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ZOMBIE ROUTINE AND PATTER By Richard L. Holmes
Ever since Joe Karson started manufactur­ing his new and improved Zombie, there has been much talk about it everywhere. With the following presentation of the Zombie, your audiences will be talking about this trick long after your performance.
I think the best way to present any floating trick is in a slow and spooky manner. In the following routine, you will find what I really believe to be a knockout effect.
Before going any further, let me say that the correct music for this routine is a 12-inch record of a monotonous, spooky rhythm, with a constant beating of torn toms. That may sound pretty deadly, but I can tell you that in using this type of music you will find that your audiences will never forget your presentation of the Zombie; it seems to have hypnotic powers. The record that I use for every per­formance is RCA Victor 12" No. 11932-A — "Dagger Dance" from Natoma and played by the Boston "Pop" Orchestra.
Special Patter (and Presentation): (Before the music starts to play, you tell the story as follows) "You may have been wondering what is this silver globe that I have here on the table. It is the amazing result of a very suc­cessful experiment. The man who made this died shortly after he gave it to me, and I am known to be the only possessor of this sphere. To you, it probably looks just like a little silver ball, but it is a lot more than that, friends. A portion of the brain, spirit, and the lanogga-limbo nerves of a DEAD man are carefully ar­ranged and tightly sealed within this globe. You will soon see that this DEAD man is once again living — only this time in the form of a silver ball. He cannot see, talk, nor hear; but he can MOVE and will MOVE — so help me. That is the reason I call him a ZOMBIE, be­cause he was once dead, but is again moving under his own power.
"The scientist who recreated this Zombie man as a result of his experiment soon became
mad because he couldn't believe his eyes. When I went hunting last year down in the Shallow Valley Woods, I met this mad scientist and he quickly gave it to me, and told me to take it far away from everyone, and destroy it.
"Well, after doing a little experimenting my­self, I found that Mr. Zombie could be con­trolled with a piece of cloth and nothing else. I also found that it wouldn't move if it was placed near a strong magnet, so I had a mag­netic pedestal made to keep it quiet. I find that if I let it get too far from its pedestal in any direction, it immediately gains enough power to pull me around. Every now and then it gets away from me and I have to catch it and put it back on its stand here. And now, without any further ado, I will attempt to control Mr. Zombie with this cloth (exhibit cloth) for you people."
At this point, the music plays rather loudly as the Magician covers the globe. He then pro­ceeds with his favorite stunts with Zombie and finishes by allowing Zombie to carry (?) him off back stage. He again enters with just the glove in his hands and it is seen to float away from his hands and return — this move is illustrated in Karson's book. Magician then returns the Zombie to its pedestal with the re­mark, "I evidently allowed it to get too far from its pedestal."
When propertly presented as I have outlined it here, Zombie will really afford good mys­terious entertainment for everyone. The pat­ter may seem a bit lengthy to you, but after you try it once you will see what I mean when I say that it seemingly has hypnotic power. Some people will even believe the story and make a desperate attempt to come backstage after the show to again see Zombie. It gets them. When I perform it as above, I always hear screams from some women in the audience.