"MONEY IN YOUR POCKET"
(Ted Lesley)
"Ladies and gentlemen," begins the Mentalist,
"mind reading is an extremely intuitive process.
So much of what we perceive comes, not from
overt observation, but from subconscious perception.
Let me give an example."
He points to a man seated in the audience and
asks, "Would you please stand for a moment sir?
Have you any idea the exact total of the coins
you carrying? No? Wonderful! Please take you
change from your pocket and quietly count it
now."
As the participant is counting, the performer
pulls a picture postcard from his pocket and
writes something on it, using a ball point pen
which is then put away. "I`ve written a message
on this postcard. Please tell us the value of
the coins in your pocket."
The participant says (for example)"Eighty-seven
cents."
At this point, the performer pauses, looks
down at the postcard and back to the participant.
Handing the card to a nearby member of the audience
to read aloud, the Mentalist, ammost muttering
to himself says, "I can't understand it. I'm
never wrong." The second participant reads aloud
the total on the card, "Ninety-seven cents."
The performer looks at the man, shrugs, and
continues the show. Several times during the
program, the Mentalist will pause, search out
the same man in the audience, look at him and
shrug again.
At the end of the show, during his final bows,
the performer stops the applause and turns to
the first participant to say, " That ten cent
difference has been bothering me all during
this show, and now I think I have solved the
problem. I predicted you would have ninety-seven
cents in coins and you only counted eighty seven
cents. Would you check your coat pockets
please?"
A look of surprise crosses over the man's face
when he reaches into his breast pocket and discovers
a dime (ten-cent coin). "I knew it!" exclaims
the mentalist, "As I said, I am never wrong!"
He bows and exits to renewed applause.
Writing on the flexible postcard guarantees
a semi-legible handwriting, a perfect match
for the swami gimmick. Write everything except
the amount, leaving room for that to be entered
later.
Place the pen behind your ear or clipped in
your coat breast pocket to serve as a visible
reminder that the pen is put away before
the participant reveals the count. Or borrow
a pen (actually writing with the thumb writer)
and return it before the total is said aloud.
The extra dime is easily dropped into the gentleman's
outer breast pocket in passing, or during a
brief pre-show moment.
NOTE:
I use the subterfuge dropping a coin into the
outer breast pocket of a spectator before the
show for other tricks as well. My friend Alan
Shaxon's "CONFABULATION" is one example
only.
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