The Genii Forum

I recently mentioned the passing of Bob Cassidy and mentioned several long phone conversations I was lucky enough to have with him...we were discussing a trick (feat) I had invented/innovated and was trying to get published in a psychic newsletter he was involved with at the time (I forgot the name). Anyway, he liked the trick and that's why the long phone calls because he was helping me tweak it.

Because it used polaroid pictures, which have gone obsolete by now, it is no longer Do-able, but I want to describe it to you in hopes that someone may be able to figure out how to revive it with new technology (I have one possible method for use with the new tech.

Because of time restraints I will break this up into installments under the topic of Polaroid Princess, which is what Bob called it. So, soon, like next week I'll describe what it was all about. Then I'll tell you my thoughts of how to revive it, and then I'll encourage you all to come up with other new ways to use Polaroid Princess which will need a new name too.

I'm intrigued. I do a lot of routines based upon images myself.

Fuji sells instant cameras in both Japan and the US. They use a Polaroid type of instant film:

https://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-Instax- ... B009ZM9R4O

And Polaroid sells one, too, but it looks like it's made by Fuji:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003B2GTY0/re ... B015JIAD7C

The fuji instant camera is a lot of fun and the prints come out surprisingly well.

Luckily I got more time today, so thanks to the inspiration I'll explain more about Princess. Right from the start I considered the trick to be a thing for a real show with a real audience, because there was some expense for the film packs, plus you need lots of people. The idea was to mingle with the people before the show and have pictures taken of you with various people that you tell will be IN THE SHOW that is coming up.

Next comes my best explanation for some mnemonic work (or you could work up a crib sheet for in the camera case). Anyway, the core idea is that you have a list of visual types of people that correspond to numbers 1-15 (let's say). You should work up your own mnemonic if you really want to use this. I'll give an example. 1-short man with no glasses or facial hair. 2-short woman with no glasses. 3-tall man with no glasses or facial hair. 4-tall woman with no glasses. 5-short man with glasses and no facial hair. 6-short man with glasses and facial hair. 7-short woman with glasses. Etc. You get the idea...linking 'types' with numbers on the list. The list can grow if you can include baldness. You can expand the list if there are children, boys and girls, and with or without glasses. Old people can be another 'type'.

I'm not saying this is easy, but after the taking of the photos and before the show itself you would have time to customize your list and I recommend some way to have a crib sheet somewhere. The reason for having yourself standing next to each person is so you can hand the photos out to the people who participated and you could use a rubber stamp or stickers on the back with your contact info for future shows.

So after this point it is a card trick with a setup, except they are photos not cards. I use the Charlier Shuffle, which Erdnase says is not good, but these days it IS good for mentalists but it must be done casually. Charles Reynolds taught me that it can be done with a small packet - work on it - and that it is most deceptive face up (even with playing cards.)

We're almost there. Do your false shuffles and false cuts. Then as you have one 'taken', you keep a break and ultimately cut to the break casually and glimpse the face "card"(actually photo) during an all around square, just tilt the packet enough to see the bottom photo at a skewed angle. Next you just count ahead one more in your mnemonic list and you know the photo chosen !

To sell it, I guess it would clairvoyance (or is it thought reading. You are reading the thoughts of the person who chose the photo. I guess it would depend on if you had them look at it or not.) I think the clairvoyance angle is stronger. To reveal the person in the photo, you could describe the person and all your prep work has prepared you pretty well for this. Eventually find the person in question.

There you have it. I hope I didn't bore anybody. By the way, I've heard bare outlines of Bob Cassidy's life, and it is very interesting, but mainly I want people to know that my impression is that he was a very nice man when plenty of people in show biz have attitudes. He didn't, at least not with me.

I did use this in shows at one time. All I can say is that after one show people took me out on their yacht but then wanted stock advice ! Well, I had also done Hen Fetch's Mental Epic ! And I bailed out and told them it was just a trick. I was younger then.

This is a good effect, Gregg.

A performer could sell it as remote viewing, which is hot. Even sketch the basic look of the person on a pad and then verbally describe the finer details as the spectator concentrates more and more on the selected photo. Very nice -- this is an up-to-date idea, owing to the resurgence of interest in instant photos.

I think you can also get small Bluetooth printers that can be used with digital cameras and other devices.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics-Portable-Photo-Printers/zgbs/electronics/3109930011

More about Bob. Bob was a great guy, and his books and videos/DVD's were such a boon and still are. He loved to work biker-bars...and I tried that venue for a while myself and see what he meant. Very genuine people, but don't be surprised if they want to see if something went "up your sleeve" that they just grab you and check it out. Hint: Don't do any tricks where something goes up your sleeve ! Avoid gimmicks. Well...more about Bob Cassidy as I think of them. Oh. On the polaroid princess trick, as much as I liked the idea of taking pix of people that would be in the audience...I think now in hindsight that it could be as useful to make up a set of just people of various categories which you can remember the order based on the various hair colors or amounts of hair and facial hair...glasses, no glasses etc. Ages of people. There are many ways to go but this way once you work out your system, you can use your set over and over.

Maybe this thread is locked? I was just trying to say that Bob Cassidy told me a number of times that he believed that REAL ESP happened sometimes during his shows and that he had to be alert for it. I thought he might mean "coincidences" but he told me that real ESP existed sometimes. I thought he was pulling my leg but now I think it is more like if he convinced himself it could happen, that it would make his acting seem more genuine - or maybe he really believed.

Today there are cameras that contain their own printers: https://www.amazon.com/Kodak-PRINTOMATI ... B07BB5FDS2

ESP is real and many people have it. The initials simply mean Extra Sensory Perception and don't necessarily mean spooky business like reading minds or predicting future events. Sherlock Holmes is a good example, using his powers of observation in ways not thought of by those who worried about everyday life and had no time to observe the small events going on around them that could be clues to criminal activity. Holmes was no magician because he always revealed how he discovered the clues and put them together - a real blabber mouth and braggart. If he hadn't done so, people would have considered that he was a mentalist and had ESP.

I have many fond memories of Bob and his love of magic and mentalism. For those who didn't know him: https://www.magicnook.com/forum/bioCDE. ... idy,%20Bob

I have no reason to doubt that ESP is real or that many (perhaps even all) people have it. But that's interesting about Sherlock Holmes - I had never thought in terms of him using ESP in connection with solving the crimes; more that he had extraordinary powers of observation (EPO?), and a brilliant mind for using reason and logic to make deductions based on his observations. I'll have to dust off some of my old volumes and read more with an eye (or third eye) turned towards the ESP aspect.

I think the point was that ESP does not have to mean supernatural, but just 'not of the senses'. However, that does somewhat negate the argument since sight is one of the senses, and powers of observation are just the interpretation of that sense.

It's telling that no one has ever conclusively proven the existence of ESP, despite many years of trying. It's almost as if it doesn't exist...

Oh, please.

Well, I think this is as good a time and place as any to announce that I am to be honored with the "Psychic Entertainer of the Year" award...

...for the year 2029.

... as he gestures hypnotically...

MagicbyAlfred wrote:Well, I think this is as good a time and place as any to announce that I am to be honored with the "Psychic Entertainer of the Year" award...

...for the year 2029.

I knew you would say that

Not going to debate about whether or not ESP is real or not, but I find it odd to use a fictional character as an example of it's existence.

The author of Sherlock Holmes was a fairy and a temporary friend of Houdini.