Part 4 – What the Magicians say

WHAT MAGICIANS SAY ABOUT URI GELLER

Hi Uri,

Another magician’s opinion.

“Geller has been a successful performer since the early 70’s. Surely his spoon and key bending, drawing duplication, movement of a compass needle and seed germination has not caused the public any harm. He has been an inspiration to many performers, and some have included a demonstration of spoon and key bending in their own acts.” (Graham P. Jolley)
Regards

Mentalist Jim Callahan talks about Uri – Is he for real?

“You know, I like Uri Geller. He is a good guy. I think he made many things with his abilities. I think some of the things he shows are illusion. But I cannot claim for sure, that this applies to everything.”

David Copperfield

“Many of the top Mentalists in the world have no idea how Uri Geller can make a compass needle move.

Since he does so in his bathing suit and has been checked over by ultra sensitive equipment for metal or magnetic radiation, he obviously is NOT using a hidden magnet to move the compass needle.

Since reliable sources (and knowledgeable magicians) have not only witnessed Geller make spoons bend but have witnessed them to continue moving long after Mr. Geller has left, I would challenge these so called protectors and magic geniuses to explain how he does it.

If they reply, “I don’t know for sure” then they have no right to say that he is a fake.”

Dear Uri,

May I say what a pleasure it was to meet you last week and how impressed I was by your exceptional and frankly unexplainable abilities. I have been a prominent member of the magic circle for many years and performed as a professional magician and am therefore aware of most ‘illusions’ and what I witnessed as you bent the spoon was not in my opinion an ‘illusion’ more a phenomenon which I found quite remarkable. You have my respect and awe for your abilities which I am sure has its skeptics but I am certainly not one of them.Yours sincerely,

James Youngson
Papion

Geller is perhaps the world’s most successful psychic entertainer but why?”
by Andy Fisher

Drew McAdam

“I will say only this: I have seen Uri do things that, even as a mentalist and amateur conjuror of some 30 years, I cannot explain. I know how mind-magicians obtain the effects they do… I know the illusionist’s mechanics of producing so-called psychic effects that look incredibly convincing to the layman. However, I can categorically say that Uri Geller uses none of these methods. Quite simply, the man is a phenomenon.”

:”Geller has shown us that the limits of our understanding are not the limits of all there is to understand” and “Geller has demonstrated that the power of belief is greater than the power of skepticism” by Lee Earle, one of America’s leading lights in the mentalism field.

I HAD A MOST amazing experience at a private party in London a few weeks ago. Uri Geller asked if I had ever seen him bend a spoon and I said only on television. He picked up a large spoon form the table and asked me to join him at the bar. He placed the spoon down and began to stroke it.
A small bend appeared. He held it up for me to see and then placed it down again.
I looked at it closely and the bend was more pronounced. I was astonished since this happened without any misdirection. He asked if I would like the spoon as a souvenir and I said “sure”. He took out a felt tipped pen and signed it. As I walked back to the room I was really taken by surprise.
The spoon was now bent at a 75-degree angle. When I tried to bend the spoon, it was too strong for me to move in my bare hands. The bend was not at the weak spot near the spoon but a few inches up from that spot. Uri is 54 and looks 35. He is clearly a man apart..”
Barrie Richardson

Barrie Richardson is a professor of management and Dean of The Frost School of Business at Centenary College, USA. He is also one of the most prominent magicians in the world – his speciality being Mind Magic, or Mentalism, in which he excels and is one of the most highly respected and influential practitioners. His top-selling book Theatre of the Mind (Hermetic Press, 1999) is crammed with ingenious ideas and presentations and has become a source of learning for magicians & mentalists world-wide.

“Some of the self-called “greatest magicians” should desperately try to become Uri’s pupils. From him they could learn how to produce effect, how to accomplish miracles! One can talk and think differently about Uri Geller. But one can’t bypass one fact: The “boy” has ideas – ideas that once changed many people’s, many scientists’ and even some conjurors’ way of thinking. And through his ideas he influenced the conjurors’-tricks scene in many a way. Once I was a fierceful enemy of Geller, when he … let’s forget that. Today – if he goes ahead on the path he now took – I’m at his side!” [Uri und die Zeitmaschine [=Uri and the time-machine]; In: »Magische« Welt, Vol. 40, Nr. 3, September 1991: pp. 243-244.]

Werry (Werner Geissler, 1925-2000)

“Any worthwhile magician could perform similar feats, but it would be trickery. Uri must be genuine…Anyone performing feats like this under such conditions cannot be a fake. Uri has stood up to thirteen laboratory tests in the United States. It shows that in rare cases the power of the mind can move or even bend inanimate objects.”

