Posts
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 08/19/2007 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: Aerial magic
Marks Street Center, 99 Mark Street, downtown Orlando
If you visit with us and do not know the room we meet in , please be aware that some of the people in the office at the Senior Center may not be aware we are meeting there! At the last meeting one visitor asked where the "IBM" was meeting and the management apparently thought they were asking for the International Business Machines group! They said that there was no "IBM" on the schedule. So, if you have never been to our ring meeting , please say "magicians" or "FAME" and if that doesn't get the room location , just walk around looking for us. The Senior Center is a public building.
Lunch meetings every Tuesday at noon at Goodings (next to the food court)
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
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.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 the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it 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.
Monday, September 10, 2007
2007-09 From the Editor
Thanks to the contributors for this month's newsletter, although the pickings are little slim this time. Come on, Ring members, cough some of those interesting stories that I know you are all hiding.
Your editor
Stefan
Your editor
Stefan
2007-09 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring
August are the hottest months in Orlando and often we also have a blazing meeting with lots of participation. This year was no exception. Forty were sitting in the seats.
We had guests, Dan Crosby, Austin Mataan, Dave Koenig, Patrick Oliver, Tyler Overstreet, Josh Aroya and Kelly Frye.
Five of our members are working regularly: Dan Stapleton is doing his Thursday night dinner magic show at Mandolins at the Radisson Parkway Resort. Mark Fitzgerald is doing restaurant magic at the Hardrock Kitchen and the Radisson Parkway. Bev Bergeron is doing comedy magic at the Red Fox Lounge in the Mt. Vernon Hotel in Winter Park. James and Joe are in Ohio for a few weeks doing stage magic for the Ohio Renaissance Fair and Kostya Kimlat is at the Bluefish Restaurant off Sandlake Road and at in New Smyrna Beach at The Garlic Restaurant. Dennis Phillips is doing a stage act on tour with Steve Brown's Great American Medicine Show.
There were several interesting updates on members. Terry Ward made a magic magazine cover and Mark Fitzgerald gave some interesting details on his recent trip to Alaska and his search for magic in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Charlie Pfrogner was drafted to be our Emcee for the monthly post-meeting ring show. First up was Cory Knox with ring juggling. Young Cory is coming along well in developing a full range of his juggling skills. Can a place in our annual Ring Banquet show be coming? Mark Fitzgerald pleased the crowd with many slick rope knots and his version of Professor's Nightmare. Charlie Pfrogner again showed us his creativity. The premise of his trick was a paper lunch sack decorated up to look like a dog. The "dog" then located a volunteer's secretly selected card. Charlie always adds his unique entertaining twist. This time it was clever and funny puns. His doggy was " paper trained"and could even talk. He showed the doggy a piece of sandpaper and the doggy said, "ruff"!
Young magician, Tyler Overstreet did a "Ring on a Neck chain". Chris Dunn showed some of his clever and well-made homebuilt magic. He had a Frankenstein's Monster version of the Milbourne Christopher's "Forgetful Freddy". Chris also showed how to theme a dye-box in many ways. He then showed us his interesting magic wand.
Dennis Phillips showed a collection of classic "Doodle" Drawings. They make a nice comedy breather in any magic show. He then invited up a spectator and presented his version of Mike Caveney's "Powers of Darkness". This is done with a coat hanger . The audience sees how the trick is being done while the spectator is baffled. The effect is a nice alternative to Slydini's paper balls over the head.
James Songster used a spectator and two decks of cards, a blue backed and a red backed deck. The spectator selected a card and then the free count in both decks matched ,as well as the cards in the count, when the selected card was revealed.
Last up was Dan Stapleton. He had a novel and enjoyable effect where socks are randomly pulled out of a bag by a spectator and hung by clothes pins on a clothes line that is made by two other spectators holding the ends of the rope. Then an odd pair , one at a time, is removed by the spectator's free choice until only one pair is left. That pair is then shown to be the matching socks of the odd pair that Dan was wearing all along! Dan also showed the trophy he was awarded by the IBM for his Best Parade of the Year in the Linking Ring. He also suggested that we put together a Ring Parade. The idea was warmly received.
Join us for our Ring meetings when you are in Orlando. Good things are always happening in Ring #170.
Dennis Phillips
We had guests, Dan Crosby, Austin Mataan, Dave Koenig, Patrick Oliver, Tyler Overstreet, Josh Aroya and Kelly Frye.
Five of our members are working regularly: Dan Stapleton is doing his Thursday night dinner magic show at Mandolins at the Radisson Parkway Resort. Mark Fitzgerald is doing restaurant magic at the Hardrock Kitchen and the Radisson Parkway. Bev Bergeron is doing comedy magic at the Red Fox Lounge in the Mt. Vernon Hotel in Winter Park. James and Joe are in Ohio for a few weeks doing stage magic for the Ohio Renaissance Fair and Kostya Kimlat is at the Bluefish Restaurant off Sandlake Road and at in New Smyrna Beach at The Garlic Restaurant. Dennis Phillips is doing a stage act on tour with Steve Brown's Great American Medicine Show.
There were several interesting updates on members. Terry Ward made a magic magazine cover and Mark Fitzgerald gave some interesting details on his recent trip to Alaska and his search for magic in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Charlie Pfrogner was drafted to be our Emcee for the monthly post-meeting ring show. First up was Cory Knox with ring juggling. Young Cory is coming along well in developing a full range of his juggling skills. Can a place in our annual Ring Banquet show be coming? Mark Fitzgerald pleased the crowd with many slick rope knots and his version of Professor's Nightmare. Charlie Pfrogner again showed us his creativity. The premise of his trick was a paper lunch sack decorated up to look like a dog. The "dog" then located a volunteer's secretly selected card. Charlie always adds his unique entertaining twist. This time it was clever and funny puns. His doggy was " paper trained"and could even talk. He showed the doggy a piece of sandpaper and the doggy said, "ruff"!
Young magician, Tyler Overstreet did a "Ring on a Neck chain". Chris Dunn showed some of his clever and well-made homebuilt magic. He had a Frankenstein's Monster version of the Milbourne Christopher's "Forgetful Freddy". Chris also showed how to theme a dye-box in many ways. He then showed us his interesting magic wand.
Dennis Phillips showed a collection of classic "Doodle" Drawings. They make a nice comedy breather in any magic show. He then invited up a spectator and presented his version of Mike Caveney's "Powers of Darkness". This is done with a coat hanger . The audience sees how the trick is being done while the spectator is baffled. The effect is a nice alternative to Slydini's paper balls over the head.
James Songster used a spectator and two decks of cards, a blue backed and a red backed deck. The spectator selected a card and then the free count in both decks matched ,as well as the cards in the count, when the selected card was revealed.
Last up was Dan Stapleton. He had a novel and enjoyable effect where socks are randomly pulled out of a bag by a spectator and hung by clothes pins on a clothes line that is made by two other spectators holding the ends of the rope. Then an odd pair , one at a time, is removed by the spectator's free choice until only one pair is left. That pair is then shown to be the matching socks of the odd pair that Dan was wearing all along! Dan also showed the trophy he was awarded by the IBM for his Best Parade of the Year in the Linking Ring. He also suggested that we put together a Ring Parade. The idea was warmly received.
Join us for our Ring meetings when you are in Orlando. Good things are always happening in Ring #170.
Dennis Phillips
2007-09 Fla. State Convention nearly sold out
Just came back from Daytona and owner Irv Cook showed me the convention registration grid. Only 125 attendees slots left and only 225 public show seats left.
I told him to give me 26 tickets to the public show as some of our guys will want to go but not necessarily attend the whole convention.
The show and convention will definately sell out. I will have the public show tickets with me at the meeting ($25.ea) Show is Kevin James, Johnny Thompson, Me, Harry Allan (MC) and a nice act from Japan Caisaki.
Dan Stapleton
I told him to give me 26 tickets to the public show as some of our guys will want to go but not necessarily attend the whole convention.
The show and convention will definately sell out. I will have the public show tickets with me at the meeting ($25.ea) Show is Kevin James, Johnny Thompson, Me, Harry Allan (MC) and a nice act from Japan Caisaki.
