The Plot

Mounsey wanted something exotic and decided to call his new employee "Juan-Five-Four-Oh," (pronounced "hwan FIE'-forr-oh") or, simply, "The Great Juan." As the caper unfolded, Mounsey and The Great Juan drove to New York to have professional photographs shot and meet Juan's "manager" (a tough, cigar-chewing publicity agent named Art Moger). . During the trip, Juan expressed an interest in mentalism and the mind. By the time they reached New York, a persona was taking shape.

The Great Juan would make a big media entrance in Albany as "The Youth from Out of the Beyond." The phony background placed the blonde guy in the Lake Titicaca region of the Altiplana Plateau in Bolivia ("boh-LEE-vee-ya"). Why Bolivia? It was obscure, and who knew? Juan spoke such good English because his parents, before they were unfortunately slain in a bloody uprising, had been American missionaries in Bolivia 

The Execution

When Juan arrived in Albany on an afternoon train, accompanied by his "lovely assistant, Catrina La Paz" (a New York model), the media were hungry. Moger had done his job. The snarling pack jostled, snapped pictures (and at each other), fired questions, shoved tape recorders and TV cameras in the pair's faces. Quickly (but not TOO quickly), Juan and Catrina were whisked to the Thruway Motel to prepare for their mentalist act a week later.

Between memorizing his presentation, squabbling with the not-so-lovely Catrina La Paz (who maniacally checked the door between their rooms every half hour to make sure it was locked), furtively attending strategy meetings at WPTR and conducting a whirlwind of interviews and media appearances, Juan had a busy week.

The publicity machine was in high gear. Part of the media advertising deal included the requirement that five radio stations had to carry Juan's speech in a remote broadcast. Naturally, WTRY was one of the five.

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