In conjunction with a musician called WC Handy, he wrote a couple of songs which were to become hits. He was only in his early 20s when he became known as ‘the world’s youngest and fastest hypnotist’.Īfter about a year or so, he became a little disillusioned with performing and took a job with a music publishing company. It was in 1922 when he had already joined the Vaudeville circuit and had moved to New York that he took on the stage name Elman. So you can see that his path towards becoming an authority on hypnotherapy did not exactly follow the conventional route! Becoming 'The Worlds Youngest and Fastest Hypnotist'. Dave was only eight at the time.īecause his father had died leaving a large family, Elman was forced to work from a very early age and even when he was twelve or thirteen, he was already performing both as a musician as a comedian. In fact, when his father Jacob contracted cancer, his pain was relieved through hypnosis by a family friend who happened to be a stage hypnotist.Ĭonsequently Dave asked the family friend to teach him all the techniques and specifically those which dealt with pain relief. Dave's Intro to Hypnosis for Pain.ĭave Elman’s interest in hypnosis started at a very early age. He was born David Koppelman in North Dakota and his parents ran a wig-making business and his mother ran a hairdressing shop. His career does not read like that of say, Freud or Jung, but that of a person whose personal drive was towards fame and recognition and hypnotherapy appeared to be a natural development of his rather varied show business career. That is the esteem in which Dave Elman is still held.ĭave Elman was born in 1900 and developed into a real mid-20th century polymath. His book entitled ‘Hypnotherapy’ was published in 1970 - three years after his death, although you can find the same book, which he self published in 1964, under the title of ‘ Findings in Hypnosis’ - although a copy of that particular edition changes hands for about £500.