2009-01

It was another wonderful ring holiday party. President Craig Fennessey opened up the December meeting with the annual election of the new board of officers. The floor was opened up for nominations and nothing was heard.

The nominated slate of current officers was re-elected for 2009 by Parliamentary rules. They are: Craig J. Fennessy-President, Chris Dunn- Vice President, Art Thomas – Treasurer, Dennis Phillips- Secretary, James Songster- Director at Large, Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms and serving as Editor of FAMULUS -Stefan Bartelski. Jacki Manna continues as our Hospitality chairperson.

Following the brief business meeting we began our Christmas and Holiday Tradition, the wacky, gift exchange. Jacki Manna was the MC and kept the activities lively and entertaining. The rules are that a person can either pick a new unopened gift or 'steal' someone else's gift. Each gift can be stolen only 3 times. This chaos makes for a lot of fun. Finally all the gifts were taken. The challenge every year is to end up with the trick of your dreams! The competition is all in fun. Some stand out gifts were a collection of Jim Steinmeyer books, another was a box full of classic effects. Someone got a Malini egg bag and another a brand new spring skunk.

This year, instead of insisting that the new gift recipients immediately perform their treasures, a structures show was presented and emceed by Mark Fitzgerald. He opened up with his classic coin routine that always gets oohs and aahs.

First up was Richard Hewitt, former Ring President. He brought a nice collection of stage effects. He opened with the Dove in Balloon and then he vanished the dove in the Breakaway Box. Before the box was dismantled a stuffed rabbit was brought out and Richard played with it all the way over to the other side of the stage where he transformed it into a real rabbit in a Flash Appearance box. Richard moved into Al Delage’s “Fastest Trick in the World” where a large bouquet of flowers instantly vanishes. He followed it up with a giant Botania appearance. Assisted by Dennis Phillips, he asked a spectator to select a page out of a paperback book and remember the page number and a few facts on the page. The spectator retained the book but when they opened the book again, the page was torn out and Richard had the matching page as well as knowing the information on it. Richard then made a beer bottle disappear in a paper sack.
Bowing off to a nice hand, Richard introduced his assistant, Dennis Phillips. Dennis presented an effect inspired by the late Bob McAllister’s “Chocolate Chip Cookie trick” using Mini-Hershey Chocolate bars. Mini-bars are plucked from the air and finally transformed into a giant Hershey bar. The idea for the variation was from our own Kevin Butler, a New York native and fan of McAllister’s. Butler is a respected scholar of early television children’s shows. Kevin calls his variation, “The sweet tooth lover’s dream”.

Next up, Charlie Pfrogner used a young helper and delightful patter to present a holiday version of The Beads of Prussia. Mark Fitzgerald returned with an engaging “Silent Card Trick” where not a word was spoken and all the lines were on flip cards. At the end you find out why he can not speak. The selected signed card was in his mouth! Jacki Manna showed why she is the top ventriloquist in Central Florida. She did a delightful Christmas routine with Axtell’s magic drawing board with a Christmas tree and a talking Santa Clause. Dan Stapleton kept with the winter theme and made a borrowed business card appear in a solid block of ice while it was being held by spectators on a towel.

Jim McNiff invited up two spectators to have a seat at a card table. A deck was cut and shuffled and divided into two piles and a card selected from each spectator’s pile and returned and shuffled and yet Jim was able to tell the location and name of each card. Carl Fowler, assisted by his wife, Barbara, closed out the show on a high note. In the late 90s, John Calvert awarded Fowler a special plaque for Carl’s expert use of music in his act. Carl and Barbara did the color changing plumes, flower boxes from a shopping bag and a botania. He concluded with his original levitation where Barbara levitates while standing on a balloon. The balloon is popped and she remains suspended.

Mark Fitzgerald wound up the festivities with his delightful spectator assisted, Linking Ring routine. The evening ended on a high note with refreshments and more fellowship.

Join us whenever you are visiting Orlando. Good things are always happening in Ring 170.

Dennis Phillips