Posts
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 6/17/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme: Old Magic
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
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.
Monday, June 08, 2009
2009-06 From the Editor
Many of you know that my job takes all over this great country, so you might suspect that when I vacation I do not stray too far from home. You would be wrong! This newsletter comes to you from Salisbury, MA, a small town just below the New Hampshire border. Why are we here, you might ask. Halfway between here and Boston is a slightly larger town called Beverly, a name a few of you will recognize. In that town, in the Cabot Street Theatre, the world's longest running magic show takes place on most Sundays. We were privileged to attend show # 2915 of Le Grand David. For those who do not know, this is a show run by mainly volunteers, in the grand old tradition of stage magic. The founder, Cesareo Pelaez, no longer performs, but made an appearance at the end in a wheelchair. David Bull, "Le Grand David" is now the main performer, doing a great job throughout the show, supported by a very talented cast.
This family show, while not using cutting edge magic, is a riot of color, with lavish backdrops, props and costumes. My wife, who is quite critical about magic shows, was enthralled for the over two hours of the performance. If you ever make it up to this area, or better still, try to make it up to this area and be sure to attend a performance.
This issue sees a milestone for the Ring as Dennis passes the torch to Sheldon Brook. Once again, Dennis' contribution has been immeasurable and Sheldon has very large shoes to fill.
Thanks again to all contributors, especially Dennis,
Your editor
Stefan
This family show, while not using cutting edge magic, is a riot of color, with lavish backdrops, props and costumes. My wife, who is quite critical about magic shows, was enthralled for the over two hours of the performance. If you ever make it up to this area, or better still, try to make it up to this area and be sure to attend a performance.
This issue sees a milestone for the Ring as Dennis passes the torch to Sheldon Brook. Once again, Dennis' contribution has been immeasurable and Sheldon has very large shoes to fill.
Thanks again to all contributors, especially Dennis,
Your editor
Stefan
2009-06 Ring Report
Summer will soon be upon us and the May meeting was a preview of good things to come. President Craig Fennessy gaveled the meeting to order. We had 28 people in attendance and 3 guests: George Anomoganis, his father and Wayne Wortman. Craig reminded us of the Gator’s Sunday afternoon get-together and the Tuesday luncheon in I-Drive. Art Thomas made the announcement from Marty Bristow that his wife Carolyn, our secretary during the 1990s, needs our moral and financial support due to her final illness. Contact this ring for details. The Recession seems to have stimulated many house parties and they are keeping our magicians busy with work. Many of our ring members have been working.
Phil Schwartz, our resident and renowned magic historian, presented his Magic Moment #13. This month it was “Thayer at War”. The wars were World War One and Two. Thayer continued making magic props during the war and many were themed. Phil showed the classic Mummy Crypt trick where a mummy refuses to stay in the crypt. Thayer had themed it with the dictators of the war. He then showed an old Thayer catalog and a collection of “Bonus Genius” doll vanishes. A six inch tall wooden cut out doll vanished under a cone of cloth. Thayer had themed these many ways. During the war, the doll was themed as a doughboy and the cloth a pup tent. Other themes in the Schwartz collection included a clown, a sailor, a Scotsman, an Indian, and an Easter Bunny! Finally, Phil filled us in on the Jay Marshall auction and a rare Houdini Poster and showed us a scrap book from Marshall’s estate that contained addressed-letter envelopes from almost every well know magician on the early to mid 20th century.
Dan Stapleton was up next with a final word in his Grandma’s Necklace lecture that he began last month. He demonstrated a “Rope through the Body” effect using the principle but with an un-gimmicked set of ropes.
This is my final Ring Report for Ring 170. In June my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, VA and I will become a part of Ring 320. At the meeting break, the ring presented a good-bye cake for all of us to share and a going away card for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for many years of friendship and you will be in good hands with Sheldon Brook taking over as recording secretary.
