by James Randi
By the way, Mr. Spraggett, I waited around for “an hour” after the show, and you didn’t have a solution. Two days later, there was still no communication from you. It has been more than a year now, and I haven’t heard from you.
My reader, I’m sure, can see how directly this ties in with the Geller matter. Alan Spraggett is a highly respected investigator of the psychic, but simply lacks the expertise to confront possible trickery and expose it. The pros will get him, not with the limited list of tricks that kids buy out of catalogs in the belief that they are the last word in heavy prestidigitation, but with the real secrets that only get trotted out for the do-or-die occasions. And not every magician is going to be able to act in consultation on these matters. It takes a particular bend of mind for this work, and I’ve got it.
Uri Geller has it, too.
GELLER’S MAJOR AMERICAN TV APPEARANCES
The accused stood before the magistrate, convicted of a crime on the evidence of eye-witnesses. “Your honor,” he exclaimed in astonishment, “how can you believe these five rascals who saw me do it, when I can produce a hundred people who didn’t?”
—Adapted from The Supernatural?
by J. N. Maskelyne
By far the most prestigious of all American television shows for an act to appear on is the NBC “Tonight Show,” hosted by Johnny Carson. My own shots with Carson have been worth more than I can estimate, and people who have never seen me on any of the hundreds of other shows I’ve appeared on have seen me on “Tonight.” So it was no wonder that Geller’s people aimed for a shot like that and hoped it would be a great victory for the cause. It proved to be the greatest comeuppance that Geller ever faced outside of Israel.
Geller’s men had bullied and wheedled all sorts of loose conditions from other television shows, but when it came to this one they faced a host who would brook no nonsense from those claiming supernatural or divine powers. And the staff were with the boss: There would be no fakery except in the name of fun and entertainment. In spite of this stand by the Carson folks, perhaps Geller figured they put on that costume just for the public and that Johnny Carson would pretend to be blind to any deception he planned.
I was well assured that Carson would do no such thing, and in refusing to cooperate in such deception he set an example that equally well-informed hosts of other shows have failed to adopt. During an appearance a few days after the Time magazine article was on the stands, I chatted with Carson on the air and during the commercial break. He went into details about one young “mentalist” whose manager had sold him as the real goods and told me that he’d assured both the performer and his manager that if he, Carson, knew how the thing was done he would expose it. And he did just that. We haven’t heard from that chap in some time now.
So when the Carson people reached me and asked for advice on how to decently control the props during Geller’s stunt, I gave them a simple set of rules that they followed carefully.
With a number of immediate engagements of my own at the time, I was unable to jump to Los Angeles to supervise the precautions for the Geller appearance. Besides, I felt that if Geller discovered I was in the area he would get cold feet and do a walk-off. I didn’t want that, but I didn’t want him to get away with the tricks either. The Carson staff were just about the only people whom I knew I could trust to really follow suggestions about control conditions, and I spoke to them at length on the phone about it.
First, I told them they should get the spoons, watches, nails, keys, and film cans just as they would be asked to do by Geller. They were to be new items, previously unused if possible, and were to be purchased in just the quantity required—no extras or duplicates were to be available. Geller and his apostles were not to be shown the props before the show, except for a minute or two at a controlled distance of five feet. They were not to be allowed to touch or handle any props for any reason. They could not be left alone near them; in fact, the props were to be locked up in a prop cupboard before Geller and company got to the studio. Above all, Shipi Shtrang was not to be allowed in the backstage area. The props were to be set on stage in a position remote from Geller’s entrance point, and while he was onstage with them—particularly when the camera was not on him (as during commercial breaks)—Johnny was to keep his eyes glued to Geller and the props.
All these rules were adhered to—the last to such an extent that I swear Carson almost got bug-eyed staring at the hardware.
AND THE RESULT WAS THAT DURING GELLER’S APPEARANCE ON THE NBC ‘TONIGHT SHOW’ ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED.
Well, not quite. When an actor on the show was directed by Geller to pick a spoon and caress it, there was a very’ slight difference between that spoon and the other two the staff had supplied to be used. It almost seemed like a partial “win” for Geller.
But luckily I had videotaped the show, and in replaying the tape I was delighted to see the evidence staring at me:
There were three silver spoons placed in a row on the table. The center one, in a close-up “pan” of the camera over the props, showed a slight difference before Geller even started talking with Carson. And it was the center spoon that Geller told the actor to pick up. Need I say more?
After the show, I called the prop man at NBC-TV. He told me of how they were in stitches watching Geller during the commercials. At that time, the band plays for the benefit of those stations across the country that merely put up slides with ads on them. The guests and Carson are not shown, and they are not “miked,” so cannot be heard. Geller was literally stomping with all his might on the floor in time with the music, and it was obvious that he was trying to jostle the aluminum film cans. Such jarring can make the one with the substance (water, in this case) stand out from the others. A bit of experimentation proves this. In fact, the trick is now on the market in magic shops, in a dozen variations.
