Tel. 304-947-7730P.O. Box 155Great Cacapon, WV 25422

The AME MAJORARCANA SERIES

XXII

This is the last manuscript of the AMEThe series contains 22 manuscrips that hasyears to write. This is mns. number XXII.

COPYRIGHT BYAL MANN EXCLUSIVES

1995

Major Arcana series.taken close to ten

This last mns. introduces The OOS Writer. This is a newsecret weapon for the Miracle Worker. Plus a good one dozen waysfor getting one-ahead. These are the secrets of "the leadingMentalists including Houdini.

THE A"E ESTATE AT

RIVJ:R RIDeE, W.VA.

Tel. 304-947·7730P.O. Box 155Great Cacapon, WV 25422

COPYRIGHT BYAL MANN EXCLUSIVES

1995 The AME Major Arcana Series XXII

THE OOS WRITER! The very name of this secrettool infers mystery and arcane power.

The OOS writer is worn betwenOf Sight, OOS. The OOS WRITER isor the boon writers. BUT it isquick miracles.

1

the fingeers so that it is Outnot meant to replace the swami

a very special tool for some

The OOS writer is shown in Fig. 1. A is theside view and B the topview. It is one inch longby 3/l6th inch wide and is worn on the inside ofthe first finger of your writing hand, Fig. 2, andis attached to it by handi-tack glue or yourfavorite stickum as used with the Boon writer. Thelead of the writer should be located next to thethird joint of the first finger. The gimmick isnarrow enough to be covered by the first finger.

•A

•B

Fig. 1

The reader may ask, "Why not use aBoon writer in the same fashion? Thefact is that the average magician'sfirst finger is not big enough tohide a boon writer.

Please note Fig. 3 , which is anexact foto-copy of the right hand asit holds an index card. The OOSWRITER has just finished writing thethree-digit number as a predictionas called by the audience. The OOSWRITER is in place but OUT-OF-SIGHT.NO! it is not hidding behind thethumb.

---e:-*Fig. 2

Fig. 4

can not beor from the

The wisecan stareall they

THE OOS WRITERseen from the frontback of the hand.ones in the audienceat your finger-tipswant and see nothing.

In fact the thumb can beraised to show the ball of thethumb devoid of gimmicks. Inthe actual performance thethumb is raised so as not tohide the writing on the cardfrom the audience (Fig. 4). Thehand can be be waved all aroundso that all can see thenumbers.

The OOS writer is not sold in magic shops so you will have tomake your own. As you will see the OOS writer is quite easy tomake. The tiny gimmick is shown in Fig. 1, as it lays on thetable. It shows a Listo crayon lead attached to it. It isrecommended that several types of OOS writers should be made.Red and black Listo crayon leads and red and black solid pencilleads.

2

To make the gimmicks you will need:

1. Some #3 trombone paper clips which are one inch long.

2. Apoxsy glue or any good cement.

3. Red and black pencil leads, both crayon and solid.

4. Some index cards or white business cards.

5. Flesh-color paint (optional).

You probably have all of the above in your office.

The clips: To make the gimmick a bit narrowerI snip off a piece of the trombone clip it asshown in Fig. 5 B. Fig. 5A shows the whole cl ip.In fact you can snip off any part of the clip asneeded. The clip gives the gimmick body andstrength.

Next I take a piece of lead and stick it intothe loop of the clip as shown in Fig. 6. I usesome lead from a Jet Black Ebony pencil.

( 2)A

(--;;;;> )

BFig. 5

Fig. 6

This lead is extra thick and fits well into the loop of theclip. Then the clip is cemented to the index card with the leadpointing upwards, and cement is placed over the entire clip andaround the lead. Allow this to dry and then place more glue onthe exposed clip and cover it with a piece of index card. Afteryou trim off the excess card and paint the gimmick flesh color,and place a bit of stickum glue on its back, the gimmick is ready.

NOTE: If the reader is handy with tools he can cement asmall piece of brass tubing into the loop of the clip. Thatshould make it easier in inserting new leads. BUT I have foundout by experience that the epoxy glue holds the lead firmly inplace and it takes many shows to wear it out. I have had oneswami gimmick for over twenty years and the lead is hardly worn.

PRACTICE. A bit of practice is necessary. Use your favoritestickum glue and place the gimmick on your first finger so thatthe lead is positioned where the third joint of your finger is.The idea of the OOS writer is that it can be hidden between thefingers where it is not seen at the right angle. Actually you canhide tha gimmick by moving the first finger a bit. If the back ofyour hand is exposed, the gimmick is out of sight if you move yourfirst finger towards you a tiny bit. If the palm of the hand isexposed, you move the first finger bak a bit. Try it.

