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Kreskin, who performed hundreds of live shows a year, was known for his signature flourish: he would have an audience member hide his paycheck for the performance and he would have to find it. If he didn't find it, Kreskin wouldn't get paid.
Born in Montclair, Kreskin a.k.a. George Joseph Kresge, Jr. grew up in Caldwell and later attended Seton Hall University. He said in interviews he was inspired to go into mentalism after discovering the comic book character Mandrake the Magician at the age of five.
He was a regular on talk shows, appearing on "The Tonight Show" 88 times, and appearing hundreds of times on "The Mike Douglas Show," "The Merv Griffin Show," and "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee."
On New Year's Day, Kreskin would pop up on WPIX to make his predictions for the year. Kreskin had his own board game, wrote numerous books and the movie, "The Great Buck Howard" featured John Malkovich playing a character inspired by Kreskin.
His first appearance on "The Steve Allen Show" in 1964 saw Kreskin trip and fall, which he said inspired Johnny Carson's iconic Carnac the Magnificent character, who always fell over on his desk.
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