Dan Stapleton
2007-09 BIG AUCTION, THURS. SEPT. 20, 2007
Auction will be on Thurs. Sept. 20, 2007
Door open at 6:00 PM. Sign in and recieve a numbered paddle to use for all bidding.
Place: The Florida Sherrifs Youth Ranch
Just one block east of McMullen Booth Road on Enterprise Road. C learwater, Fl.
ALL MAGICIANS WELCOME. We are auctioning off the magic of Bill Dahlquist. He was an MC and comedy magician. Books on being an MC. Comedy books. Video tapes. Audio tapes. lThere is something for every one. Here is a partial list.
TABLE. 3 FOLD ON WHEELS W/SHELVES
TABLE. Sm. Flash Production
TABLE. 2 fold, Dragon
BALLOON PUMP. Large, T. Meyers floor model
PUPPET, Rabbit in hat
SNAKE BASKET, Large, electronic remote cont. likenew,
works every time.
DUCK, Comedy Card (like Jo Anne)
SOUND SYSTEM, Like new w/carrying bag. wireless.
TEMPLE SCREEN,
FIRE FLY, Like new. wks. like a charm neat
FLODING TOP HAT
FIRE BOWL, To srping flowers
CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE PROD. AMMAR
HIPITY HOP RBBITS, Small
ROCKY RACCOON
FIRE BOOKS (3)
FANTASIO CANES & STEEL CANES
DIE BOX
SILK MONKEY BAR
TABLE TOPS
3RD HAND GIMMICK
COMEDY MILK FUNNEL
LINKING RINGS
AND MUCH MORE FOR THE LIVE AUCTION
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SILENT AUCTION
All silent auction material (smaller stuff) will be in clear plastic bags on the tables with a bid sheet attatched. To bid on a bag just print your number, name and bid price on the sheet in ink. (No pencils)
You will be amazed at the amount of magic items we have bagged.
Proceeds go to Bill's widow, (FRAN DAHLQUIST)
For any questions call WINDY DOUTON (727) 392-1649
E MAIL winsun48 @ij.net
Thank you and please pass the word on to other magicians.
Door open at 6:00 PM. Sign in and recieve a numbered paddle to use for all bidding.
Place: The Florida Sherrifs Youth Ranch
Just one block east of McMullen Booth Road on Enterprise Road. C learwater, Fl.
ALL MAGICIANS WELCOME. We are auctioning off the magic of Bill Dahlquist. He was an MC and comedy magician. Books on being an MC. Comedy books. Video tapes. Audio tapes. lThere is something for every one. Here is a partial list.
TABLE. 3 FOLD ON WHEELS W/SHELVES
TABLE. Sm. Flash Production
TABLE. 2 fold, Dragon
BALLOON PUMP. Large, T. Meyers floor model
PUPPET, Rabbit in hat
SNAKE BASKET, Large, electronic remote cont. likenew,
works every time.
DUCK, Comedy Card (like Jo Anne)
SOUND SYSTEM, Like new w/carrying bag. wireless.
TEMPLE SCREEN,
FIRE FLY, Like new. wks. like a charm neat
FLODING TOP HAT
FIRE BOWL, To srping flowers
CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE PROD. AMMAR
HIPITY HOP RBBITS, Small
ROCKY RACCOON
FIRE BOOKS (3)
FANTASIO CANES & STEEL CANES
DIE BOX
SILK MONKEY BAR
TABLE TOPS
3RD HAND GIMMICK
COMEDY MILK FUNNEL
LINKING RINGS
AND MUCH MORE FOR THE LIVE AUCTION
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SILENT AUCTION
All silent auction material (smaller stuff) will be in clear plastic bags on the tables with a bid sheet attatched. To bid on a bag just print your number, name and bid price on the sheet in ink. (No pencils)
You will be amazed at the amount of magic items we have bagged.
Proceeds go to Bill's widow, (FRAN DAHLQUIST)
For any questions call WINDY DOUTON (727) 392-1649
E MAIL winsun48 @ij.net
Thank you and please pass the word on to other magicians.
2007-09 Dennis' Deliberations
I was talking with Dan Stapleton and he relayed the story of Brett Daniels latest foray into magic. Apparently Daniels produced a magical version of a murder mystery story as a magic stage show and presented it near Milwaukee. There was very little of the old style Brett with his famous mega production illusions. This newer version of Brett had a lot of close-up magic with cameras and projection screens. The last we heard, he was looking for an investor and venue. Who knows? All we can do is wish him good luck. Apparently, audiences at his new show-concept had a tough time figuring out what they were watching and why they should be watching it. Magic and illusions are almost always a bad mix when presented with a complicated or deep plot. I can especially see the problems that Brett would have. I always thought that he came off as a hunk in search of a personality. This is the same problem that , in my opinion, Hans Klok has. Even though co-star Pamela Anderson has two especially fine points in her favor, I doubt that she and the 2 giant industrial fans blowing at Klok's long hair can save the show at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
I believe Mark O'Brien had a problem with audience bewilderment in the 2006 Jacksonville summer production of his "Walking Through Fires" show-play. Mistakenly, the theater put up only the words"Magic Show" on the highway marquee and confused the issue even more in the minds of walk-in traffic. The show was really a play about Mark's two successive warehouse fires in Orlando in which he believes business competitors torched an uninsured half-million dollars worth of his illusions. His mixture of grand and brilliant illusion scenes with complicated dialog and two dimensional characters was a bit too artistic for the Jacksonville crowds.
One of the greatest illusionists of the 20th century,South American based, "Fu-Manchu" (David Bamberg) tried to mix spectacular illusions with a dramatic storyline and plot in a giant stage production in Mexico City . The show opened featured within it a series of dramatic storylines and a half-hour story/illusion segment called , "A Trip to the Moon" with an ingenious and giant magic robot. The show flopped badly and Bamberg went back to his classic illusion presentation never to try such a show again. J. Marberger Stuart, originator of The Dragon Award, was the co-producer of the 1969 Off-Broadway play, "Make Me Disappear", which featured a vanishing elephant. Though it paved the way for Henning's Broadway Magic Show, a few years later, was not profitable.
Magic illusions are fundamentally a "spectacle"...circus-type of awe. A storyline gets in the way. You can't emphasize both. You can do a story with illusions, such as Disney's stage version of "The Beauty and the Beast" or spectacular illusions with a thin theme such as Copperfield's "Escape from Alcatrez" but either the illusions of the story has to be the focus. You can't do a good job with both. This is one of the reasons I am down on many Gospel Illusionists. The Substitution Trunk used as an example of The Sacrificial Atonement is a bit of a stretch and over the head of everyone but a seminary systematic theologian. (I actually saw it done that way once!)
When all is said and done, the audiences leaves all magic illusion shows with the major question, "How'd he do that?"....Sure there are a lot of pretty things and glitz and nice looking assistants but the appeal is mystery and awe. It is possible, and I think desirable, to incorporate an up-lifting segment. Kevin Spencer always concludes his illusion show with the story about how he was almost killed in a truck wreck and struggled back to physical health because he had hope and a vision for a better future (with his conviction of God's help) for himself. Audiences like it and it makes them feel good.
I am going to give you a few suggestions for these "feel good" impressions but first you need to understand that any show, which I define as more than a couple of tricks, needs an emotional energy track. Paul Osborne goes into this in his book on creating an illusion show. English Lit majors in college study Gustav Freytag's "dramatic structure" line. You may have learned this in High School English: The exposition, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the denouement.
How do you move along the timeline with an "opening", "middle" and "conclusion"? How do you keep people interested? Obviously in magic you need to pace the sequence of spectacles and give the audience time to relax and laugh and then pump them up again. Here is where the skill of routining comes into play. One approach is to figure out a scale of one to ten on the excitement a trick creates and then put together a routine starting with say an "7" and then a "5" and "4" and build up to a
"9" and "10". Use a piece of graph paper and draw the timeline and the numerical emotional intensity of each effect. Henning Nelms goes into great details on how to do this in his groundbreaking 1969 classic book, "Magic and Showmanship". It is in paperback from Dover Books and the best 10 bucks you could spend. Nelms also includes many lessons on how to walk, stand and speak. He borrows from the theater arts for skills and tools to make an entertaining magic stage performance and his book is also loaded with many original prop ideas.A great series of eleven articles appeared in Genii magazine . They began in October of 1988. Ray Pierce called the series, "Pansophical Production" and the series is one of the most complete instruction guides on how to put together a magic stage show I have seen.
