2009-05 Dennis' Penultimate Deliberations

Allied Costumes 1975-2009

This will be my next to the last regular column. I will have more on me leaving Orlando below but first some original magic! I carry on extended E-Mail conversations with many magic friends. One consistent friend and active professional magician is Larry Thornton in Calgary, Canada. Recently we were conversing about some killer card effects.

I offered him (and now you) this: Here is how I do a bit in my mentalism act (thanks a bit to Max Maven and Kenton Knipper): First, buy 4 decks and select from each 13 cards of the same cards. In these 13 you have 6 black cards and 7 red cards. Make one deck with 52 cards that are 13 identical cards repeated 4 times. As you take out the special deck (“13-4 times”) begin with the free and open choice to the spectator of a color with these words,“Sir, do you want me to remove the blacks or the reds from the deck. This is your free choice! You can change your mind. Think about it. Black or red?” You have the six black cards hidden on your body. One in each sock. One in each shoe. One in each shirt sleeve. If they say, “Black” says, “Is that your final choice?” “Then we will take out and use the Black ones. I am going to hand you this deck and look at any Black card and close the deck.” If they say “Red” say, “Is that your final choice?” “Then, by your choice, lets take out and throw away the red ones and when I hand you the deck look at any Black one.” “Now, tell the audience so they can share in what is your free choice”. After by play, show them that you had previously knew what they predicted by revealing the card you had hidden on your body. Buy 5 cheap decks at the dollar store (Charlie Pfrogner’s favorite magic shop!) and you have a miracle they will talk about. Print out this routine and sell the extra 3 sets at the next magic flea-market for 5 bucks a piece and the trick will cost you nothing!

Larry followed up with his version: I have on my desk, as I speak, a 3-way force deck that I made myself. Whether it's a commercial trick or not I don't know, but it's the nerviest card effect I own -- so much so, that I have lost my nerve to do it! The effect: I take a deck out of its case and casually fan through them faces out to show them all mixed, without verbally drawing attention to that fact, as I say, "I would like to have the assistance of three people." I close the deck and say to a gentleman, "We'll try a little mental experiment. I am about to hand you this deck of cards. Now it is very important that you follow my instructions EXACTLY. Please hold the deck tightly in your hand with the faces towards you, and carefully PEEK at just ONE card in the FIRST THIRD of the deck. You do this by pulling forward some of the cards in the bottom third of the deck, like this." (I open the deck at the top with the index finger of my free hand, forming a break.) "REMEMBER the card you peeked at." I emphasize, "It is IMPORTANT that you peek at only ONE card. Do not let more than one card slip by, as that might lead to confusion as which card you are to remember." I then quickly repeat the process with each of two more people, peeking at a MIDDLE card for the second person and a TOP THIRD card for the last volunteer, and then let all three people repeat the process. After some by-play (taking back the cards, showing them still mixed and pointing out the fairness of each selection, etc.) -- I THEN DRAMATICALLY NAME EACH CARD (or they could have been "divined" each time and written out on a chalk board or large pad). All the cards, of course, are different, and each person verifies it is indeed their selection. Unlike the "standard version" of this effect, there is no need to name three cards and have the spectators sit down when they hear their selection, simply because they all picked the same card from a one-way deck. THE DECK CONSTRUCTION: Top Third: 8 pairs of cards, with each pair consisting of an Eight of Clubs (shorted a la Svengali), in front of which is an indifferent unshorted card. They are 'glued' together at the bottoms only, with double-stick Scotch tape, available at any office supplies store. In other words, if the deck is face down, the top card would be the force (8C) and its pair an indifferent card. Middle Third: 8 pairs constructed the same, force card Queen of Diamonds. Bottom Third: Force card Nine of Hearts. So there are 48 cards in all (3 X 16 cards). Funny, but I just checked and found a 9-9-8 arrangement in my own deck, making 52 cards. No matter. We should reasonably assume all that double-stick Scotch tape would add to the thickness of the deck making it hard to remove from its case, but that doesn't seem to be so. Why the taped pairs? Simply so I can ribbon-spread the deck on the table, or hand to hand (platform version) to show the deck mixed. So..... Have I ever performed this little mental miracle under paid conditions? NO! I haven't the nerve to trust the average butter-fingered spectator. But believe.... if I pulled off the trick ... it would be killer effect. So it lies there on my desk ... unused ... and haunting me until the end of time........ thank you Larry!

