Corinda - Supplement to The 13 Steps of Mentalism.pdf

(3204 KB) Pobierz
* Supplement
*
MM09055OIV5
to
"The Thirteen Steps
to Mentalism"
Price £2.50
(Supplied
free when
you buy
the 13
Step.
In U.K.)
by
Tony Corinda
FORWARD
(The H
istory
of Corinda and The 13 Steps)
I
By
Roy Sinclair
Corinda's
Thirteen
Steps
to Mentalism
is
a fa
scinating
boo
k
and the history of
it
is j
ust as interesting.
Corinda
was
the
author and
It
was
writt
en by him between 1956
and 1958. It was originally published and distributed as a
'Series of
Booklets', These we
re issued
,
more or
less,
on a monthly basis.
Each
issue
of a booklet was called a
'Step'
and each
one
dealt with a specific fiekJ of Mentalism
.
This was a
rathe
r clever
manoeuvre
by
Corinda because
it
enabled
him to sell his boo
k
before
ij
was fully written.
(See
the
original
'Advert'
on the last page
of
this
Supplem
en~
.
Had
he
caUed the booklets
'Chapters',
as
is
customary,
he would have to wait until the complete series had been
wrillen before he sold
ij.
But by the time he had reached
the last Step
(No
,13)
he had already sold hundreds of
cop
ies
of the full book which is now known worldwide as
"The
Thirteen Steps
to
Mentalism",
After Step
(No.13)
he
ceased issuing the indivi
dua l
booklets- and sold the
completed book -
bound
into one volume of 428 pages.
C.ORINO.
The picture above was printed
nearly
fifty years ago
In
my book,
The Thirteen
Slaps
to
Mentelism.
Much has
changed since then but the book
is
still widely on
sale. This
Suppiement
records the history of the book
and reflects some of the changes since
it
was first
published
.
Wrth
ij
,
I send greetings to all my readers.
1
His publisher
(Harry
Clarke
of
London) was himselfa
magician and was a publisher who owned a large print
works.
He
also produced books for Tony Slydini and Dai
Vernon, WithoutHarry'ssupport, Ccrinda admits, he
would never have been able to produce his
book
.
When
the
book
becamethirteen chapters, Corineta
stin
persisted In calling them
'Steps' -
a
word
in
keeping
,
with his intention
that
each
'Step'
should
be
a
Jesson in
Mentalism. Altogether, It meant a
Step...by~Step
course
of
instruction
for completebeginnerto professional - in the
Art of performing Mentalism.
M
M
Rightfrom the eartydays Corinda's book captured the
imagination
of Mentalists,
It
was the only
book
up to that
time which did much more than
any
other book on the
subject, He gave his readers mental effectsto perform
and routines to bund
into
an
act,
as did some other
books: notabty,
"Practical MentalEffects"
by Theodore
Annemann (published by Max Holden in USA in1944).
However, Corinda was different. He not only told his
readers what effectsto do, he would go Intofine detail,
and explain exactly howto perform them. He told
readers
what
to
say
and when to say
it.
He explained
how to make some props yoursetf and his
book
discussed psychology, misdirection, stagecraft,
presentation and the theory and principles behind a vast
array
of
techniques for performing Mentalists. It became
the most comprehensive book ever written on the
subject
of
Mentalism - and
it
remaIns 80 today,
Colinda's book is so crammed full of instructions and
Information
that it is said today
that
anybody can be a
top-class mentalist simplyby reading his 13 Steps,
The historian of Mindreading,
W~liam
V. Rauscher In his
book
-The Mind Readers-
(2002)
gives a surveyof
very many mentalists. Out of the hundredsavailable, he
picks five peoplewho, in history, have done more than
anybodyelse to establish Mentalism: he calls them,
'The
Pacesetters'.
The five nominated were: Tony
connoe.