I have been a theater professor at Valencia Community College for the past 20 years and my suggestions are to attend as many dramatic presentations as you can, comedies, serious contemporary drama and classics. Observe how the author moves you along emotionally. Also read plays. Read them with a metacognitive method.
In others words, have a goal and a purpose and a critically detached intellectual method of analysis of what you are reading. And then, observe ( never copy! )how other successful magicians routine their shows.
Now, let me get to some "feel good" impressions that I use. My conviction is that if I ask someone to watch me or pay to watch me, they deserve to take some spiritual or emotional or intellectual personal progress with them. I am not interested in merely presenting cheap thrills and mindless bubblegum for the eyes. Television can give you all of that stuff. Depending on the venue, I always include a thought provoking effect in my presentation. At the July Ring meeting I did Dan Harlan's "Gloves in colors" effect , with my own patter. It motivates people to understand how a group of people with common interests always have a place for others. I have a similar patter using the colored feather wreaths that I did about 4 years ago when I was the MC at the annual ring banquet
In children's shows I make references to how learning math and science are fun. I also have "Doodle Cards", ( I showed them at the August Ring Show) a series of drawings that promote critical thinking and imagination. My Egyptian Sand trick is an appeal to balance in your life between the body, the intellect and the emotional. (I also did this once at a ring banquet)
In some stage shows I will do the "Strait Jacket" with a presentation on how to get through tough times in your life. I almost always end my large illusion show, for family audiences , with a Patriotic scene producing the Statue of Liberty.
The idea is that when people leave the show they take something emotionally (a change of attitude) with them. Aristotle, in Poetics One, describes the "katharsis" in a drama. It is the "change of attitude" about the meaningful and eternal ideas, you took with you from the presentation. It is accomplished by a purging (katharsis) of the emotions "through pity and fear". Aristotle believed that art involved imitation (mimesis).
A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. (Poetics 1449b.24)
Aristotle distinguished six elements of a drama: Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle and Melody.
I find it amazing that concepts written over 2,000 years ago can still give us great insight into how our magical arts work! Think about these things as you routine and sell yourself to an audience.
Finally, thank you for your many good words about the unusual routine I did with an audience volunteer with a coat hanger through the body.
The routine began as 'Corinda's Powers of Darkness' and the printed instructions were sold by Magic Incorporated (Chicago) for years. But that version used either metal macramé or wooden embroidery hoops.
Mike Caveney is "Mr. Coat Hangers" and is the one that adapted it to a coat hanger that is stretched apart.
The Caveney version of Powers of Darkness is pretty much the 3 basic moves that I used. But, I changed the patter and softened the mood of the routine. Caveney is a great entertainer but , in my opinion, sometimes gets too arrogant and smart with his audience volunteer helpers. I present the effect as a psychological demonstration of what it feels like to be fooled...and promise to make sure they will understand what I secretly did while their eyes were closed. In my show for lay people, I demonstrate it quickly again with the volunteer's eyes open so they can see what I did and that gets an equally big response from the volunteer and the audience. After each explanation to the volunteer I ask the audience to applaud her for being such a good sport. In the interest of time, and having a magician's audience, I did not do that at the ring show. I just want the audience to enjoy watching someone totally bewildered. (Isn't that the Post-Modern appeal of David Blaine and Criss Angel?)
One key to the demonstration is selecting an emotional and emotive volunteer. Rebecca was great.
The trick is home-made. I got the hangers a few years ago from ( I think I said in the routine) Bed, Bath and Beyond my Budget .
You can cut the one hanger with a strong pair of pliers and then you will need to epoxy the twist at the hanging loop end since it will be loose. I use a 5 minute , 2 part epoxy glue, available at Home Depot or Lowes. Then you should hit the glued area with some aluminum spray paint.
One final note: I almost always carry a Leatherman pocket tool ( small pliers) and have on a number of occasions borrowed " a few" coat hangers from the host at a house party using the excuse that I need " to pick a good one" . I then doctored up one and did the routine impromptu! It always is a crowd pleaser!
Dennis Phillips
I believe Mark O'Brien had a problem with audience bewilderment in the 2006 Jacksonville summer production of his "Walking Through Fires" show-play. Mistakenly, the theater put up only the words"Magic Show" on the highway marquee and confused the issue even more in the minds of walk-in traffic. The show was really a play about Mark's two successive warehouse fires in Orlando in which he believes business competitors torched an uninsured half-million dollars worth of his illusions. His mixture of grand and brilliant illusion scenes with complicated dialog and two dimensional characters was a bit too artistic for the Jacksonville crowds.
One of the greatest illusionists of the 20th century,South American based, "Fu-Manchu" (David Bamberg) tried to mix spectacular illusions with a dramatic storyline and plot in a giant stage production in Mexico City . The show opened featured within it a series of dramatic storylines and a half-hour story/illusion segment called , "A Trip to the Moon" with an ingenious and giant magic robot. The show flopped badly and Bamberg went back to his classic illusion presentation never to try such a show again. J. Marberger Stuart, originator of The Dragon Award, was the co-producer of the 1969 Off-Broadway play, "Make Me Disappear", which featured a vanishing elephant. Though it paved the way for Henning's Broadway Magic Show, a few years later, was not profitable.
Magic illusions are fundamentally a "spectacle"...circus-type of awe. A storyline gets in the way. You can't emphasize both. You can do a story with illusions, such as Disney's stage version of "The Beauty and the Beast" or spectacular illusions with a thin theme such as Copperfield's "Escape from Alcatrez" but either the illusions of the story has to be the focus. You can't do a good job with both. This is one of the reasons I am down on many Gospel Illusionists. The Substitution Trunk used as an example of The Sacrificial Atonement is a bit of a stretch and over the head of everyone but a seminary systematic theologian. (I actually saw it done that way once!)
When all is said and done, the audiences leaves all magic illusion shows with the major question, "How'd he do that?"....Sure there are a lot of pretty things and glitz and nice looking assistants but the appeal is mystery and awe. It is possible, and I think desirable, to incorporate an up-lifting segment. Kevin Spencer always concludes his illusion show with the story about how he was almost killed in a truck wreck and struggled back to physical health because he had hope and a vision for a better future (with his conviction of God's help) for himself. Audiences like it and it makes them feel good.
I am going to give you a few suggestions for these "feel good" impressions but first you need to understand that any show, which I define as more than a couple of tricks, needs an emotional energy track. Paul Osborne goes into this in his book on creating an illusion show. English Lit majors in college study Gustav Freytag's "dramatic structure" line. You may have learned this in High School English: The exposition, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the denouement.
How do you move along the timeline with an "opening", "middle" and "conclusion"? How do you keep people interested? Obviously in magic you need to pace the sequence of spectacles and give the audience time to relax and laugh and then pump them up again. Here is where the skill of routining comes into play. One approach is to figure out a scale of one to ten on the excitement a trick creates and then put together a routine starting with say an "7" and then a "5" and "4" and build up to a
"9" and "10". Use a piece of graph paper and draw the timeline and the numerical emotional intensity of each effect. Henning Nelms goes into great details on how to do this in his groundbreaking 1969 classic book, "Magic and Showmanship". It is in paperback from Dover Books and the best 10 bucks you could spend. Nelms also includes many lessons on how to walk, stand and speak. He borrows from the theater arts for skills and tools to make an entertaining magic stage performance and his book is also loaded with many original prop ideas.A great series of eleven articles appeared in Genii magazine . They began in October of 1988. Ray Pierce called the series, "Pansophical Production" and the series is one of the most complete instruction guides on how to put together a magic stage show I have seen.
I have been a theater professor at Valencia Community College for the past 20 years and my suggestions are to attend as many dramatic presentations as you can, comedies, serious contemporary drama and classics. Observe how the author moves you along emotionally. Also read plays. Read them with a metacognitive method.
In others words, have a goal and a purpose and a critically detached intellectual method of analysis of what you are reading. And then, observe ( never copy! )how other successful magicians routine their shows.
