By Gillian Brunette
World-renowned mentalist the Amazing Kreskin will be stopping in Huntsville for one performance during his whirlwind Ontario tour, courtesy of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts.
George Joseph Kresge Jr., better known as the Amazing Kreskin, takes the Algonquin Theatre stage on Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. Considered the Nostradamus of the 20th century, with a showman’s flair, a comedian’s wit and capacities of a bonafide mentalist, Kreskin is sure to dazzle his audience.
Kreskin was born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1935 and became popular on North American television in the 1970s. He was inspired to become a mentalist by Lee Falk’s famous comic strip Mandrake the Magician, which features a crime-fighting stage magician.
From 1971 to 1975, his television series, The Amazing World of Kreskin, was broadcast throughout Canada on CTV and distributed in syndication in the United States. The series was produced in Ottawa, at the CJOH-TV studios. An additional set of episodes was produced in 1975, billed as The New Kreskin Show.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Kreskin came to prominence again through several appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Last Call with Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Larry King Live and CBS and NBC news. He continues to appear annually on CNN to give his New Year’s Day predictions for the coming year.
Kreskin teaches classes for law enforcement groups which focus on psychological methods such as jogging lost memories through relaxation techniques, or detecting lies through body language and voice inflections.
The roots of Kreskin’s abilities can be traced to a simple childhood game. While trying to find a hidden object on the verbal hints of “hot” and “cold,” he discovered he could locate the object without the verbal communication if the person who hid it concentrated on its location. From this and other exercises, Kreskin gradually developed a telepathic-like sensitivity.
“I do not call myself a mind reader, because that implies I can totally penetrate the process of the human brain. I prefer to describe myself as a thought reader,” Kreskin said. For over four decades, the Amazing Kreskin has dramatized the unusual power of the human mind.
AMAZING: Kreskin delighted Huntsville fans at his Feb. 6 performance in the Alqonquin Theatre. Here, he is being assisted on stage by Huntsville Festival of the Arts board members Jenny Cressman and Bruce Gowan (on right), along with two volunteers from the audience. [Photo by Jon Snelson.]
On stage and television, he seeks to reveal the thoughts of audience members, plant suggestions in fully aware subjects and perform feats of extraordinary mental projections. As one of the highlights of his stage show, he regularly asks to have his paycheque hidden anywhere in the premises. If he fails to find it, he will forfeit his fee.
Kreskin, who has performed for royalty and presidential families, has made well over 500 television appearances, most recently during the 2009 Gemini Awards alongside Jason Priestley.
Tickets for the Amazing Kreskin are $28 for adults and $15 for youth under 18, plus GST, and are available by visiting the Algonquin Theatre box office, by calling 789-4975 or online at www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca.
For more information on Kreskin, visit his website at www.amazingkreskin.com.