In actual practice the first finger is behind an index cardand its movements are hidden. The movement of the first finger as

it writes is hidden by the card and the hand. This is shown inFig. 7.

Fig. 7

So! What can be done with the OOS WRITER? Let me count theways. (1) The above effect using the gimmick as an openerpredicting three digits is good. (2) You can have a predictionindex card in a sealed letter envelope. Make a big to do of thefact that the envelope is sealed. Pass it around etc. Call forthree digits. Cut the top of the letter envelope over the flapwith scissors. Stick your first two fingers into the envelopeto take out the card.

Now! I ask. What sane person is going to suspect your twoinnocent fingers of anything. When you have your two fingersready say, "This will surely shock you." and take out the card,write in the digits and show the card. OR if you wish you canwrite the three digits while your fingers are inside the envelope.

(3) How about the old trick where five items arethe back of a tablet and each item has a square wherecheck mark to indicate your prediction. You can placethere after the audience chooces the item.

drawn onyou put a

the mark

(4) THE MEDIUM ENTERS. A fine lady from high society comesfor a reading. She is sitted at a small table. The Medium isstill walking around in his pajamas and house shoes. Under thetable is a clip board with a sheet of paper. It looks like theclip board just fell off the table. The lady has a love problemwith a gent whose initials are JRP. After the Medium knows that,he takes his stinking foot out of his worn out and smelly houseshoe and writes the initials on the paper on the clip board with aboon writer or the OOS writer which he wears under his calloustoe.

"Strange that you should say that. Please pick up myclipboard and read what is written. I wrote those initials lastnight." The fine lady is impressed of course, small and all.

Eric Mason ofhis book, "A Boonimprovement of thechalk.

boon writer fame, mentions the toe writing infor All Seasons." That of course, is an

Medium's slate writi~g with their feet with

4

THE AIlE E''I"'''1'E A'1'

RIV.EJ: RIDGE, W.VA.

Tel. 304-947-7730P.O. Box 155Great Cacapon, WV 25422

WarJ ()rte

THE OLD STANDARD.

One Sunday in 1952, I visited Chicago's flea market areacalled by some, The Thieves Market. This is a large area of manystores where you can buy almost anything. You can get a brand newsuit for $15, primarily because the store owner payed $5 or muchless for it. Most of the merchandize is either stolen or from abankruptcy or fire sale. There are large crowds every where.Money seems to flow on the streets bringing out the beggars,pick-pockets, con artists and of course street clowns andmagicians.

I stopped to observe a mindreading demonstration by a blackMentalist that was raking in the harvest fast and getting rich onit. He worked out of his very expensive cadillac assisted by hiswife. Plus he had several shiels in the audience. Every hour hegave a free demonstration by reading sealed questions. Hissecret was a first feke question that one of his stoogesacknowleged with much pump and ceremony. After the question wasanswered he tore the envelope open under the pretence that he wasgoing to give the writer a free hand writing analysis plus sometips for the future.

He kept his two hands cupped overwritten by someone else and which he readthe first person about his lucky number,one-ahead and answered several questions.

the message that wascarefully while tellingday, etc. He was now

Next, to show what a good guyout free numbers for the good peopleOne of the shiels confessed that hehe got from the Miracle Man.

the Mentalist was, he passedto bet on and get big money.

had won $500 with the number

One would assume that someone in the lay audience would catch

5

on to the swindle, but no one did. So where did the money come in?

After dazzling his audience with his arcane powers, theMentalist offered small bottles of green oil to attract money. Hesold these for 50 cents each and sold about 6 or more.

Next he offered tiny bottles of red oil from a secret gypsyformula, he said, that would attract lovers. He sold several ofthese for 50 cents each to both black and white women. Next heoffered a special incence made of a secret formula of 12 differentpowders that came from Egypt. These sold not for the $10 theywere worth but for only one dollar. This secret formula ofincence would protect the owner from his enemies, sicknesses, andbring good luck. He sold about 10 of these. He also sold othergood luck charms etc. All together, the Mentalist made about $25every hour which was big money in 1952. After making his day'spay of close to $500, the Mentalist drove off in his cadillacleaving his audience begging for more.

EDDIE CLEVER AND THE FOLDING SWITCH~

Eddie Clever was one well experiencedMentalist who took many good secrets tothe grave. He poured his heart out in hisnow famous booklet "Thought Wings Onward."This booklet containes some very fabulousideas for the Q and A act.

the timeused theAnnemann,his own

the iniquethe firstJinx. Hison page one

Mentalists ofabout and

This includedinvention to

Eddie Clever hasdistinction of beingcontributor to Annemann'seffect "Hallucination" appearsof Jinx No.1, October 1934.