Now, let me get to some "feel good" impressions that I use. My conviction is that if I ask someone to watch me or pay to watch me, they deserve to take some spiritual or emotional or intellectual personal progress with them. I am not interested in merely presenting cheap thrills and mindless bubblegum for the eyes. Television can give you all of that stuff. Depending on the venue, I always include a thought provoking effect in my presentation. At the July Ring meeting I did Dan Harlan's "Gloves in colors" effect , with my own patter. It motivates people to understand how a group of people with common interests always have a place for others. I have a similar patter using the colored feather wreaths that I did about 4 years ago when I was the MC at the annual ring banquet
In children's shows I make references to how learning math and science are fun. I also have "Doodle Cards", ( I showed them at the August Ring Show) a series of drawings that promote critical thinking and imagination. My Egyptian Sand trick is an appeal to balance in your life between the body, the intellect and the emotional. (I also did this once at a ring banquet)
In some stage shows I will do the "Strait Jacket" with a presentation on how to get through tough times in your life. I almost always end my large illusion show, for family audiences , with a Patriotic scene producing the Statue of Liberty.
The idea is that when people leave the show they take something emotionally (a change of attitude) with them. Aristotle, in Poetics One, describes the "katharsis" in a drama. It is the "change of attitude" about the meaningful and eternal ideas, you took with you from the presentation. It is accomplished by a purging (katharsis) of the emotions "through pity and fear". Aristotle believed that art involved imitation (mimesis).
A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. (Poetics 1449b.24)
Aristotle distinguished six elements of a drama: Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle and Melody.
I find it amazing that concepts written over 2,000 years ago can still give us great insight into how our magical arts work! Think about these things as you routine and sell yourself to an audience.
Finally, thank you for your many good words about the unusual routine I did with an audience volunteer with a coat hanger through the body.
The routine began as 'Corinda's Powers of Darkness' and the printed instructions were sold by Magic Incorporated (Chicago) for years. But that version used either metal macramé or wooden embroidery hoops.
Mike Caveney is "Mr. Coat Hangers" and is the one that adapted it to a coat hanger that is stretched apart.
The Caveney version of Powers of Darkness is pretty much the 3 basic moves that I used. But, I changed the patter and softened the mood of the routine. Caveney is a great entertainer but , in my opinion, sometimes gets too arrogant and smart with his audience volunteer helpers. I present the effect as a psychological demonstration of what it feels like to be fooled...and promise to make sure they will understand what I secretly did while their eyes were closed. In my show for lay people, I demonstrate it quickly again with the volunteer's eyes open so they can see what I did and that gets an equally big response from the volunteer and the audience. After each explanation to the volunteer I ask the audience to applaud her for being such a good sport. In the interest of time, and having a magician's audience, I did not do that at the ring show. I just want the audience to enjoy watching someone totally bewildered. (Isn't that the Post-Modern appeal of David Blaine and Criss Angel?)
One key to the demonstration is selecting an emotional and emotive volunteer. Rebecca was great.
The trick is home-made. I got the hangers a few years ago from ( I think I said in the routine) Bed, Bath and Beyond my Budget .
You can cut the one hanger with a strong pair of pliers and then you will need to epoxy the twist at the hanging loop end since it will be loose. I use a 5 minute , 2 part epoxy glue, available at Home Depot or Lowes. Then you should hit the glued area with some aluminum spray paint.
One final note: I almost always carry a Leatherman pocket tool ( small pliers) and have on a number of occasions borrowed " a few" coat hangers from the host at a house party using the excuse that I need " to pick a good one" . I then doctored up one and did the routine impromptu! It always is a crowd pleaser!
Dennis Phillips
Thursday, August 09, 2007
2007-08 Famulus newsletter of IBM Ring 170
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 08/15/2007 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: Home made magic
Marks Street Center, 99 Mark Street, downtown Orlando
If you visit with us and do not know the room we meet in , please be aware that some of the people in the office at the Senior Center may not be aware we are meeting there! At the last meeting one visitor asked where the "IBM" was meeting and the management apparently thought they were asking for the International Business Machines group! They said that there was no "IBM" on the schedule. So, if you have never been to our ring meeting , please say "magicians" or "FAME" and if that doesn't get the room location , just walk around looking for us. The Senior Center is a public building.
Lunch meetings every Tuesday at noon at Goodings (next to the food court)
Website: http://www.ring170.com/
F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.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
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it 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.
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 08/15/2007 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: Home made magic
Marks Street Center, 99 Mark Street, downtown Orlando
If you visit with us and do not know the room we meet in , please be aware that some of the people in the office at the Senior Center may not be aware we are meeting there! At the last meeting one visitor asked where the "IBM" was meeting and the management apparently thought they were asking for the International Business Machines group! They said that there was no "IBM" on the schedule. So, if you have never been to our ring meeting , please say "magicians" or "FAME" and if that doesn't get the room location , just walk around looking for us. The Senior Center is a public building.
Lunch meetings every Tuesday at noon at Goodings (next to the food court)
Website: http://www.ring170.com/
F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.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
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it 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.
2007-08 From the Editor
Welcome to the second half of the year, and the countdown to the magic's busiest time of the year. Of course, the waether is still hot, so we are not thinking about the holiday season yet, but the professionals should be, dusting off those mailing lists.
During my recent vacation, we managed to time our road trip to be in New York city for Monday Night Magic. This great show has been going for almost 10 years now. While full blown, daily, evening shows have it very difficult in Orlando, I hope that Dan's new one man show on a weekly basis will be more succesful, like MNM. Maybe he could be an impetus for creating a MNM like weekly show in the Central Florida area.
The other big question, is how much live magic, if any, will be involved at the new Harry Potter theme park that Universal recently announced.
Thanks again to this month's contributors,
and greetings from north of the border
Stefan
During my recent vacation, we managed to time our road trip to be in New York city for Monday Night Magic. This great show has been going for almost 10 years now. While full blown, daily, evening shows have it very difficult in Orlando, I hope that Dan's new one man show on a weekly basis will be more succesful, like MNM. Maybe he could be an impetus for creating a MNM like weekly show in the Central Florida area.
The other big question, is how much live magic, if any, will be involved at the new Harry Potter theme park that Universal recently announced.
Thanks again to this month's contributors,
and greetings from north of the border
Stefan
2007-08 Famulus newsletter of IBM Ring 170
A summer ring meeting with 34 people is very good. Our July meeting had a big crowd and four guests: Miguel Sanchez,Mike Feeney,Andy Stefan and Randall Gomez. There was not a lot of new ring business. Some great lectures are coming up. One big ring story is that Dan Stapleton is now in his own Thursday night dinner show at Mandolins Restaurant in the Radisson Resort-Celebration. He says it is a one-person show with a modern feel using close-up, mentalism and stage effects. Following the brief business meeting James Songster volunteered to be our Emcee for the evening's show.
First on was Charlie Pfrogner with another great low-cost magic miracle from Walgreens! This time it was a small battery operated fan with tiny LEDs in the blades. By the miracle of electronics it revealed a spectator's selected card in its whirling blades. Charlie said it was less than five bucks. The fan is programmable to any card you want to reveal. KP (Kerry Pierce) was up next. He called 6 helpers up and gave then paper bags. Each contained an unknown card. A card was selected from a pack by a spectator and the spectator called out a number. That bag and that bag alone contained the card.This was a creative use of the classic Hot Rod Force.
Mystana (Rebecca Dillion) presented a 20th century effect with ribbons and a black cloth bag. A pink polka dot ribbon appeared between two plain pink ribbons. Steve Hart apparently lit a cigarette and puffed away for a bit and then put it lit into his jacket pocket where it started smoking. Of course, there was no real fire or smoke but the comic possibilities are big. "This jacket has become my blazer!". James Songster showed some new wands he received. He had a spectator select a card and it matched the hand written number on another card in a deck with random numbers written on all of them.
Bev Bergeron came up and he created a lot of fun with a father and a son trying to find the one-out-of-three frogs that will squeak in Bob McAllister's "Three Frog Monte". Sydney McWithy did Bob Carver's classic Professor's Nightmare and then a spectator's selected card jumped back into the deck. Mark Fitzgerald folded two jumbo playing cards in half and interlaced them. Suddenly one folded card flipped over as it was passed through the other one.Then half of it flipped leaving the other half the way it was. Both folded cards were passed out for examination. Dan Stapleton had an original mind reading effect using a Road Atlas and a clever adaptation of Stan Lobernstern's "Precognition" card effect. Dan made a prediction of two cities in the United States. A spectator counted down his own choice of cards that all had different cities hand written on them. He then named a random number and recounted them into two piles. Two cards remained on top . The names of the cities written on the back of the two cards matched Dan's prediction!
