2007-04 Famulus newsletter of IBM Ring 170

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 04/18/2007 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Board meeting at 6:30 pm

Meeting theme: tbd

Marks Street Center, 99 Mark Street, downtown Orlando

If you visit with us and do not know the room we meet in , please be aware that some of the people in the office at the Senior Center may not be aware we are meeting there! At the last meeting one visitor asked where the "IBM" was meeting and the management apparently thought they were asking for the International Business Machines group! They said that there was no "IBM" on the schedule. So, if you have never been to our ring meeting , please say "magicians" or "FAME" and if that doesn't get the room location , just walk around looking for us. The Senior Center is a public building.

Lunch meetings every Tuesday at noon at Goodings (next to the food court)

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
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Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
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GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print. Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2007-04 From the editor

Firstly congratulations to the entertainment committee for an excellent Banquet. I think I speak for all attendees, when I say how glad I am that the Banquet has been re-instated. It was a fun evening, with good food. What more could you ask for! My thanks to the photographers who sent me pictures, I have added a link to them in the blog (newsletter).

Do not forget our next major event is the Auction/Flea Market with headliner Alain Nu, be sure to reserve April 21st.

Thanks also to the other contributors, keep those articles, emails, etc., coming.

See everyone at the Auction,

Your editor

2007-04 Ring Report

Ring #170

The Bev Bergeron Ring

Thirty four regular members filled the seats at our March Ring meeting. We also had four guests, James Minelli from the East Coast of Florida, Phil Swartz and Phil and Alex Tiedtke. President Craig Fennessey gaveled the meeting to order and announced the Flea Market Auction will be on April 21st.The featured lecturer will be Alain Nu. Dan Stapleton gave us an update on Pigeon Forge , Tennessee and his recent appearance at the Winter Carnival of Magic. Nicolas Tangredi is appearing at the Haines City Cabaret. The business meeting concluded and the fun began!

Ring Board Member James Songster was the Master of Ceremonies for our monthly after-the-business-meeting show. This month's theme was "Favorite Packet Tricks". First up was KP, Kerry Pierce. He dealed off 10 cards and had a spectator select cards for an imaginary poker hand. Even with a free choice, Kerry ended up with the best hand. Mark Fitzgerald was in fine form with some fancy coin moves and ending with four aces and a great coin and card matrix effect. Wallace Murphy had a whole paper sack filled with packet card tricks out of his magic drawer. He said the paper sack was a tribute to the late Bill Hoffman, who always brought his magic to the ring meetings in a paper sack. Wallace did a card trick with blank cards that soon mysteriously 8 Balls printed on them. Then billiard balls began to appear!

Joe Vecciarelli had two items for a show and tell. One was a side table he adapted from an inexpensive flower table be found at a craft store. the other was a writing pen that wrote in ink that would disappear if heat was applied. The pen is only available in England, with no plans to sell it here. It certainly has usefulness for magic. Information can be found at http://www.pilotpen.co.uk/ Joe Songster then assisted Jim in a comic version of "Who is smarter than a 7th Grader". Regardless of the questions drawn at random, the adult helper could not answer the questions but the youngster helping Jim could answer questions drawn for him.

Roger Reid had a good packet trick called "Flinch". A packet of number cards seemed to reverse order while he was counting off the stack even though a spectator told him which cards to deal. In the end the cards turned upside down and the backs changed to beer labels. James Minelli did a fast-paced routine with 2 female spectators from the audience. A card selected and signed by the spectator appeared in his pocket, then in the middle of the deck, the top of the deck and finally in his wallet. Billiard Balls appeared in the routine and he concluded with a coins-across routine. Young Sid had a Torn Chinese Laundry ticket routine with lines far beyond his years. A card he selected was also the card named by a spectator. Finally four cards produced happened to be the same four cards the spectator had previously selected.

Click here for more pictures

Wrapping up the Ring Show was George Iglesias. Eight Queens were face up only to be found face down. Four of them then turned into four Jokers with four different colored backs. George showed a tube with a can of soda-pop covered inside. Six cans of soda pop were shown and a spectator merely thought of a brand. The prediction seemed to fail since a regular sugared soda was seen under the tube. George then popped the can and poured out a stream of dry sugar. Returning the tube over the can the correct selected brand was seen when the tube was lifted.

With the show concluded we adjourned and planned for the coming weekend's Annual Ring banquet and show. Good things are always happening in Ring 170!

