BE MORE MELVIN
Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis – Melvin Powers
My ‘day job’ is as an editorial, brand and creative consultant. It’s no wonder, then, that this book appealed, thanks to its g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s hypnotically-on-brand photography and design, and our author’s penchant for creating his Own-Brand Products™.
Our hypnotist is Melvin Powers, a suave but shameless self-publicist who’s bringing some much-needed Hollywood glamour to the world of hypnosis.
Melvin self-published this book in 1953 – and, as we are constantly reminded via the back page, front matter and throughout, he’s produced a further six books about hypnosis in addition to an array of gadgets and gizmos.
This is not so much a book as a hypnotic shopping experience.
So, what do we know about Melvin? I can only tell you what he states in the book – Google yields only links to buy his works and rare wares. So. He’s a Hollywood-based “professional hypnotist” with 15 years of successful practice. If that is him photographed with his Hollywood-starlet model then he doesn’t say so.
He also claims to have had his own Hollywood TV show doing entertainment hypnosis, which is why I’m a bit stumped Google doesn’t know about him. But hypnotists never lie, do they? So, let’s go forth assuming this is all true!
First up, those photos! Mel has splashed the cash on seven gorgeous photos of hypnosis in action, which grace the opening pages. The (unnamed) model oozes ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ glamour, and the shots are expertly lit and staged.
It’s a classy, aspirational start.
This is a book about inducing hypnosis, which Melvin believes is “woefully neglected” in ‘scientific’ literature which predominately focuses on history and phenomena. He’s going to remedy that by showing us how to do hypnosis “properly” and “correctly”. Those words crop up continually; Melvin has unshakable confidence that only he is doing inductions the way they should be done, right down to the minute. (Literally: five minutes.)
Chapter one, ‘What Every Hypnotist Should Know’, advises on the character, integrity, confidence and classiness required of a hypnotist. In short, he describes himself – which, to be fair, is preciously the sort of self-belief you need to be a ‘power hypnotist’.
The meat of the book is Melvin taking us through themes such as the psychology of hypnotising a subject, or inducing ‘deep’ hypnosis or self-hypnosis. He illustrates these chapters with overly detailed, tedious, tenuous ‘success stories’ of his own clients.
For instance, the chapter on psychotherapy dedicates pages and pages to Melvin’s treatment of a traumatised war veteran to make a brief point on, erm, empathy..? And ‘How “Instant Hypnosis” Is Accomplished’ is one looong anecdote about how Melvin once successfully commanded a keen, young bean and a big Powers fan to instantly ‘sleep’.
Yep, Mel’s very much enamoured by any novel suggestion or insight he’s ever come up with. Granted though, this would be a very short book without these case studies and anecdotes.
All that would be left, in fact, is a catalogue of Melvin’s novel and often own-brand hypnosis-inducing gadgets and gizmos. The book is jammed with swinging pendulums, lockets and trinkets; or pocket torches, hour glasses, mirrors and crystal balls to stare at.
Melvin showcases his own-brand products in a handy catalogue of adverts, including pricing, towards the back. He’s not entirely consistent with the names and title-casing, but here are my favourite Powers products:
The Powers Hypnodisc – a spinning disc you place on your phonograph turntable for hypnotising individuals and groups. The ad at the back tells us it’s made of “firm cardboard” and is available in four colours as well as black and white. Melvin even copyrighted this one and Kev thinks he’s heard of it.
The Powers Hypnotic Eyes – “two glass eyes with eyelashes that close as you rotate the mechanism that holds the eyes in place”. See photo, above left! A total bargain at only $1. I must track a pair down for a super-creepy Christmas gift for Kev…
The Powers Hypnotic Crystal Ball – literally just a small glass ball that you hold between your thumb and first fingers that the subject stares at. I admire a person who believes their personal branding will ‘stick’ to a plain glass ball.
Melvin also pushes his range of records and cassette tapes hard throughout the book. His recordings include a ticking metronome, rain and unspecified music.
His advice on insomnia also had me confused as to whether he was trying to flog me something called a “sleep-o-matic”. But such was his dedication to littering the section with yet more possible own-brands, and directions to his other books and records, I gave up trying to figure out what that was.
The book ends abruptly with the psychotherapy chapter. Melvin’s then chucked in a few pages of complimentary newspaper and journal articles about hypnosis, before regaling us with his adverts and a very long list of recommended reading for “self-improvement”.
My main takeaway is that Melvin has a fascinating relationship with commas… At times, his commitment to breaking sentences into discreet clauses is right up my street. Then there’s a layer of hit-and-miss punctuation that suggests he’s never quite sure.
But what tickled me most is that Melvin clearly had the book laid out for print and then added in a whole new layer of comma-ring! (The punctuation is added by hand in the master – see photo, above right.) Some of the corrections are sublime and right, some of them are completely mad, wrong and extraneous.
A hypnotist who cares about commas, though, is a kindred spirit as far as I’m concerned.
