20 How to Get a Standing Ovation The late British author, John Gardner, who was a great spy and thriller novelist, was a good friend of mine. His Boysie Oaks series received worldwide acclaim as did his incredible Herbie Kruger novels. One of those, Confessor, actually is about a spy/magician and features my own personal act in its pages! John was also commissioned by the Ian Fleming family through Glidrose Publications, its official company, to write a series of James Bond continuation novels. He wrote fourteen original Bond novels and two novelizations of Bond films. I was deeply honored that he chose to dedicate the thirteenth installment in the series, Seafire, to me. It reads: To my good friend Richard Oster/ind As much of a Bond fan as I am of his incredible talents Besides his military background, his religious training, and his career as an author, John was also a theatre critic, an actor, and a magician! Few have ever seen or heard him perform mentalism. I have, and he was sensational! As I have already pointed out in these pages, of far more importance than Swami Gimmicks, billet switches and trick blackboards is the development of consummate acting abilities that take the mundane and uninspired plots of mentalism and turn them into incredible fantasies and perfor99 l
Richard Osterlind mances of gold. John had the ability to do that and, to this day, I am envious of his talent. It is all in your state of mind, as I have written about time and time again. You won't learn great acting by studying books or rehearsing your lines. You will learn it by believing in who you are. When what you say is truly real, then you will shine. John taught me one thing that I consider priceless. I would now like to pass it on to you. He told me how to ensure that you will get a standing ovation at the end of your show! It's simple, but profound. Usually, when the show comes to the conclusion, the performer stands in the center of the stage, with his arms outstretched, saying "Thank you;' to the audience. John's advice was not to just hold out your arms as though saying, "Look at me;' but rather to "hug" the audience! Yes, you hug them while thinking, "I love you;' in your head. I have been using this advice since he shared it. John passed in 2007 and he told me this before the end of the century. I can't count how many "standing O's" I have gotten because of this counsel. Again, this is golden. There is one final point to remember, however. Don't use this stratagem like a cheap trick. You would be quite the hypocrite to think this at the end of your show if you hadn't been thinking it all along, just like you would hardly be considered the loving husband if the only time you kissed your wife and said, "I love you;' is when you were heading out the door. You have to love your audience before you start, while you are up on stage, and when you are leaving. Then you truly deserve the standing ovation. If you only think of your audience as something to be conquered, or perhaps a bunch of pushovers to whom you can pull the wool over their eyes, you are hardly on the right track. However, if you think of them as someone you can give a special gift to - the gift of fascination and wonder - now you are somebody. 100
The Professional Mentalist's Field Manual Remember how you felt when you were on the outside looking in? I hope, now that you have been admitted into the secret place, you will maintain that sense of excitement you had that led you to get the key. And now, give back the very thing that drove you to invest so much time, money and energy to learn. 101
CHAPTER 20 WORKSHEET How often do you get a standing ovation? List ways to really "love" your audience. 102
21 On Stooges and Pre-Show Work I f you already know me, you know how I feel about this subject and I'm sorry to have to repeat myself, but this book would not be complete without a discussion of this very important topic. It is especially important these days when, with so many new rising stars writing books and trying to be so different, they often fall back on these maneuvers to accomplish their goals when they can't figure out any other way to do so. And that, to be strikingly blunt and to the point, is the only reason why anyone would use these tactics! Before I go on, let me ask you a question that I really expect an honest answer to. When you were learning the art of mentalism, if you read about some great new effect that you really wanted to do and then found out you needed to approach someone before the show and secretly have them do something to set up the gag, were you a bit disappointed? Be honest. Or, what would happen if you decided to spend your money on a fantastic new effect you saw advertised by an Internet dealer, complete with a striking video demo, only to get it in the mail and find out it depended on using a stooge? How would you feel about that? If stooges and pre-show work are on the same artistic level as other magic secrets, why do dealers always go out of their way to explain their wares are not dependent on those methods? Why is it always a strong selling point to be able to say, "This effect uses no stooges or pre-show work!" Explain that. Before I go further, let me point out that when I use 103