Most working(1920-1950) knewfolding switch.who claimed theFolding Switch.

To get one ahead in the Q and A act, Clever palmed a dummyblank billet at the start. Paper slips were passed to the audiencefor the secret writing of questions. Clever prefolded the papers3-ways. After the secret writing the slips wbuld then be refoldedand collected. Clever mananged to palm one of the questionbillets during the act of collecting and place it on top of thethe dummy blank billet already in palm position. He now held twobillets in palm position unknown to the audience.

An easy way to palm the second billet is to take the questionbillet at the tip of the fingers and then sticking the hand intothe collection container and pushing the billet into palm position

by touching the bottom or side of the container. This is donewithout moving the four visible fingers. A slight pull with thethumb, places the billet out of sight in palm position and on topof the dummy billet.

After the collecting is done, Eddie would say that he neededone more question and approached some one for that purpose. Hereached into his pocket and placed the question billet at the tipsof his fingers while still holding the dummy billet out of sightin palm position.

As he asked the one person to think of a question and writeit on the paper, Eddie would demonstrate by opening out the paper,secretly reading the question and then refolding the billet, doingthe folding switch and bringing out the blank dummy which wasgiven to the person for the writing. Eddie was now one ahead.

The Folding Switch was simply done by folding down on thevisible billet and folding it again over the hidden dummy andthen turning over both billets as one, one more time to bring theblank dummy billet on top and then pushing it into view with thethumb. As will be seen Eddie Clever used the Annemann 3-foldbillets and the Folding switch.

HOUDINI

In his brief adventure as aMentalist, Houdini put forward somebrilliant moves for the Mentalist. Hehad been investigating the spookracket and knew much about it. Toget one-ahead Houdini did it the easyway. He simply picked out a foldedbillet from the basket after thewritings and pretended somedivination. He would then callouta feke question that no one woulddare acknowledge publicly.

:n"n-.,.-1 _1

~".",--.

+ + + +

TIlEMODERN

JACISHEPPARD.

'*'ALHAMBRA, LONDON.

J.BSOLurEL r reE SENSJ.lION OF LONDON.

Ordinarily no one in the audience acknowledges a questionthat they did not write, but Houdini would take no chances. Hecalled out a question that was so childish or rediculous that noone woyld claim it. Houdini might callout, "Is the moon made ofcheese?" "Now, who wrote such a rediculous question?" askedHoudini. He would then open out the billet and pretend to readthe same question, but actually getting the real question in theact. Since no one claimed the question that billet was discardedand another one picked. Houdini was now one ahead! Smart? Youbet! (See Houdini's Paper Magic.)

Let us say that some onequestion and acknowledged it.

in theHoudini

8

audience didwas one ahead

write such aanyway. He

would answer the questionthat while answering thebillet asking about thestarted allover againfeke question.

ANNEMANN

and proceed. And let us further sayother questions Houdini carne upon themoon! Not to worry, Houdini simply

and called out another rediculous

In his excellent booklet, "Annemann'sComplete One Man Mental and Psychic Routine"(1935) , Annemann claims that the FoldingSwitch is his invention, page 3. It appearsalso that the 3-fold billet is also Annemann'sinvention.

Please note that in 1932 Annemann put outhis "Test of the Tiber" book test. In thiseffect Annemann used the 3-fold billet but notthe Folding Switch. Apparently he had notdiscovered the Folding Switch yet. He usedinstead Al Baker's thumb tip switch.

Annemann's 3-fold billetBillet workers. One cannot do2-fold billet and the UmbrellaAnd the center tear techniquebillet.

is not a popular item with mostthe Umbrella Move with it. TheMove are needed for a fast read.becomes complicated with a 3-fold

Charles Foster, Bert Reese, Al Baker and others dependedheavily on the Umbrella Move done with a 2-fold billet. In somecases the billet or card was folded only once or not at all.

Bert Reese used the center-tear move only as a last resortwhen the sitter was watching too closely and refused to followinstructions. The 2-fold billet allowed for this.

It appears that Annemanninvented the 3-fold billet out offear of exposure. Fig. A. Thethree fold billet couldsupposedly be hidden behind themiddle finger, Fig.B, while theother fingers could be opened andused. Billet Kings have no suchfears. The fingers of the handshould be kept closed always. Ahand with the fingers openedlooks most unnatural and can callattention to itself, while ahand with the fingers closed andmotionless, as most BilletKings prefer it, looks most

9

. Fig. A

Fig. B

natural and for that reason goesunnoticed.

