Kreskin facts for kids

The Amazing Kreskin (born George Joseph Kresge, Jr., January 12, 1935 – December 10, 2024), also known as Kreskin, was an American mentalist who became popular on television in the 1970s. He was inspired to become a mentalist by Lee Falk's comic strip Mandrake the Magician, which features a crime-fighting stage magician. He always presented himself as an "entertainer," never as a psychic, who operated on the basis of suggestion, not the paranormal or supernatural.

Early life

Kreskin was born January 12, 1935, in Montclair, New Jersey to Polish and Sicilian parents and grew up with his younger brother in Caldwell, New Jersey, where he would reside for most of his life. His father worked for a battery manufacturer. Kreskin attended Seton Hall University.

Career

From 1972 to 1975, Kreskin's television series The Amazing World of Kreskin was broadcast throughout Canada on CTV and distributed in syndication in the United States. It was produced in Ottawa, Ontario at the CJOH-TV studios. An additional set of episodes was produced from 1975 to 1977 at the studios of CFTO-TV in Toronto, billed as The New Kreskin Show.

His first television appearance was on The Steve Allen Show in 1964. He went on to appear approximately 100 times on each of the The Mike Douglas Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, and 88 times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. It was Carson who dubbed Kreskin "The Amazing Kreskin". Kreskin claimed that his appearance on the Steve Allen Show during which he tripped when blinded by stage lights, inspired Carson's Carnac the Magnificent character.

In the 1980s and 90s he came to prominence again through several appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and on the Howard Stern Show. In 2009 he became the first guest to make three appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Though Kreskin made "predictions", he did not claim to have paranormal or clairvoyant powers, and did not like to be considered a "psychic". One of his best known tricks was to find his own check for his current performance. If he did not find it, he did not get paid for that day. He would instruct the audience to hide an envelope containing his paycheck, while he was escorted off stage and into seclusion by other members of the audience. He then re-emerged and hunted through the audience, almost always being able to ferret out the correct location.

According to Kreskin, he failed only ten or eleven times, including his performance at Rockwell's in Pelham, where he needed two attempts and a "rehide" of the check with an additional two attempts at finding the check/note. On April 14, 2018, Kreskin failed to find the hidden check while performing to a sold-out crowd in New York's Lion Theater on 42nd St. After about 30 minutes of leading viewers around the small theater trying to find the check, Kreskin settled his search on an area behind the stage, out of view of most of the audience. The check was hidden within the general area. His efforts were in vain however, as perhaps eight to ten minutes later he threw up his hands and declared he had failed at the trick for the 12th time in 30 years.

Kreskin taught classes for law enforcement groups, which "focuses on psychological methods such as jogging lost memories through relaxation techniques or detecting lies through body language and voice inflections".

The 2008 movie The Great Buck Howard is based on the experiences of writer-director Sean McGinly, who worked briefly as Kreskin's road manager.

On January 31, 2022, it was announced that Kreskin would provide the voice of The Magic Tree in a new animated series called, "The Adventures of Little Billy: In Search of the Magic Tree," based on a book of the same name by Barry J. Farber.

In September 2022, after Hugh Neutron became a playable character for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Mark DeCarlo, the voice actor of Hugh Neutron, wrote on Twitter that he wanted Jimmy Neutron and Kreskin to also be added to the game's roster. Afterwards, Kreskin had posted a video on Twitter saying that he would accept if he was brought into the game. In July 2023, when the trailer of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 was released and Jimmy Neutron was confirmed to be in the sequel, Kreskin released another video saying that he was still interested in being in this game.

Kreskin remained active as a performer late in life and appeared regularly on WPIX in New York City, and annually on both the Fox News Channel and CNN to give his New Year's Day predictions for the coming year.

He died at home in Caldwell, New Jersey at the age of 89.

Works

• Kreskin's ESP Booklet, Milton Bradley (1967)
• Kreskin's Krystal Booklet, 3M Company, (1971)
• The Amazing World Of Kreskin, Random House (1973)
• Kreskin's Mind Power Book, McGraw Hill (1977)
• Kreskin's Fun Way To Mind Expansion, Doubleday (1984)
• Secrets Of The Amazing Kreskin, Prometheus Books (1991)
• The Protection Report by Kreskin, Pamphlet, GF International Group (1992)
• Kreskin's Super Secrets, booklet, GF International Group (1993)
• How To Be A Fake Kreskin, St. Martin's Press (1996)
• The Pendulum & Lifelong Enrichment Response Advertising (2000)
• The Amazing Kreskin's Future With The Stars, Meyerbooks (2001)
• Mental Power Is Real, Fitness Factory (2006)
• Four-Hour Miracle Direct, Response Advertising (2008)
• Kreskin Confidential, Author House (2009)
• Conversations with Kreskin by The Amazing Kreskin & Michael McCarty, Team Kreskin Productions, LLC (2012)
• In Real Time, Thane & Prime (2015)