2010-11 Ring Report

President Craig Fennessey called the meeting to order on October 22d and introduced the Ring's officers to the 28 members and guests in attendance The meeting was dedicated to the memory of Don Masters, who passed away in May. Don was a founder of our Ring and received a Charter for it on June 1st of 1962. He was owner and operator of numerous magic shops in the Orlando area from the mid 60's into the 80's. Several of our members related stories of how Don had positively influenced them during his professional career. Don was known for performing his wild card routine but confessed that his favorite illusion was "The Zombie". Don's remains were interred in Deland, Florida.

Several members announced that they would be performing later this month or in November. Kerry Pierce will be busy again during Halloween with his annual bash that is always well attended by the public. Dan Stapleton will be doing a lecture for Ring 258 in Leesburg, Florida in mid November. Dave Koenig will perform his mind reading on a local FM radio station in the upcoming weeks. Joe Zimmer travelled to Fresno, California and performed his act at a Fair venue. He had the opportunity to visit Hocus Pocus Magic located in the area and reported his general enthusiastic satisfaction with the experience. Bev Bergeron spent a week in Hollywood, California performing numerous shows at the Magic Castle and celebrated the 50th Anniversary of The Magic Land of Allakazam in which he starred as Rebo, The Clown for many years with Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell . Bev was also present to illustrate a "color changing knife routine" that he has used over the years. The Ring members, present at the meeting, were given a complimentary copy of Merrill's Knife Book by R.D. Merrill from Gary Frank of the Fantastic Magic Company, Inc. Ed McGowan, Dan Stapleton and Luciano de Pazos also took turns demonstrating their takes on handling the knives. Chris Dunn closed the demonstration by displaying his collection of paddles utilized for similar magic illusions.

Phil Schwartz was up next with Magic History Moment #26 in which he told of the attempts of Bill Larsen, owner of the Thayer Magic Company, to publish, in 1947, Thayer Company's Catalog #10 but it never came to pass. In 1950, the Company was sold to Clayton Jacobsen but the catalog although promised, was never published. Through the years and another change in ownership of the Company. the idea of the Catalog was forgotten. In 1979, the original wooden plates for the unpublished Catalog #10 were found in the attic of Jacobsen's foreclosed home and sold on Ebay. Phil was the successful bidder and showed several of the plates to the Ring membership.

Chris Dunn emceed the performances offered by three members of the Ring.

Charlie Pfrogner, Sebastian Midtvaage and Dan Stapleton performed excellent card routines that entertained and mystifyed the audience