The Billet Article - Librarians Page

This article is taken from The Billet Issue - 427 - Oct 2007, Authored by Peter Wright

Librarians Page

Last month I told you about an offer regarding the Abra Magazine. Roy Davenport offered to supply the Circle with copies at wholesale price. Members would buy them at the usual price of £1 an issue from the Circle and the profit would go to Circle funds. This is an excellent way of raising much needed money for lecturers, guests, refreshments, prizes, and a whole host of things that Keith has to supply money for. Please give it some thought and if you like the idea come and see me at the library table.

Someone was asking me what my favourite book in the library was. Well out of the hundreds that we have, all available to you the members remember, I have to say that one of my favourites is ‘Theater of the Mind’ by Barrie Richardson.

This book is packed with excellent practical effects that would be worth a fortune if you bought them from any magic dealer. Just let me quote from inside the front cover some of the effects the book contains.

• Anyone turns to any page in an unprepared telephone book then chooses any number on that page. Nevertheless, the performer shows that he has previously recorded that perfectly random phone number in large figures on a roll of paper.
• The time mysteriously changes on a person’s wristwatch while it is in his possession.
• The audience names any number then any playing card. A cased deck is opened and the chosen card is found at the very number named (Three clean and direct methods are presented in the book).
• A clear glass of liquid is suspended from a spoon by sheer force of mind.
• Someone from the audience chooses any page from an unprepared newspaper; tears it into small squares then freely chooses one. He thinks of a word on that piece and the performer divines it.
• An ordinary napkin becomes animated under the closest scrutiny.
• Members of the audience are taught to divine the serial number on a borrow bank note.

All mouth watering effects, but they are but a few of the many strange and imponderable feats you will find in the dramas crafted here. All in all there are 53 effects contained in the book’s 320 pages.

The thing I really like about Richardson’s material is that it does not require any fancy apparatus. Skimming through the book I see that things you may require to perform the effects are paper bags, thumb tip, balloon, paper cups, etc. Mostly everyday items easily available. The magic is a good mixture of mental and card magic, and while it may not be suitable for the complete beginner, the effects are by no means difficult to master.

The author, Barrie Richardson’s day job is professor and Dean of the Frost School of Business at Centenary College at Shreveport, Los Angeles. Mentalism and magic have been his twin passions for over fifty years. He performs regularly at banquets and professional meetings across the USA and uses magic and mentalism to help him get across difficult concepts to students, making him a very popular lecturer both in the States and here in the UK. He has also produced a CD rom of many of his tricks. This CD rom is now very hard to obtain as it is usually out of stock from suppliers.

In 2005 Barrie wrote what might be described as a sequel to Theatre of the Mind under the title of ‘Act Two’. In my opinion this second book, while full of good material, is not as good as the first. This of course is typical of sequels; all the really good ideas are in the first book.

‘Act Two’ is not currently in the Circle’s library, but if the demand is there to purchase it we will of course add it to the library.

Well that’s about it for another month. We have lots of great things coming up in this autumn so I hope to see you all at the meetings. By the way, before I go please make sure that you have booked and paid for your dinner dance tickets on November 9th. It will be a great evening.

See you next time.

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