Dennis Phillips

2007-04 Dennis' Thanks

Dennis expresses thanks!

Bev Bergeron was honored by the FAME Board at our March 24th banquet with "The Founder's Award" for service to FAME from the early 1970s to today. When Bev made the move from Hollywood to Orlando to take a staring role in The Diamond Horseshoe Review at The Magic Kingdom, he continued his service to the magic fraternity and helped revive Ring 170 and establish FAME. Our Ring is what it is today because of the long years of hard work and service by magic legend Bev Bergeron. He deserves our gratitude.

Harvey Brownlow and M.J.Emigh were given Past President Awards for their labors and service in their two-year tenures as President of FAME Ring 170. Serving as President is a task with a lot of responsibility and leadership demands. They served us well.

I want to express my gratefulness for being honored by the FAME board with a Lifetime Membership Award. Actually , I was stunned when Art Thomas emotionally read my name at the Banquet platform. I am a rookie in great company with FAME legends like Bev Bergeron, Bill Rosenthal and the late Dick Randall.
I think most of you know my association with FAME began in 1975 when I moved to Orlando from Charlotte, North Carolina. Through the years there were times when educational and employment demands kept me from regular attendance. In fact, I believe I was a "regular" for ten years before Bev made me officially sign up in 1986!

In the mid 1990s life settled down a bit for me and FAME needed a Secretary and ornery wordsmith to keep FAMULUS interesting , so Bev appointed me to the writing duties that he had labored at for so very long. Thank you for your honors.

As most of you know, there is an attempt to exhume the body of Houdini to see if he was poisoned by angry Spiritualists. Most scholars of Houdini see this as a ploy by the publishers of the latest Houdini book to boost sales. This is a national news story and I was invited to be interviewed by Bud Hedinger on his talk show on WFLA 540. The 15 minute interview was on the air in Tuesday afternoon March 27th and is available to be heard by clicking on Bud's section of the stations web site.
I detail how Houdini may have died from the effects of Leukemia (CML) due to a weakened immune system from heavy X-Ray exposure. His brother Leo was a radiologist and Houdini was fascinated with the machine that Leo kept in Houdini's home when he was living with Harry and Bess. My interview with Bud takes a few unusual turns!

Scroll down, the Quicktime link is on the right hand side of the page in the article description.

http://www.540wfla.com/cc-common/podcast.html

Have fun!
Dennis

2007-04 Vents Info

To all you "Vents" out there...
Just spent a delightful evening with Texas based Ventriloquist Ian Varella who just finished a month gig at Dixie Stampede. Small world all the people we both knew working ships. Ian did 30 min. for the "preshow" at Dixie with only two cloth figures and a simple cloth stand...I hate him (oh why do I love performing illusions?!?!) !He informs me that Jeff Dunham will be performing at the Orlando Improv again (seems to be annual now) this August. Saw Jeff two years ago there and he did 80 min. of nonstop very good material and most family friendly. Great show! Also...just saw that Ace Hardware is selling a bin of DVD's for just $1 each including the old Shari Lewis show. Luciano and I met her...in her Contemporary Hotel suite...at Disney World 30 years ago when her father Abe Hurwitz (sp?) visited. Abe was the Goodwill of Magic in New York City in the 40's & 50's better known as Peter Pan the Magic Man.
Dan Stapleton

2007-04 Martin Nash in Accident

Thought you'd be interested in this [edited] email I received.

Bob Schvey
TVP-North Florida
International Brotherhood of Magicians

Dear Tannen's Magic Customers, We are sorry to report that Martin Nash has been involved in a car accident in Canada... his car was rear-ended by an 18 wheeler during a snowstorm... many other accidents occurred on that same stretch of highway around the same time. Martin has suffered a concussion as has his lady friend Heather (she may also have a broken bone in her neck)... his car is totaled and on the advice of his doctors he is not to travel, so he is forced to cancel his scheduled lecture tour. Martin feels horrible that won't be able to appear and share his magic with his many friends and fans. At this time we are unsure what the future will be in regard to his lecturing. I hope that you will all join me in wishing Martin and Heather a speedy and full recovery.
Thanks and we look forward to seeing you at Tannen's.

-- Tannen's Magic, Inc. 45 West 34th Street, Suite 608 New York, NY 10001

2007-04 Ring 258 Event

I.B.M. Ring # 258, The Lake County Magic Club
Presents
Our Annual Magic Flea Market and Swap Meet
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 12:00 Noon - 3:00 PM
At
The Youth and Retreat Center
33926 Haines Creek Road (Hwy 473)
Leesburg, FL

Entire collections may be sold at this event!



