| Here's what the audience sees: The mentalist displays a black, cloth bag and asks five members of the audience to decide on some personal object they have on their possession. Approaching each person, the performer looks away and has each drop his or her object into the bag. Shaking the bag to mix the items, the mentalist reaches in and withdraws one. Using his powers, he deduces certain characteristics of the owner and then returns it to the proper person. This continues with four of the five items. Obviously knowing the owner of the final object, the mentalist proposes a different test. Without taking out or looking at the object, he correctly divines what it is before removing and returning it. It was Annemann's "Pseudo-Psychometry" which first popularized the basic effect of identifying spectators' personal items and returning them. His routine used a number of envelopes for the items to be sealed in. After collecting all of them, one was ripped open and, after holding and analyzing it for a bit, the item was returned to the correct spectator. This was continued with all of the envelopes. Over the years, there have been dozens of variations and all manner of props. Perhaps the reason the effect has been given so much attention is there is a lot of room for enhancement in this type of routine. Because the performer can give a personality reading along with achieving the basic test of identifying the owner, it can be built into a feature number. However, never before has such a vital tool been offered to the mentalism community as the S.O. S. Bag. It's so fair in appearance, yet quickly and easily gives you all of the information you need to know to apparently demonstrate psychometric abilities. The diabolical secret is all an integral part of the specially-crafted, handmade bag. This is not a craft store item reworked to do a magic trick. The S.O.S. Bag went through several modifications to arrive at the present design. Almost a foot square in size, each is handmade from a durable black fabric that will last a lifetime. More than a trick, the S.O.S. Bag is an act in itself, allowing for limitless presentational possibilities. Includes custom-made cloth bag, photo-illustrated instructions & performance tips. |
