THE TELEVISION “MENTALIST” TOUCHES ON MANY TOPICS
The ‘Amazing Kreskin’ (born George Joseph Kresge in 1935), is an American mentalist who was on television in the 1970s. He bills himself as an ‘entertainer,’ and not as a psychic.
He wrote in the ‘Author’s Note’ to this 1973 book, “As a performer, a ‘mentalist’ … I spend several hours daily in concert halls, before college audiences, or in front of TV cameras, exploring the scientific field of parapsychology. To amuse, intrigue, cause wonder, I ‘suggest’ to people that they have been transported to the Arctic. Suddenly they shiver, without the nonsense of a ‘hypnotic trance.’… Through a kind of telepathy, I am often successful at thought perception. I do not claim to know the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of these responses. But apparently I’m in rather truthful company because most reputable parapsychologists admit that beyond theory they do not have the slightest idea of the true nature of extrasensory perception. Nor can they explain the unstable psychic phenomena termed ‘psi’ which supposedly keys ESP.” (Pg. 7)
In the first chapter, he explains, “I am not a ‘psychic.’ I’m not a ‘mind reader,’ because that implies I could totally penetrate the processes of the human brain and receive chains of thoughts. On many occasions I can perceive a single thought or a series of single, simple thoughts if the subject is properly tuned to me… Above all, I’m not a ‘medium.’ I do not give ‘readings’ of any type. I cannot converse with spirits. I don’t and can’t predict the future, and I am not sure that anyone can… I do not subscribe to the occult… Regretfully, I’m not gifted with any supernatural power. Perhaps some of what I do fits into the category of ‘psychic,’ so-called, under certain conditions. But I think that my particular forms of mental communication, as adapted for the stage, are probably hypersensitive or hypernormal rather than extra-sensitive… the communication… has been developed through years of painstaking practice.” (Pg. 17)
He recounts that when young, “I set about going professional… I needed a stage name… From Harry Kellar I took the ‘K’; from the French magician Houdin, the ‘in,’ and added them to the beginning of my family name. Thus the stage name of ‘Kreskin,’ eventually my legal name, came about… There was … the religious issue. I’m a good Catholic, I think, and at the time my ‘hypnosis’ work was at some odds with the Church. There was a controversy within the Church about the controlling of the will of a human being…. I struggled with the question for several years, then reached my own decision: I was not controlling will. ‘Hypnosis’ is not capable of it.” (Pg. 45-46)
He acknowledges, “Any performer is terrified of failure before an audience. Anyone in my field is particularly terrified of it because of the skepticism and constant challenging of the house… The word [‘mentalis’] itself rightfully challenges an audience. The ballpark is the human mind and anyone can play. Occasionally, at the beginning of a program, I can feel the skepticism. Yet, after skepticism is overcome, the audience will go the other way and root for success.” (Pg. 49)
He explains, “Perception of numbers if perhaps the easiest ESP effect to attain because a mathematical logic is inherent; communication is limited to an arrangement of digits. They are comparatively easy to send, require no great thought process for the subject and are therefore less difficult to receive.” (Pg. 56-57)
He reassures, “I cannot, nor do I try to, perceive the thoughts of anyone upon meeting the, nor do I attempt to do it in everyday contact. For many reasons I limit any effort at thought perception to performances. A person’s thoughts should be inviolate unless he wishes to divulge them. More than that, I’m not interested.” (Pg. 70)
He observes, “Some parapsychologists are concerned about the current popularity and even commercialization of ESP… but I think it is generally healthy, reflecting public interest. Such interest may be transformed into support for further research and development. Popular writing… does not necessarily do lasting damage except in the egos of a self-appointed few in academe. Aside from my own show, which is entertainment-demonstration-participation, television has made a few other stabs at ESP.” (Pg. 98)
Later, he adds, “Research in ESP and psi will likely go far beyond the human mind. The theory that we are all part of our environment, daily carrying on an undiscovered relationship with it, is not so far-fetched. Neither is the theory that psychic phenomena are simply a part of the total nature of man.” (Pg. 104)
He notes, “People are suggestible in different settings. A scientist may not be suggestible in an auditorium, but may be very receptive when he is alone, or in close rapport with a single person. An actress, on the other hand, capable of great flights of imagination, can be carried away in the midst of thousands.” (Pg. 130)
He states, “There was a solid basis, I believed, on which to question the ‘sleep trance,’ which has always been the chief manifestation of ‘hypnosis.’ … I decided that if modern science has not been able to understand the phenomenon in more than two hundred years, explain how or why it really works, then it was open to many questions. I’m now convinced that no person under ‘hypnosis’ has ever been asleep unless sent to that nontrance happy state by a lullaby drone of the guide. I am convinced that there is no such thing as a specific state, condition, trance---call it anything with any twist of semantics---that can be considered ‘hypnosis.’” (Pg. 159-160)
He admits, “While I honestly attempt to be charitable about another person’s occult beliefs and am often asked… after a performance, to put blessings on a kinky branch, the only safe reply is, ‘I don’t believe in it.’ Some occultists almost plead for public substantiation, no matter how slim…” (Pg. 179)
Of the purported ‘revealing’ of Harry Houdini’s post-death message to his wife by medium Arthur Ford, he comments, “Bess [Houdini’s wife]… said there was no evidence of any communications with her husband… it became known that the widow had been ill during the period of Ford’s séance. Lucidity became a question. Further, one of the nurses attending Mrs. Houdini was a friend of Arthur Ford’s… Few people seemed to take into account the fact that the code had already appeared in print the previous year… Bess Houdini had written a warm, indulgent biography of her husband, revealing the ten words… Ford had only to read the book entitled ‘Houdini’ to make good his claim of spirit contact.” (Pg. 186-187)
He concludes, “Autobiographies are usually written late in life but I consider what has gone into these pages as a midway account rather than autobiography. Hopefully, I’ll explore and experiment with ESP and suggestibility for a long time to come. There is so much to learn. I think the human mind awaits many new and startling uses. Regretfully, we seldom call upon it to do more than it did yesterday, or a thousand years ago.” (Pg. 213)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone interested in Kreskin.
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