Maurice Fogel, Ted Annemann
,
Bert Reese and Al
Koran. Out of the five, he picks
Tony
Corinda as the one
that
was
most prolifIC and the one that, outstandingly,
influenced others. Among many other things Rauscher
has this to say about Oonnde:
(Quote),
"Many
would-be
amateurs and professional mentalists got their
start
by
foJlowing Corinda's advice".
In
fact, this turned out to
be
true. Close to
fifty
years ago
Goodliffe the Editor of a popular weekly MagicMagazine
called
'Abracadabra'
reviewed Corinda's first
two
Steps
and reported,
-If
Corinda conb'nues this seriesin such
original and educative format, he will have written "The
Bible of Mentalism-, Today
throughout the world
,
it
is
widely called, and acknowledged by most mentalists to
be,
'The
Bible of Mentalism'. Unfortunately Goodliffe
never lived long enough to see his prediction come true.
Corinda's book became so much established as
the
handbook
of
Mentalism that when an organisat
on
i
known as 'The Psychic Entertainers Association' (PEA)
based
in America, heldtheir annual convention in 1994
in Atlanta
,
USA., they took as their
'Convention
Theme'
Corinda's,
'T
hirteen Steps
to
Mentalism-.
The PEA is by
far, the biggestorganisation of Mentalists and they have
hundreds
of
members distributed throughoutthe world.
M
2
3
At
their
convention that week, they were all expected to
perform from,
and
concentrate upon,
the
instructions
and effects given in Corinda's book. Whether it was
Close-up
work,
a Lecture or
an
Act in the Gala Show-
they should
try to
stick to the theme.
Of
several hundred
who attended and took part
that
week,
quite
a few were
professional mentalists
who joined in the fun and
the
convention was a great
success. It
was
their
very
nice
way
of
paying
tribute to Colinda.
As
a
reward
to
Corinda,
the
PEA bestowed upon
him the
Blackwood
Award for
'Outstanding
contributions
to
the
Art of Mentalism'
-
and
also gave him
an
Honorary Life
Membershipto
their
organisation. No other writer or
sm
performer
of
MentaA has
ever achieved quite so
much
recognition
from
his
peers
and fellow-mentalists-
as
to
have a Convention
devoted
to him.
Much
the same
was done by the Magic Circle in
England - who awarded him (in
1959) their
highest rank
of
membership as a
Member
of The
Inner
Magic
Circle
(M.I.M.C. with Gold Star) for his endeavours, He was
then
one of
the
youngest
to ever
achieve
that
elevated
position,
being
limited
to
a few members. Altogether
Oorinda has
acquired
some fifteen awards from
the
International magicaland mentalist fratemities-
though
very
rarely
does he
mention
anything
about
them, He
lives a private life
and is
very reclusive
~
but
whether he
likes it or
not,
he has received
wof1d..wIde
recognItion.
Why Corinda's book out of all
the
others, should become
the outstanding leader, is simple enough
to
understand.
He was the
first
person to
write a book which told his
readers exactly 'How
to do
it'. Many other good books
have
been written
about Mentalism; many
other clever
articles have appeared
in
magazines, but
very
few ever
explained in Infinite
detail
all
the
things you need
to
know. Too often
they
tell
you
what
to do
- without
saying
exactly
how
to
do it,
The
point
is
this:
once somebody
has told you
'How
to
do'
anything, say,
'The
Centre Tear'
[which is explained
in
the 13
Steps book], you don't
need
to
be
told
twice
.
Colinda saw
this
possibility and
told everybody
'How'
before
anybody
else
thought to
do so. That is why
his
book is unique
because
there is little
need
left for
anybody else to publish
and repeat
such
basic
lnstrucnc
ns .
he has
already told
them!. That was
his
genius and
why
he was such
a good
teacher.
