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Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 4/15/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme: Antique tricks
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonalds on the north side of SandLake Rd between I-4 and International Drive near the rest rooms
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.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
2009-04 From the Editor
Congratulations to the board for another excellent Flea Market. For myself it was an opportunity to meet some of you readers, something I always relish. In addition we were treated to some interesting lectures and a workshop, as well as being able to buy some useful, as well as some less useful, pieces of magic.
In another part of the newsletter you can see some of the pictures taken by Craig and a short video that I compiled.
Your editor
Stefan
In another part of the newsletter you can see some of the pictures taken by Craig and a short video that I compiled.
Your editor
Stefan
2009-04 Ring Report
President Craig Fennessey gaveled us to order. Twenty eight were in attendance with two guests, Ray and Steve Scratsky. Craig gave thanks to the members who helped with table magic at the recent Orlando Marriott benefit Luncheon for Ovarian Cancer: Mark Fitzgerald, J.C.Hiatt, Wallace Murphy, Doug Otto, Jacki Manna and Craig. James Songster offered the ring members another charity opportunity at “Give Kids the World”. It is a special lodge that hosts terminally ill children and their families while they visit Walt Disney World. It is a wonderful way, through magic, to bring joy to children and their families.
Phil Schwartz presented “Magic Moment # 10”. Phil takes a few minutes at selected ring meetings to give us access to his wealth of knowledge about magic history and to see parts of his extensive historic collection. This lecture was about Floyd Thayer’s box tricks. Thayer made 1,500 effects with boxes. Phil showed us a number of rare die boxes, card boxes, watch boxes and drawer boxes. Be watching the magic publications for Phil’s new book on The Ultimate Thayer. At the end of his lecture he gave every person in the meeting a piece of printed ephemera from his collection.
With the business meeting concluded, Vice President Chris Dunn emceed the evening show. First up was Jacki Manna doing a cute “Two Ropes to One” effect and then a Card Monte using printed cards with a Bunny cartoon. The bunny was never where we thought. Steve Hart then demonstrated his latest creation. You may recall that Hart is the creator of Wiz Cote, the popular shoe burning box. This time Steve had a clever way to pop popcorn in a top hat. The hat was empty and Steve had a popcorn box with a few kernels of un-popped corn. Before long the hat was brimming with popcorn. Dennis Phillips followed with the seldom seen but always baffling “Bill Neff Rope Trick”. A rope is cut in the middle by a spectator and in plain view instantly melds back together and is immediately handed out for examination.
James Songster followed up with his rope routine and some clever knots that tied and untied .He also did a skillful Rope and Ring routine. Mark Fitzgerald was next on with a few more knot flourishes and a routine with a spectator who selected a card that was later found reversed in the deck. Charlie Pfrogner concluded the show with a cute routine that is sure to get the kids yelling. A red and yellow scarf and magic wands had their colors mysteriously changed in a little red velvet bag.
Good things are always happening in Ring 170
Dennis Phillips
Phil Schwartz presented “Magic Moment # 10”. Phil takes a few minutes at selected ring meetings to give us access to his wealth of knowledge about magic history and to see parts of his extensive historic collection. This lecture was about Floyd Thayer’s box tricks. Thayer made 1,500 effects with boxes. Phil showed us a number of rare die boxes, card boxes, watch boxes and drawer boxes. Be watching the magic publications for Phil’s new book on The Ultimate Thayer. At the end of his lecture he gave every person in the meeting a piece of printed ephemera from his collection.
With the business meeting concluded, Vice President Chris Dunn emceed the evening show. First up was Jacki Manna doing a cute “Two Ropes to One” effect and then a Card Monte using printed cards with a Bunny cartoon. The bunny was never where we thought. Steve Hart then demonstrated his latest creation. You may recall that Hart is the creator of Wiz Cote, the popular shoe burning box. This time Steve had a clever way to pop popcorn in a top hat. The hat was empty and Steve had a popcorn box with a few kernels of un-popped corn. Before long the hat was brimming with popcorn. Dennis Phillips followed with the seldom seen but always baffling “Bill Neff Rope Trick”. A rope is cut in the middle by a spectator and in plain view instantly melds back together and is immediately handed out for examination.