Richard Osterlind the term "pre-show;' I am referring to that type of method where you approach someone ahead of time to secretly set something up the audience knows nothing about and later thinks is a spontaneous reaction by that person. It is not the same as an open effect where the audience knows exactly what has happened ahead of time and where it is a necessary part of the procedure, such as doing a Dunninger Brainbuster routine. An example would be to have a person open a book at home, choose a word, write it down, seal it in an envelope and bring it to the show. Obviously, that can only be done ahead of time and the audience knows what happened. The procedure is part of the effect. A newspaper prediction would fall into the same category. The audience can't be there when you seal up your prediction, but knows what was done and accepts the fact it was out of your reach until it is opened on stage. On the other end of the scale would be an effect where you walk up to a spectator before a show, have them write down a name (Impression device), and keep the paper. Then, you later call them up on stage and ask them to think of a name which you divulge. The audience does not know he wrote it down ahead of time and thinks everything is happening on the spot. That is the kind of effect I hate! It is cheap! Again, the only reason someone would use these methods is because they cannot come up with a more clever way to achieve the result! If they could, why would they bother with all the trouble of setting up a stooge or doing the pre-show work? This book is based on pragmatic thinking. So, even though I already have strong feelings about this matter, I am going to attack the problem from a purely business perspective. Let's talk about stooges first. If you are hired to perform at a real show, and I am talking about an agent calling you and telling you to fly to St. Louis and do a one-hour show for the XYZ Company, 104
The Professional Mentalist's Field Manual you are not going to know anyone there. That means if you are going to use some sort of stooge, you are going to have to approach a stranger and convince them to help you out. I can't even fathom how I would do that! I wouldn't know these people so how would I even begin to charm someone into helping me? It's a preposterous thought. Let's take it further and assume that somehow I did get someone to stooge for me. Do you really think that after the show, when asked, the stooge wouldn't give me up? Why in the world would anyone keep my secret? Their allegiance is to their friends and co-workers, not to me! Let's take it still further. What would a meeting planner or company CEO, who is paying me thousands of dollars, do when they found out my method was to get someone to pretend I was reading their mind? Are you kidding? They probably wouldn't even pay me! They would feel totally cheated. Don't try to say that all mentalism secrets are the same as this. Using stooges is totally different. It is cheating by anyone's standards. Anyone could do it. Even if an audience suspects you are using some type of tricks in your show, they would never think you would stoop that low. It is totally crossing the line and is unforgivable. The use of stooges is like a virus. Once you have it, you can't get rid of it. If you do a whole show and only use a stooge one time, the entire performance is infected. I know when I watch a TV mentalism show, if I see a stooge was used (and that, unfortunately, is too often the case), I turn off the show. There is no point in watching further because if I see another miracle, I will just assume it is a stooge. Nothing else matters and I will be very happy never to see that guy again, thank you. I hope you never even consider using a stooge. Now let's move on to pre-show work. Many of the same arguments apply here. Again, how do you approach someone ahead of time to set them up? I know of one guy who advised catching people on the way back from the re105
Richard Osterlind stroom. Think about that for a moment. What would you do if someone did that to you? I think the first thing I would say when I got back to my friends at my table would be, "This weird guy came up to me when I was coming out of the john and asked me to write my grandmother's name on a clipboard!" OK, let's say I am being overly critical and you do have a way to approach someone ahead of time without raising feelings of resentment. Maybe you say, "Let's try an experiment for later in the show. Write down your grandmother's name on this paper. Don't let me see it. Fold it and put it in your pocket. Concentrate on it during dinner and I will see if I can pick up your thought:' So you get away with it. The person comes on stage, you tell them to concentrate, and then reveal the name. The audience applauds and everyone thinks you are wonderful. So now, the next morning at breakfast, someone says, "John, that mentalist was great last night. I can't believe he knew your grandmother's name!" John says, "I know. I'm sure he didn't see me write it down:' "What? You wrote it down? When?" "Before the show. He came up to me and asked me to write her name down on a clipboard." ''Are you kidding? I didn't know that. He must have done something:' I am being generous with this hypothetical conversation. More than likely, it would include words like "cheating" or "fraud"! Regardless of how writers try to convey their clever methods of covering pre-show work and ways to finesse the process to hide it, the bottom line is that if the audience finds out later that anything, and I repeat anything, happened that they were not aware of, then you must have cheated. Why else would you have kept it hidden? It doesn't matter how well something plays on stage to 106