1. Sell the "Magic" that is gathering dust in your closet!!!
2. Buy someone else's junk and make it your treasure!!!
3. Get to know your I.B.M. buddies in Ring 258!!!
4. Get there early for a shot at the "best stuff".
5. What else have you got to do that day???

Directions:
From Orlando, Take SR 441 North toward Leesburg.
Make a Right on to Haines Creek Road/Hwy 473.
The Youth and Retreat Center will be on your Right,
just past the sweeping Left curve in the road.

For More Information Contact:
Jim Moody (352) 315-1100 or
crowdteaser@comcast.net

2007-04 John Scarne Video

Hi Guys,
Below is a link to a "video" of the Master, John Scarne, working with cards. It was sent to me by a magic buddy in Ring 244 on Long Island. This is some of the best card work you will ever see. I thought I would share it with those in Ring 170 for whom I have e-mail addresses. Enjoy!

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=a7f0f35744a1e5dc59649b8df9b8422d.2002252

Roger L. Reid
321-945-7500
Cigam the Magician

www.MagiClown.com

2007-04 Banquet Photos

Thanks to all who sent pictures, they can be found by clicking on the picture below

Ring 170 Banquet 2007

2007-04 Dennis' Deliberations

Dennis' Deliberations..............................................

Si finis bonus est, totum bonum erit . Sic transit gloria mundi *

A full moon was shinning on March 3rd and the sky was clear and the road was straight. I made my way down the Florida Turnpike to rural St. Cloud to the First Baptist Church. It was the first time in about 10 years I would get to see the full evening illusion show of Andre Kole.

I have known about Andre since the mid 1960s. We have met and corresponded a few times. He was known early on as Robert Gurtler, a young illusionist ,born in 1936, from the Phoenix, Arizona area. . At 12 years older than me he is almost from another generation. So, as I review his show keep in mind that I am talking about a 70 year old man who spent his magical formative years in an earlier time of magic. Also, keep in mind that we are dealing with a man who has had several deep emotional events in his life. The first involved a strong religious conversion experience in the early 1960s. As he tells it, his life was empty and without meaning and he had come to the end of himself (deep depression?) when he found a religious purpose and meaning in life in his conversion to Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. He says that he dedicated his talents and life to God.

A second major stress must have been the loss of his wife, partner and chief assistant, Aljeana , to a brain tumor in the mid 1970s. Nevertheless , Andre has been on the road for over 30 years and has played all over the world. He has always been an ingenious inventor and original thinker. I can recall , a young Doug Henning, in 1969 at the Abbott's Get Together gushing to me over Andre's creations. Later Henning would use many of Andre's ideas such as Andre's "No-Feet" illusion on a TV special. During the early 70s Andre performed his "Table of Death" on Bill Bixby's TV series "The Magician". David Copperfield has used many of Andre's concepts. One was the "Squeeze Box" that was used to shrink David to just his head and feet. If you have ever used a "Spikes Through Balloon" you have used a invention from Andre for which I believe he says he never made a nickel !

So we are talking about a talented, experienced,colorful and complex guy when we talk about Andre. His college degree was in psychology and he enjoys quoting psychologists. He especially likes to show that they offer insights but are of little help to the human condition. For a while, his son Tim Kole was doing well in Las Vegas as a secular illusionist but he was severely injured in a motor vehicle accident while on a tour of Southwest Asia. That must have been another emotional stress for Andre.

Now...Please understand that I respect and like Andre. His program at First Baptist was totally appropriate and ideal for that venue or a sponsored religious college event . But, regrettably, most magicians and secular audiences would probably find his show very slow paced and oblique in current tastes in entertainment. He could never make it as a commercial secular illusionist with this type of act. Part of the reason is that first and foremost he is a preacher and evangelist, even though he rejects the title. The purpose of his show is to convert you to Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. A trained theologian would tell you that his is a semi-Calvinistic , Revivalist form of Christianity. He is intent on this goal because this is what "saved" him and he believes that everyone has the same spiritual problem he had and needs the identical individualistic spiritual experience. Because his illusion show mixes magic, theology, psychology, geo-politics and religious doctrines, I will need to discuss all of these so you can get an insight into why you experience what you do at his illusion show.

