Jack Trepel's Telephone Book Trick
By Jack Trepel

This is a method whereby a spectator is allowed to open a telephone directory at any place he chooses, other spectators signify a choice of name on that page, and the magician is able to know both the person chosen as well as the telephone number.

In the presentation the magician gives a telephone directory and a pencil to a spectator. The magician then picks up a slate and a piece of chalk and sits on a chair with his back toward the audience. First, he instructs the spectator to open the book at any place he chooses. He then asks for someone else to call out "left-right" or "right-left." example, right-left is named first. The magician asks the person holding the directory to look at the right hand page and call out the number so that anyone who wishes may check on each detail later. The magician then announces that as right was called first, that leaves left and that the person holding the directory should put his pencil at the top of the left hand column of the chosen page. The magician asks another person to call out a number. He suggests, in order to keep the experiment from becoming too lengthy, that the number should he from one to twenty-five. The spectator holding the directory is asked to count down the column until he comes to the name designated by that number. For example, if twelve is called, the spectator would count to the twelfth name. He is then asked to mark the name with a pencil, to read it to himself and, in order to impress it on his mind, to draw a circle around it. Next he is asked to read the telephone number to himself and likewise to circle it.

The magician rises, faces the audience and reminds the spectator who is holding the directory that he had a free choice of any page and therefore, as a matter of fact, a choice of any one of the thousands of names and telephone numbers.

The magician writes a name and number on his slate and holds it reversed, over his head, by the fingertips of one hand. The spectator holding the directory is asked to stand and read loudly, for all to hear, the name and phone number he has chosen. Before he is finished, the performer turns his slate toward the audience so that it may he verified that he has successfully predicted the correct name and number.

Method: Prior to the performance the magician cuts a segment from the bound side of the directory four inches long and a little over the width of one column. This gives the magician a small bound book, having the beginning of the right hand column of all the left hand pages, and the beginning of the left hand column of all the right hand pages. In a majority of the directories issued by the telephone companies, if not all of them, the pages are numbered at the center of the book. It will now be obvious that provided the spectator announces the number of the chosen page, the magician will be able to turn to that page, The spectator, seemingly, is given a choice by naming right-left or left-right, but it makes no difference which is chosen. In either instance there will be indicated the part of the page that the magician has in his miniature directory. Limiting the choice to a number under twenty-five again keeps the choice within the section held by the magician. In the directories with which I am familiar, a four inch segment of the book gives twenty-five names. It is advisable to check the number of names in the directory you will use and limit the choice of numbers accordingly.

The magician's small directory is attached to a length of elastic which goes around his body through either the belt loops of his trousers or the loops of his suspenders. The end of the elastic is looped around the binding of the book between the pages. At the beginning of the trick, the book is pushed inside the top of the trousers. After the directory has been given to a spectator, the magician picks up the slate with his left hand, the chalk with his right. A slate is more impressive, though a pad and pencil may be used. He turns his back to the audience by swinging to his left. In making this turn his left hand goes out so that the audience may see the slate, while his right hand goes in front of his body and removes the small directory. The magician then sits on the chair and puts the slate on his lap. Inside the directory is a small flat pencil. As soon as the magician locates the name and number in the directory, he writes both on the wooden frame of the slate. He then releases the directory and the elastic pulls it inside his coat as he stands. I use this pull because I found that any unusual movement on my part such as putting the directory in my pocket attracted unfavorable attention. There is plenty of time to locate the page while the spectator is deciding on the number between one and twenty-five, and also ample time to write down the name and number while the spectator is counting and encircling.

The magician then stands and impressively calls attention to the impossibility of guessing one name from so large a choice. He writes both the chosen name and number on the slate. disclosing to the audience that he has read their minds.

The reader is warned to be sure and watch his angles and to have no spectators seated on the sides of the room, where they may be in a position to see the method used for the trick.