Kerry Pierce volunteered to be our emcee for the monthly ring show that followed the business meeting. Charlie Pfrogner led off the line up with a Ball and Vase routine unlike any I have seen before. The ball vanished and appeared and changed into a human eye and then changed into a silk handkerchief, that when opened was an eye-chart! The wand was Abbott’s “Confusing wand” where the tip keeps falling off and changing ends and finally the whole wand is crazy. Dan Knapp came up and a spectator helper managed to select a blue backed joker in a deck that had been shown to be all red. Bev Bergeron presented a unique Die Box that he had themed to look like an ABC block. Bev said that it had been made by Del O’Dell’s husband many years ago and Bev had painted it. It opened with doors on the front and the back.
Mark Fitzgerald did his Flexagon. It is a flat paper octagon with 6 sides of each solid color. Not only is it a puzzling effect for the layman, it will fascinate any mathematician who specializes in topology. Mark then took two small dice and made the dots change. He ended with an unusual Triumph card routine. Dan Stapleton has produced several excellent DVDs on card magic and he demonstrated one. He made a written prediction about a spectator’s personality. The spectator flipped 8 playing cards randomly under the table with either backs or faces showing. When brought to the table the number of upside down and right side up cards matched the numbers on Dan’s personality prediction! Wallace Murphy had a spectator choose a card. He then wrapped the whole deck with a rubber band. A flick of the band and only the spectator’s card had the rubber band around it. Kerry then concluded the show with a hilarious version of “Who is smarter than a 5th Grade Magician?” Bev Bergeron could not answer a single question while a young spectator got them all correct.
With an enjoyable meeting concluded we left to meet again next month. From my new home in Virginia, I can always say “Good things are always happening in Ring 170”.
Goodbye and good luck.
Dennis Phillips
Phil Schwartz, our resident and renowned magic historian, presented his Magic Moment #13. This month it was “Thayer at War”. The wars were World War One and Two. Thayer continued making magic props during the war and many were themed. Phil showed the classic Mummy Crypt trick where a mummy refuses to stay in the crypt. Thayer had themed it with the dictators of the war. He then showed an old Thayer catalog and a collection of “Bonus Genius” doll vanishes. A six inch tall wooden cut out doll vanished under a cone of cloth. Thayer had themed these many ways. During the war, the doll was themed as a doughboy and the cloth a pup tent. Other themes in the Schwartz collection included a clown, a sailor, a Scotsman, an Indian, and an Easter Bunny! Finally, Phil filled us in on the Jay Marshall auction and a rare Houdini Poster and showed us a scrap book from Marshall’s estate that contained addressed-letter envelopes from almost every well know magician on the early to mid 20th century.
Dan Stapleton was up next with a final word in his Grandma’s Necklace lecture that he began last month. He demonstrated a “Rope through the Body” effect using the principle but with an un-gimmicked set of ropes.
This is my final Ring Report for Ring 170. In June my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, VA and I will become a part of Ring 320. At the meeting break, the ring presented a good-bye cake for all of us to share and a going away card for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for many years of friendship and you will be in good hands with Sheldon Brook taking over as recording secretary.
Kerry Pierce volunteered to be our emcee for the monthly ring show that followed the business meeting. Charlie Pfrogner led off the line up with a Ball and Vase routine unlike any I have seen before. The ball vanished and appeared and changed into a human eye and then changed into a silk handkerchief, that when opened was an eye-chart! The wand was Abbott’s “Confusing wand” where the tip keeps falling off and changing ends and finally the whole wand is crazy. Dan Knapp came up and a spectator helper managed to select a blue backed joker in a deck that had been shown to be all red. Bev Bergeron presented a unique Die Box that he had themed to look like an ABC block. Bev said that it had been made by Del O’Dell’s husband many years ago and Bev had painted it. It opened with doors on the front and the back.