But Carson admonished Geller at that point, and though Geller bent down to the cans and tried everything short of blowing them over, he was unable to determine anything about them. I wonder if the cans had been made skid-proof by applying something to their bottoms?
Also, Geller showed no interest in trying to deduce the drawing they had sealed up in an envelope for him. A good decision, since it had been sealed away under lock and key in the briefcase of Fred DeCordova, the producer, who was seated at the foot of a television camera, as is his wont.
Geller blew it—and I think I know why. And now so do you.
I really can’t figure Mike Douglas. I must have appeared with his show a dozen times now, and we’ve always had an excellent rapport. Mike has done me up in a straitjacket and hoisted me over the streets of Philadelphia from a crane. He has played straight man for my magic tricks and even worked as a confederate a few times. I’ve caused him moments of some considerable apprehension, too, as when he and Jackie Gleason locked me up in a combination safe on one program.
But, because he’s such a nice guy, Mike is unable to knock anyone.
When Geller made his first appearance on the Douglas show, Mike was understandably deceived. He had no reason to disbelieve the claim of Geller and took him as he found him. The nail-bending tricks Geller did with guest Tony Curtis (see Figures 1 and 2) were as usual, the nails being tossed about and handed around for examination—with one exception, of course—the nail that seemed to develop a bend in Tony’s hand.
Earlier, Hugh Downs had exhibited to the panel a key that Uri had bent prior to air time; then there was a sudden and obvious “edit” of the videotape, where the action took a sudden jump and the nail trick was in progress. I wondered about that defect in the tape, since edits in such shows are very rare, the producers wishing to maintain an “immediacy” that will keep the illusion of a live show. When I appeared on the show a few months later, I decided to ask about it.
Douglas and I were standing backstage in conversation, before making our entrance before the cameras. I brought up the subject of Geller and asked about what he had done on the show. One item s
urprised me: I was told that Geller had done the trick with the ten aluminum cans. I assured Mike that it hadn’t appeared on the aired version of the show, and he was quite surprised. Geller, he said, had tried the trick, but it had failed badly.
Then I remembered the edit. I told Mike that the can trick had been edited out, and he declared that his shows were never edited. A quick consultation proved that without Mike Douglas’s knowledge the segment showing Geller’s failure had been cut out!
FIGURE 1 (left). On a “Mike Douglas Show,” Geller holds up a previously unexamined nail that he has “bent” while it was held by Tony Curtis. The bend appears very slight.
FIGURE 2 (right). Note that, one second (28 video frames) later, Geller has raised his hand slightly and rotated the nail to produce the illusion of a greater bend. The illusion created is that the nail visibly bends. At this point in the performance, Geller declared, “It keeps bending, if you watch it very carefully!”
Douglas was annoyed at this disclosure. It seemed someone wanted Geller to look good. Was this another example of the bullying techniques of Yasha Katz to help preserve Uri’s image?
My appearance that day was to refute the Geller miracles. Before the show, I’d asked Roger Miller, the well-known musician, to select one cough drop from a box of assorted flavors without knowing the flavor of the one he’d selected and to seal it, wrapped in paper, in any one of a dozen aluminum film cans. He had already done so, when he received a visit from the associate producer in his dressing room. He was told to switch cans, so that there was no chance that I could know which was the right can. The whole set of cans was then covered up and locked away in a room, inside a locked metal filing cabinet. It stayed there until I went on the show.
This was a bit different from one episode on ABC-TV, where the producer, having given strict instructions to his secretary that Geller was not to be allowed to come near the cans, discovered this same young lady in her office with Geller poised over the cans, holding her hand! She explained that Uri was testing her psychic ability to find the right can—and she saw nothing amiss in that at all! I wonder if she wants to buy some lunar real estate
FIGURE 3 (left). On a subsequent Douglas show, a nail bent by Randi while in the hand of Roger Miller. Note the very definite bend.
FIGURE 4 (right). A moment later, Miller’s hand still holds the nail, this time beside a hotel key that bent in the hand of Jaye P. Morgan. Note the different amount of bend visible when the nail is presented from a different angle.
I had also asked Miller to make a drawing in the privacy of his closed dressing room, seal it in three envelopes, one inside the other, and keep it in his coat pocket until show time. He had done so, with great security procedures, again supervised by the associate producer.
On the set, Mike introduced me as a frequent visitor to the show who was claiming that he could duplicate the Geller tricks.
The cans were brought out, still covered, and in true Geller fashion I concentrated mightily, eliminating the cans one by one until only one remained. I asked Mike to open it, and inside he found the wrapped cough drop. All the others had been opened and found empty. Without my looking at what color the cough drop was, Mike popped it into his mouth, and I announced that I thought it was an orange one. I was right.
