rubber bal l . The Tri-Cycle test can also be donewi th designs. The ope rator simply cal ls out various designsand then has the girl on stage draw it on a second blackboard .

In t he first part of his show, while Dunninger was passingout slips of paper. he would Whi sper t o various parties to writedown telephone numbers . addresses, date of birth. etc and alsorequested someone t o draw a s imple design. These s l i ps were sto­l en and later used dramatically on stage.

In finishing the Tr i - Cycle test Dunninger would s ometines say."You know it would not do for everybody to be able t o read minds .No Sirl Just think I If that were possible, all you had t o dowhen you saw a beautiful girl going down the street. was to t akeout y our note book and put down her name and address . It s implywouldn 't be right , that 's all . It woul d start a r evolution!

Any child three years old can easily become a mindreaderafter t hirty- f i ve years of training and concentration."

DUNNINGl;;R 'S ACT

THE TRI -CYCLE ElCPERIMENT cont. . .

8

AN AL Ml\ NN l;;](CLUSIVE

Here it is , Gentlemen. Dunninger's 'coup-de-grace,' s o tos peak . The grand ~inale. His closing effect l

This i s probably the best presentation of this effect evermade by anyone .

'71u. "'fICi't.a,cte S-ta.!'e "7C.&t(~t '1!JaJI(.i/l1?- 16 "l)~~e:~ C:lle~t)

• u ' •

(NOTE. The above was Dqnninger~s patter in 1927 . Today weknow that 16 digits can be combined in..over 20 trillion waysl20 ,922 ,789 .888 ,000 combi nat i ons to be exact! Think about thiswhen you play the state lottery. AM)

"l shall now ask f our gent lemen to ass i st me in this experi­ment . .. (Dunninger picks out four gentlemen. two on each sideof aisle and a little separated from each other . who look agree ­abl e and asks them to please stand up. )

"I ask you sir, have you ever seen me before? No ! Have weprear range anything at al l? No ! Thank you . " (this que stions areask of each of the four men .)

To the first man . "Will you please think of four digits? Haveyou got t hem? Thanks. Now keep them firmly in your mind ." (thesame thing is requested of each of the four men . )

9

AN AL MANN EltCLUSI VEDUNNINGER 'S ACT

Dunninger speakingl "I shall no w present for your furtherconsideration a test suggested to me by Mr . Thomas Edison .

He said , 'Mr. Dunninger , if you could read the minds ofyour audience without t hem writing down one single line itwould be marvelous .' So, my friends , it started me thinkingand I have evolved the miracle t est I am about t o present ."

"In t hi s experiment I shall have four persons in t he audienceas sist me. ~ach of them will think of four digits , sixteen ina l l . I will then attempt to read their minds, add t he figuresand give you t he answer ."

"Now you know that even if t he numbers were called out loudi t would be i mpossible t o ment al ly add them. f or the mindlooses them too quickly. And to prove this statement I s hal lcal lout sixteen digits slowly and distinctly and then see howmany of you can r emember them . "

"1543 , 6934 , 6537 , 9254 . How many of you have the total oft hese s ixteen digits ready for me? No one l How many of you canremember 12 of the digits? None. How many can remember 8 of themor even four of them. So you s ee folks , it is most difficultand almost impossible. You would say. gi ve me a piece of paperto write them down on and call them out slower, which would beno m01\e t han reasonable and good common sense ."

"Mat hemat i ci ans claim that with 16 digits , 67 ,000 combinationsare possible, so that my chance for correct ly reading your mindsand correctly arriving at the answer is one in 67 ,000."

10

Force numbers

Chosen numbers

AN AL MANN EXCLUS IVE

.. cant . ..

On t he t able on stage is a blackboard , t he same one used i nthe Tri -Cycle ~xperiment. And next t o it is a trick slate . Letus s ay that for t hi s i llustration t he trick slate is like theone shown i n Fig. 4 . ( In 1927.Dunninger was actually us i ng a slatewit h a l oos e f l ap)

( Fig. 4 shows a slate with a hingedhalf-flap . The slate has horizontallines two inches apart and so has theflap . The f lap is attached t o thesecond line from t he top and i t canbe flipped up or down . When t he flapis Up. it can be l ocked in place .When t he f lap is down , i t only coversthe t wo next spaces bel ow i t and doe s not cover the space wher et he total of t he 16 digits will be wr i tten . The total shows t hes ame whet her t he flap i s up or do wn I For t he pre s entat i on , thef lap i s l ocked in 'up ' pos iti on and the s late is blank, but un­de r the f lap the performer has chalked in f our 4-digit numbersin what appears l i ke different handwri ting.)

