Community Corner

Amazing Kreskin Performs Saturday in Greenwich

The Amazing Kreskin will appear in the inaugural Arts in Action Series organized by Greenwich's Arch Teen Center.

The holiday season is in full swing and there are plenty of kids ... and maybe adults too, awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus or the start of Hannukah.

Well, a jolly man with a penchant for reading your thoughts could add some oomph to your holiday season. The Amazing Kreskin will take more than a penny for your thoughts when the famed icon of thought transference does his work on Saturday, Dec. 8, when he performs what he predicts will be a 2 1/2 hour show at the Arch Street Teen Center.

According to Kyle Silver, Arch's executive director, "We're trying to diversify our programming." So that's why the series will feature the 77-year-old Amazing Kreskin on Saturday night—he'll appeal to young and old, and somewhere in between.

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Silver said Kreskin's appearance isn't being billed as a fund-raiser for the town's only teen center. Rather, he's hoping that a generation-crossing personality will help expand the audience to the center located at 100 Arch St.—adjacent to the town ferry dock.

The 77-year-old Kreskin, who's a perennial favorite of late night television hosts, doesn't call himself a clairvoyant. Rather, he's a mentalist has the ability to focus on people's thoughts and uses intuition to make connections with them. "I'm really there to tune into their thoughts," Kreskin said. 

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Kreskin says one of the "10 most dramatic moments" in his six-decade career occurred 16 months ago during an appearance on 'Late Night' with Jimmy Fallon. "I wrote a statement about the elections and put it in a sealed envelope and a locked box. It wasn't to be opened until after the election. My prediction was the Democrats would be elected and who would be running for the Republican president ... I predicted Paul Ryan would be the Republican (candidate)," Kreskin said.

"Isn't that wild? ... it was an intuitive thing. Can you imagine how I felt when I knew I was wrong and then have Romney pick Ryan as a running mate," he added.

Kreskin said he's planning "a happening" for Saturday night's show. "I understand there have been some ghostly manifestations up there and I plan to have maybe 30 people on stage ... I thought I would just embrace a manifestations so they can see some dramatic movements in the house."

Kreskin said he's looking forward to the creativity of Greenwichites. At each of his performances, the hosting venue challenges him by hiding his paycheck. If he doesn't find it he donates it back to the venue or charity—"I have failed only 9 times out of 6,000 performances."

He's usually successful in concentrating on the thoughts of the audience and finds his check ... although he says it's challenging. At an appearance at a college in New Zealand, "and college (students) can be diabolical in their hiding of the check," he concentrated on one man who he thought may have had the check.

"I asked him to open his mouth ... but the check wasn't there," Kreskin recalled. "Then I walked back to him and asked him if he wore dentures. He did. I asked him to take them out ... they hid the check under the dentures," Kreskin said with a laugh.

Tickets for the show are $25 for students; $40 general admission; $50 for the show and post-performance meeting with Kreskin, according to Silver. For tickets, call Arch Teen Center at 203-629-5744 or log onto www.ArchStreet.org.


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