Mark Fitzgerald did his Flexagon. It is a flat paper octagon with 6 sides of each solid color. Not only is it a puzzling effect for the layman, it will fascinate any mathematician who specializes in topology. Mark then took two small dice and made the dots change. He ended with an unusual Triumph card routine. Dan Stapleton has produced several excellent DVDs on card magic and he demonstrated one. He made a written prediction about a spectator’s personality. The spectator flipped 8 playing cards randomly under the table with either backs or faces showing. When brought to the table the number of upside down and right side up cards matched the numbers on Dan’s personality prediction! Wallace Murphy had a spectator choose a card. He then wrapped the whole deck with a rubber band. A flick of the band and only the spectator’s card had the rubber band around it. Kerry then concluded the show with a hilarious version of “Who is smarter than a 5th Grade Magician?” Bev Bergeron could not answer a single question while a young spectator got them all correct.
With an enjoyable meeting concluded we left to meet again next month. From my new home in Virginia, I can always say “Good things are always happening in Ring 170”.
Goodbye and good luck.
Dennis Phillips
2009-06 Carol Bristow passes
A sad day for the F.A.M.E.group.
One of our original Ring 170 members has passed, Carol Bristow. Carol was a very active member of the group for many years along with her husband Marty. Our sincere condolences go out to the family from us all. She will be deeply missed.
Craig
One of our original Ring 170 members has passed, Carol Bristow. Carol was a very active member of the group for many years along with her husband Marty. Our sincere condolences go out to the family from us all. She will be deeply missed.
Craig
2009-06 F.A.M.E. Visits Give Kids The World - Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thanks to everyone for coming out to the village this evening.
The staff and volunteers enjoyed the show and many of the village guests commented about how much they enjoyed the show.It was a bit of a hectic evening with all the issues with the weather and flooding in the theater that, in the end, didn't really matter. We had great show and made a lot of people happy. The folks that walked around in the Gingerbread House performing close-up and making balloon figures were very well received as well. It is because of you that many of the seats in the theater were filled. I can only imagine what we will do next month now that you have seen and worked in the theater.
The list of performers...in no particular order.
Thanks again.
Joe Vecciarelli
The staff and volunteers enjoyed the show and many of the village guests commented about how much they enjoyed the show.It was a bit of a hectic evening with all the issues with the weather and flooding in the theater that, in the end, didn't really matter. We had great show and made a lot of people happy. The folks that walked around in the Gingerbread House performing close-up and making balloon figures were very well received as well. It is because of you that many of the seats in the theater were filled. I can only imagine what we will do next month now that you have seen and worked in the theater.
The list of performers...in no particular order.
- Dan Knapp
- Craig Fennessy
- Dan Stapleton
- Mark Fitzgerald
- Chris Dunn
- Mike Martin
- Ravelli
- Joe Vecciarelli
Thanks again.
Joe Vecciarelli
2009-06 Wallace Murphy lecture
Just wanted to let you know that Wallace Murphy is going to be doing a lecture at my house June 30th, 2009 from 7 pm to 10 pm. The cost will be $10 per person and an RSVP will be required. 20 people max so please RSVP as soon as possible, whoops 2 gone already 18 more open....
The lecture will cover mostly walk around (pocket) magic. Cards, coins, sponge balls and the like. As soon as I get a flyer I will send it out.
There is also a possibility of Magic Ian doing a teach in on rope magic in another month so if you are interested please let me know.
Thanks
Chris Dunn
The lecture will cover mostly walk around (pocket) magic. Cards, coins, sponge balls and the like. As soon as I get a flyer I will send it out.
There is also a possibility of Magic Ian doing a teach in on rope magic in another month so if you are interested please let me know.
Thanks
Chris Dunn
2009-06 Request for dove apparatus
Anyone have a newspaper dove harness or Tear-apart dove vanish?
Thanks,
Dan Stapleton
Thanks,
Dan Stapleton
2009-06 PICTURES ARE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Magic around Florida.
Snap shots help save the moment to share.
How many magicians got their picture with Houdini, Blackstone, Penn&Teller, Siegfried & Roy or Bev Bergeron.
I once was lucky enough to visit Colon, Michigan with my father-in-law and Jerry Darkey. What a small little place with so many important people on the walls. Now if those walls could have talked- wow. I snapped shots of the photos , the place, and my family. What fond memories to look back on. And when someone else looks at the picture they have a story to tell. I grew up looking at Mark Wilson and Rebo the Clown any chance it came on. I count myself lucky to have met them both in real life and had my picture with them. Just think how lucky we all are that Houdini did the silent movies so we now can watch him and be fascinated as those watching him long ago. I watched Don Arthur and Jerry Darkey do the magic and had the opportunity to see how the illusions worked and drew illustrations for "Magic In The Round" by Don. Now another generation will be able to gain from their knowledge. I had a chance to go to Marshall, MI and see the magic museum. How sad at the time the lady who owned all that knowledge, pictures, props etc. was being bothered by the city. She was close to her time to pass on and all that collection go to waste or into a private collection. I do not know how that turned out so if anyone knows please write about it. Thanks. That is why I share these photos with you.
Paula Large'
http://www.magicofart.com/
How many magicians got their picture with Houdini, Blackstone, Penn&Teller, Siegfried & Roy or Bev Bergeron.
I once was lucky enough to visit Colon, Michigan with my father-in-law and Jerry Darkey. What a small little place with so many important people on the walls. Now if those walls could have talked- wow. I snapped shots of the photos , the place, and my family. What fond memories to look back on. And when someone else looks at the picture they have a story to tell. I grew up looking at Mark Wilson and Rebo the Clown any chance it came on. I count myself lucky to have met them both in real life and had my picture with them. Just think how lucky we all are that Houdini did the silent movies so we now can watch him and be fascinated as those watching him long ago. I watched Don Arthur and Jerry Darkey do the magic and had the opportunity to see how the illusions worked and drew illustrations for "Magic In The Round" by Don. Now another generation will be able to gain from their knowledge. I had a chance to go to Marshall, MI and see the magic museum. How sad at the time the lady who owned all that knowledge, pictures, props etc. was being bothered by the city. She was close to her time to pass on and all that collection go to waste or into a private collection. I do not know how that turned out so if anyone knows please write about it. Thanks. That is why I share these photos with you.
Paula Large'
http://www.magicofart.com/
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2009-06 Dennis' Final Deliberations
Guys and gals, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the going away cake, the card and all the good words. It has been a long time since I got a standing ovation.
I am going to miss all of you!
This is my final regular column for FAMULUS. It has been my pleasure and honor to have been your magic ring secretary for more than a decade. I do intend to periodically submit my thoughts to you by way of this forum. The best part is that you can always E-Mail me also.
As I said last month, my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, Virginia. She has bought a house with a large basement and attic for my magic props. It also has a big backyard for parking a trailer and a truck. It is close to Interstate 81. Harrisonburg is a quiet University town in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. There is a greater sense of history there than here in the New Florida. The arm of Stonewall Jackson is buried nearby (the rest of his body is in Lexington, VA). Perhaps a part of my psyche is also dismembered: My body will be in Virginia, my heart in Florida? There are still examples of Union General Philip Sheridan’s scorched-earth devastation of the valley during the Civil War.
In spite of such symbols of the continuity of life, I am moving there with a great deal of uncertainty. You will be happy to know that I will be transferring my regular IBM affiliation to Ring #320 in Stanton, Virginia but of course a part of my heart will always be here with Ring 170. I have yet to be absolutely certain of a permanent job. Things look pretty good for working as a professor at James Madison University. I may supplement my income by teaching ballroom dance or staging magic dinner shows or occasionally taking a family illusion show back out on the road. I will be within 9 hours driving distance of 50% of the population of the United States.
The world is certainly different than it was 34 years ago when I moved, without any certainty, to Orlando. Is it more uncertain today? I do not know. I do know that 34 years ago we were also in a Recession and the situation was equally as grim economically. Since that time we magicians witnessed the rise of Doug Henning and David Copperfield and a so-called “Second Golden Age of Magic”. We also saw the decline of that Latest Golden Age in the form of the masked magic exposer, cheap packaged network specials, the tragic injury and end to the leading Las Vegas magic act and the plunge into Street Grunge by Blaine and Angel.
There have been good sides and bad sides: The good side has been in the rise of designers such as, Jim Steinmeyer and the free availability of magic knowledge through DVDs and books and the great and the prolific ideas and plans of Paul Osborne. The bad side is…all of the above! Any untalented idiot with a buck and a jig saw can build or, if he is lazy, buy himself props and still not be able to entertain. It seems that life always has its good sides and bad sides.
In 1909 German chemist Fritz Haber invented a complicated system to synthesize ammonia. Carl Bosch of BASF took the idea and made it workable. By 1913 Germany was creating all the fertilizer they needed. That was the good side. They could then expand their food supply and in contrast to Malthus’ prediction not face starvation. Previously they were forced to use Chilean Saltpeter and were at the mercy of British control of the sea transportation.
Ah, but the bad side! With the cheap ammonia nitrate they could make all the gunpowder and explosives they needed to fight a war. It has been suggested that without the Haber-Bosch process Germany could not have fought World War One. The irony of history is that now the world could feed a much larger population but they would also have all the cheap gunpowder they needed to kill them!
Maybe moving to Virginia will be only a good side. I am more of a realist.
For some of you dreaming to become a magical superstar with all its power and money, let me remind you that there are also good sides and bad sides. This reminds me of a passage in the ancient book, The Consolation of Philosophy. “Power,” wrote Boethius, “does not make a man master of himself if he is imprisoned by the indissoluble chains of wicked lusts; and when power is bestowed on unworthy men, so far from making them worthy, it only betrays them and reveals their unworthiness.”
You can say that about politicians and also about show business personalities.
Today’s individual magician enjoys wealth and power unknown to previous magic generations. We have the power to travel great distances in a short time to see conventions. We have instantaneous communications, the accumulated learning of the centuries at our fingertips, but the scope of most of our thinking is narrow and our minds more ignorant than ever. Magicians still actually need lectures on hank pulls and thumb tips. The power of modern civilization has not made us a better magician. Instead of bestowing worthiness on us, our wealth and technology merely reveal our unworthiness. Check out You Tube and lose your lunch over what is pawned off as “magic”.
We think that we are more sophisticated than our magic grandfathers. But we are less sophisticated, by far. Our descent into darkness is best demonstrated by listing old magical artists beside new artists; by listing old illusionists beside new illusionists; by comparing the lives of our magical mentors to our own. What conclusion do I draw? The powers and advantages of modern life haven’t made us worthy. They merely serve to amplify and accelerate our unworthiness. It is not hopeless. Just work as hard as you can to be worthy.
Perhaps we are too impatient. The magic cycle moves too fast. We want to buy the secret now and put it in an act this evening with no practice, no fine tuning. In the late 1950s I visited Earl Edward’s Magic Shop in Norfolk, Virginia for 6 months before Bob McAllister would see me and show me how to do the “silk to real egg trick”. Today you can click it off the Internet and have it FedEx by Noon tomorrow. Why do we do this to an audience and then get angry because they recognize our ineptness? So, my parting advice is practice, practice and practice and use a mentor and advisor. Become a worthy person by honesty and education and self-discipline.
