Visualization. See it for yourself.

You don’t go far into any self-improvement study without bumping into the topic of visualization; and it’s kid brother affirmations. Strictly speaking the Fourth Way doesn’t emphasis the art of visualization particularly. It is more involved with self-study and the recognition of what already is and which of your three brains is functioning at any given moment.

The general literature of metaphysics and in particular the ‘New Age’ is littered with references to visualization. I use the word littered advisably because most of it is garbage. The biggest mistake that beginners often make is confusing visualization and affirmation with repetition. Like most things in life it is better to do something once and do it right than to keep on doing it wrong.

The true nature of visualization is to create/visualize something clearly the way you want it to be and then leave it embedded in your subconscious mind. Once you can ‘see’ it clearly then leave it well
and truly alone. For God’s sake let go of it with your conscious mind
or the mental brain will never stop messing with it and changing the image and checking up on the progress. Nothing will slow down progress faster than a non-stop progress report.

The reason for eliminating words in the first place and using visual imagery is because this is the language of the emotional brain. The difference in power between the emotional and mental brain is fairly profound when it comes to changing any future situation. Check out the difference between something you think and something you emotionally feel and you will see what I am getting at.

The toughest part of this process is that your third brain (or the instinctive/moving brain) will be very anxious to do what it usually does and back up your intellectual center/brain in spite of the fact it usually doesn’t work. Visualize the outcome you want and then spend a few moments in your inner world basking in the glorious feeling of it having happened. Then you can let your emotional center/brain get on doing what it does best.

The man with magic markers

If you have ever visited the Magic Castle in Hollywood you have admired this man’s work even if you can’t quite place the name. In fact I am fairly willing to bet that 95% of the visitors the Castle receives have never heard of Ted.

I hope I captured your interest with my snappy opening paragraph because there isn’t a lot that is flashy in my memories of Ted Salter. However in his quiet and unassuming manner Ted has left an indelible mark on the Castle with his wonderful portraits of magicians that grace the walls of our clubhouse.

In fact quiet and unassuming isn’t a bad way to begin describing Ted; then you could add kindly, gifted and multitalented. Ted was a successful freelance graphic artist who transplanted himself from England into a small friendly office on Highland Avenue in Hollywood.

A lover of all things theatrical, Ted was as pleased as punch to contribute his talent to the Magic Castle. Every now and then an 8X10 was sent to his office and a short while later he delivered one of his drawings to the upstairs office at the Castle to be added to the impressive collection that he had previously donated.



Ted was an artist in a wide variety of fields. His wife Eileen had accompanied Ted in many of his theatrical endeavors. They were the kind of couple who could not only create and write a musical production but they could build the scenery and perform it too.

My favorite ‘Salter Production’ was their annual New Years Eve Party. I write that title in capitals advisedly as this was no small event. I suspect they began work on it by February or March at the latest each year. It consisted of games, entertainment and enough excitement to fill half a dozen regular parties.

When you had the opportunity to visit the Salter's home on a less busy evening it would often end with Ted removing a picture (painted by him of course) from the wall and revealing a movie projector that lined up with the only blank wall in their home. You could then settle back and enjoy one of his collection of classic British and Hollywood movies. Ah, the joys of film in a pre-video era!

After the birth of my second daughter Ted asked me to drop around to his house. To my amazement he had built an incredible miniature theater for them. It was a prototype and he was donating the full design and blueprints to the ‘Mirth Maker’ magazine but he wanted to make sure it really worked!

Eventually Ted retired and they moved from Hollywood. Finally his original artwork ceased to arrive in the Castle office and one more special touch was missing from our unique clubhouse. Before he left Los Angeles though he had one more surprise for me. He built an amazingly intricate and beautiful dolls house for my daughters. It is still in our garage and every time I see it I remember with real affection Ted Salter. He was another of the unsung heroes that contributed to making the Magic Castle in its heyday such a special place.