Clifford Davis, Daily Mirror c1974

On the performance of mentalism: “…something these days that has been made easier by the interest caused by the reports of Uri Geller, to whom be praise” Peter Warlock

New Pentagram Vol. 11 p. 15.

“When I think of Uri Geller and his spoon-bending today, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief. Because I still believe in the mysterious, that it’s possible that these things may happen.” David Ben

Interviewed on Heroes of Magic Channel Four television. December 2000

“Uri Geller might be one of the great magicians of our century, good for him…You know I’ve often thought that aside from government workers magicians are the worst secret keepers on the planet. Well good for Uri Geller, he hasn’t told anything yet. I have great respect for him.” Eugene Burger

Interviewed on Heroes of Magic Channel Four television. December 2000

“When Uri Geller first came on the scene here in England – Eddie Burke immediately started to experiment into the possible methods that could be used to obtain similar results that Geller was obtaining. Let us make it clear – we do not claim that these methods are the actual methods used by Geller – in fact, he may indeed have special powers. Unlike other Magicians – we prefer to keep an open mind about such things – Geller may be a clever Magician – or he may be a genuine Psychic? The fact that magicians are able to duplicate his feats IN NO WAY IS EVIDENCE THAT HE IN TURN USES TRICKERY – we have seen many so called Psychics whose effects we could easily explain – but on the other hand – we have seen things that cannot be explained. We prefer to keep an open mind.”

Eddie Burke, Intstruction sheet for the MagicTrix Key Bender.

The Secret Passion of Alan Slaight, tycoon and a leading expert in Magic .

From Toronto Life April 2001

The story that Slaight relates to me centers on Uri Geller, the internationally famous-and highly controversial-Israeli psychic noted for his ability to bend spoons through mental concentration.
“In the fall of ’99,” Slaight begins. “I ordered a book about Uri, which was a bit of a weird coincidence, since I hadn’t yet cracked the cover, when a fellow magician phoned to say that Uri was in town and that we should meet. I picked Uri up at his hotel, and he was only in my car a few seconds before he took a spoon from his pocket, which immediately made me suspicious, though I did check to see that. it was a strong one that would require hard work to bend. Uri stroked the spoon, barely touching it.” Slaight demonstrates with one from the table. And the bloody thing bends to here.” Slaight twists the North 44° spoon into a hinge. “Then he put it on the dashboard, where it continued to bend till it was like this.” Slaight squeezes the North 44 degree spoon into a 90-degree angle. “I must have at least four videos of guys bending spoons, and usually they count on the thing being vulnerable where the bowl and the neck meet-a quick pressure there, so brazen yet elegant that the eye misses it. To my knowledge, magicians can do everything else mentalists claim they can do, but I defy anyone to explain this one.”
During the same Toronto visit, Geller accompanied Slaight to a charity fundraiser, where David Ben was master of ceremonies. As Ben would later tell me: “I asked Uri if he would perform, and he told tile audience tills really self-deprecating story about how he got his gifts, and then he has 400 people pick up their spoons-so there’s tile showman -and he takes one from the table, and while I’m holding the microphone under him, watching him like a hawk, he gets everyone to focus their energy, because ‘sometimes it happens,’ and sure enough, his spoon just melts effortlessly I had been tipped by Allan to look for the perfect 90-degree angle, and though it wasn’t there when he placed it on the lectern, when I looked back after thanking him, there it was, perfectly balanced with the stem perpendicular to the table. Whenever I’ve seen spoon benders before, the metal always looks stressed, where as this was like a curved line drawn by Matisse. Whether real or not, it’s done by a master.”
After signing tile bowl of the spoon, Geller added it to the charity auction. Slaight bought it for $2,000. Now he owns two-one framed in his home and one in his office.

They were treated to a display of quite extra-ordinary paranormal effects and were hardly able to believe what they saw. “It just bent in my hand, I could not believe it”, said Ryan Sherer, whose family live in Feisted. Items of cutlery were supplied by the children themselves from the school dining hall. Perhaps, however, the most extra-ordinary happening took place at the end of the visit. Uri Geller signed his name with a permanent black marker on the sliding side door of the school’s minibus.

At the end of the journey when one of the pupils opened the minibus door it broke off its hinges. Charlotte Smith commented, “It just came away in my hand – it was incredible. Uri Geller really is superhuman.”

