MIND GAMES from page 63
Chocolate
Roses
NIBBLES & NUTS
AT THE VINEYARDS
(248) 737-8088 TOLL FREE: 1.877-GIFTS-88
32418 Northwestern Hwy., Bet. Middlebelt and 14 Mile Rd.
www.NibblesAndNuts.com
Fine Dining • Dancing
Entertainment
Tuesday Through Saturday
BILLY ROSE
QUARTET
Tuesday Thru Thursday Evenings
Catering to Your Home,
Office or at Our
Restaurant
or Banquet Center
JIM PARAVANTES
BAND
Friday and Saturday Evenings
28875 Franklin Rd. at Northwestern & t2 Mile Southfield, MI • (248) 358 3355
-
DINNERS To Go!.
FABULOUS
SELECTION
AND VARIETY
READY FOR
YOU TO
PICK-UP
ON THE WAY
HOME
2/9
2001
74
A Little Bit Of New York
Right Here In Bloomfield Hills
CALL AHEAD
OR FAX YOUR
ORDER, IT
WILL BE
HERE WAITING
FOR YOU.
WHAT COULD
BE EASIER?
6646 Telegraph at Maple • Bloomfield Plaza • 248,932,0800
minds of others. I guess I just have an
intuitive gift."
Salem, 46, attributes his talent to
two factors: "a hereditary proclivity of
sensitivity to things around me and a
strong interest that led me to a Ph.D.
in psychology."
His father was the late Rabbi Israel
Salem, head of a large Conservative
congregation, and his mother was a
pharmacist and served in the female
branch of the U.S. Coast Guard.
"My father was very intense and
tried to get into the minds of his con-
gregants, picking up their thoughts
and living out their situations," Salem
explained. "He couldn't remove him-
self from the pain of people. I think
this led to his early death at age 41
after three heart attacks. I inherited
this trait from him, but I sublimated
any desire to be a rabbi and used this
in a different way.
"My parents were brilliant and inci-
sive and followed the typical Jewish
traditions. They didn't care if I had the
usual Jewish professional job, or if I
was a mind reader. They just wanted
me to be happy and intellectual and
pursue what I liked. I'm glad they got
a chance to see me perform before
they passed away."
Salem received a degree in communi-
cations research from the University of
Pennsylvania and a doctorate in devel-
opmental psychology and communica-
tions research from New York
University. He taught those subjects for
18 years at two small Manhattan col-
leges while he entertained, often rush-
ing from the classroom to the theater.
He even did a 10-year stint as research
director for Sesame Street, the popular
children's television show, studying the
development of the child's mind.
His idols are three well-known men-
talists from the 1940s through the
1960s: Joe Dunninger, the Amazing
Kreskin and Max Polgar. "They were
the real pioneers and I'm trying to fol-
low in their footsteps," said Salem, who
doesn't profess to be a psychic or to
have supernatural powers. "I'm a psy-
chologist and an entertainer," he said.
Salem has traveled to Israel,
England, France, Russia, China and
India to study mental phenomena,
interviewing scientists, speaking at
seminars and colleges and "really delv-
ing into the mysterious potential of
the human mind."
He performed as he studied, then
returned to New York to put Mind
Games into two extended runs Off-
Broadway. He also appeared on several
network TV programs, and his one-
man network TV special, Marc Salem's
Mysterious Wonderful World of the
Mind, aired in 1999.
In his current act, he randomly calls
out the names of audience members
and tells them where they vacationed.
He also asks people to think of a song
from a list of songs and then identifies
the person and the song, tells them
what color they are thinking of, draws
a picture of the same thing an audi-
ence member is drawing and reads the
serial numbers from dollar bills people
take from their wallets.
He even causes watch hands to spin,
and makes watches and clocks held by
two different people mysteriously syn-
chronize themselves.
Salem said he does not use electron-
ic devices, and offers a standing
$100,000 reward if anyone can prove
otherwise.
In his spare time, Salem works for
the FBI and the New York police,
reading verbal cues from suspects to
help "pull the truth out of them."
"There are many signs that show a
person is lying," he said.
He also assists law firms in jury
selections.
"I've watched the parents on TV in
the JonBenet Ramsey murder case and
their body language shows a lot of
cover-up," he said, adding, "although
I'm not saying they're guilty.
"And when O.J. Simpson said, 'I'm
100 percent not guilty,' it was the
longest eye blink I've ever seen."
Salem's wife, Tova, is a jewelry
designer and all three of their sons
went through the yeshiva school sys-
tem. One is now a student at Yeshiva
University and the others work in
advertising and astronomy.
Does Salem play mind games
around the house? When the family
moved to a new home, the boxes
weren't properly identified and they
couldn't tell exactly what was inside
them before unpacking. Salem said he
just walked around, touched each box
and revealed the contents.
❑
Marc Salem will perform Mind
Games at downtown Detroit's
Century Theatre, 333 Madison
Ave., from Feb. 14-July 29. Show
times are 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays,
8:30 p.m. Fridays, 5:30 and 8:30
p.m. Saturdays, 1:30 and 5:30
p.m. Sundays. $24.50-$36.50.
Special half-price tickets are avail-
able for seven preview-week per-
formances from Feb. 14-25. Call
for show times. Tickets are avail-
able at the Century and Gem box
office, (313) 963-9800; through
TicketMaster, (248) 645-6666; or
through TicketMaster.com .