This is about Essays. (No, not mine.)

If you’ve read through everything I’ve written in the relatively short period of time this blog has been up — and you really should, if only to keep in context these occasional, later outbursts — you’ll note I have a great deal of regard for Richard Osterlind. A little background might be helpful.

My first elbow brush with Richard was via his book, “Surrounded Slow-Motion Center Tear” (which was, unfortunately, published by an individual now believed far and wide to be deranged and frothing-at-the-mouth in a way that would even frighten Cujo.) I will admit this goes back to the beginning of the 90s and I was not mentally prepared for what was in that book. I learned it, worked with it, and used it a bit. The response frightened me in much the same way I was frightened the first time I floored the accellerator on a ‘67 Chevy SS Camaro. (If you’ve never had the privilege, it’s nearly impossible to explain.) But, unlike the Camaro, I left it alone.

I left it alone, mostly because I wasn’t comfortable with mentalism as a whole. Either I’d take Jamy Ian Swiss’s advice and thought I should overtly state “It’s a trick!” — which I wasn’t prepared to do — or I had to deal with audiences who were pushed into the corner labeled, “True Believers Only.” I just didn’t feel comfortable at either end of that rainbow, and I wasn’t wise enough at the time to know there was an alternate route.

(As an aside, I’ll again thank the very generous and kind TA Waters for taking time out of his life to spar with me and bring me over to the Dark Side of mentalism, which has really turned out for me to be the Bright Side of mystery entertainment.)

Six or seven years later, I happened upon a set of lecture notes by Osterlind. They contained the sorts of things that would ordinarily make up a really great book on magic and mentalism. I was reminded about the book I’d already read, so off the shelf it came.

Fast-forward to about a year ago and the release by L&L Publishing of Osterlind’s, “Mind Mysteries“ DVD set. Whoa. Among the many things in that set, Richard taught the act he performed for corporate, paying audiences.

It would be good to spend a few moments pondering what that actually means.

One of the earliest lessons we learned in magic is not to just do a string of tricks. (I’d say most everyone in magic has read that at one point in their lives, all evidence to the contrary.) We learn to build a show, a cohesive presentation much as you build a play — an act.

As Al Goshman observed:

A professional does the same tricks for different audiences. An amateur does different tricks for the same audiences.

A professional’s stock in trade is his act; it is the “merchandise” he offers to buyers. In the world of entertainment, unique merchandise commands higher prices on the market than the common stuff.

Richard’s act was unique and served him exceptionally well. And he performed it and then explained it in the DVD set. He not only explained the tricks, but went on to explain the thinking that went into the tricks. Richard gave to purchasers his act and, thereby, the benefit one can usually only gain from doing the thing for twenty-five years.

Of course, there are four DVDs in the set and his act was just one of the DVDs. The entire set is worthy of purchase and study.

But even before the DVDs were released — in late 2002, as a matter of fact — Richard teamed up with long-time friend Jim Sisti to produce and/or bring back to life some of Richard’s work. The first book, “The Very Modern Mindreader“, in Sisti’s words:

…takes Annemann and Hewitt’s classic routine into the 21st Century. With practical touches developed over thirty years and never before released, Osterlind gives you the power to divine information sealed in envelopes by audience members with no gimmicks whatsoever – in fact, all of the elements may be left with the audience. “The Very Modern Mindreader” is reputation-making material suitable for all audiences from close-up to platform.

It remains one of my favorite books on mentalism. It’s still available, too.

In the middle of 2003, Osterlind released the first of his Trilogy of ebooks. This was titled, “Making Magic Real.” At the beginning of 2004, the second ebook in the series, “Making Real Magic“ hit the digital streets. These two books covered an amazing amount of territory which spoke directly to what it means to be a magician and to do magic.

Of “Making Real Magic” I wrote:

“Making Real Magic” helps you define (or redefine) what it is you are doing in your act to make it — and you — relevant to your audience. It helps you focus on audience expectations and how to meet or exceed them in a magical way. To me, that’s where real magic lies. Practicing “The Golden Rule” when performing magic is a sure-fire way to fail with an audience. Focusing on what they want from our performances seems obvious, but evidently most performers don’t give it consideration.

So, as you can imagine, it was a very fine day a couple of weeks ago when I got a note from my friend Jim Sisti that the third of the Trilogy was ready. It’s titled, “Essays“ and I can find only one fault with it (which I’ll explain later.)

In the preface of Essays, Richard states:

These essays will conclude the work begun in Making Magic Real and continued in Making Real Magic. Like those, the material here is accumulated from notes and ideas developed over the last 20 years. My opinions were often changed and refined over that time and I humbly offer to the magic fratermity what I consider to be my current thoughts on the subjects expressed.

What subjects were those?

Love and Magic
Appearance
What Are You Trying to Accomplish as a Mentalist?
What Are You Trying to Accomplish as a Magician?
The Right Magic
Wheat the Goose
Magic and Music
Magic and Comedy
Audience Management
Osterlind Design Duplication System (ODDS)

These chapters are both thought provoking and informative. From the opening chapter dealing with the love of magic, through the importance of your appearance before an audience, through choosing magic and applying established theatrical rules and audience management to it you are handed the benefit of decades of real experience before real audiences. In a way, it’s like Richard handing over the more important aspect of his paying act.

As Tony Robbins has repeated: If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results. (The more astute among you will note the irony.)

Now, if your goal in life is to just be on the periphery of the world of performing mystery entertainment for real, paying audiences; maintaining and having supported by others a false sense of security about your own abilities as a performer; and being part of a “mob mentality” that denigrates and ridicules the truly successful performers (like Richard Osterlind), then please, by all means, join one of the Raccoon Hatters Societies. Pay your fees, subscribe yourself to one of their organizations, go through the hazing process, and you, too, can learn how to act like a jealous, anti-social misfit from some of the very best duffers in the world of mentalism.

On the other hand, if it’s your goal to achieve the admirable and high level of success that Osterlind has; to participate in and and give back to the art you love, a good place to start would be to read and listen to what Richard has to say about the performance of magic and mentalism. Essays is certainly a part of that — and an absolute bargain of an ebook.

Oh, about that one fault I found: since a trilogy is defined as “a group of three dramatic or literary works related in subject or theme” and Essays is number three in a group, my only complaint is that this is the end of the Trilogy.