Magic vs. Mentalism

This effect is unusual in theme and makes a neat opening number for a mental routine or act. Effect: The performer states that many have asked him the difference between a mindreader and a magician, and that he will attempt to make the difference clear.

He produces two packs of playing cards in their cases and asks the help of a spectator. The spectator selects one of the decks and places it in his pocket for the time being. Taking the other deck from its case, the performer says that a magician would always fan the cards and have one selected, looked at, replaced, and then after a shuffle would locate the correct card in some mysterious fashion. On the other hand, a mindreader would only fan the cards with the faces towards the spectator and ask him to merely think of one that he liked.

Suiting the action of his words, the performer fans the cards and the spectator thinks of one that he sees. Closing the deck, it is given a shuffle and the performer hands it directly to the spectator. Now the performer states that he has no further control over the cards and that the spectator is to name, for the first time, the card he merely thought of.

This is done and then the spectator is asked to deal the cards, one at a time, on to the performer's hand, face down. As the cards are dealt the performer spells the named card aloud, letter by letter, and when the last letter is reached the spectator is stopped. Once more the performer calls attention to the fact that the card was merely thought of and not selected by removing it or touching it. The spectator holds up the last card, and it is the one thought of!

After this denouement, the performer explains that the effect could only have been accomplished by his reading the spectator's mind, and then putting the correct card in the proper position. But then the performer asks the spectator if he thinks that the performer knew what card he was going to select before the performance started.

The answer is, of course, no! The spectator is now asked to remove from his pocket the deck which he had selected and placed there at the start of the test. He is told to take it from its case and to repeat what he did before - deal the cards, one at a time, as he again spells out the name of his originally selected card. On the last card he is stopped, before he has a chance to look at its face, and is asked,

“If that is your thought of card, will you be a true believer in the powers of mindreading and prophecy?”

This invariably gets a laugh regardless of the answer, and then the last card is shown. Again it is the correct card!

The performer then turns to some other person in the audience, and says,

“Perhaps, Sir, you may have some doubts about the genuineness of this experiment.”

Whatever the reply, the performer says,

“To prove that I definitely foretold what card this gentleman would mentally select, I wrote its name down, sealed it, and put it here in my pocket. Would you kindly take it out and read aloud what card I thought would be chosen.”

He does so, and, of course, the prediction is correct!