James Songster followed up with his rope routine and some clever knots that tied and untied .He also did a skillful Rope and Ring routine. Mark Fitzgerald was next on with a few more knot flourishes and a routine with a spectator who selected a card that was later found reversed in the deck. Charlie Pfrogner concluded the show with a cute routine that is sure to get the kids yelling. A red and yellow scarf and magic wands had their colors mysteriously changed in a little red velvet bag.
Good things are always happening in Ring 170
Dennis Phillips
2009-04 Ring Banquet report
March 1st was a special night for two Ring members. Phil Schwartz was awarded a Presidential citation by the board and ring president Craig Fennessey for his scholarly work and excellent monthly presentations on magic history. Phil has consistently presented his “Magic Moments” in which he does a 15 minute lecture and demonstration on magic history. Our ring is honored to have Phil as a member and thankful for his sharing. Wallace Murphy was awarded the “Magician of the Year” by the board and President Fennessey. Murphy has just been honored by being on the cover of “The Linking Ring” magazine. He is a long time member of the ring and has lectured with his astonishing sleight of hand at ring meetings and performed at almost all ring events.
These awards and much more fun was a part of a fun-filled night for the ring and their families and friends in the fellowship hall of the Lutheran Church location. Before the dinner and show, Mike Bondi, Mark Fitzgerald, J.C. Hiatt, Wallace Murphy and Doug Otto circulated through the crowd with close-up magic. Chris and Judy Dunn assisted caterer Shelly Garza in the buffet line as a chicken and vegetable dinner was served.
Treasurer, Art Thomas opened up the events with the table calls to dinner and introduced President and event chairman, Craig Fennessey who introduced the evening’s master of ceremonies, magic super star Dave Williamson.
Dave is known as one of magic’s funniest guys and he proved it to us. He almost single handedly developed the classic Rocky the Racoon routine that most magicians use today. He opened with a few comic lines using fake teeth and went into his classic “Needles from Mouth” trick, seen recently on the TV show, “Master’s of Illusion”. Dave introduced magic legend, Michael Ammar. Mike demonstrated why he is so respected in magic circles. He did card changes and began a running gag with a borrowed one hundred dollar bill. It was to have appeared in a cluster of balloons but the best part was to come. Ammar did a unique version of Carver’s “Professor’s Nightmare” and his fabulous cups and balls routine. The climax was the appearance of the hundred dollar bill in a lemon followed by its reappearance in the same restored lemon. Michael said, “I just wanted you to have something to tell your friends about!”
Todd Charles, a magic funny man took the stage. His act was field with sight gags and references to native Brooklyn. Charles, an excellent banjo player, uses the banjo
in the same way that Jack Benny and Henny Youngman used their violins. In addition to banjo humor he also did a unique and quite funny shadowgraph routine. His closing routine was a helmet with rotating arms (like a helicopter). Stuffed animals were attached to the end and Charles played his heart out with the banjo theme from the movie “Deliverance”.
Kostya Kimlat presented a different side of his magic. Kimlat is known for his excellent and inventive card work but this night he delved into mentalism. A card selection was revealed by an inevitable and unexplained choice of a spectator. He did a clever book test where a page is selected from a book that never left the spectator’s hands and when the spectator again tried to again find the page, it was torn out of the book and in Kimlat’s procession. Kostya ended with a newspaper test where a predicted word is revealed by a spectator from a freely chosen newspaper scrap.
