It would seem the internet is a buzz with the news of the passing of Kreskin, at least among his fellow magicians. I've had so many conversations about Kreskin of late with friends that his death comes even harder. In my head I was thinking he'd just continue to perform, regardless of age. I mean, when I saw him in person last, he was 74 or 75 and I thought to myself, "This guy is my hero!" I wish I had been able to tell him that. Why is he my hero. Because he was 74+ and still performing and doing what he loved and still connecting with audiences and still filling theaters! You have to admire someone like that.
A week or so ago, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about performers. My friend had this belief that performers are like drug addicts, they do what they do because of the HIGH they get when they perform. They become addicted to it and can't stop. I disagreed. Ok, sure maybe there are some who behave that way. But for me, for Kreskin, for folks like us, there is a reason we perform and it comes down to one word, purpose. It is our purpose in life. This we feel deep down in our bones and I would say there is more a satisfaction to performing, but not nessasarily a high. We do what we do because we love it, but also, it's who we are, it's who we were made to be. Maybe some would say, it's a calling, or whatever, but we are fulfilling our purpose in life.
Kreskin loved to perform. It showed in every moment of his program. He played piano in his shows, he told jokes in his show. He bantered with the audience. And he performed amazing feats of mentalism. On his social media accounts, his family had noted that Kreskin came up with his name as a combination of Harry Kellar and Houdini. I'm still trying to figure it out. I think perhaps, he was inspired by Kellar and Houdini, (as was I) and he chose the name Kreskin, because his real last name, Kresge, was not quite right. But with a slight alteration, it became Kreskin. I wonder if in his youth if he ever went by Kreskini?
The first time I saw Kreskin was in the 80s and Kreskin had dark hair. The place, a bit unusual, a dinner theater. He filled the place. I took a date and she had no concept of what a mentalist was. And honestly, beyond seeing Kreskin on TV many times, I had not really been exposed to mentalism very much. I had been into magic for many years, but always avoided mentalism because it seemed boring. The only one I knew who could do it well was Kreskin. Sure enough, on this night, he delivered. He started with a few card tricks, which surprised me. Then he slowly moved into brief mind reading and Q&A and more. It was all I expected and way way more.
The second time I saw Kreskin was in Atlantic City. His show was much shorter. It was basically only the first part up until the Q&A act and that was all. It was still great. My friend I was with swears that Kreskin read his mind.
I learned over the years that Kreskin's act was similar to Joe Dunninger's act. To what degree I was never quite sure. And Dunninger who came first, sort of created the mold in which everyone else would fall into afterwards. I know that so much of Dunninger's type of material was in books like Tarbell, Corrinda and more. There was even a company that sold mentalism material for many years, and I have it on good authority that Dunninger purchased items from them. I know this for a fact.
I'm sure Kreskin, and near every other mentalist of that time, modeled themselves to some degree after Dunninger. But George Joseph Kresge was a quirky individual. Quick with a humorous line. Frankly, he was a little funny looking, but not overly so. He was unique, so he made the material he was doing fit him. I don't know if Dunninger did the 'find a check bit' but if he did, and so did Kreskin, so what. It takes real SKILL to do that. Trust me, I've been working on it for a long time, lol. It's not easy. In fact it's easy to fail. And Kreskin lost his check 9 times during his career because he was unable to find it. In an interview he said one of those checks was for $50,000. Ouch. But consider the thousands of times he did find it. WOW. It takes real guts and skill to put your entire fee on the line for an effect in your show.
I remember watching Kreskin on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He was using a prop that nearly every magician has in their arsenal, and yet, he was using it in a completely different way. His routine allowed him to use it several times when the standard routine could only be done once. It was brilliant.
Then there was the time on Regis and Kathy Lee where he was reading minds from the audience and just destroying the place. Or the time I saw him on Mike Douglas Show and he was doing an outdoor demonstration of his 'Find The Check' routine.
In interviews, he avoided the word magic. He disassociated himself from magicians. But the truth was, he had a few close friends who where magicians. And he probably had a lot more not so close friends who were magicians. He didn't go to magic conventions, he was very careful back in the day if he went into a magic shop. He'd make an appointment and be sure he could visit by himself. And he'd buy a ton of stuff. I get the impression, magic was still very much a hobby, even though mentalism was his thing.
They made a movie about him which, I like and yet don't. It's called The Great Buck Howard and John Malkavich plays the Kreskin character. He's spot on. But Buck Howard has a real arrogance about him, where I never got that impression from Kreskin. Maybe behind the scenes in real life??? But from folks I talk to, everyone has said how kind and charming he was. I think he was not all too different from his on stage persona, maybe toned down slightly.
Kreskin was a go getter. I've seen two numbers given out as to the number of shows he performed in his lifetime. 25,000 and 27,000. I'm opting for the 27,000 because let's face it, once you hit 20,000 all bets are off. I have a friend who owns a theater and Kreskin was performing about 60 miles away in another town. Kreskin called my friend and said, "Hey while IM in the area, would you be interested in having me do a show at your theater?" Go getter. I've heard a number of stories now, and I really want to hear more about Kreskin. Such a fascinating person.
It makes me sad that Kreskin has passed, but that's me being selfish. Im sad, because I wont have a chance to see him perform again. George Kresge had a wonderful career and a long life. I'm sure he had his highs and lows and yet, in the publics mind, HE was the most famous mentalist of our time. Kreskin reigned supreme for a long long time. And now there is a void. There are lots of mentalists, some incredible ones like Banachek, some exceptionally creative like Max Maven, some that deserve the moniker 'The Amazing... like Darren Brown, ' but no one with the kind of fame that he had in his day. Kreskin was the King!
