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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 .