Changing places with Mr. Fellows

Back in the very early days of the comedy club circuit I met Bob Fellows.
I was performing at the Laugh Stop in Newport Beach for a special magic night. As was usually the case in these clubs there was a tiny, primitive stage with neither wings or curtains. In fact there wasn’t even a backstage area. Much to my amazement when I arrived at the club I discovered someone setting up illusions onstage. Illusions in a comedy club!

I introduced myself to the performer and met Fellows for the first time.
I was very dubious about how any performer could perform illusions and a levitation on this stage, there just wasn’t enough room and the sight lines were impossible. I needn’t have worried the show went perfectly.

After the show I chatted with Bob and told him how impressed I was at the way he incorporated the illusions into the show. We joked with each other about our shows with me stating I would never, ever want to travel a big show. Bob looked at my tiny working case and said that he could never work with so few props. How wrong we both were!

The next time I ran into Bob was when Dick Foster was mounting his first production of “Spellbound” at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe. The show was just about ready except for the addition of a mind reader. Dick had looked at every mind reader in the business and didn’t think any of them were suitable. When he heard about the gap in the line up, Bob literally put together a mind reading show overnight that Foster thought was perfect. No wonder it was perfect for the show it had been designed for it! The mind reading was a huge success and opened a new chapter in Bob’s career.

I had graduated meanwhile to producing and performing magical extravaganzas for the corporate market. I acted as MC and then added an illusionist and a manipulative act to complete the bill. Before to long I was thinking about adding an illusion or two to my repertoire. One day, out of the blue, the phone rang and on the other end of the line was Bob Fellows who asked me if I wanted to buy his illusion show. He was now performing his mind reading show as the heart of a highly successful corporate seminar. The idea behind the seminar was to expose cults and the way they were constructed. In order to demonstrate how this was done Bob created a cult from the audience using his psychic powers.

I thought about the offer for a second or two and said yes. Two days later I was the owner of a full illusion show. The props were delivered to my garage and the deal was done except for one thing, I had no way to transport them. Two days later Bob phoned up saying he didn’t need his van anymore would I like to buy it? You bet I would! In a flash the transposition was complete and I had a van full of props and Bob was traveling with a wireless microphone and a tiny working case!

Bruce Cervon: The King of Cool

When I first met Bruce Cervon, in the 70’s I found him just a little intimidating. For a start there was his act; which was about as perfect as any close-up I had ever seen. Then there was the classic Cervon cool. He pretty much made Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry look like an awkward high school kid. I was however pleased when I was booked to perform with him at a promotional event in a Los Angeles saving and loan bank.

Much to my surprise Bruce was not performing close up magic but was hosting and performing in the stage show. The opening of the show featured two dancing assistants who flourished silks that turned into canes as they shouted, “Here’s Bruce Cervon!” Much to my surprise Bruce was a superb stand up performer. Not only did he perform a couple of illusions including a tip-over trunk, but he also floored me with one of the most commercial comedic stand up routines I had ever seen. The effect he performed was a slick blend of the 6 Card Repeat/Cards to Pocket. His performance also featured a variation on the Kapps notes that seemed totally impossible to me: and I had learned the trick from Fred Kapps himself!

During the course of the afternoon Bruce and I began to chat and we discovered we had a mutual interest in music and our rather extensive record collections. Bruce suggested I drop by one afternoon to explore the gems in his collection. I happily agreed.

I ended up spending quite a few afternoons at Bruce’s home and enjoyed listening to his erudite and entertaining run down of American popular music. One thing the two of us never did was talk about magic. I guess many people lucky enough to spend time with Bruce would dream of coming away with a new double lift. I was overjoyed to leave his home having discovered Mose Allison. The album of Mose that Bruce gave me is still in my collection along with many others I have acquired over the years!

A few months later I was booked on another ‘Savings & Loan’ show with Bruce but this time we were joined on the engagement by Scottish master magician Ron Wilson. I told Ron about the mysterious manner in which Bruce could perform the Blank Paper to Dollar Bills without any of the usual folding or covering of the paper. I was hoping to find out how it was accomplished this time.
When Bruce performed the trick we were both watching intently. He fooled us both completely. There were six more shows and Ron and I managed to watch the trick six more times from six different angles and positions. We went up to the second floor of the bank building and watched, we stayed backstage and watched and by the end of the engagement we were no wiser to Bruce’s methods.