Charles Lee, Head of Drama at Feisted School, and a member of the Magic Circle, was equally stunned:

“I have been performing magic tricks for years, but Uri Geller really is something else – I have never witnessed anything like it in my life.”

“I immediately pick up the spoon from the lectern and place it into my pocket so that no one can steal it before I have the opportunity to auction it off. I notice that it is now at a perfect 90-degree angle – a different physical appearance than what I recall seeing when he placed it gently down on the lectern. I secretly shake my head because it is now different and I did not see him do one thing that was suspicious, with speed, without grace or charm. It was flawless. I have no idea what he did. I now have the spoon at my home. It is perfect. I have seen many spoons bent by so called experts. Uri is in a league of his own. The curvature of the bend is beautiful – not forced. I have said to many people that the curvature reminds me of a single line drawn by Matisse. It is a work of art. You can tell that it was created by a master. Quite wonderful. I’m a fan. Now, I would like to add a few further comments. Although I am not an expert in the paranormal, I am an expert in sleight of hand. I would stack up my knowledge and ability in sleight of hand against anyone in the world. I do not believe that Geller used sleight of hand to bend the spoon. (I have seen most of the spoon bending experts created by the magic community and their work is not very elegant when compared with Geller.)”
David Ben Sleight of Hand Master
http://www.theconjuror.com/

“As a magician, I believe that the tests we did (with Geller) could not be duplicated in any way by a magician’s methods.”
Abb Dickson (Professional magician – U.S.A. and President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians 1997-98)
Abb Dickson has been named as a new director of the World Alliance of Magicians (WAM). Dickson who is a Past President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians wants WAM to help maintain the secrecy of magic and prevent exposure to the public.

“Uri bent a spoon for me, the first time he did it, I thought there must be a trick. The second time I was stunned, completely, completely stunnedand amazed. It just bent in my hand. I’ve never seen anything like it. It takes a lot to impress me. Uri Geller is for real and anyone who doesn’t recognise that is either deluding himself, or is a very sad person.”
David Blain, (American Magician. Star of ABC’s Television Specials.)

“There is no way, based on my knowledge as a magician, that any method of trickery could have been used to produce the effects under the conditions to which Geller was subjected.”
Arthur Zorka (US, member Society of American Magicians – U.S.A.)

“Uri Geller is a superb showman, in fact that is what Gellerism is all about. There is no gimmicked apparatus involved, just pure showmanship that proves successful under nearly all conditions.”
Ben Harris (Magician and author of Gellerism Revealed – Australia)

“Uri Geller is a hard one to take because what he presents to modern science and the common man is at first unbelievable. Yet, after knowing him very closely for nearly five years, I have observed his unusual energy in person in many countries. These have not been lab conditions… they did not have to be. Whether it was glass shattering spontaneously at hand, or an exact telepathic rendering of my day done over international phone wires; I have come to appreciate what part is showmanship; and what part is, quite literally, real.
Modern science must know that when Einstein split the atom that the mysteries therein would confound common notion. Uri presents the same type of mystery. Harboring an energy that seems to pervade existence, yet is difficult to harness, Uri has withstood the naysayers and the abusive critics. It is not a matter of talent that keeps him alive. Uri has a life situation, that not many people can appreciate unless they experience it first hand. With a magician’s eye for deceit I watched Uri in the first several years of knowing him. Not only did I find him earnest in his beliefs, but a loving husband, father, and a man of elegance, style and generosity.
His psychic gifts are genuine and he provides a model for humanity at large to aspire to.”
Ben Robinson (Winner of Milbourne Christopher Foundation Award, Society of American Magicians Leslie R. Guest Award, and author of legendary book, Twelve Have Died – U.S.A.)

“Uri had demonstrated his powers under my conditions. I believe that everything that Uri Geller produces is genuine.”
Dandi (top Israeli magician – Israel)

“If … he genuinely does what he claims to by the methods he claims to use, then he is the only person in the world who can do it. If on the other hand he is a magician or a trickster or a con-man, he is also phenomenal – the best there has ever been. So, whichever way you want to look at him, we must respect him as one or the other.”
David Berglas (Great Britain’s leading magical entertainer, President of the Magic Circle and holder of numerous international honours – England)

“And what was the magicians’ verdict of the show? Fantastic! We all agreed that Uri was a great showman and had the audience in the palm of his hand throughout the evening. To close on an effect which does not work is something few magicians could get away with … full marks to Uri Geller for providing magicians and the rest of the audience with a fascinating and memorable show in aid of a very worthy cause.”
David Gilchrist (“Magic David”, British magician – England)

