A classic Ted Lesley headline prediction mystery:
- no expensive gimmicks (everything can easily and cheaply be made at home)
- not stooges (strictly a one man effect)
- no billet knives or visible gimmicks
- clean and devastating effect
The Effect:
A chest with a prediction in it, is mailed to the place of performance two weeks prior to the performance date. The committee gives the chest to the mayor or the chief of police to guard. They try to tie up with the local media for publicity coverage.
On the night of the performance the chest is brought to the theater where it is opened by a committee.
They remove a sealed envelope from the chest. The performer asks them to examine the envelope and to check the seals.
The performer then states: "THERE ARE TWO ITEMS IN THE ENVELOPE. ONE, A SLIP BEARING THE EXACT DATE OF THE PREDICTION (the date it was made), AND TWO, A PACKAGE WHICH HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY SEALED WITH THICK METAL STAPLES!"
The performer takes the envelope and tears open one end. He puts the torn end in his pocket.
He removes the date card from the envelope and asks a committeeman to read aloud the message on the card. He hands the envelope to another committeeman and steps away ...
The performer now repeats what the committeeman read - that the prediction was written on a date two weeks ago, then thoroughly stapled between two cardboards. Pointing to the person who now has the envelope, the performer asks him to remove the package from the envelope. At this point the performer makes a big thing about pointing out how well stapled and sealed that package is. The performer is making sure that everyone understands that it would be impossible to put anything into the package once it is stapled!
THE PERSON HOLDING THE SEALED PACKAGE OPENS IT (the performer is at the other end of the stage) AND READS ALOUD THE HEADLINES OF THE DAY!!!
17 pages
word count: 3481 which is equivalent to 13 standard pages of text
