Bob Cassidy - Dreams and Devices.pdf - Ultimate Magic eBooks Collection - jimmybt

Dreams and Devices

An e-book by Bob Cassidy

Contents

The Dream

Opening Script

The Checkbook

The Modified Swami Envelope

A Cigar for Otis

And if he left off dreaming of you . . .

-Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Judah meets Big Red

The Dream

"The Dream" is a routine that is best performed before smaller audiences or in an impromptu

setting. The key principles, though, have great utilitarian value and should find use in many of

your presentations.

The basic idea evolved from an old card routine by Stewart Judah. [Don't go away yet- the

finished routine can hardly be considered a "card trick".] It was the type of effect that has fallen

out of fashion lately due to the amount of dealing and counting involved. It struck me, though,

that the dealing was acceptable if the effect was presented as a type of card game. But while the

card game presentation was natural and deceptive, it was hardly earth shaking and still seemed a

little too much like a card trick to be useful in a mental presentation. I put the idea on the back

burner and it remained there for about twenty years.

Recently, though, I was working on a "dream" presentation. It was a prediction routine in which

I wanted to overcome the weak spot in "Confabulation” and "Swami" type effects - effects in

which the performer secretly fills in the blanks on a pre-written prediction which is later

removed from a sealed envelope. The weakness lies in the fact that the envelope does not leave

the performer's hand or pocket until AFTER the last selection is made by the audience.

I realized, as have many others over the years, that this problem could be eliminated by simply

forcing the last item, thus enabling the performer to drop the envelope onto a table before the

final selection (s) is made. The problem then, of course, is finding a suitable force. That's what I

was working on when I remembered the Judah idea.

As the routine developed, I came up with what I believe to be an original handling of the secret

writing phase, as well as an extremely clean way of loading an envelope, which has been on

plain view throughout the presentation. I am very pleased at the reactions I have received from

the finished routine and I think you will be, too.

Here is the lead in I use to present the effect:

Opening Script

“It's been said that our dreams sometimes contain clues about the future. Normally, I don't

remember my dreams. But when I have the same dream several nights in a row, I know that

my subconscious mind is trying to tell me something. For the past few nights, I've had just

such a dream. I wrote down some of the details, but I had no idea what they could mean.

“Until tonight.

“In the dream I am sitting at a card table in a casino. Other than the dealer, there is only one

other player in the game. She is a blond woman with eyeglasses and is wearing a green

sweater. She has a gold chain around her neck and on it is a pendant inscribed with a sign of

the Zodiac. She asks me to write out a check so she can bet on one last round of a game called

"Big Red." I'm surprised that a stranger would ask me to write her a check.

" ‘Who are you?’ I ask.

“She says, ‘I can't tell you yet, but you can call me by whatever name you like.’

“I ask her what name she would like and she tells me. For some reason unknown to me, I

write out a check to a complete stranger who has given me a phony name and give it to the

dealer. That's when I know I am in a dream - there's no casino anywhere in the world that

would accept a check from me.

“There were a lot of other details in the dream and, as I said, I wrote them down and sealed

them in an envelope which I have right here in my checkbook. (The performer removes his

checkbook from his inside jacket pocket. From it, he extracts a small manila envelope. It is

sealed with a round white sticker across the flap. He places the envelope in his outside breast

pocket and leaves it protruding. It remains there, in full view, throughout the routine.)

“ I'm glad I did, because just a little while ago I recognized two of you as the woman and the

dealer.

At this point, the performer looks at a woman spectator who just happens to be a blonde in a

green sweater wearing eyeglasses. [You will, of course, change the presentation as necessary to

describe someone who is actually present in the group.]

“You look just like the woman, but in my dream she was wearing a necklace with her Zodiac

sign. I see you are not wearing one, but if you were what would the sign be?”

She says it is Pisces, for example, and the mentalist asks for her name. (If he does not know it

already.)

“But in my dream, you will recall that she didn’t give me her real name. Why don’t we act this

out? Pretend that we are sitting next to me at a card table in a Casino. Better yet, why don’t

you come over here and really at the table?”

When the participant has seated herself, the performer says, ”Now imagine you are the woman

in my dream and I’ve just asked you your name. What false name do you want to give me?”

She answers, say, “Alicia.”

“Before I go any further,” continues the mentalist, “ I’d better explain to you how to play “Big

Red.” It’s really very simple. The dealer shuffles the deck and you cut it. He then deals two

cards to you; face up – just like in Blackjack. But in “Big Red”, all you want to get are two red

cards. If you get two red cards, you win. If you get two blacks the dealer wins and you lose.

If you get one red and one black, it is a draw and nobody wins.

“If you have any questions, just ask the dealer. You haven’t met him yet, have you? It’s this

gentleman over here.”

The performer tells a gentleman in the group that he looks exactly like the dealer who was in the

dream. He asks him if he understood the rules to the game, and if not, quickly explains them

again. He asks the “dealer” to stand at the table, across from the “woman of my dreams.”

On the table is a pack of playing cards, and the performer tells the dealer to remove the cards

from the box, spread them out face up across the table, and finally to scoop them up and shuffle

them.

“Just like the dealers you’ve seen in casinos do.” (If the volunteer is clumsy with the cards, you

can exploit the situation and ask him how long he’s been working here or where he went to

dealers’ school. It doesn’t really matter how he shuffles or handles the cards because there is no

trickery involved at this point in the procedure and the deck of cards is ordinary in every respect.

(Well, almost ordinary.)

While the dealer is showing and mixing the cards, he performer reminds the woman that in the

dream the woman asked him to write a check so she could made a bet. He takes out his

checkbook as he asks her how much she wants to bet.

“Just keep it under a thousand dollars and remember that you must bet an even dollar

amount. By that, I mean that you can bet two hundred dollars or you can bet six hundred and

fifty dollars. Or you can bet any dollar amount you like. But you can’t bet three hundred

dollars and fifteen cents. Now how much do you want - try to make it unusual.

Let’s say that she decides on $750.00. The performer makes out a check for that amount,

removes it from the checkbook and places it on the table in front of the dealer.

“As I told you before, the dealer shuffled the cards and then put them in front of you for a cut.

Go ahead and cut the cards. (The performer prompts the dealer as necessary throughout the

routine)

“Remember, if you get two red cards you win and if you get two black cards you lose. Now in

a game of ‘Big Red’ the dealer will keep dealing you two card hands until all of the cards have

been dealt. That’s why you are allowed to bet any amount you like, the more the better. If you

win, just keep the cards and put them in a pile to your right. If you lose, the dealer will put the

cards in a pile to his right. If it is a draw – one red card and one black, the dealer will put the

cards in a separate pile way off to the side.

Bob Cassidy - Dreams and Devices.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: