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Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 11/16/2011 at 7:30 PM SHARP
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Meeting Theme: Christmas Effects
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake
Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4
and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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
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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.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
2011-11 From the Editor
As we draw close to the end of 2011, I have to thank, yet again, Dennis and Sheldon for their regular contributions. And add my regular request to Ring members to contribute to the newsletter. If you are worried about your writing skills, just do what you can and then put a note in your contribution that you would like me to wordsmith the piece. I will be happy to help. By the way, without such a request, I restrict myself to spelling, formatting and minor grammatical corrections.
Remember, at the November meeting we would love to receive the names of some new blood for the board. While we know that the board does a great job, the addition of new recruits with fresh ideas will help ensure that we keep the Ring active.
Your editor
Remember, at the November meeting we would love to receive the names of some new blood for the board. While we know that the board does a great job, the addition of new recruits with fresh ideas will help ensure that we keep the Ring active.
Your editor
2011-11 Ring Report
President Craig Fennessey called the meeting to order on October 19th with 27 members and guests in attendance. He announced that the reception to Jon Racherbaumer's lecture the previous week was very positive and that the lectures will continue with Johua Jay on January 4th and others to follow. Ring 258 in Leesburg will hold its annual flea market and auction on November12th and the Daytona Beach Magic Convention will be the weekend of November 5th: the membership was encouraged to attend both events.
A good many members of our Ring indicated they are performing in the area: Mark Fitzgerald seemed to be the busiest with gigs at the Hard Rock Cafe, Mitchell's, and Church Street. Jacki Manna can be seen at the Florida Mall and Mike Martin will be entertaining at Give Kids The World. Dan Stapleton volunteered to perform for the school kids involved in a "Drug Awareness Program" sponsored by Elk's Lodge #1079 and the local Law Enforcement Agency. William Hicks, on behalf of the Elks, appealed to the Ring for its participation in the program. Phil Schwartz announced his plans to attend the upcoming Potter & Potter Auction in Chicago. The catalog, which he had in hand, includes, in part, the Ken Klosterman Collection. He then entered into Magic History No. 34 and his subject was none other than the most famous name in Magic from any era, "Harry Houdini", nee, Erich Weiss. His presentation was all inclusive from Houdini's birth in 1874 to 'beyond' his untimely death in 1926. Phil closed his talk by sharing from his collection, a framed broadside and window card of a Houdini performance.
Following an intermission, no fewer than 11 members signed up to perform for an eager audience. Bob Swaddling kicked it off with a card prediction effect followed by Mike Martin's comedy routine. With Halloween closing in on us, Wallace Murphy, turned Silk to Candy Corn. Charlie Pfrogner produced Bugs and other Critters from his empty box. Ed McGowan brought a deck of cards out to entertain with a card prediction routine, He was followed by Chris Dunn with a collection of Halloween "spooky stuff" that included a "zombie pumpkin", silks, and magic books. Mark Fitzgerald performed with both cards and coins a very entertaining matrix routine. William Zaballero demonstrated, once again, his card handling with a close-up effect. Jacki Manna brought her green friend, Jo-Jo Bean, on stage with her and proceeded with a comedy routine that left the membership clamoring for more. Craig Fennessey demonstrated his very entertaining and mystifying Light Board act with a crowd pleasing presentation. Dan Stapleton capped off the evening with a delightful and professional performance of "Ectoplasm".
A fine time was had by all.
Sheldon Brook
A good many members of our Ring indicated they are performing in the area: Mark Fitzgerald seemed to be the busiest with gigs at the Hard Rock Cafe, Mitchell's, and Church Street. Jacki Manna can be seen at the Florida Mall and Mike Martin will be entertaining at Give Kids The World. Dan Stapleton volunteered to perform for the school kids involved in a "Drug Awareness Program" sponsored by Elk's Lodge #1079 and the local Law Enforcement Agency. William Hicks, on behalf of the Elks, appealed to the Ring for its participation in the program. Phil Schwartz announced his plans to attend the upcoming Potter & Potter Auction in Chicago. The catalog, which he had in hand, includes, in part, the Ken Klosterman Collection. He then entered into Magic History No. 34 and his subject was none other than the most famous name in Magic from any era, "Harry Houdini", nee, Erich Weiss. His presentation was all inclusive from Houdini's birth in 1874 to 'beyond' his untimely death in 1926. Phil closed his talk by sharing from his collection, a framed broadside and window card of a Houdini performance.
Following an intermission, no fewer than 11 members signed up to perform for an eager audience. Bob Swaddling kicked it off with a card prediction effect followed by Mike Martin's comedy routine. With Halloween closing in on us, Wallace Murphy, turned Silk to Candy Corn. Charlie Pfrogner produced Bugs and other Critters from his empty box. Ed McGowan brought a deck of cards out to entertain with a card prediction routine, He was followed by Chris Dunn with a collection of Halloween "spooky stuff" that included a "zombie pumpkin", silks, and magic books. Mark Fitzgerald performed with both cards and coins a very entertaining matrix routine. William Zaballero demonstrated, once again, his card handling with a close-up effect. Jacki Manna brought her green friend, Jo-Jo Bean, on stage with her and proceeded with a comedy routine that left the membership clamoring for more. Craig Fennessey demonstrated his very entertaining and mystifying Light Board act with a crowd pleasing presentation. Dan Stapleton capped off the evening with a delightful and professional performance of "Ectoplasm".
A fine time was had by all.
Sheldon Brook
2011-11 Magician looking for doves
Mike Berlant is looking for a source of white doves, can anyone help him? Please direct your replies to him (not via the newsletter). he can be reached at mike@mikeberlant.com or 407-592-5763.
2011-11 New magic movies: Walking through Fires & Burt Wonderstone
Mark O'Brien was the closing act at our Famulus yearly banquet a few years ago
Mark O’Brien’s film, Walking Through Fires centers on Mark’s true life story. It is as real as you can get. No Hollywood smoke and mirrors, no re-writes and big name production army and no “A” list cast. It is a micro-budget film although it looks like a much bigger budget film. Mark’s film centers on his loss of a half-million dollars worth of illusions burned in his Orlando warehouse in two suspicious fires five days apart. Classified to this day as arson by the insurance investigator, many believe the fires were set to thwart Mark’s attempt to open his magic attraction in Orlando. But the real story and “relevance” is that his film sheds light on the way things really are in show business. His very personal film depicts the events before during and after the fires and the damage to his career, family, friends and mental health. The film is enlightening, educational, moving, disturbing and inspiring and covers so much of what life is all about. Justice, corruption, family, career, friendship and magic are all examined within the film’s complex structure.
In spite of this tragedy, Mark remains a World Class Illusionist and has developed into a very good film producer-director. This is one micro-budget that every magician should see as it will beg them to ask not only why they perform magic but what they find important in their own lives outside of their crazy profession, hobby or obsession. And they may even ask themselves why Mark O’Brien would spend five years and a great deal of his own money to tell his story in a film. I wonder if Hollywood could have told Mark’s story any better?
So who the heck is Burt Wonderstone? He is a fictitious character and you can expect to see Steve Carell star as “Wonderstone” in the magician comedy film, titled Burt Wonderstone. That big budget movie is centered on the world of Las Vegas magicians, with Carell playing a traditional performer who gets a rival in the form of “a hip younger illusionist,” which leads to him having to “find a way to rediscover his love for magic.” According to some press articles, Wonderstone accidentally kills his partner and must regain his “hocus-pocus focus” while simultaneously competing with a rival. New Line is planning to shoot this month.
According to IMDB, the film script was purchased in 2006. This is the same year that production began on Mark O’Brien’s micro-budget indie. Thus you may have two films about illusionists coming out at the same time again. Dejavu – like when The Prestige and The Illusionist came out at the same time. Those films were very similar but these films are very different in many ways.
To see clips from the film and check on the release information you can visit the official site:
Aside from purchasing the DVD or renting it when it becomes available, please support Mark and the real world of independent film making by visiting the film’s facebook fan page and clicking the “like” button.
You Tube is also filled with classic clips of some of Mark’s television and live show appearances. You will love the creative illusions on many of Mark’s Nickelodeon network TV shows! Some of those were taped in Orlando when Nickelodeon had a strong presence at Universal Studios.
If you are searching for relevance in a magic film or even in your life, you may find it in Walking Through Fires. If you are looking for comedy then let’s hope Wonderstone delivers as much bang as Walking Through Fires does for the buck!
Dennis Phillips
2011-11 Dennis' Deliberations
I got an E-mail and later a phone call from a magic friend, who said,
“Dennis, here is an amazing jumbo card routine that sells for $199 being sold by the Hocus Pocus magic company. I just ordered it!” :
The effect is called, The Alchemist by Jansenson. In checking the You Tube site, I see that Jensenson is a very talented and powerful performer. He has many fine effects posted. The routine is puzzling but in any other hands than Jansenson, I do not see it as compelling.
First of all, it moves way too slow for American audiences. The whole effect can be boiled down to the fact that he always appears to know where every card is located. That is the only continuous effect in the whole routine. Audiences don’t care or find that terribly mysterious as the only effect. They assume he has a stacked or marked deck or is doing phony shuffles. For $199, he could even have an RFI chip in every card and a ring reader to prompt him. This basic effect is not that strong.
Take the same effect , every card is in its place, and add a story like, “Sam the Bellhop” and you have real entertainment. Try Kerry Pollack’s “Kate and Edith” for socko entertainment.
For a real mysterious crowd pleaser, Billy McComb’s McComical Deck is far better entertainment with a jumbo deck.
This is just my opinion. I have been around magic long enough to know that magicians get thrilled over a clever method and forget the entertainment value. Sure, I could come up with a clever way of doing, “The Color Changing Plate of Spaghetti”. It would go from bright red to bright blue and the Mozzarella cheese can appear and disappear. I could use clever chemical reactions and color changing LEDs in the plate and fiber optics. In the end, I want to say, “so what?” We have to keep focused on the main thing, entertainment. (By the way if you go ahead with the color changing plate of spaghetti, it was my idea and I demand a cut of whatever you make from any magic sucker who buys it)
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I think a lesson to all performers in the twilight of their careers is to always keep working, even if it is for almost nothing.
