B.J's A MIND READING BIRD
All sides of the entertainment business has its share of gamblers. I've seen big money lost & won on which sugar cube a fly would land on.
Dad taught us, apart from. 'Don't eat yellow snow.' Never gamble unless you know your going to win.'
In the 1960's/70's I earned a crust or two between training jobs by tapping into the gamblers inability to resist the temptation of low risk, high stakes gamble. with a little mind reading act.
I would casually mention to an animal act entertainer that I was training a bird to read minds by tuning into human brainwaves & reading a simple concentrated thought. Human mind reading acts were still very popular back then.
It wasn't long before I had an interested party or two.
After a demonstration during which they bet my bird couldn't select their chosen playing card from a row of four & naturally lost.
They would pester me for the bird, till a price was offered I couldn't refuse.
Over the next few years I sold quite a variety of mind reading birds, rats, mice & goldfish. Most of them to continental entertainers. Small animal acts were very popular over there, appearing regularly on Saturday night TV.
The Act
First I shall describe this bit of business from the audiences point of view.
On a table I have a pack of cards, my brainy bird in a cloth covered cage & a glass of water. Taking a drink gives you thinking time.
I would tell the story of how I trained this very special bird the ancient & mysterious art of mind reading & how this bird has baffled the scientific communities of several countries for many years.
I ask a volunteer to check the cards are a normal unmarked pack & to pick any four cards from the pack. I then ask if he is willing to test my birds mystic powers with a small wager. If he agrees & they always did. I suggest not wanting to strain his brain. I'm only going to ask him to consentrate his mind on one of the four cards.
I take the four cards & explain that I'm bending them slightly along their length to make it easier for the bird to pick them up from the table. I allow the volunteer, to select one of four cards & lay the other three face down in a line on the table. To show no trickery is involved, I ask the volunteer to select the position of his chosen card, placed anywhere in the row & explain that my bird will read his mind & hopefully select the correct card.
I take this opportunity to quench my thirst, while the volunteer decides where in the line he want his chosen card to be placed. I make a big play of not letting my bird hear the volunteers choice & I make a big show that I am placing the chosen card in the selected position.
I ask the volunteer to start thinking as hard as he can but not to look directly at the cards. Don't want to make it too easy for the bird. I take my bird from his cage while the volunteer thinks really hard about his card. I make a big play of getting my bird to consentrate, to stretch out the act I would have a chat with the bird & pretend my bird is whispering in my ear how this person has only one brain cell & all he thinks about are girls or something equally embarrissing. I plead with him to carry on for the sake of the show. then I release him.The bird walks over & picks out the selected card. I take it from him & show that he has got the right card & take a bow.
This little act will amaze your friends & relatives at your next party. Only do one demo, better to leave them wanting more than risk someone working out how you did it. There's always one at every party
It looks better than it reads, with a couple of glamorous assistants....
THE HOW IT'S DONE BIT
For this little bit of business you bird requires no special training other than to be tame & tractable. Your bird should enjoy the taste of something like. Peanut Butter, Cottage Cheese or any bait food that will stick where its put. Your drinking glass will have a tiny little lump of this bait stuck on the side of it, out of sight.
You secretly collect this bait onto your thumb as you take a drink. Then scrape the bait blob from your thumb onto the face edge of the chosen card as you lay it face down in the punters chosen position.
The treat blob should facing the bird raised slightly off the table by the bend in the card. Only the bird from his low vantage point will detect the tiny blob of bait & will seemingly have selected the correct card.
Retreive the card before your bird tears it to bits & show it to the audience & take a bow.
A simple idea may in itself be worth nothing, but if that simple idea can generate a small fortune is not that same simple idea worth a bob or two?
.......... Easy when you know how.. B.J.
