Kreskin dazzles Arden audience

The Amazing Kreskin nearly threw in the towel at his much-hyped Thursday performance at the Arden Theatre.

Yes, at one point the intriguing American mentalist was spinning his wheels and walking around in circles trying to locate his evening's fee.

The most well-known feat of the master mentalist's show is a cheque test. He asks an audience volunteer to hide his fee for the evening while he is escorted off stage. If he cannot find the paper, he forfeits his fee.

In the tens of thousands of performances over the years, he's sacrificed it nine times. His most high-profile surrender was at a New Zealand arena show. The fee was $51,000.

"They donated the fee to a hospital and they named a wing after me. But it's no fun losing your fee and it's a hell of a way to make a living," laughed Kreskin.

He was escorted backstage by four volunteers, including Citytv's Ryan Jespersen, while a committee of six trolled the auditorium space hiding his fee.

When Kreskin returned, he selected one of the volunteers who'd hidden the paper. Pulling out a white handkerchief, Kreskin asked the man to hold one end while he gripped the opposite edge.

Trying to decipher a mental scent, Kreskin circled the stage all the while pulling the handkerchief-connected volunteer with him through tiered audience seats. He drew a blank and tried a second committee volunteer. Again, no luck.

Whenever money is involved, it gets everyone's attention. By this time, the entire audience was holding its collective breath wondering if this would be forfeiture.

Kreskin was almost about to call it quits when he decided to try with a third volunteer. This time, he slowly — almost hesitantly — made his way to a woman sitting in the audience and asked to see her purse. She obliged. Still no cheque. The suspense spiked.

Kreskin then asked her to step into the aisle.

"Would it bother you if I were to ask you to remove your shoe," he politely asked.

She obliged and he located his fee under the insole.

"Boy it feels good to get this back," he beamed after the thunderous applause died down.

Charming flair

Completely charming with a dash of vaudevillian flair, Kreskin opened the two-hour 45-minute show with a series of card tricks correctly identifying the colour, suit and rank of over 30 cards.

In the back of everyone's mind was the big question, "O.K. How does he do this?"

He then shifted to more intriguing telepathic feats such as identifying names of audience members' loved ones.

At first, it seemed more like guesswork — the kind any Joe Schmoe can perform. After all, who doesn't know a Rob or a Karen or a Victoria if you think hard enough.

But when he tried to pronounce an awkward sounding word starting with "O" a woman mentioned it was a city in Croatia she visited.

"Can I ask who Arlene is," he asked.

"It's my mother," she replied.

"Does someone with the letter 'D' mean anything to you," Kreskin inquired.

"It was the baby I lost," she replied. Kreskin appeared genuinely stunned.

"May I try to get the name of the baby?

"Yes."

"Is it Danielle?"

"Yes."

At this point, most of the diehards were fairly convinced no trickery was involved.

Kreskin finished the last set with a few anticlimactic feats of hypnosis. Throughout the evening, he was in every way the perfect host — a delightful storyteller and a quick-witted comedian with an intuitive blend of naughty and nice.

His au revoir was simple: "To those who believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who don't, no explanation is possible. I won't say good-bye. I'll say 'to be continued.'"