Finally, Dennis Phillips had three spectators randomly write three different three place numbers and another spectator added the numbers and they matched a prediction that had been hanging in the front of the audience. He used his own improved version of The Think Pad. Finally, he did a variation of a Dan Harlan effect using ten spectators and ten pairs of miss-matched colored gloves. Mysteriously when the spectators put on the gloves, the final pair matched the final spectator who waited to see which pair of gloves would remain. Phillips used the gloves as a metaphor for teamwork and finding that there is a place for all in a group that has a common goal.
With the show concluded we wrapped up another fun meeting. Join us every month for our always great ring meetings. Good things are happening in Ring 170.
Dennis Phillips
First on was Charlie Pfrogner with another great low-cost magic miracle from Walgreens! This time it was a small battery operated fan with tiny LEDs in the blades. By the miracle of electronics it revealed a spectator's selected card in its whirling blades. Charlie said it was less than five bucks. The fan is programmable to any card you want to reveal. KP (Kerry Pierce) was up next. He called 6 helpers up and gave then paper bags. Each contained an unknown card. A card was selected from a pack by a spectator and the spectator called out a number. That bag and that bag alone contained the card.This was a creative use of the classic Hot Rod Force.
Mystana (Rebecca Dillion) presented a 20th century effect with ribbons and a black cloth bag. A pink polka dot ribbon appeared between two plain pink ribbons. Steve Hart apparently lit a cigarette and puffed away for a bit and then put it lit into his jacket pocket where it started smoking. Of course, there was no real fire or smoke but the comic possibilities are big. "This jacket has become my blazer!". James Songster showed some new wands he received. He had a spectator select a card and it matched the hand written number on another card in a deck with random numbers written on all of them.
Bev Bergeron came up and he created a lot of fun with a father and a son trying to find the one-out-of-three frogs that will squeak in Bob McAllister's "Three Frog Monte". Sydney McWithy did Bob Carver's classic Professor's Nightmare and then a spectator's selected card jumped back into the deck. Mark Fitzgerald folded two jumbo playing cards in half and interlaced them. Suddenly one folded card flipped over as it was passed through the other one.Then half of it flipped leaving the other half the way it was. Both folded cards were passed out for examination. Dan Stapleton had an original mind reading effect using a Road Atlas and a clever adaptation of Stan Lobernstern's "Precognition" card effect. Dan made a prediction of two cities in the United States. A spectator counted down his own choice of cards that all had different cities hand written on them. He then named a random number and recounted them into two piles. Two cards remained on top . The names of the cities written on the back of the two cards matched Dan's prediction!
Finally, Dennis Phillips had three spectators randomly write three different three place numbers and another spectator added the numbers and they matched a prediction that had been hanging in the front of the audience. He used his own improved version of The Think Pad. Finally, he did a variation of a Dan Harlan effect using ten spectators and ten pairs of miss-matched colored gloves. Mysteriously when the spectators put on the gloves, the final pair matched the final spectator who waited to see which pair of gloves would remain. Phillips used the gloves as a metaphor for teamwork and finding that there is a place for all in a group that has a common goal.
With the show concluded we wrapped up another fun meeting. Join us every month for our always great ring meetings. Good things are happening in Ring 170.
Dennis Phillips
2007-08 Dan Stapleton Dinner Show Aug. 23rd
Dinner begins at 6:30-7pm with show beginning at 8:15pm. Mark Fitzgerald will stroll with close-up and mandolin music provided by German Collazos.
Dan's One-Man-Show is 75 min. in length and promises a few items never seen before.
Only 50 seats available. Mention you are part of the magic club and cost is only $24.95 for adults and kids 12 & under are only $12.95 (Aug. 23 only). Show/hotel is located at Radisson Resort in Mandolins Restaurant, across from Celebration I-4 & Hwy 192 (next to Arabian Nights).
Call (407) 396-7000 Ext. 4444
Dan's One-Man-Show is 75 min. in length and promises a few items never seen before.
Only 50 seats available. Mention you are part of the magic club and cost is only $24.95 for adults and kids 12 & under are only $12.95 (Aug. 23 only). Show/hotel is located at Radisson Resort in Mandolins Restaurant, across from Celebration I-4 & Hwy 192 (next to Arabian Nights).
Call (407) 396-7000 Ext. 4444
2007-08 Dennis' Deliberations
I got a big laugh out of Mark Fitzgerald's line, while doing his card trick at the June Ring meeting. I don't remember his specific words but here is a paraphrase: "This is what is known as the Dribble Shuffle". (He dibbled the cards from his elevated right hand down to his left hand) It is not one of my favorite shuffles. I am an old guy. Anything that reminds me of a dribble is painful! " He then crossed his legs and winced in the face and lowered his knees a bit. It was a funny line! Thanks Mark, and the rest of these lines are for you as a payback...
I do a set number of comedy shuffles myself. I dribble the cards from upper hand to lower, where they plop in large clumps vertically down to my lower hand, and use this patter: "The Cow Pasture Shuffle. .... You had to be there!" (Never fails to get a laugh)
Then I do: The Russian Shuffle (spring cards hand to hand): "One card rushing' after another! " Wiggle deck in a wide arc horizontally in front of an audience member's eyes: "The Pasteurize Shuffle" [Past Your Eyes. Important to immediately follow this pun with a sweep of your hand over your head: BANG! That triggers the recognition of a bad pun.] The Ali Shuffle [Fake a quick boxing scissors move with your legs.] One more: The Politician's Shuffle [toss deck from hand to hand] "You do it. No, YOU do it! No, YOU do it!" The recognition factor: Everyone knows politicians are always 'passing the buck'.
Silly... but we're there to entertain, right? Thanks to Calgary Canada's Larry Thornton for many of those lines.
-ad astra per aspera-
I try to cover all types of magic related topics here and nothing is so dear to my heart as the subject of people struggling to be a full-time professional stage magician. Many amateurs have that daydream (or is it a pipe dream?) lodged in the deep dark corners of their mind and the obsession plays over and over again. The plot of the dream is that they are a successful full time stage magician making a real and good living as an entertainer. First... recall the old joke: "How do you make a million dollars as a magician? Start with 5 million!"
Thus has arisen all the seminars, books, packets, tapes, motivational programs, by other "successful magicians", to convince you that you can be a successful full time magician, getting all your expensive health insurance and living costs covered by your fees with enough left over for your own white Corvette and your own private 727 jet, like Tony Blake ("Bill Bixby") in the 70's TV series "The Magician". Okay, lets just say you can pay you bills with a little extra pocket change left over.
After comparing notes with my Canadian friend and full time magician, Larry Thornton, I want to focus on the people that sell these programs that promise that you can be a full-time "pro" with almost no effort if you buy their expensive secrets. As our economy weakens, these ads have started appearing again in the magic trade magazines. In my opinion they are , at their best, mostly purveyors of copious amounts of bovine scatology and at their worst , the makings of severe mental breakdowns in aspiring full time pros.
Before I get into my points, let me separate the "good guys" like Steve Hart, Barry Richardson, Giovanni and many others that will never lead you down a path of emotional devastation. These good guys are focused on effective communication, realistic goals and constructive personal effort and using clever tested ideas on the part of their clients to accomplish success. This is good and valuable advice. None of these friends of mine promise that for $500 they can make you into another David Copperfield. We all need a kick in the fanny now and then to keep us on track. I am in print supporting this issue . You will find my name and contribution to "success in magic" in Volume Three of Frances Ireland Marshall's classic "Success Books". The four volume series belongs in your library.
With that said, let me tell you from the outset that I detest most other "Motivational Speakers" and "Sellers of Success" (again, not all of them but the vast majority of them).This goes for not only the magic vultures and bottom-feeding magic blood sucking leeches but also the secular gurus and multi-level marketing wizards as well as the "Success Theology", mega-church religious preachers.
