Hypnosis

Dagwood Bumstead was my dad's very favorite comic's character in our Sunday newspaper, bar none. As a boy, I fondly remember sharing the comic pages with him. Invariably, he would turn to Blondie right after reading the day's headlines. I can still hear him laughing heartedly, outloud, at ole Dagwood's antics. In particular, one strip had Dagwood sitting front and center at a stage show with Blondie and their next door neighbors. It was vaudevillian night if I remember correctly. One act was a hypnotist who, as they are want to do, asked for a volunteer. 

Of course, Dagwood was the volunteer who joined the hypnotist on stage and was soon hypnotized. He was made to take off his clothe, on stage, in front of the full house. Wearing just his trade mark polka-dotted boxer shorts, socks and undershirt, the hypnotist soon had him walking around the stage, flapping his arms while clucking like a chicken. Dad and I both got a real bang out of that one.

Dagwood and his son, Alexander, in their Underwear
from an earlier comic strip, circa 1930's

Years later, my wife and I were on an Alaskan cruise in late September. As is normally the case on such travels, the food was superb and the nightly entertainment excellent. On the fourth night, I believe it was, we joined about a hundred other cruisers in the entertainment room which had a small stage on one end. We all settled in, seated around small tables, for another fun-filled evening with the talented cast.

The night had been billed as featuring the “Amazing Carl, Hypnotist." Carl was kind of a magician too. After some mediocre magic, he turned to which he was really good, hypnosis. Several volunteers from the audience joined him on stage, one at a time. He was successful in hypnotizing all of them, making them do as he commanded.  He had one portly man pull off his shoes, put them on his hands, and do his best at a handstand. The man returned to his seat, still wearing the shoes on his hands. Next was a woman who was made to sing opera. Her falsetto was terrible but hilarious.

The one that brought down the house, though, and which I remember most vividly, was of a young man. He and his young wife or girl friend were sitting at the table next to us.  The kid's companion volunteered him and had to practically pushed him up out of his chair to get him started. On stage he was asked his name and from where he hailed. His name is lost to me but I remember he was from a small town in the mid-west, possibly Iowa or South Dakota. Let's call him Rick. Anyway, Rick indicated he was certain he couldn't be hypnotized.

Soon, though, he was in a trance and, shortly thereafter, was made to do a sort of a one-man strip tease. The hypnotist had him untie and kick off his boots, followed by him unbuttoning and taking off his shirt, revealing the top of the red union suit he was wearing underneath. I was wearing one too and was thankful I wasn't the one up on stage taking off my clothes.

Finally, at the instruction of Carl, he gave up his pants. Everyone present knew that was coming. Then, Carl made Rick play an air-guitar and sing at the top of his voice. To gales of laugher from the amused audience, Rick performed there on stage in only his long red underwear. All the while, his affected, giggling significant-other continued to snap photos of her beau making a fool of himself in his underwear.

But Rick wasn't through yet. The hypnotist then had him hop around the stage making various animal sounds, a barking dog, a mooing cow, and the like. Finally, he had Rick return to his seat, leaving his clothes and boots back up on stage. With Rick seated, Carl loudly clapped his hands, waking up the guy, out of his trance. Rick looked bewildered at first, then hugely embarrassed to be sitting back amongst us in his union suit. He sheepishly walked back up on stage to thunderous applause, retrieving his clothes and taking a well-earned bow.

After the show we talked a while with the now dressed Rick and his significant other. Rick claimed he really didn't think he could be hynotized and was extremely surprised to wake up sitting there in his underwear. He genuinely seemed unrelated to the hypnotist. We came away believing he was not part of the act or some prior “set-up,” and really didn't know beforehand his part in that night's hypnotic performance.