Dave Williams concluded the show with a two person routine that involved bringing up a noisy waiter, who just happened to be his “old friend”. Naturally this was a set up but the routine was priceless. They presented a game show called “The Food Game” and a female and male were brought up to answer questions. The female spectator was given easy questions and the male spectator was given questions that were impossible to answer. The loser had to knock 4 eggs off into 4 glasses by quickly knocking out a tray. Williams and his partner ended the show on a comedy high note.
Quick thanks to all the people who made the banquet a success: Sue Jacoberger for stage managing. Amanda Vecciarelli ran the spotlight. Art Thomas for Registration. Joe Vecciarelli and Craig Fennessey for sound. Craig also did photography along with Gary Adams. The lovely table decorations were by Lynn Fitzgerald.
Dennis Phillips
Secretary
These awards and much more fun was a part of a fun-filled night for the ring and their families and friends in the fellowship hall of the Lutheran Church location. Before the dinner and show, Mike Bondi, Mark Fitzgerald, J.C. Hiatt, Wallace Murphy and Doug Otto circulated through the crowd with close-up magic. Chris and Judy Dunn assisted caterer Shelly Garza in the buffet line as a chicken and vegetable dinner was served.
Treasurer, Art Thomas opened up the events with the table calls to dinner and introduced President and event chairman, Craig Fennessey who introduced the evening’s master of ceremonies, magic super star Dave Williamson.
Dave is known as one of magic’s funniest guys and he proved it to us. He almost single handedly developed the classic Rocky the Racoon routine that most magicians use today. He opened with a few comic lines using fake teeth and went into his classic “Needles from Mouth” trick, seen recently on the TV show, “Master’s of Illusion”. Dave introduced magic legend, Michael Ammar. Mike demonstrated why he is so respected in magic circles. He did card changes and began a running gag with a borrowed one hundred dollar bill. It was to have appeared in a cluster of balloons but the best part was to come. Ammar did a unique version of Carver’s “Professor’s Nightmare” and his fabulous cups and balls routine. The climax was the appearance of the hundred dollar bill in a lemon followed by its reappearance in the same restored lemon. Michael said, “I just wanted you to have something to tell your friends about!”
Todd Charles, a magic funny man took the stage. His act was field with sight gags and references to native Brooklyn. Charles, an excellent banjo player, uses the banjo
in the same way that Jack Benny and Henny Youngman used their violins. In addition to banjo humor he also did a unique and quite funny shadowgraph routine. His closing routine was a helmet with rotating arms (like a helicopter). Stuffed animals were attached to the end and Charles played his heart out with the banjo theme from the movie “Deliverance”.
Kostya Kimlat presented a different side of his magic. Kimlat is known for his excellent and inventive card work but this night he delved into mentalism. A card selection was revealed by an inevitable and unexplained choice of a spectator. He did a clever book test where a page is selected from a book that never left the spectator’s hands and when the spectator again tried to again find the page, it was torn out of the book and in Kimlat’s procession. Kostya ended with a newspaper test where a predicted word is revealed by a spectator from a freely chosen newspaper scrap.
Dave Williams concluded the show with a two person routine that involved bringing up a noisy waiter, who just happened to be his “old friend”. Naturally this was a set up but the routine was priceless. They presented a game show called “The Food Game” and a female and male were brought up to answer questions. The female spectator was given easy questions and the male spectator was given questions that were impossible to answer. The loser had to knock 4 eggs off into 4 glasses by quickly knocking out a tray. Williams and his partner ended the show on a comedy high note.
Quick thanks to all the people who made the banquet a success: Sue Jacoberger for stage managing. Amanda Vecciarelli ran the spotlight. Art Thomas for Registration. Joe Vecciarelli and Craig Fennessey for sound. Craig also did photography along with Gary Adams. The lovely table decorations were by Lynn Fitzgerald.
Dennis Phillips
Secretary
2009-04 Flea market video
Click on the YouTube viewer to watch a short summary of the Flea Market/Lectures/Auction
Mark Mason kindly allowed me to make this sample of his superb comedic magic.
