Kreskin knows how to conjure up headlines

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33479, 9 March 1974, Page 1

Kreskin knows how to conjure up headlines

Whatever precisely goes on in "The Amazing World of Kreskin,” there is no doubt whatever that the mentalistentertainer - magician knows how to grab a headline. For sheer expertise iff, public relations, he would) leave the average New Zea-) land politician miles behind. A press conference at his, Christchurch hotel yesterday was chicken-feed to the man whose television show iswatched by millions. It; turned out to he a mini-; Kr» c kin show. Kreskin (his publicity men call him Kres). who was,

(By

bom George Kresge, in New, Jersey, exuded charm and; geniality. He took his place behind ’a microphone, which he almost caressed, and embarked on the "formal” pan of the press conference. The words flowed in a ■ rapid, unending stream. Little opportunity for questions. I One could” almost believe he can read 7000 words a min-| Hute, as he claims. And the headline? “By Sep-i tember of this year, we will) have people in the E.S.P. ■ field claiming that their) oowers are coming through a: ■U.F.O. from an intelligence :)in outer space,” Kreskin said. “They will claim they are messengers guiding those i who are wise enough to fol-) blow them.”

KEN COATES)

■) Kreskin says he knows this' I ! sounds ridiculous—but hei i i predicts that these self-styled, i Messiahs will have a tremenI dous following. ’ But he says the phenomena . will last only 12 years, when i “this thing will fall to the i ground by its exaggerated .'claims.” H Kreskin adds that the! •(move is “calculatingly organ-1 iised.” Already $1 million has; •tbeen set aside in the United I' States. “Some responsible scien-) ytists in space, clinical, and; i psychological research have) : been blindly sucked into,: .■ this.” : Kreskin threw in a trick ■ Lor two to impress the doubt- • |ing Thomases. One involved la subject circling a pre-.

[determined word in a mass lof classified advertisements |in “The Press.”

Prompted by Kreskin’s publicity material which boasts that in Philadelphia he predicted the next day’s headline—and for good measure, the subject of its editorial—he was challenged to forecast this in “The Press.”

Kreskin changed the subject.

What is it that Kreskin has besides a degree in psychology and a highly developed sensitivity?

In his own words: “I have nothing extra. I am probably super-sensitive. We have in our culture relied on speech, «o'.md. and sight so much we have not used the subtle i senses. I have heightened it”