A metacognitive analysis of his 90 minute show shows that it is designed to convince you that all claims of Supernaturalism are fake but Andre's mystical Fundamentalist Christianity is real. He constantly (non-verbally and verbally) tells you that you are gullible and incapable of understanding empirical reality and he tries to prove his proposition by fooling you with his illusions. Then, near the end he offers you a mystical way ( a conversion experience through a simple prayer) to link with God and come to understand that God alone is the great illusionist who does the real stuff- Does that make sense? Hang on! I will get to Andre's illusions in a moment.

Andre's illusion show travels under the banner of Campus Crusade for Christ. This is a massive international para-church ministry founded by the late Bill Bright and aimed mostly at college students. At the core of their theology is the practice of "Decisional Regeneration". This means that if you decide, in your mind and from your own free-will, to be a Christian , you are instantly going to Heaven, justified with God and ontologically a new spiritual creation. This is reflected in their Four Spiritual Laws:

1. God Loves you and wants you to be saved.
2. Mankind is sinful , separated from God and needs God.
3. Jesus has the answers to all your problems.
4. You must individually accept and trust Jesus.

In fairness, Andre's approach does provide a path for many people who need a spiritual purpose in their lives. We live in a very complex and seemingly meaningless world. Strong religious faith is a bedrock for many of us. Andre articulates one religious form of a cultural and historic theological/methodology based on 19th Century Protestant Revivalism as found in D.L. Moody, R.A. Torrey and the Keswickians and recently the Neo-Evangelicals. So, give the guy a break. If you want to see his innovative illusions , cut him some slack on the religious pitch. In a quieter time, check out his religious advice. It may do you some good. He is not "pushy" with his direct pitch and offers anyone a chance to leave during his sermon portion of the program. In all the performances I have seen, I have never seen anyone leave. After all, he shows another magic trick as part of the sermon.

Andre's technical staging is ingenious. He carries a pipe and drape set and a 12 by 12 foot proscenium ,and a curtain traveler, with him. He transforms the front of a traditional church into a boxed stage for his illusions. On each upper side of the proscenium, on the inside end of the traveler is an intelligent light.He also uses a front footlight strip .He carries his own sound system with professionally done music and announcing tracks as well as a Hazer fog machine.

The program opens with a pounding musical overture. There is a recorded announcement by a deep-throated announcer about all the continents and countries that Andre has toured. The curtains open and an upright 4 foot by 4 foot box fan can be seen. Two main assistants wheel it forward. A puff of CO2 is blown through it into the audience. At each corner are 2 foot tinsel streamers waving in the breeze. The fan is rotated to a horizontal position and the two assistants place a 10 foot square thin red cloth over the fan and the breeze billows up the cloth like a parachute. The cloth is lowered down again and allowed to quickly billow up and there in silhouette with his hair blowing in the wind stands Andre! As the music builds to a crescendo Andre does a classic fist thrusting up for the applause cue. A very impressive opening.
Illusionists watching will appreciate that the secret was split second timing and the joys of working inside a small performing box set with side views blocked.

Andre walked out to the apron as the curtains closed behind him . He lighted a length of about 18 inches of black rope and as orange flames burned, he twirled the rope and it became a cane. This is one of several signature effects he does. The music ended and Andre welcomed the audience and told them that he was doing nothing supernatural. He mentioned that a million dollar prize offered by skeptics to anyone who could do the supernatural is still unclaimed. He said there were two professions where a person tells you that he is going to do something and then fools you. One is a magician, the other is a politician. The audience laughed.

He began with a tribute to the Broadway play, The Phantom of the Opera. The famous Andrew Lloyd Webber show-music played. The illusion is performed with his female assistant and is known as "The Head Mover". It is an original creation of Andre's and made popular on a David Copperfield special. The girl kneels in a framework and her head is encased in a box sitting on the top of the framework. A sword is passed through the neck area. The box is then moved to each side and finally removed showing that she is decapitated. Finally, the box is replaced and the girl emerges unharmed.

After the applause, the curtain closed and Andre invited a spectator to come in front of the curtain to help him. He did the Lester Lake Head Chopper with all the well-worn , but classic lines. The St. Cloud Baptist church audience ate it up.