Their over- the- top optimism is laden with a guilt trip that if you aren't as successful as they are ,or all their successful examples, then you are a worthless piece of human refuse and deserve to be poor and unfulfilled. Built into their pitch is the dogma that everyone can be a multi-millionaire and the reason that you are not successful is because you are simply "Lazy,Stupid or have a Mental Problem"...To me their whole pitch in trying to convince you to buy their outrageously high-priced program, using guilt and shame, makes them lower than whale feces in my eyes. Somehow, America's "Puritan-Calvinistic work ethic" has made us all ripe for that line of thinking. Look, NEVER invite me to an Amway rally...or any of those "think, believe and grow rich" meetings. I may go berserk.
There is a bizarre misconception in many of these gurus of "success" that runs something like this: If "I" can make it, and if "he" can make it, then YOU can make it too! In fact, ANYONE should be able to make it!! ...So after hustling the general public with boiler-room techniques to sell tickets to his fund-raising illusion shows, one American West Coast illusion guru ended up selling his "master program" for "making it" -- to magicians and assorted other suckers for $150 each. I think this was disingenuous, since this illusionist couldn't package and sell his PERSONALITY FOR HUSTLING along with it. THAT was the key to making his promotional system work. But I still like the guy... and his magic.
I have a private pet economic theory I call The Law of Diminishing Returns. FOR EXAMPLE: Within in any small city, of say, half a million people, the number of family, corporate, community, and birthday parties is limited and rarely rises yearly, over the long haul. Now if there are, say, ten magicians working this half million potential client base, and if they are all charging similar rates and they all advertise in their city's Yellow Pages phone directory, they'll all get about the same number of gigs yearly. Providing, of course, that they have a similar size ad, and can follow-up with a decent telephone delivery to those who answer the ad.
The variations occur only with the degree to which some of these ten performers are willing to work at putting in the ADDITIONAL HUSTLE: Making cold calls, re-working past clients (doing follow-ups), sending out regular and frequent mailings, and so on. But what happens here, is that the Hustlers (willing to work harder and smarter) will bring in the extra work mainly at the expense of the competition: the set number of available shows will not grow in total, but will only be re-distributed among the ten available magicians.
Understand that I am not operating from the Supply-side Economic theory, so popular today in America. It is wildly optimistic and asserts that by merely tinkering with taxation, marketing and political and socially psychological optimism, everyone who lusts after wealth will get it. You know: "Morning in America!", "Things are going to keep growing and getting better". This over-bloated optimism and belief in unlimited markets and everlasting growth is believed like a dogmatic cult religion. It is Economics with Eschatology. I prefer a quote by Albert Camus, "The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm." Every Boom carries within it the seeds of its own Depression. (As I write this the Dow is pushing through 14,000 and I have a nosebleed and need a dose of Acetazolamide)
Perhaps my psychological mindset is a bit different due to my education as an engineer. In engineering class we often said, "An optimist sees the glass half-full, the pessimist sees the same glass half-empty, engineers will tell you that the glass is twice the size it needs to be!"
Okay, you people that have grad work in Economics, I concede that my Law of Diminishing Returns as it stands to this point, is over-simplified. I realize that I am infusing my conviction that uncontrolled competitive Capitalism always degenerates into Economic Darwinism. The losers suffer and go extinct. Their pain and loss is then spread to the rest of society. In the end we all pay for dog-eat-dog competition. There is an irrevocable Law of Thermodynamics and Economics that you can not get something from nothing. Thus, show business is always hard work and lots of sheer luck.
The name of the game for the aggressive aspiring magician is to 'muscle out' and annihilate the other advertisers by figuring out some way to make your ad more attractive to the entertainment searcher. And to figure out ways to ingratiate the telephone caller with a superior pitch, even though your prices may not be much out of line (high balled or low balled) against that of the competition. What can you offer that the competition doesn't offer? You must also learn to "play to the client": If the caller is a loose, jolly type person, you may turn him or her off by staying too stiffly business-like. After all, if you're in the business of selling FUN, shouldn't you be reasonably 'fun' while trying to make the sale? Time and again I've heard the line, "Well yeah, I called others, but I didn't like their attitude." OR: "They weren't flexible with their prices." This is basic salesmanship.
Another strong point in favor of making sales is to ALWAYS BE AT YOUR PHONE. Now that isn't always possible, but many entertainers now connect their cell phones to their home phones so that they rarely miss a call. They know that ten minutes can make the difference between getting the gig or losing it. People are odd: Most of them will book the first person they like -- and not hold out for the BEST person to like! Many will go so far as to leave their message on several phones -- and yet book the first person they like who gets back to them, without giving others a chance to get back to them too. Larry says, 'From personal experience before having my cell phone, I've gone out of the house for only a couple of hours, come back, and found a phone message, but when I called the inquirer, they said, "Sorry, I've already found someone." --And sometimes this is the corporate gig that pays the bigger bucks! It is even possible to lose a gig because you have your cell phone on vibrate DURING a magic show!
Another complication within my theory of The Law of Diminishing Returns is that the entertainment available in any city for family events, communities, corporations, promotions (and on and on) is NOT limited to magicians. This is a no brainer. We are also competing with traveling petting zoos, clowns, puppeteers, storytellers, jugglers, Chuck E. Cheese, DVDs, You Tube and other assorted novelty acts and amusement methods. Here in Orlando we compete with the mega and mini-attractions. All of this entertainment actually reinforces my theory of the Law of Diminishing Returns. In other words, the competition is fierce. Thus usually very few entertainers are able to make anything resembling a "good living" out of entertaining in just one area, especially the Orlando area.
The only way out of this morass is to BROADEN YOUR TERRITORY OR YOUR PRODUCT LINE. But by working a larger territory, you run into greater expenses: more traveling; eating on the road; staying in hotels and motels; more advertising (in outlying districts: nearby towns and cities). This in itself leads to still more Diminishing Returns, because you then find yourself spending more money competing with even more entertainers. And you make a lot of additional sacrifices by having to be away from 'home base' a lot of the time. A broadened product line might include: puppets, juggling, walk-around magic, motivational speaking and....yes, selling your 'secrets of success' or conducting seminars on "how to make it"...!
Finally, when you are fiercely competitive and have grown to as big as you can be, you become a Wal-Mart, a Microsoft and a David Copperfield . There are no more worlds to conquer. You have it all. You never learned to live without aggressive growth, or don't have a solid foundation, so you shrivel up and fade away. When this happened to competitive warrior, Alexander the Great, who had conquered the whole known world, he sat down and cried and died. George Patten, whose whole life was competitive and aggressive, smashed the Nazi War Machine. Patton wanted to turn on Stalin and defeat the Soviet Union but President Harry Truman said, "No". and since General Patton had no more wars he was allowed to fight, he shriveled up in a minor occupation command and later died a meaningless death in an overturned jeep.
Understand that the disease of cancer is nothing more than a genetic screw-up creating a disease of uncontrolled aggressive growth . It keeps growing until it kills the organism that supplied it with its materials. Cancer is all "growth" and no defense and that is why chemotherapy can be successful. Chemo attacks ALL the cells and the cancer is so oriented toward growth that it has no defense like the healthy cells have. The cancer cells are killed off like overgrown brush in a controlled burn in a forest. Chemo is horrible but it does often somewhat work . Oncology can teach us a truth about economic life.
Here is the bottom line:
Do magic dealers, who in the process of pumping you up and selling you the next trick that, will make your career, tell you any of this? Do conventions tell you any of this? Do magic clubs or other 'seasoned' pros? Is there a school for entertainers that lay all of this out for you? For most small-time entertainers, there is no chance. Young people longing to get into our racket eventually learn some of these lessons from the school of hard knocks... if they learn any of it at all. --I had to add that last bit ("if they learn any of it at all") because I've found that, when it comes to business, so many wanna-be full time magicians are essentially... brain dead. You'd think that after ten, fifteen, perhaps twenty-five years, they'd ALL catch onto the right way to do things, and over time, become progressively better at selling their talents, as well as developing their talents. It should, in theory, be easy to learn from experience what works... and what is clearly counter-productive.
