A few theatrical agents were gathered together at a carnival, to see an act that everyone was raving about. As everybody watched in awed silence, Bosco, the Great, climbed up a ladder to a tiny pedestal, four hundred feet in the air.
On the pedestal, he took a deep breath, and then started to pump his arms to and fro. The drums rolled until they reached a noisy crescendo, and at this precise second, Bosco, the Great, actually left the pedestal and flew!
His arms pumping madly, he flew around the entire arena, up and down, back and forth.
Just then one of the agents turned to another, and asked, "Is that all he does, bird imitations?"!
I suppose that some of you are wondering why I am teaching, or have taught, all the memory feats in this book. You think that since I am a performer, and my performance does consist of memory stunts—I am creating competition for myself. Well, perhaps I am, but it doesn't bother me too much. I know that if any of you do want to perform in front of an audience, you will have the ingenuity to put together your own stunts and plan your own routine. And, most important, you will realize that you have to sell yourself, not your memory feats.
Most of the people in show business are aware of the fact that it's not what you do that makes you a good enter205 tainer, but the way that you do it. The specialties that performers do, are simply means to an end. Whether you tell jokes, dance, sing, do memory feats, acrobatics or bird imitations is unimportant, as long as you entertain your audience.
Although my main reason for teaching you the memory stunts is that the ideas used in them can be applied for practical purposes in many ways—I also feel that the best way to learn the systems, is to give you an incentive by giving you something with which to showoff for your friends. So, if you want to use the stunts to entertain at your lodge meeting or church affairs, feel free to do so. However, be sure that you know them well enough so that you do credit to yourself and my system.
There are unscrupulous characters in show business as well as in other fields, who would do anything they feel will further their careers. There is one "culprit" who steals a new act every year or so. Last year, he did me the "honor" of stealing my entire act, leaving out only the difficult demonstrations.
People who "steal" material are common in show business, but to take someone's entire act is almost unheard of. However, this fellow did it, but what annoys me, is not so much that he is doing my act, but that he does not do it well. This is to be expected because if he was a good entertainer, he would never have to resort to using an act or idea that someone else has already built up.
No, I don't mind creating competition for myself by exposing these memory feats—as long as the competition is good. As a matter of fact, the rest of this chapter consists of stunts that I have used, and some that I still use occasionally.
One of the stunts you can use, is remembering objects and initials. First have your friends call any object and any two initials. Do this with as many as you feel you can handle. Then you have the audience call any object and you give them the initials, or vice versa.
This stunt is not only impressive, but easy to do. Just make up a word that starts with the first initial and ends with the last, and associate that word to the object called.
For example:— If the initials are R. T., and the object is "chandelier," you might associate rat to chandelier. The initials B. D. and bottle—associate bed to bottle. The initials P. S. and fan—associate puss to fan, etc.
Here is another example of how the systems can be twisted and manipulated—you can do the "missing card" stunt with numbers if you want to. Have someone number a sheet of paper from 1 to 52, or up to any number you like. Have them call numbers haphazardly and cross out the numbers as they call them. They can stop calling them any time they like, and you can tell them which numbers are not crossed out!
Do exactly as you do for the "missing cards." Just mutilate the peg words which represent the numbers called. Then go over your words mentally from "tie" to the peg word of the last number listed on the paper. When you come to one that is not mutilated, that is one of the "missing" numbers.
One very impressive card demonstration is the "hidden card" feat. This is most effective when you are working for a group of at least fifty-two people. (For less people, use less cards.) Hand the deck to the audience and let everyone take one card. Now, have each person call the name of his card and also give you a hiding place for it.
What you do, is associate the card word for the card called to the hiding place. If someone called the Jack of Spades hidden in a typewriter, you would perhaps, see yourself shoveling typewriters (with a spade}.
After all the cards have been "hidden," you can hear the name of a card and immediately give the hiding place. Or, you are given the hiding place, and you name the card hidden there!
Do you want to impress your friends with your ability to remember numbers? Well, if you've learned another peg list up to 16 or 20, as I've taught you, you can do this:—
Have your challenger number a piece of paper from 1 to 16 or 20. Then have him call any of these numbers and write a two digit number alongside. When all the numbers have been called, you can go from one to the end telling him the two digit numbers—or, have him call any two digit number and you tell him what number it is at, or vice versa.
