The Perfect Club Slate Routine

This is an original Annemann effect to which he added a subtlety with colored chalk by Norman Ashworth, a little known medium dodge by Al Baker, and the familiar window envelope to create as perfect a routine as you will find anywhere.

Effect

A prominent spectator is asked to think of some friend of his who has passed on, and to write that person's name on a card which is sealed in an envelope. When this has been done, the performer shows two slates on the four sides of which he writes a jumbled series of letters, which he explains he is passing on into the spirit world so that they may be used for a return message. The slates are now cleaned and another spectator is allowed a free choice of any one of a number of different pieces of colored chalk.

He selects one and initials the two slates, which he holds stacked. The performer then picks up the sealed envelope saying, “Now, for the first time we shall learn the identity of the person of whom our friend has been thinking.” The envelope is torn open and the name is read aloud. When the slates are opened, one bears the name of the first spectator's departed friend... and the name is written in the same color chalk as selected by the second person!