It is written that Annemann was so conscious of being exposedthat he got rid of his nail writer while passing his hand throughhis hair and leaving the gimmick there.

The 3-fold billet does have its uses. There are magiciansthat cannot close their fingers tight enough to hide a playingcard or a billet

THE FOLDING SWITCH

Itevolve into

was inevitable that Annemann's 3-foldhis Folding Switch.

billet would

Annemann's Folding Switch is unique especially for gettingone-ahead as in the Eddie Clever routine. We do not know ifAnnemann was aware that the billet mediums also had a foldingswitch. The medium's folding switch is detalied in Dunninger'sMystic Series "F." This switch, although very easy to do, wasmerely an exchange of folded billets, while the Annemann FoldingSwitch was far superior in that the secret message was read in theact of opening and folding the billet and doing the Switch.

Annemann had many ways of getting one ahead. The flaplesswindow envelope which he probably also invented was one of hisfavorites.

BERT REESE AND HIS POCKET SWITCH

Bert Reese, the medium to the rich,had one of the most clever methodsfor getting one-ahead. First thesitter was asked to write five or morequestions on pieces of paper. Thesepapers were then folded into tiny wads orrolled into balls. The pellets were nextmixed so that no one knew what questionwas on which wad of paper.

Right away, Reese would say, "I want you to hide these papersin different places." So saying, Reese picked up one of thepellets and stuck it into the sitter's left coat pocket. Whatactually happened was that Reese switched the pellet for a dummyand left the dummy in the sitter's pocket and finger-palmedout the real pellet. Reese then instructed the sitter to placethe other pellets in other pockets, in one shoe or in his pocket-watch case while Reese's back was turned during which time Reeseopened the stolen pellet and read it and refolded it ready forswitching. Reese was now one-ahead!

10

Reese with his many years of experience, knew and usedseveral switches. It all depended on how the sitter folded orwadded the question papers. If Reese noticed that the sitter wasrolling up the papers into a tiny ball, Reese would get ready bydoing the same with the dummy billet which he then held readybetween the tips of his fingers to do the 'pellet switch.'

THE PELLET SWITCH is one of the easiest to do. The twopellets can be held as one and the hand can be flashed to showthat it is otherwise empty. The dummy pellet is then given to thesitter to put in his pocket while the real pellet is held back.This routine is detailed in The Bert Reese Docimasy.

THE UMBRELLA MOVE AND THE ONE-AHEAD

AL BAKER The Umbrella Move became public propertyamong billet workers after Al Baker made itfamous in his Book One. It also appears inMental Magic and Pet Secrets. Before that itwas exclusive to a small group of magicianswho got it from Bert Reese.

Whereas Bert Reese used the UmbrellaMove to simply open the 2-way folded billetand read the question while his back wasturned, other billet workers adopted it toget one-ahead by opening out the billet andthrowing it into the basket. The one goodfeature of the Umbrella Move is that thebillet can be opened fast and clean withone hand.

Some present day Mentalists use a deep opaque container tocollect the billets in. One of these is opened out using theUmbrella Move when the hand is out of sight inside the container.This move is made without the Mentalist looking at his hands or atthe opened billet. The open billet is left on top of the otherbillets and glimpse later.

It was Al Baker who first applied his mastery of the magicart to Mentalism by using a thumb tip to switch billets and getone ahead. He taught these" secrets to Annemann. A well executedswitch with a thumb tip leaves little to be desired.Unfortunately, the method given in Practical Mentl Effects is notcorrect. Al Baker~ private passion was billet work. He wasmaster of it.

11

THE WOCUS LEGASY AND THE AZONIC FORCE

Any trick billet that delivers thehidden thought to the Mentalist can beused for the one-ahead system. I haveinvented several.

Both the Wocus Legasy billet andthe Azonic force billet can be used toget one-ahead.

You will only need to prepare oneWocus Legasy Billet for one show. Thisbillet opens out by itself!

If you use the Azonic Force from Acidus Plus to getone-ahead, the writer is instructed to write a name or a oneword queation on the line which is in the correct position.

THE MAG-EYE MOVE

This is another excellent technique that can get theMentalist one ahead in a most superior fashion. You pick up a2-fold billet and get it into position to do the Mag-eye Move.Then you callout a feke question. If someone claims the questionyou simply give an answer to the claimant. Next you tear up thebillet and discard it and reading the hidden message in the act.

You are now one-ahead BUT the audience never sees you openingout the billet to read anything. Therein lies the superirormystery.

