'Curtain down for John Benneth, 8. May 1952 - 9. November 2021'

[AribertDeckers]

I just learned that John Benneth is dead:

"Curtain down for John Benneth, 8.May 1952 - 9.Nov.2021"
https://www.allaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=13229

In that forum thread is mentioned something I never thought of: John Benneth was not a professional homeopath, but a professional stage actor and theater man:

"John Benneth"
http://blog.jonnewton.com/john-benneth/


After seeing this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXmYP9VAvlA

I looked for more at YouTube and found this one:




"Mark Twain: A Demonstration in Mental Telegraphy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K65TZGPIwg

John Benneth played Mark Twain. He also played other characters. Jon Newton mentions one funny incident with Paul Newman.


Now, playing characters is great fun. Mark Twain was a big role for John Benneth. Could it be that making up something is THE ROLE for a stage actor? Being so real that the public takes one for real?

I think that some actors for sure would have real big fun making up such a thing. And I am absolutely sure that John Benneth was just this kind of actor.

I never really cared much about John Randi, because John Randi messed up with this attacks on homeopaths. Skeptics, of course, were delighted. But they have no idea what homeopathy really is. Wouldn't John Benneth have the fun of his life making up a better Randi than Randi, the magician, himself?

Of course we will never ḱnow, because John Benneth is dead. And this video was published on YouTube in 2019:

"Mark Twain: A Demonstration in Mental Telegraphy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K65TZGPIwg

The stage action by Benneth was already in 2002:

[*quote*]
14:47 / 1:14:34
Mark Twain: A Demonstration in Mental Telegraphy
Nowhere Video Productions
1.97K subscribers
 
54 views  Mar 17, 2019

Mark Twain: A Demonstration in Mental Telegraphy is the second half of a live stage performance recorded on August 17th, 2002 at Time and Again Ballroom in St. Helens Oregon. Mark Twain is brilliantly portrayed by Mr. John Robert Benneth whose delightful stage presence joins us from Virginia City Nevada. Mr. Benneth as Twain explains his theory in what he calls "mental telegraphy" - a means of projecting thoughts to be perceived by another in a one-man show to help raise funds for Columbia Community Television - a small non-profit public access television station that first gave Nowhere Video Productions its public voice.
Nowhere Video Productions
[*/quote*]


But nearly no-one ever noticed that. Only 54 views. IN FIVE YEARS.


There are some strange things with humans. One is: "When you do a trick, tell no-one that it is a trick." Or the whole magic would be spoiled.

So, when John Benneth, the stage magician, plays a trick, a very keen trick, would he ever tell anyone it is a trick? If he is clever, John Benneth would never do that.

Going to London in Great Britain, tricking out some otherwise brilliant physicists, might have been the greatest trick Benneth ever did.


Honestly, I think that John Benneth was an idiot.

But there is some other strange thing with humans: It is easier to play an idiot than a wise man.

AND there is ONE MORE strange thing: It is a hell of fun to play an idiot and shit on the heads of celebrity, the higher their social ranks, the better.

Doing that stage show in London, a nutty homeopath outsmarting a world-class physicist, must have been the zenith of John Benneth's career as an actor. Groucho Marx would agree, I think.

But there is rule #1: "Do not ever tell."


Okay, I do not know what really happened with John Benneth, and what he really did. But I am damned sure, that there is many a homeopath, who just does that very thing, by impostoring to be a homeopath - exploiting people, making a living of it.

But they will never tell.