Then we moved on to the nails. They had supplied me with a box of ten-penny nails and we looked them over to find a couple of straight ones. Then there followed an exact duplication of the Tony Curtis nail trick, using Roger Miller this time. Jaye R Morgan showed us her hotel key, which I’d made bend while she held it in her hand.
We were about to get to the envelopes, when it came time to take a station break and then go outside to the street for a blindfolded-drive demonstration. I had given Mike and Roger a black-cloth blindfold lined with sheet aluminum and a heavy, double-layered black cloth bag, which they’d examined and tested thoroughly. The prop department had obtained some raw pizza dough and Mike jammed this into my eye sockets, then put the blindfold in place. The bag was then pulled over my head and tied around my neck with a length of rope. I was led to my car and I slid into the driver’s seat.
We had arranged to have pylons set up in the street as I was being blindfolded, with the personnel of the show standing in as human pylons as well. But just before Roger got away, I asked him, “Roger, the drawing you sealed up—was it a drawing of your own left hand?”
He was a bit stunned. “Yes. Yes, it was!” he replied, and hastened out to join the pylons as the bystanders laughed at his astonishment.
I put the car in gear, turned it around, and drove through the maze of a dozen pylons accurately. I had about one foot to spare between two of the human obstacles, but we all survived. I parked the car at the curb, and Mike removed the stuff from my head, helping me pick gobs of pizza dough out of my eyes as well.
It was the close of the program, and Mike commented to his audience, “Believe me folks, what this man has done is just impossible! We blindfolded him, and it’s just impossible!”
Well, almost, Mike. Almost.
FIGURE 5 (left). On the Douglas show Randi has pizza dough pressed onto his eyes by Mike, preparatory to driving his car.
FIGURE 6 (right). A previously examined and tested, opaque blindfold is strapped on next.
FIGURE 7 (left). A bag of double-layered black cloth—thoroughly tested by Roger Miller—is pulled over Randi’s head and tied about his neck by Mike.
FIGURE 8 (right). Randi drives his car while blindfolded between Roger Miller (left) and Mike Douglas (far right) after negotiating a maze of pylons and people standing in the roadway, then parks at the curb.
I must point out that what I did was a bit more involved than the blindfold stunt Geller does. Andy Tobias of New York magazine had reported that Geller had his scarf tied over his eyes several times until it was to his liking and he was able to get a chink to peek out of. All I’m really trying to prove is that a magician cannot only do as well but often much better. Anyone who has seen England’s David Berglas perform his sensational blindfold work will go away convinced that Berglas has another set of eyes in his fingertips.
FIGURE 9. Barbara Walters of the “Not for Women Only” show holds two spoons; the one in the foreground has been examined, the other has not. Note the distinct “bump” fracture where the bowl is riveted to the shaft (arrow). It is this spoon which is retained for bending. The bowl is already bent away from the handle more than that of the tested spoon.
FIGURE 10. Geller strokes the spoon, covering the fracture with his left hand. Note that he has grasped the tip of the spoon with his right hand, levering the bowl downward. The breaking has begun.
FIGURE 11. The spoon is displayed. Note that the breaking is taking place right where the “bump” fracture was located.
FIGURE 12. Now the spoon is effectively broken, held by Geller. It is holding together by the thin skin of plating, and is ready to tear loose.
FIGURE 13. The bowl of the spoon drops off as the plating gives way and it falls to the table (arrow).
Geller made another appearance on the “Mike Douglas Show” early in 1975 to plug his new book, My Story. At that time, he did the watch stunt and some key-bending took place either behind his body or when the commercial was on. And the kids who rushed up to him with bent keys weren’t very convincing.
Uri has very little left that hasn’t been exposed now. He’s run out of material.
But not out of disciples.
Barbara Walters is certainly one of the best-known persons in American television. She turns out a prodigious amount of work each year and has been exposed to more major personalities than almost any other media interviewer. So it was no surprise when she came upon the Israeli “superpsychic” on her “Not for Women Only” show for the NBC network. Geller worked his wonders on her and got predictable results: She was convinced.
Let us examine his “telepathy” test with her. Here are the exact words she used.
Barbara: “I ma
de a drawing before we went on the air, when Uri was not in the room. We’ve put it in—It’s in two envelopes, is it? (Turning off-camera for verification) I think —”
Uri: “Keep it in the book.”
Barbara: “Keep it in the book. It’s in two envelopes. No one has touched it but me. It’s sealed and it’s in a book. I did it about a half-hour ago.”
Hold on. Look back at that statement. Barbara has said, “No one has touched it but me,” yet she says earlier, “We’ve put it...,” and then she expresses doubt as to the number of envelopes! Obviously she was not a witness when it was sealed up. And whoever verified that there were two envelopes was obviously not in on all the handling, either, as we shall see. So there were a number of persons who handled the sealed drawing—or a packet that looked like the original!