WATCH HIS ANTICS
Entertaining with Hypnotism – S Edward Dexter
Magician-penned hypnotism pamphlets have become a recurring feature of this blog. From Ed Wolff and his famous “YOUR HAIR IS FULL OF BEES” skit to the forgettable blandness of Calostro, and many more performing magician-hypnotists like them, I respect magicians for cashing in on punters’ curiosity with these quick-turn, low-cost publications.
I suppose my ‘kink’ is that I’m infinitely more compelled by the magical men behind the pamphlets than by the apparent secrets they promise to share... Aspiring hypnotists get so hung-up about prestige and showpersonship, but I can vouch that there is no better teacher in the art (but not science) of barking cavalier-to-unhinged hypnotic suggestions at members of the public than an obscure vintage magician-hypnotist.
So, meet today’s tutor: S Edward Dexter. Presumably it is his smartly sensible visage splashed across the cover; note the outlier creative decision to divert his hypnotic gaze... but backed up by the soft-focus yet sure-fire powers of his trusty Hypnotic Disc behind him. (All 36-inches of it, honey!) This may be a Magic Wand Publishing Co production, but there is a gravitas to Dexter’s aesthetic; I further appreciated the sober subtitle of “A Complete Course in Genuine Hypnotic Phenomena” to suggest that he’s more than a mere frivolous entertainer.
In fact, Dexter, we learn from the front matter, is, at time of writing in 1957, both a past President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) – a 1922-founded, US-based magic club with an international membership presence – and a member of the now defunct UK Variety Artistes’ Federation. I deduce that Dexter is British, but can’t find much about him online despite his IBM connection. And, as suspected, this pamphlet is taking the unholy union of magic and hypnosis seriously: magicians and aspiring hypnotists keen to snaffle up Dexter’s secrets are greeted with a stern preface, including:
“We are now going through a period when there is hardly a variety bill that does not contain a Hypnotic Act. Hypnotism is being brought into disrepute by some operators who know little to nothing of the subject, and in order to satisfy their bookers and the lower tastes of their public they resort to the most degrading and ridiculous performances.”
Dexter is writing five years after the introduction of the UK Hypnotism Act 1952, of course. The Act was an absurdly British bureaucratic ‘tribute’ to a macro phenomenon via a micro upset, and so Dexter’s polemic against ignorant and/or lewd performers is reflective of the mood of hypnotism’s murky past. Fortunately, “Entertaining with Hypnotism”, as Dexter brands his approach, can be done in a “clean and gentlemanly manner” and so, after a brief, non-sequitur and practically useless ‘summary’ of what hypnotism is, we’re off to the races
Now, if you’re not a magician: keep up. Magicians have been sharing golden knowledge on how to scrub your nails and choose a smart pair of slacks with plenty of pockets since time immemorial in their books about magic. [Books of magic are an entirely separate species.] I’m not too proud to admit that my hands are currently stained blue, plus half my clothes are in a pile upon the bedroom floor because of my ongoing trouser-personality crisis. It’s important us hypno-seekers keep our chins up while pilfering mesmeric powers from magicians in spite of our lack of thimble-shuffling skills.
Pre-groomed magician apprentices, meanwhile, are assured by Dexter that hypnosis is mostly just suggestion, and that the secret to success is both you and your subject/s believing in your ability as a hypnotist. “Every experiment in this book is an accepted fact, and should you fail in any of them it will be because you are not practising on the right type of person.” No pressure, eh?! Our author suggests choosing “a stranger, preferably of adolescent age” to make the task of pretending to be superior to someone – as was, and still often is, the power dynamic on which hypnotism depends – easier for the novice.
Dexter shares standard waking stage experiments, with tests including magnetic hands, falling forwards/backwards, and arm levitation, etc, as well as six induction methods. “Carry on droning those suggestions” is one of the most succinct and honest pieces of hypnotic inductions advice I’ve seen written about coaxing people into ‘trance’!
I was also pleased to find further inspiration for my own future stage hypnotism show, coming in the year 2044... Dexter liked to invite his stage show participants on a hypnotic ‘holiday’ – we thus venture to Africa via Southampton and the sea! On board the boat, we get drunk, seasick, and cold, and see the sights through a solid wood telescope. On arrival in Africa – and provided we’ve had the perspicacity to choose “a single man with a sporty nature” as our subject – we meet a favourite female film star. A mop is put into the man’s arms. “Here she is; she has been dying to meet you,” is Dexter’s scripting. “Watch his antics,” is his knowing aside in italics. Ugh.
Other ideas include suggesting the subject’s whole body and head is crawling with “thousands and thousands” of ants, which makes a headful of imaginary buzzing bees a positively welcome prospect. There’s also a perversely cruel age regression skit, where a grown man is made to cry like a boy of three at losing his mother while out in strange streets. “That’s right, little boy, cry, cry as loud as you can. You have lost your Mummy.”
The final three chapters explore Dexter’s broader professional insights. There’s “Do’s and Don’ts”, including the prerequisite magician’s grooming advice; a bitchy critique of an unnamed fellow hypnotist’s “badly fitting” suit and dirty fingernails must have caused quite the magic club feud! “Questions and Answers” and “Some Dangers of Hypnosis”, meanwhile, dance around the topics of hypnotising lone ladies, committing proxy crimes, and pulling off potentially harmful pseudo-hypnotic physical feats like ‘The Bridge’.
Ultimately, Dexter’s “don’t do as I do – do as I say” stance in these closing pages remains about as credible and persuasive as a mum saying it to a teen. An impressive bibliography and back-cover press extract on our author’s flawless reputation as a hypnotist buttress a page advert for this notorious pamphlet, produced by the same magic publisher. Dexter does convincingly warn against attempted use of (rumoured) martial arts tricks, so it’s nice to know that responsible hypnotist-magicians do exist...
But just don’t be a “smart alec” or you’ll get a heady whiff of ammonia shoved beneath your nostrils to put you back into your rightful subordinate place as ‘subject’.
Magicians! Don’t you just love ‘em?!