The Professional Mentalist's Field Manual make your show look spectacular if it destroys your reputation afterwards. This is the difference between professional thinking and the hobbyist or the author who doesn't really perform and just wants to sell a book. See, a professional has a lot more on his mind than the current show. His living depends on being rebooked by clients and satisfying meeting planners and booking agents. If a client is dissatisfied in any way, he does't work for them again. The same can be said for instant stooge and many dual reality effects. All the cleverness in the world during the show won't cover you when the volunteer later tells everyone, "Oh, I didn't just come up with that word. It was already written on the paper. I thought I was responding to his question about the ESP card!" Busted! Even if everyone doesn't hear him personally say that, it still is disastrous. Actually, it is even worse. Others who heard about it will say things like;'Yeah, we found out after the show the guy was just doing tricks by telling the people to say those things:' How horrible does that sound? With the thousands of effects available to you that will allow you to walk up on stage anywhere and anytime and do stunning material alone and without any outside help or setups, why would you even consider this type of work? 107
CHAPTER 21 WORKSHEET Think of tricks using pre-show or stooges. List alternative ways to accomplish the same things. 108
22 You Have To Be Pragmatic prag•matoic [prag-'mat-ik] - adjective 1. dealing with the problems that exist in a specific situation in a reasonable and logical way instead of depending on ideas and theories. When I think back, I spent my whole life performing for money in one way or another. I joined my elementary school band when I was in the fourth grade. I played my first paying date at 14 years old with a very bad rock band. It was all instrumental - guitars, bass and drums - and we played music that sounded sort oflike The Ventures. The next band I played with was a real one. I joined the Connecticut Troubadours, an old-fashioned country and western band when I was 15. The other members were all in their 30s and we played in local bars every weekend. Back then, you could get away with that even though I wasn't even old enough to buy cigarettes, let alone liquor. I was with them for a couple years and only quit when I graduated from high school. I was a music major in college and that brought me new friends who were great musicians. The band we formed was called The Marquis. It was a rock/pop band and we got enough work to pay our tuitions and expenses through college. We played weddings, the Catskill Mountains, local rock clubs and nightclubs. We often played six nights a week for six hours a night. Except for the occasional bar fight, and there were some wild ones, it was a great life. By 109
Richard Osterlind my senior year, we were each making about $250 a gig, which was big money in 1970. After graduating I, along with another member from The Marquis, formed a new band called Merlin. It was a great band! By now, we were very money-conscious. We were married and needed real cash so we made sure we only did dates that paid really well. That meant a lot of weddings and dances, but we also became the house band for a number of clubs, one of which later became New Haven's famous Toad's Place. The band also wrote original songs. We recorded in local studios, but moved on to famous ones like Bearsville and others that charged hundreds of dollars an hour. It became so expensive, we decided it would be cheaper to build our own studio, so we did. Shortly after it was finished, we discovered the world of original music for radio and television commercials. We stopped playing live gigs and followed that pursuit. I had always loved magic and performed whenever I could in between the music gigs. Actually, the band Merlin featured my magic in between sets and was the reason for the name. By the time we started recording exclusively, I was already working quite a few magic shows, including the gig at the Farmington Marriott. When I eventually broke into mentalism and hypnotism, my work at the time was for small businesses, high schools, colleges, nightclubs and even stag parties. My fees were getting higher and I was working three to five shows a week. Things were going well. Then, my friend, Peter London, recommended me to a high-end entertainment agency. They sent me out to do some serious corporate work. After a number of very successful shows, they asked me to sign with them exclusively. Mentalism was new to them and they saw a lot of potential. I took their offer and my life changed overnight. Suddenly, I was flying around the country and even internationally llO