But you know that many of your compatriots don't learn from experience. They're what I call "Flat-Liners", always making the same mistakes, and always staying at their own level of incompetence when it comes to putting on a good show and selling that show. And if they aren't going to learn these rather simple lessons on their own -- as long as the professionals are still competing with them and in the game of Economic Darwinism, they sure aren't going to learn them from anyone who really knows.
And then there are some of us that know the amount of effort, hard work and sacrifices needed to even get a shot at making a satisfactory living as a full time performer and we don't want to pay the high psychological and relationship costs (marriages, families,health,mental stability). Some us want to sleep at night, knowing that we don't have to awake early every morning and claw our way past the other dead bodies in the show business arena. Some of don't want to face old age with nothing in the bank and no assets and our only friend is Jack Daniels because we risked it all in show business and lost.
Just because we make the choice not to be a part of the gladiator sport of show business does not mean we are " lazy and stupid ". Just because we lack an over-bloated ego and unrealistic appraisal of ourselves does not make us failures.
I hope that none of you get drugged on the elixir of success in full time show business. Give it a shot if you want but don't rest your whole emotional and personal existence on it. Mostly, I hope you don't waste your hard-earned money on anyone selling that phony elixir.
Dennis
I do a set number of comedy shuffles myself. I dribble the cards from upper hand to lower, where they plop in large clumps vertically down to my lower hand, and use this patter: "The Cow Pasture Shuffle. .... You had to be there!" (Never fails to get a laugh)
Then I do: The Russian Shuffle (spring cards hand to hand): "One card rushing' after another! " Wiggle deck in a wide arc horizontally in front of an audience member's eyes: "The Pasteurize Shuffle" [Past Your Eyes. Important to immediately follow this pun with a sweep of your hand over your head: BANG! That triggers the recognition of a bad pun.] The Ali Shuffle [Fake a quick boxing scissors move with your legs.] One more: The Politician's Shuffle [toss deck from hand to hand] "You do it. No, YOU do it! No, YOU do it!" The recognition factor: Everyone knows politicians are always 'passing the buck'.
Silly... but we're there to entertain, right? Thanks to Calgary Canada's Larry Thornton for many of those lines.
-ad astra per aspera-
I try to cover all types of magic related topics here and nothing is so dear to my heart as the subject of people struggling to be a full-time professional stage magician. Many amateurs have that daydream (or is it a pipe dream?) lodged in the deep dark corners of their mind and the obsession plays over and over again. The plot of the dream is that they are a successful full time stage magician making a real and good living as an entertainer. First... recall the old joke: "How do you make a million dollars as a magician? Start with 5 million!"
Thus has arisen all the seminars, books, packets, tapes, motivational programs, by other "successful magicians", to convince you that you can be a successful full time magician, getting all your expensive health insurance and living costs covered by your fees with enough left over for your own white Corvette and your own private 727 jet, like Tony Blake ("Bill Bixby") in the 70's TV series "The Magician". Okay, lets just say you can pay you bills with a little extra pocket change left over.
After comparing notes with my Canadian friend and full time magician, Larry Thornton, I want to focus on the people that sell these programs that promise that you can be a full-time "pro" with almost no effort if you buy their expensive secrets. As our economy weakens, these ads have started appearing again in the magic trade magazines. In my opinion they are , at their best, mostly purveyors of copious amounts of bovine scatology and at their worst , the makings of severe mental breakdowns in aspiring full time pros.
Before I get into my points, let me separate the "good guys" like Steve Hart, Barry Richardson, Giovanni and many others that will never lead you down a path of emotional devastation. These good guys are focused on effective communication, realistic goals and constructive personal effort and using clever tested ideas on the part of their clients to accomplish success. This is good and valuable advice. None of these friends of mine promise that for $500 they can make you into another David Copperfield. We all need a kick in the fanny now and then to keep us on track. I am in print supporting this issue . You will find my name and contribution to "success in magic" in Volume Three of Frances Ireland Marshall's classic "Success Books". The four volume series belongs in your library.
With that said, let me tell you from the outset that I detest most other "Motivational Speakers" and "Sellers of Success" (again, not all of them but the vast majority of them).This goes for not only the magic vultures and bottom-feeding magic blood sucking leeches but also the secular gurus and multi-level marketing wizards as well as the "Success Theology", mega-church religious preachers.
Their over- the- top optimism is laden with a guilt trip that if you aren't as successful as they are ,or all their successful examples, then you are a worthless piece of human refuse and deserve to be poor and unfulfilled. Built into their pitch is the dogma that everyone can be a multi-millionaire and the reason that you are not successful is because you are simply "Lazy,Stupid or have a Mental Problem"...To me their whole pitch in trying to convince you to buy their outrageously high-priced program, using guilt and shame, makes them lower than whale feces in my eyes. Somehow, America's "Puritan-Calvinistic work ethic" has made us all ripe for that line of thinking. Look, NEVER invite me to an Amway rally...or any of those "think, believe and grow rich" meetings. I may go berserk.
There is a bizarre misconception in many of these gurus of "success" that runs something like this: If "I" can make it, and if "he" can make it, then YOU can make it too! In fact, ANYONE should be able to make it!! ...So after hustling the general public with boiler-room techniques to sell tickets to his fund-raising illusion shows, one American West Coast illusion guru ended up selling his "master program" for "making it" -- to magicians and assorted other suckers for $150 each. I think this was disingenuous, since this illusionist couldn't package and sell his PERSONALITY FOR HUSTLING along with it. THAT was the key to making his promotional system work. But I still like the guy... and his magic.
I have a private pet economic theory I call The Law of Diminishing Returns. FOR EXAMPLE: Within in any small city, of say, half a million people, the number of family, corporate, community, and birthday parties is limited and rarely rises yearly, over the long haul. Now if there are, say, ten magicians working this half million potential client base, and if they are all charging similar rates and they all advertise in their city's Yellow Pages phone directory, they'll all get about the same number of gigs yearly. Providing, of course, that they have a similar size ad, and can follow-up with a decent telephone delivery to those who answer the ad.
The variations occur only with the degree to which some of these ten performers are willing to work at putting in the ADDITIONAL HUSTLE: Making cold calls, re-working past clients (doing follow-ups), sending out regular and frequent mailings, and so on. But what happens here, is that the Hustlers (willing to work harder and smarter) will bring in the extra work mainly at the expense of the competition: the set number of available shows will not grow in total, but will only be re-distributed among the ten available magicians.
Understand that I am not operating from the Supply-side Economic theory, so popular today in America. It is wildly optimistic and asserts that by merely tinkering with taxation, marketing and political and socially psychological optimism, everyone who lusts after wealth will get it. You know: "Morning in America!", "Things are going to keep growing and getting better". This over-bloated optimism and belief in unlimited markets and everlasting growth is believed like a dogmatic cult religion. It is Economics with Eschatology. I prefer a quote by Albert Camus, "The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm." Every Boom carries within it the seeds of its own Depression. (As I write this the Dow is pushing through 14,000 and I have a nosebleed and need a dose of Acetazolamide)
Perhaps my psychological mindset is a bit different due to my education as an engineer. In engineering class we often said, "An optimist sees the glass half-full, the pessimist sees the same glass half-empty, engineers will tell you that the glass is twice the size it needs to be!"
Okay, you people that have grad work in Economics, I concede that my Law of Diminishing Returns as it stands to this point, is over-simplified. I realize that I am infusing my conviction that uncontrolled competitive Capitalism always degenerates into Economic Darwinism. The losers suffer and go extinct. Their pain and loss is then spread to the rest of society. In the end we all pay for dog-eat-dog competition. There is an irrevocable Law of Thermodynamics and Economics that you can not get something from nothing. Thus, show business is always hard work and lots of sheer luck.
The name of the game for the aggressive aspiring magician is to 'muscle out' and annihilate the other advertisers by figuring out some way to make your ad more attractive to the entertainment searcher. And to figure out ways to ingratiate the telephone caller with a superior pitch, even though your prices may not be much out of line (high balled or low balled) against that of the competition. What can you offer that the competition doesn't offer? You must also learn to "play to the client": If the caller is a loose, jolly type person, you may turn him or her off by staying too stiffly business-like. After all, if you're in the business of selling FUN, shouldn't you be reasonably 'fun' while trying to make the sale? Time and again I've heard the line, "Well yeah, I called others, but I didn't like their attitude." OR: "They weren't flexible with their prices." This is basic salesmanship.