To be honest I still have no idea how he does that trick but that’s Bruce Cervon for you, as close to perfection as any magician ever need to be.

Fogel Dodges the Bullet.

I think that the greatest showman that I have witnessed performing magic was Maurice Fogel. Maurice or to give him his correct name ‘The Amazing Fogel’ was a giant in the world of mentalism and magic. Maybe not in stature, but definitely as a performer, Fogel towered above all but a handful of magicians.

I first saw Maurice perform in England at the Conway Hall. Later on I got to meet him, work with him and enjoy his lively company as a houseguest. One day I suddenly realized we had become friends and I felt very proud. He taught me a great deal.

If I had to pick the one piece of magic that Maurice performed that displayed his formidable powers as a showman it would be his bullet catch routine. He turned it into an exercise in showmanship.

In typical Fogel style, Maurice didn’t perform the bullet catch like any other performer. To begin with he didn’t actually catch the bullet between his teeth or in a plate. He very astutely came up with a plan to take a dramatic effect and make it even more theatrical.

Fogel realized that the key to the trick was the danger involved in watching a performer risk his life by having a gun aimed at him and then fired. Maurice upped the odds by using six rifles in his routine. Five rifles contained genuine bullets and one had no bullet in it.

The rifles were mixed up and one of them was chosen at random (Yeah, in a magic act!) and this rifle was to be fired directly at Fogel’s heart. The remaining rifles were aimed at plates on a rack behind Maurice. Catch the subtlety there because the finale (Or should I say Prestige--lol) of the effect consisted of an earsplitting volley of rifle fire and the destruction of 5 plates clattering onto the stage.

Best of all was the way Maurice sold the trick to his audience. Once the effect was set up and the audience was ready to see whether he would survive the ordeal was when the genius of Fogel the showman took over.

Just as the rifles were aimed at Fogel and the tension was mounting to a high pitch, he would abruptly stop the action and step forward to address the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen” he would say, “It occurs to me that in a few moments I may be lying dead or dying on the floor, unable to hear your reaction. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask to hear your applause now?”

Needless to say the audience responded with a wild round of applause. “Thank You” said Fogel, “Then if that was your applause for a brave and gallant looser, may I assume that if I should succeed then the applause would be twice as loud!”

No sooner had the applause and laughter died down before Fogel returned to the original drama and the firearms were re-aimed at him.
After a short countdown the rifles roared into life, plates crashed to the ground and Fogel staggered! He just staggered just long enough to cause the more sensitive spectators to gasp before Maurice recovered and took his applause.

Needless to say when the audience realized that Fogel was unharmed their applause raised the roof. That was the kind of brilliant showmanship that put Maurice in a league of his own. No wonder he was known as the Amazing Fogel!

Venice is a great place to hide out.

When I left Copenhagen I was transported to Venice where I hung loose for a while and worked on the translation of the recent notes.
I also created the magic reports that were transmitted. Some of the stories were actually events that happened to Nick Cosmos at the Magic Castle in the 70s.

Nick was a very good sport and even gave me some clips of his punk magic show to put onto Youtube. Many people still remember Cosmos and Costello from that era. If you never saw Cosmos perform his punk chicken hypnosis it is worth checking out. I stole it from him and used it in my act for several years.

I am going to file my next postings with particular reference to those Castle years in the 70s, when I have done that I will return to the G. material and what has been revealed now that the code has been broken. We will ‘unbury the dog’ together and I will tell you the full story about how it was the dog at Christiania that helped defuse the ‘surprise’ that the IA had to clear up.

I am now heading to Greece to see if the fires there are part of the
Scheme or just a flook.

Kung Fooled.

So, here I am at 1:30am sitting in the bar at the Intercontinental Hotel in Toronto. In one hand I am holding a deck of cards while my right hand is stretched out perpendicular to my body. My right index finger is inside the mouth of a grizzled, gray-haired man. Every time I try to remove, it I feel two rows of very sharp teeth bite into the flesh at the base of my finger. I have been stranded in this position for nearly thirty minutes. Maybe I had better start this story at the beginning!

