Kreskin's Amazing Life

One of the most successful mentalists of all time passed away this month at the age of 89. The Amazing Kreskin once humorously remarked that he would retire "exactly 10 days after I drop dead."

For over seven decades, Kreskin has been known for his oversized glasses, even larger smile, and enthusiastic handshake. A flamboyant character, Kreskin was wildly popular performing mentalism feats on late-night TV chat shows and in theatres across the globe. He blurred the line between what was real and what was a trick, yet as his retirement line proves, he never took himself too seriously. 

Born and raised in New Jersey, his parents called him George Kresge Jr., but The Hollywood Reporter called him “the world’s most famous mentalist.”

Kreskin accepted the description of a mentalist, but sought a better way to describe his work. In his book, The Amazing World of Kreskin, he suggests that he achieved his feats through mere suggestion. 

Nonverbally, I direct them [people] to a single name in a phone book. Out of the thousands, they select it correctly. Through a kind of telepathy, I am often successful at thought perception.

Mentalist, "Thought Perceptor," or whatever people called the things he did, Kreskin was very successful at them.

Following his passing, everyone from Derren Brown and Meir Yedid to former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho paid homage to the legend. 

There was a lot of material available when researching this article. A master at self-promotion, he created plenty of headlines throughout his career.  

Kreskin claimed to have read over one million minds during his career while still performing hundreds of shows in a calendar year as recently as 2019.

He wrote more than 20 books on the mind and how it works. 

Kreskin claimed that when not writing, he would read four books a night from his library of 8,000 books.  

He also assisted the police in 86 crime cases.

Don't picture The Amazing Kreskin riding in the passenger seat with the New Jersey State Police troopers. Kreskin would meet with witnesses who were struggling to remember the full details of incidents. He would help them "crystalize" their memories, as he told the Talk is Jericho podcast.

His whopping 88 performances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson were widely publicized throughout his career. Carson coined the moniker "The Amazing" after seeing Kreskin perform on the show, and the name stuck. 

Kreskin was a popular guest for everyone from David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon to Merv Griffin and Michael Douglas. Not just for his impressive routines but because he would leap from the chair, giggling, and playfully pat the host's arm when they cracked cheesy and cliché jokes. 

He was warm, playful, but mind-blowingly impressive. 

Magicians will, of course, identify the feats Kreskin performed on TV chat shows as tricks of the trade. But Kreskin was keen never to bill his routines as magic tricks.

Kreskin was strict in pointing out that his act was nothing supernatural, preferring to describe it as "thought reading" or "high sensitivity." He was also keen to point out he wasn't using hypnosis. He wrote profusely that he believed people under hypnosis were just following along with suggestions.

Still, he never indicated to the audience that he was often performing magic tricks. Kreskin even offered $50,000 to anyone who could prove he used stooges or confederates. He was never forced to pay up. 

Derren Brown praised Kreskin as a "proper legend" and "true gentleman." Brown encouraged people to seek out The Amazing Kreskin's TV spots on YouTube. Who are we to argue?

Brown shared on social media that he even requested Kreskin sign a copy of his ESP board game, which was released in 1966. 

But this board game was the spark for Penn Jillette's long-held disdain for Kreskin. A youthful Jillette purchased the board game after seeing Kreskin perform feats of science he believed to be legitimate on TV. 

Years before he became arguably one of the most successful magicians in the world performing with Teller, Jillette would conduct scientific experiments with his family nightly. They seldom worked, but the Jillette family enjoyed the process. 

Jillette claimed he was "heartbroken" when he discovered a book by Joseph Dunninger that revealed the feats he'd seen Kreskin perform as legitimate science were mere magic tricks. He even blames this experience for him going from a straight-A science student to flunking the subject. 

Kreskin's most famous routine was a key part of the film The Great Buck Howard, which was inspired by Kreskin's life. A committee would escort Kreskin from the theatre before his fee for the show was hidden somewhere in the auditorium. 

Kreskin would then attempt to find the cheque. If he failed, he would forfeit the full fee. He claimed to have lost 11 times out of 3,000 attempts. His fee was reported to be $51,000.  

As a child, Kreskin says family members would hide a coin in the house,, and he'd have to find it. The only clues allowed were whether he was "hot or cold" in terms of proximity to the location. Finding the coin for the first time, Kreskin says, inspired his career: that and the comic Mandrake, The Magician. 

The fee-finding routine was a huge talking point throughout his career. The Great Buck Howard used its failure to perfectly reflect the moment the performer begins to fall from their prime. 

There are lessons for all magicians in The Amazing Kreskin's TV appearances. Both in how to handle an interrupting host warmly and in the hands-off approach he takes to mentalism. Plus, his exuberant claims are worth considering as he was an expert in blurring the lines of what is and isn't real. 

You might think it would be difficult to know how to end an article about The Amazing Kreskin. But we can do so easily with the exact phrase he used to close all of his shows: "This is not goodbye, but...to be continued."

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