Kreskin

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Don Hendrix
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Kreskin

Postby Don Hendrix » November 3rd, 2012, 5:42 pm

Kreskin did a three hour show for about 200 people in Tucson last night and killed. He was truly amazing. He is the master of what he does. Very entertaining. Too bad he didn't have a larger audience. If he comes to your town, he is worth seeing.

Raleigh
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Raleigh » November 3rd, 2012, 8:28 pm

Have seen him here in Las Vegas ..... He is great, and friendly as hell too !

jason156
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Re: Kreskin

Postby jason156 » November 4th, 2012, 3:25 am

I saw Kreskin back in 1975, and haven't felt the need to see him again.

Terry_Holley
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Terry_Holley » November 4th, 2012, 2:51 pm

Saw him a year ago in OH. Paid $50 for front row tickets. 10 minutes before showtime there were probably less than 100 people in audience. Announcement was made for everyone to feel free to move up closer to stage! So my friends who paid $15, sat a few rows behind me! Good for them! Great show, and as we know, he did talk for over 30 minutes before he performed his first effect! He was in Dubois, PA last month at a "gated community" restaurant. Planned for 2 shows (3 and 7 PM) with 125 seat limit each show. Tickets $25. I was in area so was hoping to catch 3 PM show but it was cancelled for lack of ticket sales. I had to leave town so could not catch the 7 PM show. All that said, I think he is a tremendous showman! Just not sure his name is out there any more.

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Steve Bryant
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Steve Bryant » November 4th, 2012, 3:03 pm

Haven't seen him since 97, but loved the live show. Back then in a review I wrote:

I quickly realized that I was witnessing a wonderfully delivered comedy monologue. The "name-dropping," along with various jokes about being a mentalist, are simply the subject matter of this very funny routine. Kreskin's comedic persona harkens back to such comics as Jack Benny and George Gobel and Edgar Bergen: he is self-deprecating and gentle. There is no chip-on-the-shoulder or I'm-hipper-than-you attitude, just warm humor. He seems to genuinely like all the people he's met in television. It's a very nice opening.

Later in the review I added, re searching for his check:

A few months back, Kreskin appeared on The Bob and Tom Show, a popular Indianapolis radio spot. A caller deftly turned the tables on this feat by saying, "If you can find me, dude, I'll buy you lunch!"

Funny idea. Kreskin did succeed in finding his check the night I watched.

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Matthew Field
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Matthew Field » November 5th, 2012, 3:31 am

I used to love Kreskin's articles in Magicol.

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Don Hendrix
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Don Hendrix » November 5th, 2012, 7:29 am

If you check his website, you will see that he has steady bookings. He also has an appearance on the Jimmy Falon show the night after the election to open a prediction of the winner, which has been held by Fallon for several months. There are also three copies of the prediction held in three other locations. He should get a lot of publicity from this. How many magicians can do an entertaining three hour show for an audience of 2,000 using only a deck of cards and some billets and envelopes? He entertains by making fun of himself, the audience loves him, and everybody knows his name.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Steve Mills » November 5th, 2012, 10:00 am

I had the opportunity to see him a couple of times in the 70s. Always entertaining. It takes a real showman to hold a large auditorium while doing the Himber Rings. He made it a miracle.

I also recall the MANY appearances on the Mike Douglas Show. He was made for that host and that audience. They loved him.

I'm generally not a fan of tricks where the magician does nothing, but heaps mounds of BS on it to convince the audience he has performed a miracle, but never has a magician gotten more out of a double lift. Kreskin was talking about the hours of working in mastering his invisible move in bring a card to the top. Douglas brought in the slow motion cameras and the whole thing was quite a show.

After his appearance, they built a statue and started a new religion.

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Don Hendrix
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Don Hendrix » November 5th, 2012, 7:17 pm

I remember him demonstrating the "invisible pass" on Carson to bring a card to the top. I am pretty sure that he was using a Svengali deck. He did some very nice card work here on Friday.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby M.Lee » November 6th, 2012, 10:54 am

Legend.... PERIOD !


M i c h a e l L e e
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Tom Gilbert » November 6th, 2012, 11:02 am

I did get to see Kreskin a couple of times in the 70's and then about 5 years ago. He did put on the same high energy show.
Great entertainer. I do remember him doing a couple of Lorayne effects, but I don't remember the invisible pass. Could it have been the bluff pass?

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Jackie Huang » November 6th, 2012, 2:51 pm

Imagine putting Kreskin and Uri Geller in the same room. Who's going to steal the show? :)

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 6th, 2012, 5:19 pm

Uri doesn't do "performances" the way Kreskin does, so it would be apples and oranges, but potentially an interesting mix.
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Richard Hatch » November 6th, 2012, 5:49 pm

Has Kreskin ever been on the cover of GENII? Or any other magic magazine? For a performer of his prominence in the field over the course of so many years, it would seem surprising if he hadn't been, but I don't recall seeing such a feature on him...