Over the years I have been hired as a magical advisor on dozens of projects. I was the man who turned Kenny Rogers into “The Gambler” for his TV movie. In three weeks I made Sid Caesar look like he had been performing magic for a lifetime! I got a call from my friend Michael Sloan who said that he wanted me to work with him on an episode of “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.” Michael was the executive producer/writer of the series and one of the few stand-up people I have met in the television industry. We had worked on projects before and I was delighted to get the call. A month later I flew from Los Angeles to Toronto and the madness began.

One of the regulars on the show was Robert Lansing who, aside from being a great actor, was a regular at the Magic Castle in its early days and a particular friend of Dai Vernon. Lansing had cancer and knowing his time was limited Michael had written a special episode that would allow Robert to fulfill a lifelong dream. Bob wanted to perform Vernon’s “Twisting The Aces” routine on camera. One of my jobs was to work with him and build up his confidence a little. I did this in my usual manner; which was to be half magician and half psychologist. Bob actually did the trick perfectly but felt very uneasy, as his hands seemed too dry for his comfort. I eventually had a plan to ease this problem; I had a small jar of Burt’s Bees Honey Lip Balm in my case and I gave it to Bob and with a total lack of honesty informed him that it was the very same preparation that Vernon used on his hands before working with playing cards. Lansing was very impressed and immediately rubbed a small amount onto his hands.
Moments later he performed a perfect version of “Twisting” and there was no more talk of his hands being dry!

Working with Bob Lansing was a delight and a privilege; however there was a trial by fire waiting for me that I will never forget if I live to be normal. This was getting to work with the wonderfully eccentric David Carradine. This brings me back to my strange position at the bar in the Hotel Intercontinental. The early part of the evening had consisted of a leisurely dinner with Lansing and Sloan listening to Bob relate stories about his friend and magical mentor Dai Vernon.
We arrived back at the hotel and decided to have one last glass of chardonnay at the bar. That was when Carradine arrived! He joined us at our booth and said, “Who is this?” while staring at me with a fairly active dislike. Sloan introduced me and explained that I was to be a guest star in the episode and also magical advisor. Carradine’s eyes had never left my face but his look of active dislike turned into something even stronger. I never saw a look like that again until his movie “Kill Bill” was released years later. Unknown to me, one of Carradine’s best friends was Patrick Culliton the magician/actor and Houdini expert.

David then explained that if there was going to be a magical advisor on the show it was going to be his friend Pat and not Sloan’s friend Nick. There followed a brief but intense discussion between the two men about the respective merits of Culliton and myself. Since the episode began filming the next morning the outcome was never in doubt but it was certainly a little unnerving as far as I was concerned.
During a brief lull in the debate I took the opportunity to smile at Carradine and say, “I’m really looking forward to working with you, Mr. Carradine.” David looked at me without a hint of a smile and said, “We’ll see about that!” It wasn’t a great start, all things considered, but it got worse. Michael Sloan then said, “Nick, do a card trick for David, show him your chops.” Now I have one card trick that I always perform when I need to impress people. During this trick the cards do everything but walk up and down the table whistling the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” I did my trick and then casually left the cards on the table. Carradine grabbed the cards and growled, “That’s a trick deck!”
He searched through the cards and discovered to his surprise that it was indeed a regular deck of cards. I looked him in the eyes and said, “The cards are the real thing and so am I. That’s why I’m here, I’m the best.” I had already decided that the only way to deal with Carradine was to meet him toe to toe without ever backing up.

David looked at me and said that I seemed to know my stuff and that maybe he would even let me do a couple of hand shots for him. He removed a large jade ring from his finger and said he wanted to see if it fitted. It did fit, however it was rather too snug and I had trouble removing it from my finger. “I’ll do it.” Said Carradine raising my hand to his face and then my finger disappeared into his mouth. I don’t know if you have ever sat in a hotel bar with your finger stuck in a celebrity’s mouth but it is rather strange to say the least. Every time I started to remove my finger his teeth clamped back into it. At this point I was wishing to God that it were Pat Culliton sitting there instead of me. Finally he released my finger and said, “I don’t know who you are, but I will. I am going to run a make on you and find out every last thing there is to know about you.” I stared back into his eyes and said, “Start with my dad, he was in the navy.” We then all went our separate ways and I returned to my suite and fell asleep. I was woken from my sleep at 4:00am by the ringing of the bedside phone. I answered it and heard a gruff voice on the other end say, “OK son of a navy man, I will find out everything!” then the phone went dead.