The Professional Mentalist's Field Manual to shows in exotic locations such as Monte Carlo and Beijing. My pay schedule went up accordingly and my career headed in a new direction. I quit the studio altogether and mentalism became my sole livelihood. See, I never had to make a jump into being a professional performer. In a way, I always was one. I never looked on it as a badge of honor, but one of necessity. My family wasn't wealthy and I had to work to get by, to pay for my own car, pay for schooling, and later, to support my own family. This lifestyle taught me to be very pragmatic. You can't live on pipe dreams in the real world. You have to do what works. Back in the day, if we were playing a rock club, we dressed like rockers, acted like rockers, and played loud. If it were a wedding gig, however, we wore tuxedos and played music that was appropriate for that venue at the right volume level. Even though we wrote original material, we didn't play those songs at gigs. As proud as we were of them, we knew the people wanted to hear music they already knew and wanted to dance to. Likewise, with mentalism, I quickly learned how to deal with people in the business world in order to give them what they expected. I learned to look the part and put reliable material in my act which they liked and wanted me to repeat. I learned how much to say and what to not say, what liberties I could take, and where to draw the line. Many performers plan out their careers in the privacy of their home by studying the art, practicing endless hours, and then trying to design a show that will make them famous. Often, however, they have no idea where they are going with all this. They don't know what venues they will work in, what the conditions will be like, or even how they should look for the part. You really have to use common sense at every stage of your professional career. If you think you might want to do corporate shows like I do, your appearance has to fit the 111
Richard Osterlind bill. That means really considering personal choices such as visible tattoos, gauged ears, colored or lacquered fingernails, etc. I am not trying to tell you how to look, but trust me, some things won't work in the corporate market. You might think we live in a different world today that is more accepting, but visit any Wall Street office and you will see that things are still very conservative. To these people, appearance and dress is almost as important as ability! If you step out on stage and the audience starts laughing at you, you've made the wrong choices. It could even be because you elected to wear a casual shirt under your coat instead of a dress shirt and tie. A certain look may be fine for comedy clubs or working at bars, but you have to determine if that is what you want to do the rest of your life. Should you ever decide you might need to move up to better-paying shows, maybe to buy diapers for your new baby, make sure you haven't ruined your chances because of some type of permanent body art. Yes, there are some big stars in our business that have an unconventional or unusual appearance. Before you decide on going that route, you would really do well to research them and visit their websites to see where and who they perform for. Some of these entertainers only work at magic conventions or are the regulars on TV magic shows here and in other countries. It's good work for them and they are very successful, but you can't expect to just walk into that world. Competition is fierce and no one is going to help you to take away their work! If you want to perform you will almost certainly have to do more common shows. Where your career takes you is an open book, but you don't want to close any doors because you decided to become some kind of character. Be careful of your Internet life, also! Let me tell you that I have a lot of Facebook friends and I read as many posts as I can. I don't treat that social network as an advertising tool, but rather as a place to keep in touch with friends. IfI get on 112
The Professional Mentalist's Field Manual there and see someone I am friends with use foul language or talking in a crude way, I immediately "unfriend" them. It is not that I feel I am so highly moral. It is because it tells me immediately that they are not professional! You can't deal with the general public having that kind of attitude. Additionally, imagine what some important client who got your name for a possible show would think who happens upon your Facebook or Twitter page and sees you ranting and raving. Kiss the show goodbye. Understand that much of what is sold by dealers or touted as the newest and greatest idea might just have been produced to make money. You have to do your homework to see what kind of material real workers, who are working the kind of venues you want to work in, ~re doing. You will find that almost all are doing their own variations of standard material. Even those mentalists who have had TV specials that feature routines specially produced for the show (ones that are usually dependent on a lot of editing and special effects) revert back to classic material at live shows. The general rule of thumb is, if you think something might be chancy, don't do it! That goes for what effects you do, the way you dress, what you say or how you present yourself. There is a reason the norm is the norm. You can still be unique, exciting, and dynamic while staying inside the borders of accepted behavior. 113
CHAPTER 22 WORKSHEET List ways in which you can be more pragmatic in your approach to mentalism 114