Dai Vernon, Blackstone Sr. extended their lives long after their careers were over by working for probably peanuts at the Magic Castle. Calvert at 100 lives on the energy of his stage work.
In old age, survival depends on community friends, purpose and something to keep you going. It also depends on an internal sense of who you are and being at peace with yourself.
The “artistic” personality can be self destructive. Ernest Hemingway shot himself. Bill Neff and many other magicians drank themselves to death.
It is important to never get yourself and your identity totally wrapped up in your stage work. If you can write, lecture, or create, you can keep your life forces flowing. When you get too old to do the physical stuff, or your act is dated, a person most often mentally falls apart, without other things to keep them going.
I recently got an insight into the demise of The Pendragons. I got a chance to see the 4 Pendragon videos. They really are excellent resource material for any illusionist to have in their library. They were made shortly before they broke up. Jon really bared his soul about his mental issues. Two events almost did him in. The tiger attack in Reno in 1992 cause him to lose half of his left bicep muscles and he was forced to re- choreograph all of his moves due to weakness on his left side. Then the arrow through the heart caused heart damage and weakness. He seems to huff and puff a bit from the cardiac damage.
In the video he and Charlotte were really showing their years. On tape two they had excellent explanations and video of their famous sub trunk. It was amazing to have them go through every move, the construction of the trunk and well as the evolution of the handling of the cloth from the first “hourglass” move to how the break away cloth is made. They also showed the entire sequence from the back! She tosses up the cloth and he literally stands up and swats apart the cloth (it is Velcro with strategic tabs).
I believe that their careers stalled and that led to a resurfacing of Jon’s old demons. He admits to having barely controllable OCD.
Also on the tapes, an excellent insight into his Sands of Egypt, a look at Charlotte broom harness, impaled and most of the classics such as the basket.
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I am intensely fascinated by why people laugh and why and what sort of humor works. (So was Aristotle and that is why he wrote Poetics II! Sadly we only have a few bits of that work)
What becomes politically incorrect humor? No magician in their right mind today would do the Bra trick on a female. On a male it will either get a big laugh or you will get slugged!
Here is a clip of Spike Jones on early TV! All this is funny stuff!
Notice how that dressing in drag in comedy sketches carried no stigma then! (Milton Berle, Red Skelton, etc)
Spike Jones’ humor is right out of vaudeville, which was the only format that early TV had. Something shifted in the social psycho-sexual mindset in the 60s and 70s so that it no longer was funny.
Our humor also shifted. Bob Orben lines mostly don’t work today. People have no appreciation of linguistic cleverness. Today’s humor is all “put down humor” with lots of profanity and anger.
In contract here is some old style humor: (Borrowed from Harry Allen) “Before I was a magician I worked in a factory making alphabet soup. They fired me, I was making only 100 Gs a year...Then I worked as a taste tester in a prune factory. It was great job but a lousy schedule. One day on two days off.”
These lines only work with a crowd over 55! I have tried them a few times in a high school class and the kids just don’t grasp the language...More examples:
“You think this is a tough school? You should have been at the school I substituted at last week! The yearbook had two pictures of each senior, front and side!”
No response...”Really, Mr. Phillips? What school was it?” The routine continues:
“I took one of the students down to the Guidance Councilor and asked the councilor how long it was until the student graduated. The councilor said, "I donno know, maybe ten to twenty with good behavior"! It was a tough school. The Principal told me that I would have all honor students. He was right. All they knew was, "Yes, your Honor. Sorry, your Honor"! It was a tough school.
When the students were in elementary school they played Hop Scotch with real Scotch! I asked one of the students what he was taking in school. He said, "Anything that ain't nailed down"!
I asked, “How do you like school?” He said, “CLOSED!” That school was so tough the Student Newspaper had an Obituary column! The student news on the School TV channel used the slogan, “If you have the time, we have the crime!”
No response... “Wow that was really a bad place, Mr. Phillips. What school was it?”
I repeated the same routine in the Faculty Lounge at lunch and the older teachers were rolling in the floor with laughter...
I also have tested the theory outside of school. I was in Lowes checking out and the cashier was a young woman working with an older woman showing her the cash register. As I walked up they were talking about how the young woman met her husband. “I met Bill at a party”. The older woman said, “I have known Jack since high school”. I walked up with my plywood and said, “I will tell you how I met my wife. She was working at a Travel Agency and I was her last resort.” The older woman laughed, the younger woman looked puzzled.
I guess I am old school in everything. Loved Blackstone, detest Criss Angel. My tastes reflect generational change.
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We got our first snow of the year before Halloween October 29th! Four inches! Few can remember that much snow so early. The local wisdom is that you can tell how much snow that you are going to get for the winter by how high the hornets build their nests. I found one just under the roof line near the peak where the chimney is!
I will keep you posted!
Dennis Phillips
Harrisonburg, Virginia
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