I now leave my Last Will and Testament to my friends in Ring 170:
My love of photography and technology goes to Craig Fennessy, who is sure to add it to his enormous talents and move to greater things. My love of making stuff and tinkering with props goes to Chris Dunn, the ring’s handy man. Charlie Pfrogner gets the bizarre and creative side of me, as if he needs any more, but he can have fun with it. Wallace Murphy gets my ability to wake up early and work hard as well as whatever dexterity I have left. JC Hyatt gets my love for walk-around magic. My old set of “Kate and Edith” and bag of rubber bands goes to Mark Fitzgerald. He is better at both than I am or ever will be. Sheldon Brook gets whatever dance steps I still can do. He also gets my legal pad as the new secretary. Kerry Pierce is given my love for kid’s show magic and Halloween.
Art Thomas can have whatever mascot costumes are left in my warehouse as well as all my extra magic tables and blank ledger sheets. James and Joe can have the manufacturing rights to whatever ideas that they would like that they have seen at my warehouse. Our new Winter Park Chief of police, Brett Railey gets my handcuff act and blank pistol. Dan Stapleton gets my love of illusions and family shows and my spare tux shirt from 30 years ago, and the first crack at my entire video tape collection with every magic show on TV since 1984. He is then to pass them on to Craig Fennessy for the ring’s archive. Chuck Smith gets my old video camera. It is so old that there is a mouse inside drawing pictures of what it sees through the lens. Jacki Manna gets my ventriloquism dummy and all my old routines. Mike Biondi gets my newspaper clippings to dollar bills trick. I always lost money with it.
Kevin Butler gets my love of Children’s TV shows in the 50s and 60s. Dan Knapp gets my love of math tricks and mentalism. Chuck Micelli gets my Ink Blot tests and Meyers-Briggs tests. If he can’t figure out their brains with them, he can fool them. Richard Hewitt can have a couple of doves and my thanks for all the conventions he drove me to and the many nights I stayed at his house. Joe Zimmer can have my old pirate costume and sea captain costume and the blade box illusion, I outbid him for at the auction 8 or 9 years ago. Stefan gets the tougher task of editing FAMULUS without my monthly contribution and thanks for his job well done and comments [Note from the editor: And hopefully I will continue to receiver your musings, from time to time]. Ben Mason gets my business ability and Luciano get whatever motivation I have to try new things. Jim McNiff gets my appreciation for sophisticated intimate esoteric card magic. Note to Jim: I had an old girlfriend in college. Her last name really was “Stebbins” and she was the last stacked thing that I made good use of. Her head was empty but her blouse was full. I dumped her when I realized that she enjoyed putting the handcuffs on me for the Sub Trunk way too much.
Phil Schwartz gets whatever writing ability that I have to add to his already extraordinary talents in writing and history. If I come across any Thayer stuff while I am moving, it is his also. I am also leaving Phil my latest stock tip: “Buy Low, Sell High”. I know that is simplistic but it still works-I think.
Bev Bergeron, gets whatever else I have left, which is mainly a desire to see the old Willard the Wizard style shows come back. If push comes to shove and all else seems to be at a dead end in rural Virginia, I may get a canvas top and play little West Virginia towns! I hope Bev can troop with me. I am not another Wyman Baker, I promise. Wanna drink to that thought, Bev?
Finally to everyone in Ring 170 my love and best wishes and I am sure we will stay in touch and… Thank you all for many years of friendship and… who knows, in a few years my wife and I may be back!
Good-bye and may the Almighty Bless and keep you!
Dennis Phillips
I am going to miss all of you!
This is my final regular column for FAMULUS. It has been my pleasure and honor to have been your magic ring secretary for more than a decade. I do intend to periodically submit my thoughts to you by way of this forum. The best part is that you can always E-Mail me also.
As I said last month, my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, Virginia. She has bought a house with a large basement and attic for my magic props. It also has a big backyard for parking a trailer and a truck. It is close to Interstate 81. Harrisonburg is a quiet University town in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. There is a greater sense of history there than here in the New Florida. The arm of Stonewall Jackson is buried nearby (the rest of his body is in Lexington, VA). Perhaps a part of my psyche is also dismembered: My body will be in Virginia, my heart in Florida? There are still examples of Union General Philip Sheridan’s scorched-earth devastation of the valley during the Civil War.
