2011-04 Ring Report

President Craig Fennessey called the meeting to order on March 16th and introduced the Ring's officers to the 23 members in attendance. He acknowledged the Broken Wand of Dr. Robert Albo; and Phil Schwartz, a member of our Ring and co-author with Dr. Albo of The Ultimate Thayer, expressed his thoughts and sentiments on the Doctor's passing.

Craig announced that lectures by Tony Clark, a student of Slydini, and another lecture by Danny Garcia would be coming in on May 10th and 18th, respectively. He also encouraged the membership to magically participate later this month in the Walk for Wishes, a charity event in downtown Orlando. Those members who participated in the recent Ring Flea Market and Auction as well as the SAM Convention Banquet thought that both events were well attended and are looking forward to our event next year.

Charlie Smith had available copies of MSM (MagicSceneMagazine) a UK publication for those members who were interested in them. Dan Stapleton distributed 3 packet tricks to Rings members who promised to learn and perform them at our next meeting. Dan also announced that he will be performing in Branson, Mo. in the near future. Mark Fitzgerald is appearing Friday nights at the Hard Rock Cafe here in Orlando.

Bev Bergeron presented an entertaining bit of restaurant magic using just a paper napkin for a prop and he was quickly followed by our in-house Historian Phil Schwartz with Magic Moment No. 29. Not surprisingly, his subject that night was our Ring's namesake, Bevely (Bev) Bergeron, a past President(1996-97) of the IBM Born at the start of the Great Depression in Baytown, Texas, Bev started in magic at the age of 10 and had his first professional gig at the age of 14. We are quite fortunate to have Bev with us as he has one of the most experienced and creative minds in magic. At the age of 17, he started doing tent shows with Willard the Wizard. He later graduated from the University of Texas and went to work for a Houston ad agency. After a military stint, during the Korean War, he pursued his entertainment career. In 1957 he portrayed Rebo, the clown, with Mark Wilson and Noni Darnell in Texas that culminated in the 60's with TV's The Magic Land of Alakazam. In addition to Magic, Bev is a prolific writer, an example of which can be found in a monthly article in the Linking Ring. He has done numerous TV shows, portrayed Ronald McDonald and for 16 years he was at Disney' Diamond Horseshoe Revue as a star, writer and director. His other accomplishments are too numerous to enumerate but we are indeed fortunate to have him in our midst.

Chris Dunn emceed our members performance program starting off with George Bernard doing a two-card transposition in plexiglas. Richard Hewitt and Wayne Dowling entertained with a card selection effect. Charlie Pfrogner put down a 12 card spread and also guessed correctly the selected card. Joe Zimmer was excited and enthusiastic in demonstrating Tenyo's 4-D surprise, and Dan Stapleton got twelv big laughs when he listed "Twelve Reasons Why You Know You Hired The Wrong Clown For Your Kid's Birthday Party. Kerry Pierce ended the evening with Patrick Paige's Diary Booklet with Cards.

A fine time was had by all.
Sheldon Brook