Book Report: Professional Stage Hypnotism by Ormond McGill -- Stage Hypnosis How-To c.1970s

Professional Stage Hypnotism by Ormond McGill, (c) 1977 Westwood Publishing

Background Information: Ormond McGill was a major figure in both hypnotism and stage magic. He was called "The Dean of American Hypnotists" and performed both magic and hypnosis under the name "Doctor Zomb." He wrote extensively about hypnosis and magic and he and his brother traveled the orient in the 1940s and 1950s in search of hypnosis and mysticism. He has written a number of books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormond_McGill

This is a no-nonsense how-to book on stage hypnosis, and because it's from an expert with an enormous amount of experience, it's chock full of little pearls of wisdom not only in going the technique, but how to do the technique more effectively. It's a real master-class that includes what to do, but also why and how. Moreover, he presents each of the various skills, from basic convincers, tests, inductions and suggestions, and finally how to put these things together into a complete show. 

Moreover, he also includes some of the induction methods of other well known practitioners, including Gil Boyne, John Kappas and Bill Barras. 

Rather than calling the things he does "tricks" or "effects," he refers to the as "experiments" which I think is a very powerful way of approaching it--his approach is always that the hypnotist and his subjects are working together to learn something new. for you fans of psychic phenomena, he includes experiments in ESP and Clairvoyance. Interestingly, these are practiced with mesmeric techniques more than hypnotic ones (ie: "magnetic passes").

Some of the material may seem a little old-fashioned. There are elements of mesmerism in his technique, and the effects and suggestions he recommends for the stage may seem a little tame by today's standards. Nevertheless, This fairly small book is a treasure trove of expert techniques. 

As an interesting aside, I read this book at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, and some his observations on mass-suggestion seemed to be playing out right in front of me on the evening news! 

While the book is written for the beginning stage performer, it is sophisticated enough that advanced hypnotists will get a lot out of it, and I'd even say that previous knowledge of hypnosis is strongly recommended. If you're a hypnotherapist with no interest on stage work, I think this book will still be very beneficial to improving your persuasive skills. I'll go out on a limb and say this book is highly recommended!