Who Was Ford Kross?
With the speed the world around us changes, it is increasingly possible that you may not have heard of Ford Kross, or that you may not be familiar with his writings or reputation. That's entirely fair, since Ford was an integral part of the mentalism community of the relatively-distant past. As a mentalist, reader, and bizarrist, Ford's influence on the mentalism community of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s loomed large.
He belonged to (and helped form) some of the most prestigious and exclusive groups of the day, including The Legendary Thirteen, The Edison Group, and the Psychic Entertainers Association, and included in his circle of friends people like Bob Cassidy, Marc Salem, Ted Karmilovich and Carl (Brother Shadow) Herron.
As the saying goes, Ford did not suffer fools gladly, and that quality extended to his writings -- if he thought you were a mere dabbler in mentalism, he would refuse to sell some of his books to you, feeling that his material was to be kept from all but the professional performer. Even when he deemed you worthy, the price of his material was steep -- if memory serves, he would charge $250 for a copy of his book, Suggestive Mentalism.
And as much as my Scottish DNA objects, I would argue that professional material -- whether it be a joke for a stand-up comic or an original song for a performing musician -- is often worth every penny spent... if you use it. Ford himself was fond of saying, "the most expensive effects are the ones you never do", so in a way, his gatekeeping policies were actually protecting amateurs from wasting their money on material they weren't ready for, or wouldn't be able to use.
Toward the end of his life, Ford continued to maintain his restrictive philosophy, but also worried that his legacy would soon be forgotten, and asked Millard Longman -- one of his closest friends -- to make sure that Ford Kross material was made available after he was gone. Fast forward 12 years from Ford's passing, and I must admit that I was skeptical when Millard first approached me to publish Ford's writings. On a personal level, Ford and I never formed much in the way of rapport, and his flavor of psychic entertainment didn't suit me when I read some of his material a couple decades ago. But having great respect for Millard and his judgement, I took a look at what he sent to me, and discovered that 20/20 hindsight is sometimes an instructive thing.
What's In The Ford Kross Anthology?
With Millard's help and countless hours of research, we put together what is the most comprehensive collection of Ford Kross writings, including...
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Suggestive Mentalism
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It Ain't Body Building
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Suggestive Mentalism: A Continuation
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Kross on PSI Parties
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Out of the Deep Freeze
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From the Back of the Deep Freeze
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The MAGICK of Ford Kross
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Suggestive Mentalism was Ford's flagship publication, and is a prop-less act in which the performer comes out and immediately reads the minds of one or two members of the audience. He explains that anyone can read minds, and that it depends on various scientific principles involving imagination and alteration of consciousness. The performer demonstrates various exercises in imagination, and then projects various thoughts to the audience with surprisingly good results. Taking the experiment a step further, the performer calls one or two individual members of the audience to the stage and proceeds to not only control their physical responses and actions, but reads their minds as well.
It Ain't Body Building is subtitled "Suggestive Mentalism, Part II", and for good reason -- Ford shares his experience with pendulums and contact mind reading, two elements that he featured in his Suggestive Mentalism act, complete with routine suggestions and Ford's own scripts. If you've ever wanted to add this type of material to your repertoire, this is an excellent place to start.
For Suggestive Mentalism: A Continuation, Ford goes over a number of his ideas and techniques that can be incorporated into the Suggestive Mentalism act, including more insights on pendulum work and suggestibility demonstrations.
Kross on PSI Parties is exactly what the title suggests, and includes Ford's philosophy on persona, party premise, routines to feature at PSI parties you present, readings, and marketing.
Out of the Deep Freeze is Ford's treatise on cold reading in which he discusses the proper atmosphere for cold reading, analyzes the psychology behind several standard lines, and shares his closely-guarded technique, "The Talking Tarot", which he used to discern a client's question.
In From the Back of the Deep Freeze, Ford shares his favorite two ways to divine what a client's question is, his thoughts on The Michener Effect, two routines he used frequently, and his approach to answering tricky questions that often come up in a reading.
In addition to Ford's own writings, we've included a Foreword by Millard Longman, a biography of Ford, a collection of Ford's wit and wisdom gleaned from his blog and forum postings, and in The MAGICK of Ford Kross you will find four articles based on contributions Ford made to Bascom Jones' publication, MAGICK.
As previously mentioned, Ford assumed that anyone reading one of his books was a professional performer and well-versed in the techniques and practices of his day. Since some of his references deal with ideas and sources that have been forgotten with the passage of time, we've added a number of appendices designed to fill any gaps in the contemporary mentalist's understanding, including an excellent Al Mann billet technique, an Ormond McGill hypnosis routine, and Millard Longman's "Secrets of the Pendulum."
The Mindprobe Bonuses
In 1976, Ford began a seven-year stint as the host for a cable access television show produced in New Jersey called “Mindprobe" (not to be confused with "Mind Probe", the show hosted for 15 years in Kansas City by Dr. Charles “Cicardi” Scott), presenting a line-up of guests that included mentalists, psychics, and healers. As valuable as Ford's writings within the Ford Kross Anthology are, it's possible that the greatest value in this package actually lies in the eight bonus videos we've included of Ford's TV show from the 1979 season, since you get to see Ford and other professionals doing what they do best.
Of special interest for the psychic entertainer are segments in which Ford performs Stanley Jaks' version of The Haunted Key, psycho-kinesis with nails and safety pins, a dollar bill divination, a Samhain ritual, two different book tests, psychometry, clairvoyance and, perhaps most importantly, aspects of his Suggestive Mentalism. In addition, you'll see the legendary Bob Cassidy perform his classic Russian Roulette routine, Marc Sky doing his Uri Geller-inspired psycho-kinesis, and Herb Arno presenting thought experiments with cards.
While watching the shows included in this package, bear in mind that these videos are fairly representative of both the technology available in 1979 and the production values of many public access television studios. The perceptive viewer will need to overlook the editing, camera work, audio quality and minimal set design in order to benefit from the material demonstrated in these videos. Ignore these negatives, and you have a virtual blueprint and/or source of ideas for your own television or web channel series. Remember, Ford was working with a limited budget and 1979 technology... imagine what you could do with the resources available today.
Caveat Emptor
First, the good news: you will not need to convince a highly-discerning Ford Kross that you are ready for the material contained in the Ford Kross Anthology.
"Great," you may say, "What's the bad news?"
Well, it's not exactly bad news, but the simple truth is that Ford's material -- much like Ford himself -- isn't for everyone. Ford refused to spoon-feed his readers, expecting them to be professionals like himself. As a result, he sometimes skipped explaining things in a step-by-step way, writing instead as if he was at a late-night chat session with members of his inner circle.
We certainly understand Ford's approach could be frustrating for some, which is why we've included the appendices that go into depth on some of the topics Ford skimmed over. Nonetheless, the fact remains... for some (maybe you), Ford and his writings could be an acquired taste. But, like a finely-aged single malt, you may find that it's worth the effort to get past any initial reaction you may have -- there is a LOT of good information in this anthology.
And whether you have an affinity for Ford Kross or not, the bottom line is this -- he was a force in the mentalism community to be reckoned with, and he left behind a legacy that deserves to be preserved for future generations.
