The Amazing Kreskin

It's like a fire sale of time-tested magician's secrets: on The Amazing Kreskin, popular 70-something mentalist Kreskin, a frequent guest on television talk shows for decades, reveals some (though not all) of the tricks behind several of his most famous acts, while also exposing several classic fakeries used by mediums who conducted séances in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Working with a small but enthusiastic audience (including a few secret helpers) at New York's Friars Club, Kreskin shows viewers how to make a card deck look entirely red to one person and entirely black to someone standing alongside, shares a bit of sleight of hand that took him seven years to perfect (shifting a card from the bottom of a deck to the top by moving his thumb too swiftly for the eye to see), demonstrates the secret of making a table levitate, and does some nifty stuff with hypnosis and mind-reading (although he's less forthcoming about how he pulls off the latter). Kreskin encourages viewers to test the material presented here at parties and gatherings, which budding magicians will no doubt be inspired to do. Sure to be popular, this is recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)