Caldwell Library Hosts 'Amazing' Birthday Party

Even after 500 public appearances around the world—501 to be exact—over the last two years alone, The Amazing Kreskin still can't believe his mentalist powers have carried him this far.

It all started for George Kresge Jr. when he was just a 10-year-old student at Lincoln Elementary School.

Subscribe

Caldwell is the famous mentalist and author's roots—right on Bloomfield Avenue where he lived with his family in a cramped apartment growing up.

He hasn't gone far—now a resident of North Caldwell—but Tuesday has been a homecoming of sorts for Kreskin, who was given a 75th birthday party at the Caldwell library in the afternoon and will be handed a proclamation and the keys to the borough at the Caldwell Community Center at 7 p.m.

"It's kind of hard for me—I'm in public all the time—but this is almost a climax of a year that has been unreal," Kreskin told The Caldwells Patch after cutting his birthday cake at the library. "I can't explain it. This is just a fantasy."

The past year has included the release of "The Great Buck Howard," a movie produced by Tom Hanks and starred John Malkovich, whose character Buck Howard was inspired by The Amazing Kreskin.

"This is a summation of a year that has been an adventure," Kreskin said. "People say to me, 'How do you feel when you saw Malkovich play you in the movie.' I say, 'How would you react?' He didn't look like me, but he did the same things and had the same mannerisms. It was unbelievable."

Kreskin spent an hour with the approximately 50 of those who came to the birthday celebration in the lower level of the library Tuesday afternoon. Kreskin had planned to read to children, but with the predominantly adult crowd, he instead personally engaged each of those in attendance while talking politics, answering questions and discussing Caldwell history.

"This library seems smaller than it used to be," he joked.

Kreskin used his powers just once with the help of Michael Trusio, 12, of West Caldwell. Trusio selected a page in a book he chose off a shelf and Kreskin guessed one of the words in the first line of the page was "update."

He was right.

"I can keep doing this even after all of these years,"Kreskin said, "because my equipment is not a prop—it's people's minds."

The Caldwells Patch will continue to follow Kreskin's birthday celebration with tonight's proclamation and key ceremony.