The shooting went surprisingly smoothly and in spite of his many eccentricities I realized that Carradine was the ultimate professional. When David was on the set he liked to make it appear that he was unprepared and unsure of what was happening next. This was far from the case and in fact not only did Carradine know his own lines but everyone else’s lines as well. One of David’s favorite things to do on set was to secretly touch off flash paper with one of his ever-present oval cigarettes. He seemed to really enjoy the resulting explosion. I use the word explosion advisedly, as David liked to fire up huge wads of flash paper that often resulted in the smell of burning flesh permeating the air. I hatched a plan and took off for the magic store where I purchased enough flash paper, flash cotton and flash string to arm a third world nation. The next day I greeted Carradine on the set with a cheery, “I have some extra flash paper. I thought you might have a use for it.” Carradine’s eyes lit up like a child at Christmas or, more to the point, like a pyromaniac at a house warming party! The next day I introduced David to flash cotton and it was a huge success. The next day I trotted out the flash string and explained to him that if you had a wad of flash cotton concealed in your hand with a length of the cotton hanging down it would act like a fuse. David’s eyes sparkled intensely and he quickly corrected me, “No, it IS a fuse!” From that moment on we became the best of friends.

I can honestly say that David Carradine is one of the most unique and extraordinary men I have ever worked with and he still had a surprise in store for me. On the final day of shooting in the middle of a scene David jumped up onto the stage set and addressed the audience of extra’s crowded on the set. In a dramatic manner that made Max Maven seem understated, David gave an impromptu mind reading performance for the entire audience and showered them with juicy details about me. Really inside material that I was shocked he knew!
With a flourish David concluded his performance by asking a spectator to reach into his jacket pocket and inside was a piece of paper with my mothers maiden name written on it. Game, set and match to Carradine as I was left speechless. I puzzled about how he discovered all this information but Carradine just smiled his Kwai Chang Caine smile and refused to tell me. He had really surprised me and fooled me and wasn’t ready to give away his methods!

Postscript.
About fifteen years after the events described I was attending a ceremony dedicated to my very dear friend Billy McComb. After the Ash ceremony took place all those present adjourned to a local pub for bangers and mash and English beer. As we were eating our food and trading stories about our favorite Irishman I noticed an intense looking gentleman sitting on his own at the side of the room. Since he was one of the few people in the room that I didn’t recognize I went over and introduced myself. To my delight it was Patrick Culliton and the two of us found a quiet corner and drank a couple of pints of beer together. Needless to say the conversation focused on our mutual relationship with David Carradine. Suddenly Patrick became very animated and remembered back to an early morning call from Carradine who asked him to run a ‘make’ on me for his mind reading stunt. “How did you know all that really personal information about me?” Then the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. “Oh, that was easy.” Said Pat “All I did was phone McComb!” We smiled and toasted Billy with our beers. As always, without even being there McComb had the final word in clearing up a puzzle.

Back in Circulation.

For those of you who have noticed my absence in the last twelve months I can only say one thing. Things change. The Isle de Edona became something of a hot spot for reasons that will become obvious if you follow the world news and read between the lines. I was moved back to Europe after a rather breathless exchange in the center of Copenhagen.


I am now traveling between Europe and the Asian countries but reporting back to a new HQ in Las Vegas. I will try and give you more information about the matter in future reports.

I want to share a few of the articles that I wrote during this time and were posted on the web. There is a secondary layer of information within these pieces that may be apparent to you if you have studied ‘All & Everything.”

Stay tuned and check out the changes I have made to the website NickLewin.com as it does contain a key or two.
Ciao for Now.