Both videos are available in high definition, view them in full screen and click on the HD icon if you have a high speed Internet connection. You can also view the videos at www.YouTube.com (keywords: ring170 auction).
Mark Mason kindly allowed me to make this sample of his superb comedic magic.
Both videos are available in high definition, view them in full screen and click on the HD icon if you have a high speed Internet connection. You can also view the videos at www.YouTube.com (keywords: ring170 auction).
2009-04 Dennis' Deliberations
Siegfried and Roy appeared on TV for their “finale” On March 6th.
I have had a thin but long connection with S and R through Reid Carlson. Reid left Disney in the mid 70s and went to work with the Feld (Ringling) organization and helped with the Circus and when Feld produced S and R, he was a part of that as their scenic designer.
He gave my wife Cindy and I special tickets to the Siegfried and Roy Show at the Mirage in 1999 and we sat front row. We sat 24 inches from the shoes of the performers and could see the mechanisms on everything! I recall the dirty mirrors on the mirror tunnel when the cat comes out through Roy in the Interlude/ Spider bit! We actually got tiger slobber slung on us. I got the feeling they put “show friendly” people in the very front rows. They had us put red heart stickers on our forehead and another sticker because our area was guarded and access restricted. It was a great spectacular.
Needless to say, Siegfried and Roy are as much a product of luck as talent. If there hadn't been a Las Vegas, and if these guys hadn't been a cleverly promoted and freaky novelty act that people going to Las Vegas just HAD to see -- they would certainly have remained in the back waters of entertainment mediocrity over their entire lives.
Early film clips of these guys tell the tale: Their first "cat act" was little more than a variation of the Sub Trunk. And before meeting Roy, Fischbacher was just another cloned Dove Act, no different than hundreds that came before him. When they got to Vegas, the need to expand the act to garish Vegas proportions was virtually mandatory. They clicked with the Vegas approach.
Naturally I watched the 20/20 ABC TV special this last Friday. It was interesting but sad. I recorded it because maybe at a later date I will feel better about it.
In an odd opening to their short performance, it was Siegfried, instead of Roy, that rose from the ashes out of a pan on top of a thin see-through box. Why not Roy? The 20/20 interview implied that Siegfried had crashed and burned psychologically after Roy’s accident. Maybe he needed more healing than Roy.
The “out of a fire pan” effect (borrowed?) has been in Europe in Peter Marvey’s illusion show for some time and can be seen in its original form about 25 seconds into Marvey’s promo reel (YouTube) . In my opinion, Peter Marvey is one of the most original modern stage illusionists. He has very clever never-before-seen illusion concepts! Check out all his demo reels on You Tube. He has very clever never-before-seen illusion concepts! (YouTube)
The illusion of “seeing through” is accomplished by a “bottom of the body moving fake” that is reflected from the base with the 45 degree mirror. I was told that a rod projects from the back of the stand and when the magician moves behind the stand, the fake slides into view on the bottom. The rod and fake are spring loaded so that when the magician then moves off from the back, the fake is brought back to the side and out of the reflection view. It is very deceptive but requires a constant black background and on the S and R bit it was not constant and thus exposed. I have the entire 20/20 special on DVD, if you want a copy.
There is only ONE mirror and it reflects down. But in the bottom is a thin fake body part! (such as the way “Steinmeyer’s Windshear” works with the fake blades). The purpose of the bars (which are actually in the bottom but look like they are on the back) is to block a view of the bottom of the box if anyone is above stage level. So, on Marvey’s tape there is a fake of him from the waist to his ankles that moves in sync with his body giving the illusion that you are seeing through the table.