In the Nihon Venmture, the paper is torn up but the entirewriten question is retained.

The squiffer billet from The Four-O'clock Incident opens outby itself when it is thrown into the basket of billets! Theresurely is another good dozen ways to get ahead within the AME mns.

have fun,~

i/ fA ~/ /1{J;lh::I I ( ,/,;"

i ./rl-

12

A person in the audience is asked tocount the change in his pocket. Afte(the amount of change is known the OOSwriter writes the amount then the topsheet (or two) are torn off the pad toexpose the prediction.

Note that the first finger with theOOS writer in place is under the topsheet (or the second sheet if you wish)of the paper pad. The face of the paperpad is shown to the audience as in Fig.7A, saying that the top sheet is blankbut the second (or third) sheet has amessage that wil soon be shown.

POCKET MONEY

Fig. 7A shows a superiorthe OOS -w r iter.

use for

SCORPIO'S MOVE

Here is a technique that uses theOOS writer as a double writer. Anydesign drawn on the front of a cardappears also on the back of the card.Please note Fig. 7B. It shows the OOSwriter attached to the inside of thelitle finger. In effect a person isasked to callout an ESP design. A cardis shown blank on one side and the chosendesign is drawn on the card in view o~the audience. At the same time the littlefinger has drawn the same design on theback of the card.

Fig. 7B

The technique is angle-proof. TheOOS writer is well hidden. Fig. 7C

-_...- _ ...

If you wish the same thing can bedone with a Mason's boon writer or afinger tip with a piece of lead cementedto it.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

4A

Performer takes the closedbook and approaches another personwho is asked to guess at the pagenumber. He fails.

EFFECT: A book is given to aspecttor who is asked to flip thepages and to choose anyone. He isthen to memorize the number of thepage and the first word. A book markis then placed into the book to ma rjcthe chosen page and the book isclosed.

"Dont' feel bad." says theperformer, I do not know thechosen page either." "However wecan find the page very easilybecause the book mark caO tell usthe chosen page. But now we aregoing to remove the book mark.""Please take out the book mark."The spectstor is told. The bookmark is removed.

(And the medallion?)

THE OSS WRITER

THE BOOK MARK

Performer tells the first spectto9r to think of the pagenumber while he flips through the pages. "I'm at page 100. Isthat your page?" "No!" says the spectator. Performer flips morepages. "Now I am at page 180. Is that your page?" "No!" again.

Performer turns overthink of the first word.page was 198. Right?"

some more par-es. "I've got it. PleaseThe word is 'about' correct? and your"Right!"

The effect is strong enough at this point. If you wish ~ogild the lilly, tell the specttor that you kn~~ the page from thestart ann call attention to the AL KORAN mecall+on hanging-aroundyour neck. Take the medalion off and in the process write in thepage number with the boon writer you managed to put on during theshow. Or perhaps you had a boon writer 'hiding behind .themedallion. You write in the page number on ~he small circle ofpaper glued to the back of the medallion.' (pipe d r e a ms Z)

THE ass WRITER

THE BOOK MARK

THE GAFUS: .You.. will need a Boon writer or an OSS writer.

,~ .

After the book mark is placed intothe book fold the book mark over towards'you. ( Fig. 83.) Th e boo k mar k hid esthemarks that were made on the top edges ofthe book.

Fig.The rest is showmansh~2' 83NOTE; I no longer use trombone

paper clips for making the OOSwriters. Now I am using 7/8 inch longsafety pins. Safety pins have a doubleloop of wire at the bottom end whichmake a tiny little well that takespencil lead well. If you use thickleads then you may have to use largerpins.

Handle th book mark as sh o e n in Fig. 8211 11 d whell Lh c p n gel s c h 0 :, c 11 Y () \I put 1nth chook mn r k n n d n t r h o n nm « ,- 1111'> 11111 r k r h o 1 (\ f Ihand page with the writer and also mark asmall group of pages at the top edge. If thetop edges of the pages close to the chosenpage are not marked you will have a hardtime finding the chosen page.

Wear the OSS writer or the Boon writeron your first finger as shown in Fig. 82. Itneed not be red in color. It is better thatthe lead be black. A red mark may be easilyspotted by the audience.

THE BOOK MARK: GET a flexible book mark made of cloth orwhat have you. Get one with beautiful bright colors. Mas~be theaudience will be distracted by the beautiful colors of the bookmark and miss seeing the gafus ~ttached ~o your firat finger.(Actualy your secret writer qill never been seen. It is hidingand out of sight most of the time.)

I just cut off the head and thepoint of the safety pin to form a b.as e ,See. Fig. 84