In spite of such symbols of the continuity of life, I am moving there with a great deal of uncertainty. You will be happy to know that I will be transferring my regular IBM affiliation to Ring #320 in Stanton, Virginia but of course a part of my heart will always be here with Ring 170. I have yet to be absolutely certain of a permanent job. Things look pretty good for working as a professor at James Madison University. I may supplement my income by teaching ballroom dance or staging magic dinner shows or occasionally taking a family illusion show back out on the road. I will be within 9 hours driving distance of 50% of the population of the United States.
The world is certainly different than it was 34 years ago when I moved, without any certainty, to Orlando. Is it more uncertain today? I do not know. I do know that 34 years ago we were also in a Recession and the situation was equally as grim economically. Since that time we magicians witnessed the rise of Doug Henning and David Copperfield and a so-called “Second Golden Age of Magic”. We also saw the decline of that Latest Golden Age in the form of the masked magic exposer, cheap packaged network specials, the tragic injury and end to the leading Las Vegas magic act and the plunge into Street Grunge by Blaine and Angel.
There have been good sides and bad sides: The good side has been in the rise of designers such as, Jim Steinmeyer and the free availability of magic knowledge through DVDs and books and the great and the prolific ideas and plans of Paul Osborne. The bad side is…all of the above! Any untalented idiot with a buck and a jig saw can build or, if he is lazy, buy himself props and still not be able to entertain. It seems that life always has its good sides and bad sides.
In 1909 German chemist Fritz Haber invented a complicated system to synthesize ammonia. Carl Bosch of BASF took the idea and made it workable. By 1913 Germany was creating all the fertilizer they needed. That was the good side. They could then expand their food supply and in contrast to Malthus’ prediction not face starvation. Previously they were forced to use Chilean Saltpeter and were at the mercy of British control of the sea transportation.
Ah, but the bad side! With the cheap ammonia nitrate they could make all the gunpowder and explosives they needed to fight a war. It has been suggested that without the Haber-Bosch process Germany could not have fought World War One. The irony of history is that now the world could feed a much larger population but they would also have all the cheap gunpowder they needed to kill them!
Maybe moving to Virginia will be only a good side. I am more of a realist.
For some of you dreaming to become a magical superstar with all its power and money, let me remind you that there are also good sides and bad sides. This reminds me of a passage in the ancient book, The Consolation of Philosophy. “Power,” wrote Boethius, “does not make a man master of himself if he is imprisoned by the indissoluble chains of wicked lusts; and when power is bestowed on unworthy men, so far from making them worthy, it only betrays them and reveals their unworthiness.”
You can say that about politicians and also about show business personalities.
Today’s individual magician enjoys wealth and power unknown to previous magic generations. We have the power to travel great distances in a short time to see conventions. We have instantaneous communications, the accumulated learning of the centuries at our fingertips, but the scope of most of our thinking is narrow and our minds more ignorant than ever. Magicians still actually need lectures on hank pulls and thumb tips. The power of modern civilization has not made us a better magician. Instead of bestowing worthiness on us, our wealth and technology merely reveal our unworthiness. Check out You Tube and lose your lunch over what is pawned off as “magic”.
We think that we are more sophisticated than our magic grandfathers. But we are less sophisticated, by far. Our descent into darkness is best demonstrated by listing old magical artists beside new artists; by listing old illusionists beside new illusionists; by comparing the lives of our magical mentors to our own. What conclusion do I draw? The powers and advantages of modern life haven’t made us worthy. They merely serve to amplify and accelerate our unworthiness. It is not hopeless. Just work as hard as you can to be worthy.
Perhaps we are too impatient. The magic cycle moves too fast. We want to buy the secret now and put it in an act this evening with no practice, no fine tuning. In the late 1950s I visited Earl Edward’s Magic Shop in Norfolk, Virginia for 6 months before Bob McAllister would see me and show me how to do the “silk to real egg trick”. Today you can click it off the Internet and have it FedEx by Noon tomorrow. Why do we do this to an audience and then get angry because they recognize our ineptness? So, my parting advice is practice, practice and practice and use a mentor and advisor. Become a worthy person by honesty and education and self-discipline.
I now leave my Last Will and Testament to my friends in Ring 170:
My love of photography and technology goes to Craig Fennessy, who is sure to add it to his enormous talents and move to greater things. My love of making stuff and tinkering with props goes to Chris Dunn, the ring’s handy man. Charlie Pfrogner gets the bizarre and creative side of me, as if he needs any more, but he can have fun with it. Wallace Murphy gets my ability to wake up early and work hard as well as whatever dexterity I have left. JC Hyatt gets my love for walk-around magic. My old set of “Kate and Edith” and bag of rubber bands goes to Mark Fitzgerald. He is better at both than I am or ever will be. Sheldon Brook gets whatever dance steps I still can do. He also gets my legal pad as the new secretary. Kerry Pierce is given my love for kid’s show magic and Halloween.
Art Thomas can have whatever mascot costumes are left in my warehouse as well as all my extra magic tables and blank ledger sheets. James and Joe can have the manufacturing rights to whatever ideas that they would like that they have seen at my warehouse. Our new Winter Park Chief of police, Brett Railey gets my handcuff act and blank pistol. Dan Stapleton gets my love of illusions and family shows and my spare tux shirt from 30 years ago, and the first crack at my entire video tape collection with every magic show on TV since 1984. He is then to pass them on to Craig Fennessy for the ring’s archive. Chuck Smith gets my old video camera. It is so old that there is a mouse inside drawing pictures of what it sees through the lens. Jacki Manna gets my ventriloquism dummy and all my old routines. Mike Biondi gets my newspaper clippings to dollar bills trick. I always lost money with it.
Kevin Butler gets my love of Children’s TV shows in the 50s and 60s. Dan Knapp gets my love of math tricks and mentalism. Chuck Micelli gets my Ink Blot tests and Meyers-Briggs tests. If he can’t figure out their brains with them, he can fool them. Richard Hewitt can have a couple of doves and my thanks for all the conventions he drove me to and the many nights I stayed at his house. Joe Zimmer can have my old pirate costume and sea captain costume and the blade box illusion, I outbid him for at the auction 8 or 9 years ago. Stefan gets the tougher task of editing FAMULUS without my monthly contribution and thanks for his job well done and comments [Note from the editor: And hopefully I will continue to receiver your musings, from time to time]. Ben Mason gets my business ability and Luciano get whatever motivation I have to try new things. Jim McNiff gets my appreciation for sophisticated intimate esoteric card magic. Note to Jim: I had an old girlfriend in college. Her last name really was “Stebbins” and she was the last stacked thing that I made good use of. Her head was empty but her blouse was full. I dumped her when I realized that she enjoyed putting the handcuffs on me for the Sub Trunk way too much.
Phil Schwartz gets whatever writing ability that I have to add to his already extraordinary talents in writing and history. If I come across any Thayer stuff while I am moving, it is his also. I am also leaving Phil my latest stock tip: “Buy Low, Sell High”. I know that is simplistic but it still works-I think.
Bev Bergeron, gets whatever else I have left, which is mainly a desire to see the old Willard the Wizard style shows come back. If push comes to shove and all else seems to be at a dead end in rural Virginia, I may get a canvas top and play little West Virginia towns! I hope Bev can troop with me. I am not another Wyman Baker, I promise. Wanna drink to that thought, Bev?
Finally to everyone in Ring 170 my love and best wishes and I am sure we will stay in touch and… Thank you all for many years of friendship and… who knows, in a few years my wife and I may be back!
Good-bye and may the Almighty Bless and keep you!
Dennis Phillips
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