DUNNING~R ' S ACT

THE MI RACLE. SLAT'; TEST

Dunni nge r next picks up t he large blackboard (which has t he' f or ce' total written in pencil and can not be seen by th~ audi ­ence) and goes t hr ough the motions of mentally r eadi ng t he mindsof the f our men who have chosen 4 - digit numbers. He reads outloud , ad l i bitum, calling out numbers in pr etence of addi ng andpointing wi th his arm t o the four men and then writing down oneof the f orce di gits , f rom r i ght to l eft as normally done. Occas ­sional ly, Dunninger pret ends to hav.e made an error and he eras esi t and t hen final l y chalks down t he f orce t ot al.

The audience do not see t he numbers written . After Dunningerapparently has f i nished t otali ng t he t hought number s , he placesthe blackboard against a chair with the total away from audi enceand places a cross mark on t he other ai de of the blackboard sot hat ~he audience can s ee it is .never touched or swi tched .

"NOW, folks , I have mentally added t he 16 digits on the gen­tlemen' s minds and have chalked the .ans wer _on t his bla ckboard.Now, i f I were to callout t he ans wer , s ome Qf you may be skep ­tical enough to doubt whet her or not I had been successful. Sot o confi rm my ans wer , I am going to ask each one of t he gent le ­men t o write down the four digits he thought of and then ask afifth par ty to total t hem."

Dunninger t hen t akes t he small (trick) slate , which showsblank and has anyone initial or s ign the back of it saying ,"Please writ e down your i nitials on one side of the slate sothat you wi ll al l be convinced t hat only one side of t he slateis used. Thank you . II

.Dunni nger next hands t he slate (which has the flap locked i nt he 'up ' pos ition) t o the first .gent l eman that is thinking offour digi ts telling him to write his four digits on the top l ine.

•

**In f i nishi ng his performance , Dunninger says , "I have con­vinced you t hat I am able t o read your very thought s . The factthat I was able to answer your questions, tell you you r t elephonenumbers , t he date of your birth , or your address , or what townor s tate your f r iend or relative lives , should be positive evi ­dence that I have succeeded . Some of you may think that my worki s accomplished by tri ckery and I say t o you t hat if it i s, thenit i s even more marvel ous t han if it were scientific. If I havemystif ied you . I am glad but if I have enter t a ined you . t hen Iam amply r epaid for al l my effor ts . I now l eave you t o your Godand t o your be t ter judgements . Good afternoon 1"

To .t he s econd gentleman he says , "Par l ez-v ous francais?Mons ieur . r ' l l .ask you t o wri t e i n French to convince you thatI undersatnd German." He next has t he third and f ourth gentle­man fill in t he i r number s . Taking the slate and holding ithigh in the air. Dunninger walks to the f r ont of t he audienceand as ks f or a young_person who can add, hol di ng the s late closeto his ches t as he secret l y f l ips t he f l ap downwards exposingthe f orce numbers .

A f ifth person is asked to add up t he numbers while Dunningerhol ds on t o the slate keeping t he f lap in place . When the tot al ­i ng i s done, the fifth person is asked to s tand up and announcet o the audience t he tot al . Dunninger then flips the flap up andlocks it so that the sl a te again shows the t rue chosen numbersalthough the total i s _the f orce total . _

Dunninger then takes the s late and again approaches t he fourgent lemen who wrote down t he numbers and says , "1s this t henumber you wrote? " They answer Yes l .an d Dunni nger crosses outthe whol e number wi th chal k . Tha t destroys the incriminatingevi dence I The four gent l emen are thanked and asked to be s eated.

Dunninger then holds .up t he..s l ate s o t hat the spotlight hitsit! s o t hat the .audi ence can see t hat t he s late is ordinary andhe cal ls out t he total again i n a l oud voice. And returns t o t hes tage.

"Ladi es .and Gentlemen , the total of t he 16 di gi t s that" thefour gentlemen t hought of is 25 .547 (or whatever the force totali s ) . If t his total is on t he other s ide of this blackboard ,(pointing t o blackboard) you will have to admit t hat this is oneof the most marvelous tests that you have ever seen and that Iam able to read your very _t hought s without you wri t i ng t hem._atal l , and that I have proven it by reading the minds of t hes efour gentlemen. " .

Dunni nger, dramat ical ly t urns the blackboard around t o theamaz ement and astonishment of his audience and t o subdued applaus e.

The total of the 16 digits i s the same. 25 .5471

(The _last paragraph r epeat s the old f ormula. Tellyou are going to do . Do it. And then tell them what

11

them whatyou didl .AM)

AN AL MANN ~XCLUSIVE

cant. ..

DUNNING1lR ' S ACT

THE MIRACLE SLATE TEST

Fig. 5

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-Dunninger correctly delCribe. the drowing by Otto Soglow, creolor of

''The little Kirtg," mott dllfoble of modern-doy monarch•.