The curtains opened after Andre talked about how he helped David Copperfield walk through the Great Wall of China. A young woman dressed in a very baggy Oriental style costume could be see laying on her side on a gurney-type table. She was assisted to lay flat. Andre took off his shoes and walked up a step ladder placed in the back and middle of the table. His male assistants placed two hand rails over the girl's body. Andre then stepped on her belly and slowly his feet and the legs melted down through the middle of the girl. The prop seemed to me to be a kind of horizontal "Interlude" with a fake body-side under the girl's baggy costume. The table had a lift built into it to allow Andre to lower through the girl and rise back up.

Next was Andre's version of Abbott's ( and John Calvert's) Spirit Tie. Andre does a long build-up by telling the complete story of the Fox Sisters . They made Spiritualism famous in America at the time of the psychological trauma in the post Civil War years. He invites 2 gentlemen up to help him and his hands are securely tied around him. He sits in a wooden folding chair and his ankles are tied to the chair legs. A TV tray with aluminum pie pans and a bell is placed in front of him. When the hooped cloth cabinet is raised around him, the pie pans fly over the top, the bell rings and the TV tray comes flying out. The cabinet is quickly lowered and Andre was still tied and in a trance. Here is where those two intelligent stage lights came in handy. They strobed while the spook action was happening. Next a borrow jacket place on Andre's lap was found on him. Finally one of the gentleman was blindfolded and placed in the hoop cabinet and ended up with his shoes off, pants legs rolled up and a bucket over his head. The theme from the film Ghostbusters was playing during the final spook scene.

One of the best responses of the evening was another of his signature acts. It is a routine you might expect to see at a child's birthday party. He invited 4 children up to help. A glass of water was poured into a small vase and inverted and eventually placed on the top of the head of one of the children. Another child was given an open handkerchief to hold up in an opened position in the air at the side of the group.This became a running gag as Andre frequently told the child to "hold it up a little higher!". Andre then went through a break-away wand and breakaway fan with one of the little girls. Finally he used an ice-pick and poked a hole in the boy's forehead and a long thin stream of water shot out of the boy's forehead into the audience. Andre then placed on a large chrome faucet on the boy's forehead. A funnel was placed under the faucet and water was pumped out of the boys brain as the girl assistant working the boy's arm like a pump handle. The vase was removed from the child's head and was empty. Andre walked over to the other child who was holding up the handkerchief and calmly wiped the water from his hands on the handkerchief. The St. Cloud Baptist church audience roared!

The next trick could best be described as a human-sized sucker-sliding die box. A large box was shown with two doors on the front and the back. A male assistant went in through the top and could be seen lying inside. Andre did the typical lines about "making him disappear". One door was opened and then the other and finally the back doors on each side. Just when the audience thought they had the trick figured out, he closed all the doors and the entire box was lifted from the table and a female assistant was seen reclining where the male assistant was.

Andre closed the first act of the program with another of his signature illusions, his self-levitation. He puts on a white robe and sits yogi fashion on a decorative box. the box has a huge 6 foot diameter open ring upright on the back and it is filled with small lights. Andre levitates up to the middle of the open ring. A Blaney hoop is passed over him. Finally the box and ring are pushed 5 feet in back of him, leaving him seemingly floating in the middle of the stage. He does not float back down but the curtain closes and the first act is over.

Intermission saw most of the crowd follow his suggestion to browse his sale table filled with books, posters, 8 by10 fan photos, DVDs and T-shirts.
I am not certain about his financial arrangements with Campus Crusade for Christ but I know several people that work for them and CCC does not pay them. I believe that they use the Campus Crusade name and 501 C-3 tax status to raise their own support. I would guess that Andre has a number of sustaining contributors around the country that help keep him on the road. I seriously doubt that he could perform with no admission charge to 400 or so people in St. Cloud without other means of support. Standard show-industry buying statistics reveal about $3 to $4 as an average concession, trinket take per audience member in his type of venue. I don't think only a sporadic $1,500 income could keep his program on the road, given his schedule of not playing every day. Several years ago I think his website said that he only required lodging for his crew . His show travels in an aging 24 foot diesel box truck with a king cab that holds four passengers. It was parked in the church parking lot.

The second act was shorter and featured Andre lowering himself through the center of the large fan. Again that same box fan was flipped up to a horizontal position and two poles with hand hold rings on winch cables were locked in place and Andre apparently lowered himself through the whirling fan blades.

