Annemann’s One Man Mental and Psychic Routine

A complete act in a small booklet

Annemann’s Complete One Man Mental and Psychic Routine was first published by Max Holden in New York in 1935. The original stapled booklet runs to 24 pages, yet its purpose is unusually ambitious: Theodore Annemann explains how one performer can present a coherent mental act lasting roughly twenty to thirty minutes with modest props and limited preparation.

Its importance lies less in the number of secrets than in the way the material is arranged. Annemann does not merely collect unrelated tricks. He considers order, contrast, pacing, the reuse of information and the delay between method and revelation. The booklet therefore remains useful as a lesson in routining even when a modern performer replaces dated objects or presentations.

The principal sequence

The opening discussion covers the required materials and two approaches to billet switching. Magic vs. Mindreading contrasts a magical card revelation with a mind-reading presentation, encouraging the performer to think about how framing changes an audience’s interpretation.

The Telephone Drama reveals a written name and telephone number and leads into The Dead Name Test, in which the performer identifies information associated with a deceased person. The New Nile Divination uses written digits and a total that matches a previously selected two-digit number. Book Mentalism employs a telephone directory, while Telepathy Plus provides a larger concluding sequence using billets, a bowl and two ordinary slates.

The addenda broaden the booklet. The Master Mind describes a separate card-centred parlour act. Other notes cover the Mirror Reflector, a living-and-dead combination, a sealed-envelope ruse, Ralph Read’s Spirit Pencil, advance information and pencil reading.

Why the routining matters

Several objects in the original text belong to 1930s performance culture. Telephone directories and school slates may need modern substitutes. The underlying construction, however, is still instructive. Effects grow in apparent impossibility, methods are distributed rather than repeated visibly, and an earlier action can acquire meaning later. This time delay helps separate the secret action from the climax.

The act also demonstrates “pack small, play big.” Cards, slips of paper, pencils and a few compact props can create a full programme without an assistant. That economy is attractive for parlour, club and small-stage work. Modern performers should adapt the language, clarify consent in sensitive living-and-dead themes and avoid presenting entertainment as genuine paranormal diagnosis.

Practical study

This is not a self-working script that can be performed after one reading. Billet switches require natural handling, and the audience must understand what is written, who retains each slip and why every action occurs. The performer should rehearse transitions as carefully as individual methods. Substituting a current book test for the telephone-directory section also requires preserving the rhythm of the whole act.

Readers will gain most by mapping the routine on paper: effect, visible action, secret information, reset and transition. That reveals how Annemann controls attention across the entire programme. The booklet can then serve as a template for building a personal act rather than a text to reproduce word for word.

Editions and condition

Collectors should distinguish the 1935 Max Holden first edition from later British and modern reprints. A 1956 British edition by Magic Wand Publishing expanded the package and may have different pagination. Digital editions can also vary in scan and text quality. Sellers should state publisher, year, page count, format and whether the copy includes the addenda.

For an original booklet, inspect the staples, spine fold, detached centre leaves, edge tears, writing and moisture damage. Minor ageing is expected, but completeness and a stable fold matter. Annemann’s Complete One Man Mental and Psychic Routine remains valuable because it shows how a compact group of methods can be shaped into a convincing solo performance.