“Many stunts, I confess, had me baffled … Uri Geller is a master showman.”
Denham Holmes (British magician – England)

“At Cannes I watched Uri Geller bend a spoon. I have to admit it, I don’t know how he does it, I watched up close and even held the spoon, all I can say is that however he does it, I am really impressed! And I’ve been doing magic since I was a kid, and for the past 24 years I have toured the world as a professional comedy magician, don’t ask me how he does it, I DON’T KNOW”
Dr. Penguin (STAR PLUS TV, and STAR WORLD TV)

“I am a Psychiatrist with 30 years clinical experience, a conjurer with a wide knowledge of “magic” and someone who has investigated paranormal phenomena and found them wanting in the past.
Uri Geller gave me demonstration of spoon bending. I could find no evidence of trickery nor the use of gimmicks . The fact that the spoon continued bending after he had handed it to me, for my mind, puts the event beyond rational explanation be it scientific or a feat of conjuring. He also demonstrated two examples of thought transference first accurately reproducing a geometric figure I had drawn and second and perhaps more significantly transmitting to me a figure and a colour.
As a life long sceptic I must record my total astonishment at these feats and testify my witness to a truly inexplicable and unique phenomenon. ”
Dr. Lawrence Ratna (Consultant Psychiatrist – England)

“The man most knocked by magicians everywhere came on and talked for fifteen minutes and went off to practically a standing ovation, which shows what a bunch of bloody hypocrites we all are. I think the guy is brilliant (fake or not) and it’s time we all admitted it … With his style, confidence and sheer presence of character, he had the audience in the palm of his hand. The man is truly amazing and many doubts and mistrusts held by many magicians over the years were finally brushed away. He entered the enemy camp like Daniel in the lion’s den – and left a hero. The standing ovation he received told it all.”
Geoff Maltby (editor of Club 71, British magic journal – England)

“I was completely surprised about the result of the experiment. The only explanation I have is chance (?) or psi. This is very hard for me to say.”
Harry Meier (“Diabelli”) (Professional magician – Switzerland)

“I must emphasize that nothing I have seen or heard in my investigation of Uri Geller has changed my initial conviction that he is in possession of certain psychic powers.”
Leo Leslie (Professional magician Denmark,)

“Uri duplicated a drawing I drew secretly making sure that there were no confederates or mirrors around, making sure that he did not see the tip of my pencil, nor the imprints on the paper. I know many tricks of this kind, but under the conditions I put to him, a trick is quite impossible. Uri drew a drawing very similar to my own secret drawing. After all, there are many more things in heaven and earth than we can imagine.”
Raimondi (Italy, member of CMI, IBM, holder of Oscar of Magic and first prize winner at the National Convention, 1962 – Italy)

“I would challenge anyone to repeat Uri Geller’s phenomena with me in the cornfield with those three cards in the way that he did it.
I know a little bit about sleight of hand, I know a little bit about the methods of revealing what a person is thinking, through body language and through other means, and I would challenge any magician to duplicate that particular effect with me in the same measure of success and I would challenge them.” BBC Radio 5, 14 Dec 1993 Strange Stories/ Paul Simons
Rev. Roger Crosthwaite (Close-up Magician of the Year, Magic Circle, also Anglo-Catholic priest)

“The essential difference between a magician’s performance and a properly conducted laboratory experiment is that in magic (a) the magician is in control, (b) the product, if it is to be effective, is an illusion, and (c) the object is entertainment. In a scientific experiment, (a) the experimenter must be in control, (b) the product, if successful, is a discovery, and (c) the object is truthful knowledge.” “I have failed to conceive of any means of deception in the static PK tests with Geller, nor have magicians I have consulted.”
William. E. Cox, (Institute of Parapsychology, Durham, North Carolina – USA and Member Society of American Magicians and ASPR.)

“When I first approached Uri for an interview for my magazine, I didn’t know what to expect. Well Uri said yes and the interview was done. Uri is one of the kindest people I have met, I can tell you this, now, He ain’t fake, because I know a fake when I see one. Perhaps we, the magician are fake….?”
James Cottis, (British magician and Editor and Publisher or ULTRA FORCE.)

Uri Geller’s website address is https://www.1URIgeller.com/
Uri Geller may be contacted by e-mail at [email protected] or by fax on 01189 699 439 for international calls dial 44 1189 699439.
Letters may be sent to Uri Geller, Sonning, Berkshire, RG4 6UR, England
This document may be found at https://www.1URIgeller.com/hpnet/uribiog.htm