Americans are obsessed with the Rehab/ Resurrection myth. The devotion is definitely religious in emotional need and impact. In our perverse modern distortion of the Calvinistic-Protestant-Puritan work-ethic we love to see “nobodies” become famous, rich and acclaimed and then fall like rocks and crash and burn and then be reborn and restored to even greater glory! (Oh, no! I hear Michael Jackson is coming back)
We love it… it is the Grand Drama of Western civilization and may come from our individualistic American perversion of The Book of Job in the Bible and our likewise individualistic understanding of the Christian faith. (Born poor in a manger -matures and becomes the Messiah-only to fall in the Crucifixion as a rejected criminal and then rise in the Resurrection as The King of kings). American Christianity seems unique in not seeing the corporate identity of the individual with Jesus but rather as a plot to be duplicated in each individual. Gnosticism is always just below the surface in American religion.
Print out this edition of DD…. Tape it to your mirror! If you want show business success, literary success or creative success in the performing arts, use this formula! It is a part of the firmware of thought and psychology in Western Civilization.
Every magic illusion, every performance MUST have a version of this formula. If you carefully look at Freytag’s Dramatic Structure, you can see that it is built into every dramatic plot line.
Bernie Yuman is the manager of S and R and has always carefully used this formula when he portrays them. “Poor Germans born in a war torn country, alcoholic father- beat all the odds after rejection to become superstars” and now… They return in glory to be Resurrected and forever glorified. There is nothing wrong with this Grand Drama…This is the way we want to think as self-aware thinking humans.
Without “conflict and plot” life would be very boring.
Do I think it was really them under those masks...until the end? Whoever it was moved very slowly throughout the performance. I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? Isn’t life all an illusion anyway? They did make a comeback and raise millions for the charity. Is not THAT what matters and is the “real”? It is only in our minds that we bring “meaning” to all these electrons spinning in their shells in the middle of thermo-dynamic chaos.
None of this is permanent (or as Plato would say, “real”) anyway except the “meaning”. Returning again to the similarity of, drama and religion, 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 says that ONLY “faith, hope and love” are “permanent”. Everything else passes away. Aside from any religious dogmatic association, I believe that it is good advice.
The “love” is “agape” which in Koine Greek means (for the most part) “self-giving charity”. The Greeks had 3 words for love: Agape, Eros and Phileo. English is lacking with only one word and we often transpose the meanings. Again, “charity” may be the foremost way that Siegfried and Roy are remembered. The formula certainly worked for Jerry Lewis.
Dennis Phillips
I have had a thin but long connection with S and R through Reid Carlson. Reid left Disney in the mid 70s and went to work with the Feld (Ringling) organization and helped with the Circus and when Feld produced S and R, he was a part of that as their scenic designer.
He gave my wife Cindy and I special tickets to the Siegfried and Roy Show at the Mirage in 1999 and we sat front row. We sat 24 inches from the shoes of the performers and could see the mechanisms on everything! I recall the dirty mirrors on the mirror tunnel when the cat comes out through Roy in the Interlude/ Spider bit! We actually got tiger slobber slung on us. I got the feeling they put “show friendly” people in the very front rows. They had us put red heart stickers on our forehead and another sticker because our area was guarded and access restricted. It was a great spectacular.
Needless to say, Siegfried and Roy are as much a product of luck as talent. If there hadn't been a Las Vegas, and if these guys hadn't been a cleverly promoted and freaky novelty act that people going to Las Vegas just HAD to see -- they would certainly have remained in the back waters of entertainment mediocrity over their entire lives.
Early film clips of these guys tell the tale: Their first "cat act" was little more than a variation of the Sub Trunk. And before meeting Roy, Fischbacher was just another cloned Dove Act, no different than hundreds that came before him. When they got to Vegas, the need to expand the act to garish Vegas proportions was virtually mandatory. They clicked with the Vegas approach.
Naturally I watched the 20/20 ABC TV special this last Friday. It was interesting but sad. I recorded it because maybe at a later date I will feel better about it.
In an odd opening to their short performance, it was Siegfried, instead of Roy, that rose from the ashes out of a pan on top of a thin see-through box. Why not Roy? The 20/20 interview implied that Siegfried had crashed and burned psychologically after Roy’s accident. Maybe he needed more healing than Roy.