DUNNI NGl!R' S ACT AN AL fMNN EXCLUS IVE

12

The majestic showmanshipof our l at e Mentalis t starJo s eph Dunni nger has todate not be en equaled .

His Valentino persona ­lity, his hypnot ic voi ce ,his Svengali myst icism andmagnet i c charisma make f ora combination that willprobably never be para­lleled.

On stage, Dunningerwas 'perfecti on personi­fiedl I ~very move andevery word and act ion hada meaning . He was beforet he public for a span of70 years plus and duri ngt hat t ime he developed atechnique that was unique ,i t was the Dunninger tech­nique !

I n t he f oto in Fig. 5.we see Dunninger in oneof hi s s t ints on Televis i on in the 1950's . Pleas e note his pose .

He l ooks most natural as he intends to l ook . His arms arecr os s ed and he i s s moking a cigaret te , but for very good r eas ons.As he performs he speaks elegant ly and f lat ter ingly .

Note his oigaret te. He is holding the ~cigarette between hismiddle and t hird f i nger , instead .of between the first and middlefingers . There was a very good r eas on for t hi s .

Dunninger smoke d a cigarett e with the trade mark of "Phamtoml "The trade mark created much t alk i n the pres s, but t o Dunningerhis cigarette was a gimmi ck t hat he l ped him t o r ead minds l

The cigarette was especially manufactured and i t was ext ra-long! ~

If t he r eader tries the pose by pl acing a pencil , like a ciga­r ette , between his middle and t hi r d fingers (or bet ween his t hirdand l i t t le finger) and having the bigger part of the penci l stickout t he palm side while only a short piece sticks out the backof t he hand , and then take a 'draw ' on t he pencil , he wil l dis ­cover t hat he can see plainly into his cuppe d hand ! .

Now i f you place a reducing mir ro r over the cigaret te in yourcuppe d hand, keeping t he .hand closed , no one can see t he mir ror.All the angles are covered! But when you take a 'draw' on t hepencil or cigarette you can s ee behind you by peeking at themirror ! Try to beat that! ~Dunninger in like fas hion coul d r eada message in a palmed bi l let l

'1lote4- :At t he t urn of t he century, magicians discovered t hat t he

16-digit ef fect was a veritable brainbuster that completelybaffled an audience . So magicians devot ed much thought , timeand expence trying t o devise better ways of presenting the test .

Origi nal ly , t he f lap slate was used . The f lap was either add­ed or re~oved t o change t he numbers to the force numbers.

Eventually Dunninger came out with a slate similar to t he oneshown i n Fig. 4. It was simply a s late with a swinging half-flap .

Al Baker improved on i t by havi ng t he flap l ock i n the up po­sition. Then Dr . Harry Dobrin made a f urther improvement. Hemade t he f lap l ock i n ei t her position, up or down!

Next Al Baker and Dunninger put t heir heads together and cameout with a slate t hat had a s l i ding half-flap . The flap s l id tot he opposite end of t he s late , cover i ng t he chosen numbers andexposing the force numbers .

Robert Gysel and Al Baker used a f lap s late where the flapwas disguised as a writing tablet . The flap looked l i ke the sur­face of the slate on one side but when it was dropped it l ookedl ike a writing pad , The back of t he f lap had white paper sheetsglued to it l

Magician James S . Harto who be came famous as Chandra and creat ­ted the 'Chandr a 20th Cent ur y Message Reading,' came out with abetter idea that fooled well ver sed magi cians . He used a slatewith a folding f l ap . The flap fo lded f rom top to bottom, in halfand t hen was disposed on top of some writing pads and the half­flap again resembled a wri t i ng pad as i t had whi t e sheets cement ­ed to i t , but now the wri ting pad was only half the size of theslate surface ! _

There are f ive methods given on how to do t he 16-digit effectin one book alone , "The Magic J6 1" by Wm . S . HOUghton. Anotherhalf dozen can be found in Annemann 's Jinx I

This effect became s o popular , that t o t his day . devises f ors wi tching t he chosen numbers for t he f orce number s , continue tocrop up . We have wall ets, writ i ng pads and t ablets that are gi m­micked for switching . There are a number of mathematical methodsfor performing the test without sWitching the chosen numbers .

"Addithots" by this author is the latest and one of the best .It was published in Master Sl at e Secrets Part I I I . MagicianJerry Fulton of Canada baffled a r oomf ull of mathematicians withit .

Al l the above mentioned slates for switching the chosen numbershave now been superceede d by the AME de s igned "Miracle Slate De­l uxe ." Wi th this slate , t he s witching of t he chosen numbers i smade obsolete . The same numbers chosen by t he audience ar e addedand the total is the pr edicted total. Any member of the audiencecan writ e down the numbers as cal led and then add t heml

DUNNING':R'S ACT

1J

AN AL MANN EXCLUS IVE