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Steve Mills » November 6th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Tom Gilbert wrote:I did get to see Kreskin a couple of times in the 70's and then about 5 years ago. He did put on the same high energy show.
Great entertainer. I do remember him doing a couple of Lorayne effects, but I don't remember the invisible pass. Could it have been the bluff pass?


I only recall the Mike Douglas show. I have no doubt it was a standard double lift with a simple ambitious routine.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Doug Thornton » November 6th, 2012, 8:59 pm

I don't think he's been on the cover of a magic publication. It seems Kreskin would like to keep his magic world separate from his performing world (even though he has performed a magic effect at the top of every show I've seen him in). I've always had Kreskin on my wish list to lecture for our club - even if it was just a Q & A - but a Genii forum member, a smart magician who knows Kreskin well, told me that it would never happen if it was connected to a magic club.
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 6th, 2012, 9:09 pm

Kreskin has been doing card tricks from Harry Lorayne's books for decades. He's also ordered most of my books using a ficticious name. He's been approached repeatedly by every magic periodical for a story but no one has ever gotten him to "yes."
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Steve Bryant » November 6th, 2012, 10:02 pm

Long ago, and even though I didn't do the opportunity justice, he gave a yes to The Little Egypt Gazette. Two items struck me as interesting. One, he had never been to the Magic Castle. And two, in addition to chess, he was into cross country skiing.

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Doug Thornton
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Doug Thornton » November 8th, 2012, 12:30 am

Kreskin is on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon tonight - NBC 12:35 am eastern time - and he'll reveal the prediction he made regarding the presidential election.
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Steve Bryant » November 8th, 2012, 11:37 pm

It was fun and goofy and I loved it. An interesting way to make a 50-50 prediction play.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Terry_Holley » November 11th, 2012, 11:29 pm


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Re: Kreskin

Postby Tom Moore » November 12th, 2012, 4:20 pm

I found that ridiculously, needlessly complicated and incomprehensible - it needed far too much clarification and (as the video shows) physical assistance to actually reveal, with so many holes and possibilities for cheating (that were not disproven) that i struggled to follow it. The multi-layered prediction with all the extra twists and double-meanings could be great in a theatre where there's time to fully explain everything but in a 3min late-night-tv slot it needed to be much more direct and open.

The "twist" with mis-predicting Ryan was cute but again was so buried in exposition and technicality that i think it really lost most of its clout.

I don't doubt this can be PR spun in to some great marketing in the long run but i'm disappointed he didn't try to make it a clearer, cleaner effect in its own right.
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Chris Aguilar » November 12th, 2012, 4:42 pm

I've never been a fan of Kreskin, but thought I'd give the prediction a gander.

Ans wow, it's just awful. Especially the stupid coding in lieu of a clearly written out prediction.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby John Lovick » November 12th, 2012, 9:04 pm

That was one of the worst predicitons or performances of mentalism I've ever seen in my life. Just awful and confusing and convoluted and unconvincing.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby John Lovick » November 12th, 2012, 9:05 pm

Can anyone explain to me what CMA and APL were supposed to mean?

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Don Hendrix
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Don Hendrix » November 13th, 2012, 11:21 am

When I watched the Fallon show, all I could think was, "Who is this person and what has he done with the real Kreskin?" He is so much better than this. Very disappointing.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Terry_Holley » November 14th, 2012, 11:18 pm

The effect was much like "The Diabolical Super Bowl Prediction" that was made available for free by Trickshop.com a few years ago.

THE EFFECT
At the beginning of the game, you announce that youve predicted the winner of the game and youve sealed your prediction inside an envelope. This envelope is now placed in full view for all to
see. At the end of the game, you allow anyone to open it and prove you indeed accurately predicted the winner of the contest everyone just watched.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
We cheat of course! The basic modus operandi is the use of a coded prediction. This principle has been employed successfully in various effects over the decades. Heres the basic idea behind it. When the prediction is removed, its written in a simple code; which after being deciphered reveals the prediction in plain English.

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Re: Kreskin

Postby Jackie Huang » November 15th, 2012, 10:02 am

I don't care how ingenious the method might be. The whole presentation was convoluted, confusing, and worst of all, boring.

Terry_Holley
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Re: Kreskin

Postby Terry_Holley » January 23rd, 2013, 2:22 pm

Two posts above I mentioned a Super Bowl prediction effect made available for free by Trickshop.com a couple years ago. They have done the same this year. You can download it at: http://trickshop.com/shop/predict-the-superbowl


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