He then went into the sermon part of the illusion program. He said that it was probably the most important part of his illusion show so I must deal with what he said and did. While doing the sermon he made a light bulb vanish from a break-apart box and reappear back in the lamp. It was an object lesson to that he wants you to believe that man has a soul, Jesus rose from the dead and you were made to live forever. I am certain that in a more secular setting , such as a college, he does not extend the sermon such as he did at First Baptist of St. Cloud. He included all kinds of current news events to convince you that the world as we know it today is in immediate danger of terrifying apocalyptic events. You are free to scroll down a few paragraphs to more of the magic review and avoid hearing his sermon about the doom facing us soon.

He preached that a Pentagon friend told him that Hugo Chavez is buying Russian submarines to attack the United States. I wonder if the CIA knows that? Would Chavez nuke his own American Citgo stations that are making him billions? He also told the audience that Turkey has many hydroelectric dams at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates River which means that they could dry up the rivers and allow 200 million Red Chinese to invade Israel! I question if Andre knows global geography very well. Isn't the Himalayan Mountain Range or Russia in the way? If that many able bodied Red Chinese leave their factories and jobs, maybe there is hope for American manufacturing again!

It is a well known speculative conclusion that the state of Israel has a formable nuclear arsenal. Long before 200 million Red Chinese would undertake the long land trek across the Iranian and Iraqi and Jordanian desert, Israel ( and others) would unleash their weapons. Andre's military thinking is from the Napoleonic era. Today it is possible to totally easily destroy (annihilate!) a small nation-state using long range weapons. "Boots on the Ground" are needed only for long term occupations, such as we are doing in Iraq. Israel is a small nation and its land has little mineral value although a small section of Israel has some religious sites and shrines that are honored by Judaism, Christianity and Islam (none to the Red Chinese). A 200 million man Red Chinese army combined with another few million fighters from other unfriendly nations (that want the downfall of the state of Israel) seems to me to be a bit of a stretch in terms of modern rational strategic military operations.

In fairness to Andre, he is merely repeating what was said long ago by Bible footnoter, C.I. Scofield and more recently by Rev. John Hagee, Rev. Hal Lindsey and most other Fundamentalist Premillenial Dispensationalist Christians on religious radio and TV. They find proof-texts for all these predictions in their literal exegesis of the Bible. (one example is Revelation 9:16) Of course, when you read the verses literally, you find out that this 200 million man army will also have horses! Imagine the logistics needed to provide hay and water for 200 million horses! Imagine all the droppings!

He then asked anyone who wished to pray the special prayer for salvation with him to bow their heads and he led the prayer and passed out cards for people to sign their name and give their address for a follow up.

Anyway, this kind of doomsday talk , as exciting as it progressed, was a low point in the pacing of the illusion program but I believe appropriate for the ultimate purpose for Andre's program and the eschatological doctrines of that church denomination .

The finale act was Andre's "Vanishing Statue of Liberty" . It is a 10 foot high fiberglass copy of the monument. David Copperfield does the audio introduction.
It stood on a low platform and had two high posts on each side. Andre's assistants used two lines through pulleys and raised up a hoop with a cloth tube hanging from it. This was to hide the Statue. The tube was not long enough to completely hide the statue. When it was fully extended the head and arm of the statue could still be seen over the top of the hoop. Andre explained that he was going to vanish the statue from the bottom up! The hoop was raised and there was nothing where the bottom had been. The entire hoop was dropped and the top part was missing. Nothing was there. It was a dramatic show piece and well executed. Keep in mind that he is within his own small box set with all the side angles covered. The walls of the surrounding set had an odd aluminum strip pattern on solid flat black with small twinkle lights at various points. My friend Paul Osborne has written several plans showing clever ways of using a rigid set to load out items.

After well-deserved applause, Andre stepped onto the platform and the hoop was raised and dropped and he also was gone!

I think his final personal vanish was overkill and somewhat tipped off how both tricks were done but perhaps I was thinking like a magician and not like a member of the rural First Baptist Church of St. Cloud. In any event, the audience loved the show. Andre got a standing ovation.I also was on my feet. I again admired his ability, talent and presentation. I was entertained and glad I saw him again. I believe that his faith should be an inspiration to all.

I took the Florida Turnpike back home...the road was still straight, the sky was still clear and the full moon was still shinning and had not yet turned red like blood. (Revelation 6:12)

Dennis Phillips
Orlando, Florida

* Si finis bonus est, totum bonum erit - If the end is good, everything will be good (all's well that ends well)
Sic transit gloria mundi - So passes the glory of the world