Just use your other list to remember the sequence, and use your basic pegs for the two digit numbers, i.e., #3 is called, and the two digit number to remember is 34. Well, if you're using the alphabet list, you would associate "sea" (3) to "mower" (34). The #14 is called and the number to remember is 89—associate "hen" (14) to "fob" (89).
If you feel confident, you can have your friends call an object and a two digit number for each number listed. You can memorize both, by making one ridiculous picture for all three. The number called could be #9, the object is a toaster, and the two digit number is 24. Any combination of associations is possible here; you could see Nero (24) popping out of a toaster, playing on an eye (9) instead of a fiddle! I have been using the alphabet list idea in these examples. Of course, you could use the other idea wherein the pegs look like the numbers they represent. In that case, 9 would be "tape measure," 3 would be "clover," 14 would be "farm," etc.
Any one of the systems in this book can be used for a
stunt of some sort, just as the ideas for all the stunts can be used for practical purposes in some way. If you want to apply substitute words to a stunt, you can memorize names and playing cards, names and objects, and so on. You can utilize the system for remembering long digit numbers, by having people call their names and the serial number on a dollar bill, or their social security number. Then you should be able to give the number when you hear the name, and give the name if you hear the number. To do this you simply make up a substitute word for the name, if necessary; associate that to the peg word for the first two digits of the number, and make a link to the end of the number.
Although the following is not actually a stunt, the idea grew from the initial and object feat that I mentioned earlier. The Morse code is a very difficult thing to remember because it is almost completely abstract and intangible. The dots and dashes are meaningless and cannot be pictured.
I don't suppose that too many of you will ever find it necessary to have to remember the Morse code. However, I do want you to see that there is no limit to what you can do with conscious associations, and the knowledge that anything meaningless is easy to remember if it is made meaningful. Your only limitation is your own imagination.
Since dots and dashes have no meaning, I decided to give them meaning by making the letter R stand for dot, and the letter T, or D represent the dash. With this in mind, you can make up a word or phrase for each letter, which can be pictured and that will tell you the code signal for that letter. Look at this list:—
A . - rat E . air B — . . . terror F . . — . rear tire
C _ . - . torture G ----- . tighter D — . . tearer H . . . . rarer rye I rower
J rattedK _ trout
L retire her M toad
N tier
O touted P rotator Q __ tethered R writer S roarer T toe
U rarity V re-arrest W retied X turret Y treated Z teeterer
All that remains to be done, is to associate the word to the letter itself, so that one will remind you of the other. You could use the peg words that sound like the letters— associate ape to rat, bean to terror, sea to torture, dean to tearer, eel to air, effort to rear tire, and so on to zebra to teeterer.
Or, you could use the adjective idea by associating an adjective that begins with the proper letter, to the word— awful rat, big terror, crazy torture, dreamy tearer, excellent air, flat rear tire, and so on to zigzag teeterer. If you know the position of all the letters, then you could just use your regular peg words, by associating them to the signal word.
The way you associate them is up to you. The idea is that now the dots and dashes are no longer unintelligible. It shouldn't take you more than half an hour to memorize the Morse code with this system. Of course, this doesn't mean that you will be a telegrapher. Speed in sending code comes only with lots of practice and experience, but the system does make it easier at the beginning, when you have to memorize the signals.
So, you see how the systems can be twisted and manipulated to help you with most any memory problem. I've tried to teach you many stunts in this chapter and throughout the book, and I'm sure you'll be able to think of many more.
. . . And then there was this theatrical agent who was
watching an act with a friend. The act was on a high wire, hundreds of feet above the ground. There was no net to catch him if he fell.
He balanced a golf ball on the wire, and balanced a chair, upside down, on the golf ball. He then proceeded to stand on his head on one of the upturned chair legs. In this precarious position, he began to play a violin with his feet!
The theatrical agent turned to his associate, and sneered, "Aah, a Jascha Heifetz he'll never be!"