The Mind Reader (Warner Bros.) (1933)

Page Eight The Fake MIND READER Racket By HARRY LEE (Author of ‘‘The Little Poor Man’’ and ‘‘High Company’’) AGLIOSTRO, Daddy of all Four-Flushers! Sire of the hordes of fake magicians, fortune-tellers and mind-readers! What Barnum is to the Big Top, Cagliostro the Gorgeous, is to the Side Show and the Spook Huddle! Cagliostro, immortalized not only by his own deeds and misdeeds, but by the pens of Goethe, Alexander Dumas and Thomas Carlisle! Magnificent Cagliostro, brewer of elixirs of hfe and death, love potions and restorers of perpetual youth! Fortune-teller supreme—predicter of lucky numbers in lotteries—transmuter of precious metals—originator of occult lodges—and all—‘‘for the good of mankind!’’ What a man! Ho hum! Like all heroes of fact and fiction, Cagliostro ‘‘seen his duty and done it.’’ And in the doing, saw to it that everybody else was properly done, and done brown, at that. His duty— as he saw it—was to boost his own personality to the busting point! To surround himself with all the awe-inspiring trappings and suits of mysticism! And—above all else—to go on record as possessor of the biggest collection of the ‘long green’ or it’s equivalent—in this spinning world: This—it may be suggested, is the goal of us all! But especially is it so among the pseudo mind readers, hand-writing experts, palmists, astrologists, miracle-number-slingers, occultists, spiritists, dream-interpreters, voodoo-workers, table-tippers, mesmerists, and the rest! They do like to have their hands crossed with silver! Simoleons, iron men, mazuma, bucks, or by whatever name the ‘filthy luere’ is called, it is their meat and drink—their alpha and omega! These suave gents of the turban and the magic wand, the blue flame, the erystal globe and the cabalistic word, are obviously not to be confused with the sincere physicians and laymen who labor to straighten out the mental tangles of suffering humanity, or those eminently worthwhile magicians, who frankly perform their feats of legerdemain, for the entertainment of their fellow mortals. It is the ‘‘racket’’ that arouses our righteous dander — that gets the ‘‘Trish’’ in us, on the rampage. But for all that, the fakirs are always with us—just as we always have the fakable! It is the old story of the fox and the goose, the guller and the gullable! “You’re so marvelous, Mr. Chandra!’’ “MADAME, YOUR HUSBAND IS UNTRUE... Even now he is...” As to the various means by which the clairvoyant state is attained by the ‘‘mediums,’’ many interesting facts may be learned. Some have gazed fixedly at the polished surface of metal—into a gold cup—at the varying hues of a bit of colored glass —into the lines of the hand—upon a deck of cards—into clear water or ink. The Dervishes attain their desired frenzy by interminable swirlings, the northern Shamans by incessant drumming; the Moors by deafening music, if music it may be called. ‘‘Deasel-walking’’—not jay-walking was the term used by ancient Highland Scots, as a satisfactory way of bringing on the trance. The seer tip-toed three times, facing the sun, around the person whose fortune was to be told. In India, ink was poured into the hand of the performer — or he might stare at molten lead, at wax which had been emptied into cold water—into the paten of the priest— or, best of all—at the shining blade of a sword, with which men — the more the merrier ——had been slain! Hidden treasure, pussy footing petroleum, Tllustrations in this story available in one unit. or wells of water, have been located — believe it or not — by ‘‘divining rods’? and the Bible records that Aaron’s trusty rod when thrown hastily on the golden floor of the palace of the Pharaoh, turned at once into an unpleasantly lively serpent. It is further related that when the servants of the royal household fol!lowed Aaron’s lead, and threw down their staffs, all, at once, were chaneed into lesser snakes, which Aaron's prize boa swallowed, without giving its owner time to say ‘Ed. Robinson!’ Travelers have described similar ‘miracles’ performed through the agency of natives at Cairo, Egypt. The serpents, so they explain, were hypnotized until they became rigid as walking sticks. When hurled to the ground, with the proper mystical words and smoothings—they came to life—shook their hips—and wiggled out of the picture, without further ado. A bit of Egyptian papyrus dat Order Cut No. 38 Cut 75e “We gotta get into the mind-readin,’ boss . . our game is all wet!” g CHANDRA THE GREAT gives his ‘shill? the wink as blonde girl surrenders to his ‘occult’? power! “YOU ARE TO CROSS WATER— I see a great ship rolling and pitching in, the oust: of the sea! I see a beautiful woman! She is... swept overboard! Now a dark man..... ed 3766 B.C. and now preserved in the British Museum, tells of magic doings which restored heads that had been severed from the necks of unhappy gentlemen — to their original owners, without inconvenience—and with no later complications. These strange mortals, who claim to act as eyes and ears for us, in our search for a solution of the mysteries which our saner selves know well, cannot be riddled — intrigue us! They capture our imagination! Many of us are familiar with Fraser’s ‘Golden Bough’’ — which recounts all the myths of humanity, from what we are pleased to call—taking our eue * is—‘‘the beginning.’”’ ~TNOSt way uv HOt Know the “Gold. en Bough’’ should go post haste to » the nearest library and take out a copy! Trrere+hox >a} ro tha tt.) __ brews—the oa waraings—the fetishes—tokens—totems—tom-toms — whieh may seem like so much tomfoolery to us now—but which have played so tremendous a part in the climb of humanity, from chaos — to — whatever it is we have arrived at! Even. tomorrow, friend, some cagey mind-reader m ay pitch his tent in your town, and set you to marveling! *“How in the wide world did he know all those things about me?’’ you'll probably be saying. ‘‘He said I would meet a dark man... and sure enough...’’ or ‘‘Yes, and I found it, just where he said it was. Isn’t he wonderful !’’ The Caeliostros still survive! Latest, and probably most amazing of his breed is Chandra the Great! Divulger of past, present, and future! Solver of all mysteries of love, marriage and money! Chandra the Great! His exciting life has at last been brought to the sereen, by First National as “‘The Mind Reader.’’ It comes. 16 the: Strand: 4s next. Chandra the Great is played with dynamie gusto by Warren William. Others who are cast in his support are Constance Cummings—as one of Chandra’s many feminine conquests —Allen Jenkins as his rough-andready aide—Clarence Muse, Donald Dillaway, Clara Blandick and Robert Greig. ‘‘The Mind Reader,’’ beside being a gripping dramatie romance, is a sensational expose of the tricks of those nice boys who are trying to get. along—and succeeding—in the grand, glorious and anefent mindreading racket! Mat 25c.