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I think that most of you know that my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, Virginia in June. Yes, after 34 years here in Orlando, we are making the big move. We moved to Orlando from Charlotte, NC in 1975 to open our costume business and we have just recently sold the business and the building. Much of the reason for the move to the Shenandoah Valley is that my wife wants to be close to her family and especially her sister. My brother-in-law is a science teacher in High School. Also, almost all the rest of her family is in the Washington, D.C. area which is a little less than 2 hours away. My wife originally was from Virginia and she has reminded me almost every day since we moved her in 1975 that she never wanted to move to Florida. Much of it was the climate and the separation from her family. In spite of her dislike for the climate, mold and pollen, sand and sun, she did manage to have a good time here the first few years. Orlando was a small town then. That was way back when Disney was just a single theme park down the road towards Tampa. There was no Post-Modern Orlando City skyline and you could still find orange trees in the city limits. But something happened in the mid 80s. Orlando shifted from a small town to a city with clogged traffic arteries and social and ethnic issues.

We tried to escape that by moving from Audubon Park (next to Baldwin Park) to Oviedo. In 1985 Oviedo was a small country town. Within 5 years it was an edge city with all the problems of the city of Orlando. We then decided to just move back downtown and not fight the suburban sprawl. From 1975 to 1990 I made much of my living doing magic shows. The shows were family oriented illusion shows for fund-raising. Most were not in Orlando but in distant small towns. The shows were promoted with telephone boiler rooms. Occasionally, I did convention shows and walk around magic at events. I did more convention shows in Jacksonville and Tampa than Orlando.

I did play the Bob Carr 3 times before 1979 and the Sanford Civic Center in 1985. From 1976 to 1978 I regularly performed in many local schools with my show as an evening fund-raiser. Dan Stapleton had his shirt ripped by students in a show at Robinswood Middle School about 1976. It was during a scene where a gorilla ran out into the audience. Halloween of 1976, Dan got me and my cast to help him with the Lake Eola Halloween Band-shell show. Along the way, I did shows for Ray Ramsey, a few with Bev and Dan. I played Disney Conventions a few times. Shows within the Orlando area were always “catch what I can”. 1990 was the year of the first Gulf War and a Recession followed. Usually an economic downturn did not affect small-town fund-raising shows. But 1990 was different. Small town merchants were hit hard by the expanding Wal*Mart and began closing. The backbone of my marketing crumbled as the old tap lists of local sponsors dried up. It was sad to go through the little Florida towns and see the downtowns dead. Moreover, cable and satellite TV and VCRs started to keep people home. Live entertainment suffered. My magic show business mostly dried up. Plus, every little town now had a local illusionist who, armed with a jig saw and Paul Osborne plans, made boxes and grabbed the dates.

My wife and I transitioned into a smaller act for ballroom dancing showcases and I played a yearly route of church programs with Dr. Steve Brown. I plowed my efforts into my costume shop and was surviving from it. Then came 911 and an economic Recession followed by Hurricane Charley. My partly insured warehouse was destroyed by the hurricane. Combine all these downturns with the rise of “Spirit Costumes” (and all of the temporary stores at Halloween) and the plethora of cheap Red Chinese Halloween stuff that is imported and sold on the internet and every avenue of the costume and magic business collapsed for me here in Central Florida. Last year, after plowing over $50,000 in five years into the costume business, my wife (the manager and loyal partner through all of this) said that we had to close. My accountant had even harsher words for me and questioned my sanity for hoping things would get better. My financial planner even threatened to take back the calendar he had given me!

We decided after last Halloween to list my business building for sale and liquidate the business. We sold many of the costumes to Orlando Vintage and Costumes and they will carry on with our place in the market. The owner, Lisa Smith also handles vintage clothing and has an internet presence. She is active in doing wardrobe for films. So, I am concluding a 22 year long stretch teaching as an adjunct (part timer) at Valencia Community College in the Theater department and the last 5 years in public high school. I also have 12 years teaching as an adjunct at The Institute for Christian Studies (Medieval to Reformation Theology and Philosophy). We leave many friendships, our grown children and a lifetime of memories behind.

One of the joys of living here has been having an active Magic Ring, which I believe is the best in the country, along with many professional and long time personal friends in magic. Being a lifetime member, I will always keep you in my heart.

I am not sure yet what I will be doing for a living in Harrisonburg. There are 2 universities and a college near by and I have applications in at all of them. The TV station in town has also expressed and interest to me in either engineering (I am a broadcast engineer) or in news or sales. I am transporting all my magic and supporting equipment and wardrobe so it will be close to me and available for shows. There is a 4 season ski resort nearby. I will keep you posted. My final details and good-byes to all will be in next month’s article!

Dennis Phillips