A number of years ago I read a comment somewhere here on the Café that Eddie Fields had a Q & A act that was the “best” the author had ever seen. At the time, I had not heard of Eddie Fields, and was more than a little interested in learning about his Q & A.
After much searching, I eventually did find one published description of Fields’ Q & A, that also explained the basic method. This can be found in Bascom Jones’ Magick. Reading about his Q & A left me wanting to know more about Eddie Fields.
Recently I picked up A Life Among Secrets The Uncommon Life and Adventures of Eddie Fields by Stephen Minch, and read it over the weekend. I found Eddie’s life story to be quite interesting, and indeed uncommon. On the cover, Minch describes Field as, “Magician, Gambler, Medicine Oil Pitchman, Astrologer, Pool Expert, Mind Reader”, and he was all of these. But over the course of his life, he earned his living primarily as a mind reader and horoscope pitchman. Fields spent the better part of 60 years on the road, traveling from city to city, living in hotels. Often he was in a city for just a week or two, then on to the next. Occasionally he would work a region for a longer period of time, perhaps a month or two. Throughout much of his career, Fields worked with a partner, performing a two person mind reading act as part of their horoscope pitch. Later in life, he performed his act alone, doing a combination of magic, handwriting analysis, Q & A, selling horoscopes, and also doing private readings from his office.
Minch says in the book that Fields and his partner made millions with their act. And this was decades ago. How did they end up? I won’t spoil the ending. Read the book to find out.
The life story of Eddie Fields was fascinating to read, and I couldn’t put it down. Some of what’s written left me feeling quite sad. But I got the impression overall, Eddie enjoyed his life and lived it the way he wanted to.
BTW, this is not a book that teaches magic or mentalism. You won’t learn any tricks or methods here. But if you are interested in biographies of magicians, mentalists and mind readers, this is quite an intriguing tale you may enjoy.