The “out of a fire pan” effect (borrowed?) has been in Europe in Peter Marvey’s illusion show for some time and can be seen in its original form about 25 seconds into Marvey’s promo reel (YouTube) . In my opinion, Peter Marvey is one of the most original modern stage illusionists. He has very clever never-before-seen illusion concepts! Check out all his demo reels on You Tube. He has very clever never-before-seen illusion concepts! (YouTube)
The illusion of “seeing through” is accomplished by a “bottom of the body moving fake” that is reflected from the base with the 45 degree mirror. I was told that a rod projects from the back of the stand and when the magician moves behind the stand, the fake slides into view on the bottom. The rod and fake are spring loaded so that when the magician then moves off from the back, the fake is brought back to the side and out of the reflection view. It is very deceptive but requires a constant black background and on the S and R bit it was not constant and thus exposed. I have the entire 20/20 special on DVD, if you want a copy.
There is only ONE mirror and it reflects down. But in the bottom is a thin fake body part! (such as the way “Steinmeyer’s Windshear” works with the fake blades). The purpose of the bars (which are actually in the bottom but look like they are on the back) is to block a view of the bottom of the box if anyone is above stage level. So, on Marvey’s tape there is a fake of him from the waist to his ankles that moves in sync with his body giving the illusion that you are seeing through the table.
Americans are obsessed with the Rehab/ Resurrection myth. The devotion is definitely religious in emotional need and impact. In our perverse modern distortion of the Calvinistic-Protestant-Puritan work-ethic we love to see “nobodies” become famous, rich and acclaimed and then fall like rocks and crash and burn and then be reborn and restored to even greater glory! (Oh, no! I hear Michael Jackson is coming back)
We love it… it is the Grand Drama of Western civilization and may come from our individualistic American perversion of The Book of Job in the Bible and our likewise individualistic understanding of the Christian faith. (Born poor in a manger -matures and becomes the Messiah-only to fall in the Crucifixion as a rejected criminal and then rise in the Resurrection as The King of kings). American Christianity seems unique in not seeing the corporate identity of the individual with Jesus but rather as a plot to be duplicated in each individual. Gnosticism is always just below the surface in American religion.
Print out this edition of DD…. Tape it to your mirror! If you want show business success, literary success or creative success in the performing arts, use this formula! It is a part of the firmware of thought and psychology in Western Civilization.
Every magic illusion, every performance MUST have a version of this formula. If you carefully look at Freytag’s Dramatic Structure, you can see that it is built into every dramatic plot line.
Bernie Yuman is the manager of S and R and has always carefully used this formula when he portrays them. “Poor Germans born in a war torn country, alcoholic father- beat all the odds after rejection to become superstars” and now… They return in glory to be Resurrected and forever glorified. There is nothing wrong with this Grand Drama…This is the way we want to think as self-aware thinking humans.
Without “conflict and plot” life would be very boring.
Do I think it was really them under those masks...until the end? Whoever it was moved very slowly throughout the performance. I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? Isn’t life all an illusion anyway? They did make a comeback and raise millions for the charity. Is not THAT what matters and is the “real”? It is only in our minds that we bring “meaning” to all these electrons spinning in their shells in the middle of thermo-dynamic chaos.
None of this is permanent (or as Plato would say, “real”) anyway except the “meaning”. Returning again to the similarity of, drama and religion, 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 says that ONLY “faith, hope and love” are “permanent”. Everything else passes away. Aside from any religious dogmatic association, I believe that it is good advice.
The “love” is “agape” which in Koine Greek means (for the most part) “self-giving charity”. The Greeks had 3 words for love: Agape, Eros and Phileo. English is lacking with only one word and we often transpose the meanings. Again, “charity” may be the foremost way that Siegfried and Roy are remembered. The formula certainly worked for Jerry Lewis.
Dennis Phillips
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