Mme. Clifford

Mind reading and hypnosis routine with assistant.

Mme. Clifford is not the young woman her appearance suggests. She is well over 40, but it is probable she has had stage experience, though her present offering calls for no histrionic ability. Her sole assistant a man in evening clothes and announces that" madame will give an exhibition of "physco - hypnosis," and she, upon entering, briefly states the same thing, but in different terms. Doubtless it all means the same. Different from other acts of the kind, there is no attempt to mystify the audience as to how the mind reader is given the questions. Her assistant directly asks Mme. Clifford from the aisles questions asked him by the audience. Mme. Clifford stated her work was in answering business questions, queries regarding what work is best fitted for persons, and she also included affairs of the heart. She is blindfolded, with no apparent reason, since there is no attempt to conceal message transmission. Her speech is drawling; made tiresome by prefixing "Ah" to most of the sentences. The turn was too long on this particular program and should not exceed eighteen minutes in any case. Mme. (Clifford may get small time bookings, not because of showmanship but because small-time audiences still fall for mind reading.

Variety, 54:3 (03/14/1919)