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Mrs. Baldwin, wife of S. S. Baldwin, "The White Mahatma," is working alone in what is known as a "mind-reading" act, although she makes no pretense of possessing the supernatural gift of receiving another's thoughts. Rather she presents herself as a marvel of memory. Two men, each carrying a novel by Hawthorne, move up and down the orchestra aisles, inviting auditors to select any word in the book. The number of the page, number of line, and number of word from the beginning of the line, are called cut to Mrs. Baldwin, who occupies the stage alone. After repeating the numbers called, Mrs. Baldwin quotes the word selected. On Sunday night at the Lincoln Square, she made no error. There is no question of "cappers" in the audience; this was thoroughly tested at the time. For her second trick, Mrs. Baldwin writes figures horizontally on a blackboard, reaching as many as eight, making about ten rows. Each row is numbered from one up. After placing all the numbers called, the woman called out correctly any row asked for, as for instance, 4, No. 5" was "50,900
The Zancigs have done similar work with a book, but Mr. Zancig "cues'* the answer to his wife, while there is no possibility of a "cue" with Mrs. Baldwin, nothing, being spoken excepting the numbers. The method of transmission prob- ably comes under the heading of "the silent system." The blackboard work is being excelled by both Max Berol Konorah and Lola Cotton, the latter a young girl. Mrs. Baldwin has not the stage presence of Mrs. Eva Fay, but in its way the act will excite interest. It would be a feature on the smaller circuits.
Source:
Variety 10:1 (10/05/1907)