Apart from lecturing and writing about
Mentalism,
he
was a
highly
successful
Magic
Dealer-
and
like
Bob
Nelson (in Amelica) he specialized in Mentalism and the
kindred arts. At the time they were the
only
two
dealers
in
the
world who
focussed
on
mental effects, Many of
the
effects he sold were invented by
himself
and
he
invented hundreds - including such classics as, "The
Powers
of
Darkness"
and
"The
Khan
Envelope Test" •
which, strangely,
are
still sold today. On average
he
invented
about twenty new
tricks a year
to maintain
his
Studio catalogue
and for
sale
at
'Conventions'. (See
Appendix
(1).
Notwithstanding
this prolific
output he
was
obligated
at
the
same
time
to published
many more
of
his
own effects In the creation
of
his book. As
if
this
was
4
5
not enough, Corinda was sometimes
consulted
by
professionals who wanted
new
routines or
their
own
routines,
reconstructed. He would
'customize'
taller-
made routines
for his
clients and,
in
those
days had
worked for radio (1
3
programmes), stage shows,
television and, occasionally, in the film industry. Some of
his clients were notable people such as
Fogel, Punx,
Remark
and
AI Koran,
and, believeit or not,
Uberace
the pianist
-
who wanted
to
impress
people with
'Feats
of Memory'
-
which he did.
Corinda
was very
versatile
and
creative.
He could focus
on
any
aspect
of
Mentalism. Even
Uri
Geller
is
said to have been
influenced by
Corinda'
book
-
as
reported
by Jonathan
Margolis on page 86 of
his
book called,
·
Uri
Geller".
It's
about
that
'remarkably
clever
and original performer'-
which
is
how Colinda
regards
Uri
Gel
ler and his
skills.
Even before his first
'Magic
Studio'
in
Berwick
Street,
London
- Corinda had
long
experience
of
performing
Magic
&
Mentalism.
He
had often worked
at
exhibitions
and sometimes performed
in
the big stores and holiday
camps. He also worked at 'The Festival of Britain'. This
was a permanent showground in Battersea Park,
London
-
where he had the daunting task
of
performing
a 30 minute Mindr
eading
act given every
hour, for
six
hours a day,
and
he worked six
days
a week, That's
thirty-six
performances
a week and he did it for months!
He also had
his
first Magic Shop
there,
in the
'Festival
Gardens'. Later he had them
in
Berwick St, Hamley's in
Regent Street, Mortimer St, Tottenham Ct. Road
and
Oxford Street. I myself, worked with him for some
twenty years - so
I
know about his ability and history -
but
I
don't
know
where
Corinda got
the
stamina
to do
it.
He also had wide experience
of
mediumistic and
paranormal matters. He had been for years, an
investigator
and researcher
of
paranormal activities and
he was a senior member of the
'Occult
Committee'
-
which was
then
run
by
The
Magic
Circle, and headedby
the eminentparapsychologist, Dr. Dingwall.
The
Occult Committee
was
a
group of specialists
in
the
field
of
investigating
supernatural phenomena. They
worked in conjunction with other
like-minded
groups
such
as,
The
Society
for Psychical
Research
and the
spirituatistic newspaper
'Psychic
News'.
The team
explored everything from haunted-houses and rectories,
to
claims
of
people to have
'psychic
powers' They
investigated
several
'mediums'
and
attended
quite a few
seances -
including
one seance held
by
the medium
Anne Britain
-
who
was
noted for the fact that she was
chosen by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(the
author of
Sherlock Holmes stories). Doyle was an ardent believer
in
the supernatural and mediumship-
in
his later days.
Much
of Corlnde's background experience
in
these
matters, shows
up
in his book,
The Thirteen Steps
to
Mentalism,
especially
in
Step 9,
'Mediumistic
Stunts'.
He never claimed to be
'psychic"
himself, and adamantly
refused to offend Spiritualists and their adopted
religion.
Nor for that
matter did he
target
the
ordinary
'Mediums'
who simply
practiced
psychometry
and other
things
·
such as, faith-heaUng and clairvoyance. His target was
always the
fraudsters
who aspired to
physical
manifestations
in
the seance room.
Those
who typically
6
7

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin