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Make your reservations for the Ring 170 Banquet and Magic Show on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
Tickets are on sale now for $25.00 each.
Includes a full buffet dinner, close-up magic at your table, and a wonderful magic show staring, Terry Ward, Fred Moore, Giovonni, and a special appearance by the Blues Brothers. Seating is limited so make your reservations at our Wednesday meeting or e-mail Art Thomas at art.thomas@disney.com. Payment at the door.
This is a night of great entertainment that you do not want to miss!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
2008-03 Famulus Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 03/19/2008 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: David Solomon lecture
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
*************************************************************
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
*************************************************************
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.
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 03/19/2008 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: David Solomon lecture
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
*************************************************************
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
*************************************************************
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.
2008-03 From The Editor
First of all apologies to the Ring for this late publication of the newsletter. A combination of flu, vacation and new employment messed up my schedule. I was sorry that I missed everyone at the Auction (vacation), I hope that it was a great success. Please would any of the attendees write a short description, especially someone who also particpated in the workshop.
Thanks to Joe and Dennis for their contributions,
Your editor
Thanks to Joe and Dennis for their contributions,
Your editor
2008-03 Ring Report The Bev Bergeron Ring
Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring
February is the month of love and our members must have loved showing up for the meeting. We had 36 people in the seats along with one guest, Dan Mattei. President Craig Fennessey gaveled the meeting to order with reports on magical activities around the area for the last month. Craig gave a review on the recent Magic by the Bay in Tampa. We have our annual ring flea market and auction coming up on March 8th. The featured lecturers will be Michael Ammar and Magic Ian. We also have some other interesting upcoming lectures for the rest of the year.
Phil Schwartz then presented Magical Moment #3. His mini-lectures have become a very rewarding part of our Ring activities. This month’s lecture was about magic posters. Phil explained that before modern broadcast, highway billboards and print media, posters were the main method of advertising theater magic shows.
He explained the different sizes of posters and how they were used in the golden age of posters from 1870 to 1920. From his own private collection, Phil showed some rare and valuable examples such as a Chung Ling Soo and Charles Carter poster along with a rare Servais LeRoy and Company poster. It resembled a Dali painting with disjointed flying animals and the magicians sitting on them! Our ring is fortunate to have Phil Schwartz, an acclaimed Thayer expert, as an active member enriching our knowledge of magic history.
Dan Stapleton followed up with an announcement that he is in the running for an appearance on Network TV’s “America’s Got Talent”. Most people have no idea of the preparation and process it takes to be on a network TV show.
With the business meeting ended, Mark Fitzgerald stepped up to Emcee the Ring Show for the evening. He first explained that his wife, Lynn, would be on a Travel Channel show that was recently filmed at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market. He then kicked off the show with the “Inside-Outside” card. Two cards were shown and folded in half and turned sideways. They seemed to flip as they were passed through each other. When passed for examination they were ungimmicked. Mark then brought up Dan Stapleton who did an effect from Magic Magazine based on the Hugard’s, “Piano Card Trick”. Dan’s trick involved two cloth napkins and 4 volunteers and 8 pairs of knives and forks. Mysteriously one knife changed from one side of the stage to the other.
Bev Bergeron made a small quarter disappear and promised that in 45 minutes he would make the moon disappear. Cleverly, Bev knew that a lunar eclipse was due at that time in Orlando and sure enough the moon turned to blood and then vanished! Mark returned to the stage for a Restoration type card trick. This is where a signed card is torn and then visibly restored. Sid McWethy made a candle and a rose appear from a scarf in keeping with a February Valentine theme. Mike Bondi, now a newspaper advertising representative, did a cut and restored rope that had been used to wrap a newspaper. He followed it up with the Gene Anderson Newspaper Tear made famous by Doug Henning. Bondi also turned coupons into real dollar bills.
Charlie Pfrogner had a classic fall-apart box where most of the sides opened up so the box could be seen empty. From this he did a clever silk production. It is always fun to see the classic magic from the 1950s. Mark Fitzgerald was back on with another Restoration Card effect but a different method. Last up was former Ring president, Richard Hewitt. Richard treated us to Ace Gorham’s BINGO trick. It is a real mentalism fooler. Five Bingo cards are handed out and by a totally free choice the five spectators who each got a card call the number out. All the numbers were different. When the numbers were totaled they matched the prediction that Richard had made.
With the meeting adjourned we went into the warm February night. Be with us on your next vacation or business trip to Orlando, Good things are always happening in Ring 170.
Dennis Phillips
February is the month of love and our members must have loved showing up for the meeting. We had 36 people in the seats along with one guest, Dan Mattei. President Craig Fennessey gaveled the meeting to order with reports on magical activities around the area for the last month. Craig gave a review on the recent Magic by the Bay in Tampa. We have our annual ring flea market and auction coming up on March 8th. The featured lecturers will be Michael Ammar and Magic Ian. We also have some other interesting upcoming lectures for the rest of the year.
Phil Schwartz then presented Magical Moment #3. His mini-lectures have become a very rewarding part of our Ring activities. This month’s lecture was about magic posters. Phil explained that before modern broadcast, highway billboards and print media, posters were the main method of advertising theater magic shows.
He explained the different sizes of posters and how they were used in the golden age of posters from 1870 to 1920. From his own private collection, Phil showed some rare and valuable examples such as a Chung Ling Soo and Charles Carter poster along with a rare Servais LeRoy and Company poster. It resembled a Dali painting with disjointed flying animals and the magicians sitting on them! Our ring is fortunate to have Phil Schwartz, an acclaimed Thayer expert, as an active member enriching our knowledge of magic history.
Dan Stapleton followed up with an announcement that he is in the running for an appearance on Network TV’s “America’s Got Talent”. Most people have no idea of the preparation and process it takes to be on a network TV show.
With the business meeting ended, Mark Fitzgerald stepped up to Emcee the Ring Show for the evening. He first explained that his wife, Lynn, would be on a Travel Channel show that was recently filmed at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market. He then kicked off the show with the “Inside-Outside” card. Two cards were shown and folded in half and turned sideways. They seemed to flip as they were passed through each other. When passed for examination they were ungimmicked. Mark then brought up Dan Stapleton who did an effect from Magic Magazine based on the Hugard’s, “Piano Card Trick”. Dan’s trick involved two cloth napkins and 4 volunteers and 8 pairs of knives and forks. Mysteriously one knife changed from one side of the stage to the other.
Bev Bergeron made a small quarter disappear and promised that in 45 minutes he would make the moon disappear. Cleverly, Bev knew that a lunar eclipse was due at that time in Orlando and sure enough the moon turned to blood and then vanished! Mark returned to the stage for a Restoration type card trick. This is where a signed card is torn and then visibly restored. Sid McWethy made a candle and a rose appear from a scarf in keeping with a February Valentine theme. Mike Bondi, now a newspaper advertising representative, did a cut and restored rope that had been used to wrap a newspaper. He followed it up with the Gene Anderson Newspaper Tear made famous by Doug Henning. Bondi also turned coupons into real dollar bills.
Charlie Pfrogner had a classic fall-apart box where most of the sides opened up so the box could be seen empty. From this he did a clever silk production. It is always fun to see the classic magic from the 1950s. Mark Fitzgerald was back on with another Restoration Card effect but a different method. Last up was former Ring president, Richard Hewitt. Richard treated us to Ace Gorham’s BINGO trick. It is a real mentalism fooler. Five Bingo cards are handed out and by a totally free choice the five spectators who each got a card call the number out. All the numbers were different. When the numbers were totaled they matched the prediction that Richard had made.
With the meeting adjourned we went into the warm February night. Be with us on your next vacation or business trip to Orlando, Good things are always happening in Ring 170.
Dennis Phillips
2008-03 Make Magazine Magic Issue
Volume 13: Abracadabra!
In this issue of MAKE, you'll perplex your pals and confound your colleagues with wooden blocks that seemingly pass through solid objects, balls that float, pens that dance at your command, and more. You'll also learn how to grow a half-ton pumpkin, make an irresistible fishing lure for 3 1/4 cents, build an air-powered "boom stick," and fashion a baseball cap that can wirelessly turn off obnoxious TV sets.
All this and more in MAKE, Volume 13. http://makezine.com/magazine/
I was able to pick up a copy at Virgin Megastore at Downtown Disney and I have seen the magazine at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. The magazine price is $14.99
JoeV
In this issue of MAKE, you'll perplex your pals and confound your colleagues with wooden blocks that seemingly pass through solid objects, balls that float, pens that dance at your command, and more. You'll also learn how to grow a half-ton pumpkin, make an irresistible fishing lure for 3 1/4 cents, build an air-powered "boom stick," and fashion a baseball cap that can wirelessly turn off obnoxious TV sets.
All this and more in MAKE, Volume 13. http://makezine.com/magazine/
I was able to pick up a copy at Virgin Megastore at Downtown Disney and I have seen the magazine at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. The magazine price is $14.99
JoeV
2008-03 Dennis' Deliberations
Okay, Okay, I am a glutton for punishment. Did any of you guys ever know a homely, shy girl in high school or college? You looked at her and she made very good grades, was reclusively friendly and you thought she had some potential to turn from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Maybe if you could get her to ditch the cat-eye glasses, style her hair, dress in current fashion, you could help her out. You forced a few social dates on her and kept hoping she would blossom. You soon found out that she did not want to change.
I am beginning to feel this way about “Magic by the Bay”, the Tampa Magic Convention held the middle of February. I believe this was the 3rd year. It is sponsored by the local Magic shop in Tampa. Marty, the owner seems to be trying to create a springtime version of Harry and Irv’s Daytona Magic event. Last year Richard Hewitt was kind enough to take me over and support my attendance. This year, I rode with Dan Stapleton, Luciano and Chris Dunn for the Saturday night show and a glimpse at the dealer areas.
It seems to me that the whole convention is just not very well thought out and executed. I can not speak for the lectures and Friday Night show this year but last year, they were like the girl in the first paragraph, full of potential, interesting but lacking much. Last year, Rocco was a one-trick-pony. Nearly everything he did was sleeving, He was good at it, as was Sterling Steal. But, how much of it can you take? The Friday Night Show last year was little better than a local Ring banquet show.
I was told that Marty tries to run the whole show by himself, without adequate and costly help, and that can greatly affect the flow and execution of the events.
After supper at Sonny’s Barbeque on Dale Mabry we set off for the short trip to Thomas Jefferson High School. Dan, Luciano, Chris and I ran into our Ring President Craig Fennessey and Jim Green from Mr. G’s Magic and Costumes in Jacksonville.
The High School auditorium ended up about less than half full with about 300 in the seats. As was true with last year, the lighting and sound were abysmal. They must have hired the spotlight operator from Stalag 13 in Hogan’s Heros. He could not find anyone on stage. The microphones did not work and the sound that came from them was horrible. You would think that basic lighting and sound is foundational to any stage show but the show producer seemed unconcerned.
Last year and the year before the master of ceremonies was Ronald McDonald. May I speculate that it was a stoned Ronald McDonald? That Ronald was the most droll, monotone clown I have ever seen. He made TV’s James Lipton seem like a raging extrovert. Well, there was no Ronald this year. In fact, there was no Master of Ceremonies! To use a phrase from Jack Parr, “I kid you not!” Marty, in blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, came out and announced the intermission! For a moment I thought a wino had wandered in off the street and on to the stage. Just before the second act, some unprofessional dude with sloppy blue jeans and his shirt tail hanging out came out on stage and did an impassioned plea to not let young children see the following act with Eran Raven. Maybe that act was why Ronald McDonald was not on the bill this year. On the way back home we all were laughing in the car saying that we never believed we could have wanted Ronald McDonald back.
Okay, down to the show. At least the first half was a real downer. First up was Darren Rockwell. Rockwell is in his late 20s, I think he basically did the same illusion he did in Daytona two years ago. Maybe someone can explain what the whole thing is supposed to be. I get the crushing the girl part-yawn- but I missed what the set up was supposed to be.
There was no introduction. The curtain opened and the girl was in coveralls on an aluminum ladder with a couple of boxes and a trunk around her. The “music” was some acid-grunge collection of noise that sounded like Kurt Cobain in his last gasps of life. The girl twirled a bit and out walked Rockwell in faded jeans, untied sneakers and a shirt that was not tucked in. He helped the girl remove her coveralls and she was in a Marilyn Monroe style white dress. He put her into the Girl Crusher with what seemed like the Gerry Frenette moves as seen on Frenette’s sales video. Watch it on You Tube, maybe you can make sense of what he is trying to do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70gId6yO5NQ That had to have been the high point of his act because we were then treated to 20 minutes of nonsense with a one-way deck.
He began this effect by going out into the audience to supposedly find a girl with whom he could establish a mind link. He went though several women asking them to say the first thing that came into their mind when he said a word. With each one that failed he seemed annoyed and told them to sit down when they did not fill his needs. There was no attempt at softening the impact. No compliment, just “Sit down!”… How about him saying, “You are really pretty and have a sweet personality but we need some more time together”. Then give her a rose. Nope, none of this! The way he handled the ladies made him seem arrogant and abusive.
Finally he found a girl and brought her up on stage. Catch this; we are ten minutes into the routine! Ten minutes to just find a girl to help him! Next he had a low coffee table. He opened a deck of cards and spread the face down on the table and then went to the other side of the stage with a giant drawing pad. He instructed the girl to push out any card of her free choice and look at it and then cover everything with a pocket handkerchief. Standing at the other side of the stage he opened the large drawing pad and begin eliminating cards by asking the girl personal questions about her life. Does anyone really care she has been with her current boyfriend of 4 months? “Okay, let’s scratch out the 4 of hearts!” After another 5 minutes or so of this type of stuff he finally revealed the card she had selected. Maybe he did not use a one-way deck but he could have and he also could have cut the whole bit down to one-fourth the time. I have a bias against anything but the most simple and quick card tricks. The audience has to be able to follow the action. Whatever it is, the card trick must be more than just, the fact that you figured out the card. Maybe Rockwell is just young. I hope he gets over the impression I get that he enjoys hearing himself talk.
The next act was the biggest disappointment of the night. They brought in Eran Raven who was one of the participants on the recent NBC show called Phenomenon.
If you recall from Episode One (that show went downhill from there) he was the mentalist with the Nail guns. The shtick is that he has air-powered nail guns on a table and someone from the audience loads real nails into only one and he puts all of them to his head until the final one. He hesitates between the last two and then correctly figures the one that is unloaded. Believe me; the Tampa stage version was far less exciting, in spite of the fact that he had a tension filled introduction. First of all, Raven must be having a bad season because his hair was not trim as it was on the show. He looked greasy and tired. His voice was much weaker than on the TV show. Also lacking was all the music backgrounds, the camera angles and especially the noise of the nail guns. His guns were pathetic sounding… a little small click! On TV they sounded like AK-47s.
One issue was the woman he brought up on stage to risk his life … I had seen her at the dealer’s market with her son. He was a cute little kid trying to do some card tricks for us. He looked like his Dad was Eran Raven! I can pretty much tell when a woman has had bust enhancement by Goodyear or Dow Corning. She was just too much of a babe to be at a magic convention with her son. So… the first act was over… I reached into my pocket and felt my folding money and said to myself…”Twenty bucks, huh…is this night gonna be worth it?”
The curtain came up on the last half of the show and the stage was filled with red box tables and props of all sorts. It looked like they moved the dealer’s room on stage.
But, to the joy of many present, we finally got down to seeing some magic. The magician was Dick Johnson. He has appeared several times at the Sanford Fun World Pavilion and is an old act that spent many years on the fair circuits. Dick has to be in his late 60s or early 70s but he is still energetic and has a gift of gab that is needed as a County Fair performer. He is a throw back to the old magicians you saw doing school shows in the 50s and 60s and at amusement parks.
At a result of his venues, all his props are out on stage to begin with and he shuffles boxes and bags and props out of his tables. We saw a very competent presentation of a number of Abbott’s’ classic tricks. One standout was his Crystal Coin ladder done as a Miser’s Dream. It was a solid crowd pleaser. He opened with several dove productions from props. He used a parrot as well as a duck and a guinea pig. The guinea pig was used in a sucker die box vanish created by Jack Gwynne. He ended with the Jig Saw version of the Visible Sawing a Girl in half. He made a comment that he got his rabbit at a county fair in Isle of Wight, Virginia. I have been to Isle of Wight, Virginia. Folks there still think that Roosevelt is president (Teddy Roosevelt). Hey, most of us are still doing stuff from the Teddy Roosevelt era! He did not do cutting-edge magic but he performed well. We all gave him a standing ovation when his act was over.
The final act of the evening was Roy Huston. I have known Roy since the early 60s. I remember seeing him at the MAES Convention in 1964, assisted by his mother. I always considered Roy a circus and carnival performer, but I could make the case that he was the legitimate successor to Bill Neff. Roy tried his hand, with some measure of success, in the fading spook show market before it came to a close in the late 60s. Many editions of the Abbott’s catalog had an old photo of Roy with his mother emerging from the Girl in the Drum illusion. Roy is a lot like Dick Johnson. He is an old guy with an old traditional act. But, just because the props and style are old does not mean that they still can not be entertaining. Roy did fine.
He opened with the Girl in Drum, his signature piece. The girls were in circus style costumes and Roy was in a brown and tan tux. He has a belly and stoops a bit in old age. Actually when he stands straight, his full mane of gray hair creates an imposing look. Again, because of technical glitches, his microphone did not work most of the time so we were treated to his soft and low husky cigarette voice, cultured by years of carnival work. He handled the glitches with the sound system with graceful humor. Roy followed his opening with the seldom seen, Rod through the Girl. He pushed a brass tube through the middle of the girl and then blew smoke through it. I recall Joe Smiley making this a real miracle by dimming the lights and running a lighted neon tube through the girl. His red-head assistant was a cute, shapely and trained well. Later I was told she was Phil Chandler’s daughter. He was an old circus magician. She was in contrast to the assistant we had next.
The curtains opened and Roy introduced another illusion. The illusion was a tip-over box with a set of rollers on top. The idea was that a “witch” got inside and he rolled her out flat, showed the box empty and then returned her to normal. The major issue was that the witch was in a very skimpy outfit and at least 50 to 75 pounds over weight as well as being pasty white! The woman did not belong in that dress. When she turned sideways, every guy in the audience prayed that she did not fall out of the costume.
Roy then went into a giant Hippity Hop Skeleton routine in front of the curtain. I liked his corny lines. One skeleton was white and the other was “Red Skeleton”. He was doing the “Graveyard Shift”. The routine ended with the sucker finish: the back sides were tomb stones.
The curtains opened and Roy explained that his next illusion had been a feature many years ago on the Blackstone Sr. illusion show. He said that he and Yip De Louis had revived it in 1970 when Yip made the first one for him since then days of Blackstone. There was a tall open cabinet with 24 long light bulbs. The girl stood up against the bulbs and Roy put a cover over the front with holes for the light bulbs to emerge. Two big roller shades were pulled on the side. He then pushed back the cover and squeezed the girl into the lit bulbs. It appeared than they had penetrated the girl. This was the one place in the show where they worked the stage lights correctly and when the stage went dark, with just the bulbs illuminating the cabinet, the effect was “electric” to say the least. Unfortunately, Roy never moved the lighted cabinet from side to side, so we were just treated to a straight-on view and some of the depth was lost to us. But I am happy to see this seldom seen and powerful illusion. I like the Yip de Lou version because there is no larger frame, such as Owens uses, to blunt the effect.
He closed the show with an Egyptian sequence. An assistant brought out a Safari jacket and a pith helmet and he dressed as “Indiana Huston”. The curtain opened and an Egyptian queen was produced from the Classic Mummy Case. She also needed a membership at LA Fitness. He went right into the classic Indian Basket themed as an Egyptian pyramid. The girl emerged unharmed and Roy and his crew came out for a final bow. The audience also gave him a standing ovation. Roy’s act brought back memories of the Friday Night Abbott’s Get Together shows in the late 60s. As I left, I guess I finally got my twenty bucks worth.
I keep hoping this Tampa Bay thing can turn into a nice springtime convention. It is not there yet and not making much progress but I will see how they do next year. Hope springs eternal.
Dennis Phillips
I am beginning to feel this way about “Magic by the Bay”, the Tampa Magic Convention held the middle of February. I believe this was the 3rd year. It is sponsored by the local Magic shop in Tampa. Marty, the owner seems to be trying to create a springtime version of Harry and Irv’s Daytona Magic event. Last year Richard Hewitt was kind enough to take me over and support my attendance. This year, I rode with Dan Stapleton, Luciano and Chris Dunn for the Saturday night show and a glimpse at the dealer areas.
It seems to me that the whole convention is just not very well thought out and executed. I can not speak for the lectures and Friday Night show this year but last year, they were like the girl in the first paragraph, full of potential, interesting but lacking much. Last year, Rocco was a one-trick-pony. Nearly everything he did was sleeving, He was good at it, as was Sterling Steal. But, how much of it can you take? The Friday Night Show last year was little better than a local Ring banquet show.
I was told that Marty tries to run the whole show by himself, without adequate and costly help, and that can greatly affect the flow and execution of the events.
After supper at Sonny’s Barbeque on Dale Mabry we set off for the short trip to Thomas Jefferson High School. Dan, Luciano, Chris and I ran into our Ring President Craig Fennessey and Jim Green from Mr. G’s Magic and Costumes in Jacksonville.
The High School auditorium ended up about less than half full with about 300 in the seats. As was true with last year, the lighting and sound were abysmal. They must have hired the spotlight operator from Stalag 13 in Hogan’s Heros. He could not find anyone on stage. The microphones did not work and the sound that came from them was horrible. You would think that basic lighting and sound is foundational to any stage show but the show producer seemed unconcerned.
Last year and the year before the master of ceremonies was Ronald McDonald. May I speculate that it was a stoned Ronald McDonald? That Ronald was the most droll, monotone clown I have ever seen. He made TV’s James Lipton seem like a raging extrovert. Well, there was no Ronald this year. In fact, there was no Master of Ceremonies! To use a phrase from Jack Parr, “I kid you not!” Marty, in blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, came out and announced the intermission! For a moment I thought a wino had wandered in off the street and on to the stage. Just before the second act, some unprofessional dude with sloppy blue jeans and his shirt tail hanging out came out on stage and did an impassioned plea to not let young children see the following act with Eran Raven. Maybe that act was why Ronald McDonald was not on the bill this year. On the way back home we all were laughing in the car saying that we never believed we could have wanted Ronald McDonald back.
Okay, down to the show. At least the first half was a real downer. First up was Darren Rockwell. Rockwell is in his late 20s, I think he basically did the same illusion he did in Daytona two years ago. Maybe someone can explain what the whole thing is supposed to be. I get the crushing the girl part-yawn- but I missed what the set up was supposed to be.
There was no introduction. The curtain opened and the girl was in coveralls on an aluminum ladder with a couple of boxes and a trunk around her. The “music” was some acid-grunge collection of noise that sounded like Kurt Cobain in his last gasps of life. The girl twirled a bit and out walked Rockwell in faded jeans, untied sneakers and a shirt that was not tucked in. He helped the girl remove her coveralls and she was in a Marilyn Monroe style white dress. He put her into the Girl Crusher with what seemed like the Gerry Frenette moves as seen on Frenette’s sales video. Watch it on You Tube, maybe you can make sense of what he is trying to do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70gId6yO5NQ That had to have been the high point of his act because we were then treated to 20 minutes of nonsense with a one-way deck.
He began this effect by going out into the audience to supposedly find a girl with whom he could establish a mind link. He went though several women asking them to say the first thing that came into their mind when he said a word. With each one that failed he seemed annoyed and told them to sit down when they did not fill his needs. There was no attempt at softening the impact. No compliment, just “Sit down!”… How about him saying, “You are really pretty and have a sweet personality but we need some more time together”. Then give her a rose. Nope, none of this! The way he handled the ladies made him seem arrogant and abusive.
Finally he found a girl and brought her up on stage. Catch this; we are ten minutes into the routine! Ten minutes to just find a girl to help him! Next he had a low coffee table. He opened a deck of cards and spread the face down on the table and then went to the other side of the stage with a giant drawing pad. He instructed the girl to push out any card of her free choice and look at it and then cover everything with a pocket handkerchief. Standing at the other side of the stage he opened the large drawing pad and begin eliminating cards by asking the girl personal questions about her life. Does anyone really care she has been with her current boyfriend of 4 months? “Okay, let’s scratch out the 4 of hearts!” After another 5 minutes or so of this type of stuff he finally revealed the card she had selected. Maybe he did not use a one-way deck but he could have and he also could have cut the whole bit down to one-fourth the time. I have a bias against anything but the most simple and quick card tricks. The audience has to be able to follow the action. Whatever it is, the card trick must be more than just, the fact that you figured out the card. Maybe Rockwell is just young. I hope he gets over the impression I get that he enjoys hearing himself talk.
The next act was the biggest disappointment of the night. They brought in Eran Raven who was one of the participants on the recent NBC show called Phenomenon.
If you recall from Episode One (that show went downhill from there) he was the mentalist with the Nail guns. The shtick is that he has air-powered nail guns on a table and someone from the audience loads real nails into only one and he puts all of them to his head until the final one. He hesitates between the last two and then correctly figures the one that is unloaded. Believe me; the Tampa stage version was far less exciting, in spite of the fact that he had a tension filled introduction. First of all, Raven must be having a bad season because his hair was not trim as it was on the show. He looked greasy and tired. His voice was much weaker than on the TV show. Also lacking was all the music backgrounds, the camera angles and especially the noise of the nail guns. His guns were pathetic sounding… a little small click! On TV they sounded like AK-47s.
One issue was the woman he brought up on stage to risk his life … I had seen her at the dealer’s market with her son. He was a cute little kid trying to do some card tricks for us. He looked like his Dad was Eran Raven! I can pretty much tell when a woman has had bust enhancement by Goodyear or Dow Corning. She was just too much of a babe to be at a magic convention with her son. So… the first act was over… I reached into my pocket and felt my folding money and said to myself…”Twenty bucks, huh…is this night gonna be worth it?”
The curtain came up on the last half of the show and the stage was filled with red box tables and props of all sorts. It looked like they moved the dealer’s room on stage.
But, to the joy of many present, we finally got down to seeing some magic. The magician was Dick Johnson. He has appeared several times at the Sanford Fun World Pavilion and is an old act that spent many years on the fair circuits. Dick has to be in his late 60s or early 70s but he is still energetic and has a gift of gab that is needed as a County Fair performer. He is a throw back to the old magicians you saw doing school shows in the 50s and 60s and at amusement parks.
At a result of his venues, all his props are out on stage to begin with and he shuffles boxes and bags and props out of his tables. We saw a very competent presentation of a number of Abbott’s’ classic tricks. One standout was his Crystal Coin ladder done as a Miser’s Dream. It was a solid crowd pleaser. He opened with several dove productions from props. He used a parrot as well as a duck and a guinea pig. The guinea pig was used in a sucker die box vanish created by Jack Gwynne. He ended with the Jig Saw version of the Visible Sawing a Girl in half. He made a comment that he got his rabbit at a county fair in Isle of Wight, Virginia. I have been to Isle of Wight, Virginia. Folks there still think that Roosevelt is president (Teddy Roosevelt). Hey, most of us are still doing stuff from the Teddy Roosevelt era! He did not do cutting-edge magic but he performed well. We all gave him a standing ovation when his act was over.
The final act of the evening was Roy Huston. I have known Roy since the early 60s. I remember seeing him at the MAES Convention in 1964, assisted by his mother. I always considered Roy a circus and carnival performer, but I could make the case that he was the legitimate successor to Bill Neff. Roy tried his hand, with some measure of success, in the fading spook show market before it came to a close in the late 60s. Many editions of the Abbott’s catalog had an old photo of Roy with his mother emerging from the Girl in the Drum illusion. Roy is a lot like Dick Johnson. He is an old guy with an old traditional act. But, just because the props and style are old does not mean that they still can not be entertaining. Roy did fine.
He opened with the Girl in Drum, his signature piece. The girls were in circus style costumes and Roy was in a brown and tan tux. He has a belly and stoops a bit in old age. Actually when he stands straight, his full mane of gray hair creates an imposing look. Again, because of technical glitches, his microphone did not work most of the time so we were treated to his soft and low husky cigarette voice, cultured by years of carnival work. He handled the glitches with the sound system with graceful humor. Roy followed his opening with the seldom seen, Rod through the Girl. He pushed a brass tube through the middle of the girl and then blew smoke through it. I recall Joe Smiley making this a real miracle by dimming the lights and running a lighted neon tube through the girl. His red-head assistant was a cute, shapely and trained well. Later I was told she was Phil Chandler’s daughter. He was an old circus magician. She was in contrast to the assistant we had next.
The curtains opened and Roy introduced another illusion. The illusion was a tip-over box with a set of rollers on top. The idea was that a “witch” got inside and he rolled her out flat, showed the box empty and then returned her to normal. The major issue was that the witch was in a very skimpy outfit and at least 50 to 75 pounds over weight as well as being pasty white! The woman did not belong in that dress. When she turned sideways, every guy in the audience prayed that she did not fall out of the costume.
Roy then went into a giant Hippity Hop Skeleton routine in front of the curtain. I liked his corny lines. One skeleton was white and the other was “Red Skeleton”. He was doing the “Graveyard Shift”. The routine ended with the sucker finish: the back sides were tomb stones.
The curtains opened and Roy explained that his next illusion had been a feature many years ago on the Blackstone Sr. illusion show. He said that he and Yip De Louis had revived it in 1970 when Yip made the first one for him since then days of Blackstone. There was a tall open cabinet with 24 long light bulbs. The girl stood up against the bulbs and Roy put a cover over the front with holes for the light bulbs to emerge. Two big roller shades were pulled on the side. He then pushed back the cover and squeezed the girl into the lit bulbs. It appeared than they had penetrated the girl. This was the one place in the show where they worked the stage lights correctly and when the stage went dark, with just the bulbs illuminating the cabinet, the effect was “electric” to say the least. Unfortunately, Roy never moved the lighted cabinet from side to side, so we were just treated to a straight-on view and some of the depth was lost to us. But I am happy to see this seldom seen and powerful illusion. I like the Yip de Lou version because there is no larger frame, such as Owens uses, to blunt the effect.
He closed the show with an Egyptian sequence. An assistant brought out a Safari jacket and a pith helmet and he dressed as “Indiana Huston”. The curtain opened and an Egyptian queen was produced from the Classic Mummy Case. She also needed a membership at LA Fitness. He went right into the classic Indian Basket themed as an Egyptian pyramid. The girl emerged unharmed and Roy and his crew came out for a final bow. The audience also gave him a standing ovation. Roy’s act brought back memories of the Friday Night Abbott’s Get Together shows in the late 60s. As I left, I guess I finally got my twenty bucks worth.
I keep hoping this Tampa Bay thing can turn into a nice springtime convention. It is not there yet and not making much progress but I will see how they do next year. Hope springs eternal.
Dennis Phillips
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