Another strong point in favor of making sales is to ALWAYS BE AT YOUR PHONE. Now that isn't always possible, but many entertainers now connect their cell phones to their home phones so that they rarely miss a call. They know that ten minutes can make the difference between getting the gig or losing it. People are odd: Most of them will book the first person they like -- and not hold out for the BEST person to like! Many will go so far as to leave their message on several phones -- and yet book the first person they like who gets back to them, without giving others a chance to get back to them too. Larry says, 'From personal experience before having my cell phone, I've gone out of the house for only a couple of hours, come back, and found a phone message, but when I called the inquirer, they said, "Sorry, I've already found someone." --And sometimes this is the corporate gig that pays the bigger bucks! It is even possible to lose a gig because you have your cell phone on vibrate DURING a magic show!
Another complication within my theory of The Law of Diminishing Returns is that the entertainment available in any city for family events, communities, corporations, promotions (and on and on) is NOT limited to magicians. This is a no brainer. We are also competing with traveling petting zoos, clowns, puppeteers, storytellers, jugglers, Chuck E. Cheese, DVDs, You Tube and other assorted novelty acts and amusement methods. Here in Orlando we compete with the mega and mini-attractions. All of this entertainment actually reinforces my theory of the Law of Diminishing Returns. In other words, the competition is fierce. Thus usually very few entertainers are able to make anything resembling a "good living" out of entertaining in just one area, especially the Orlando area.
The only way out of this morass is to BROADEN YOUR TERRITORY OR YOUR PRODUCT LINE. But by working a larger territory, you run into greater expenses: more traveling; eating on the road; staying in hotels and motels; more advertising (in outlying districts: nearby towns and cities). This in itself leads to still more Diminishing Returns, because you then find yourself spending more money competing with even more entertainers. And you make a lot of additional sacrifices by having to be away from 'home base' a lot of the time. A broadened product line might include: puppets, juggling, walk-around magic, motivational speaking and....yes, selling your 'secrets of success' or conducting seminars on "how to make it"...!
Finally, when you are fiercely competitive and have grown to as big as you can be, you become a Wal-Mart, a Microsoft and a David Copperfield . There are no more worlds to conquer. You have it all. You never learned to live without aggressive growth, or don't have a solid foundation, so you shrivel up and fade away. When this happened to competitive warrior, Alexander the Great, who had conquered the whole known world, he sat down and cried and died. George Patten, whose whole life was competitive and aggressive, smashed the Nazi War Machine. Patton wanted to turn on Stalin and defeat the Soviet Union but President Harry Truman said, "No". and since General Patton had no more wars he was allowed to fight, he shriveled up in a minor occupation command and later died a meaningless death in an overturned jeep.
Understand that the disease of cancer is nothing more than a genetic screw-up creating a disease of uncontrolled aggressive growth . It keeps growing until it kills the organism that supplied it with its materials. Cancer is all "growth" and no defense and that is why chemotherapy can be successful. Chemo attacks ALL the cells and the cancer is so oriented toward growth that it has no defense like the healthy cells have. The cancer cells are killed off like overgrown brush in a controlled burn in a forest. Chemo is horrible but it does often somewhat work . Oncology can teach us a truth about economic life.
Here is the bottom line:
Do magic dealers, who in the process of pumping you up and selling you the next trick that, will make your career, tell you any of this? Do conventions tell you any of this? Do magic clubs or other 'seasoned' pros? Is there a school for entertainers that lay all of this out for you? For most small-time entertainers, there is no chance. Young people longing to get into our racket eventually learn some of these lessons from the school of hard knocks... if they learn any of it at all. --I had to add that last bit ("if they learn any of it at all") because I've found that, when it comes to business, so many wanna-be full time magicians are essentially... brain dead. You'd think that after ten, fifteen, perhaps twenty-five years, they'd ALL catch onto the right way to do things, and over time, become progressively better at selling their talents, as well as developing their talents. It should, in theory, be easy to learn from experience what works... and what is clearly counter-productive.
But you know that many of your compatriots don't learn from experience. They're what I call "Flat-Liners", always making the same mistakes, and always staying at their own level of incompetence when it comes to putting on a good show and selling that show. And if they aren't going to learn these rather simple lessons on their own -- as long as the professionals are still competing with them and in the game of Economic Darwinism, they sure aren't going to learn them from anyone who really knows.
And then there are some of us that know the amount of effort, hard work and sacrifices needed to even get a shot at making a satisfactory living as a full time performer and we don't want to pay the high psychological and relationship costs (marriages, families,health,mental stability). Some us want to sleep at night, knowing that we don't have to awake early every morning and claw our way past the other dead bodies in the show business arena. Some of don't want to face old age with nothing in the bank and no assets and our only friend is Jack Daniels because we risked it all in show business and lost.
Just because we make the choice not to be a part of the gladiator sport of show business does not mean we are " lazy and stupid ". Just because we lack an over-bloated ego and unrealistic appraisal of ourselves does not make us failures.
I hope that none of you get drugged on the elixir of success in full time show business. Give it a shot if you want but don't rest your whole emotional and personal existence on it. Mostly, I hope you don't waste your hard-earned money on anyone selling that phony elixir.
Dennis
Thursday, July 05, 2007
2007-07 Famulus newsletter of IBM Ring 170
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 07/18/2007 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: Summer Magic (turn up the heat!)
Marks Street Center, 99 Mark Street, downtown Orlando
If you visit with us and do not know the room we meet in , please be aware that some of the people in the office at the Senior Center may not be aware we are meeting there! At the last meeting one visitor asked where the "IBM" was meeting and the management apparently thought they were asking for the International Business Machines group! They said that there was no "IBM" on the schedule. So, if you have never been to our ring meeting , please say "magicians" or "FAME" and if that doesn't get the room location , just walk around looking for us. The Senior Center is a public building.
Lunch meetings every Tuesday at noon at Goodings (next to the food court)
Website: http://www.ring170.com/
F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.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
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it 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.
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 07/18/2007 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Board meeting at 6:30 pm
Meeting theme: Summer Magic (turn up the heat!)
Marks Street Center, 99 Mark Street, downtown Orlando
If you visit with us and do not know the room we meet in , please be aware that some of the people in the office at the Senior Center may not be aware we are meeting there! At the last meeting one visitor asked where the "IBM" was meeting and the management apparently thought they were asking for the International Business Machines group! They said that there was no "IBM" on the schedule. So, if you have never been to our ring meeting , please say "magicians" or "FAME" and if that doesn't get the room location , just walk around looking for us. The Senior Center is a public building.
Lunch meetings every Tuesday at noon at Goodings (next to the food court)
Website: http://www.ring170.com/
F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.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
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it 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.
2007-07 From the Editor
Summer is the club's quiet period, and it tends to show in the newsletter. But my thanks to those that did contribute, Dan, George and of course Dennis (with some help from Art). Unfortunately, this month I had another opportunity to meet with some of the clubmembers, the unfortunate part was because it was yet another Broken Wand ceremony.
I wish everybody a fun summer, those that are lucky enough to be going on vacation (including your scribe), enjoy and be safe.
Stefan
I wish everybody a fun summer, those that are lucky enough to be going on vacation (including your scribe), enjoy and be safe.
Stefan
2007-07 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring
There is good news, sad news and fun news to report from the June meeting. Twenty-eight magic lovers were present as the business meeting called to order by president Craig Fennessey. We welcomed new member Mike Martin. The sad news was that Lee Barnard, a long time fixture in the Orlando magician's scene died one month after his tribute get-together. Many magicians attended his funeral and Bev Bergeron did the Broken Wand ceremony. Some good news was that former member and now California resident, Jon Armstrong, won the Close-up magician of the year at The Magic Castle. Member Jorge Iglasias won the competition at the Magic On the Beach Convention in Miami.
Some fun news is that Tom and Donna Salvador and moving their magic shop inside Pizzazz Theatrical, a magic, costume and makeup store on the East side of Orlando.
Mark Fitzgerald showed a new fancy magic wand he bought and then advised us on a new product available at office supply stores that turns a home computer and color printer into a poster making machine.
Finally Joe Vecciarelli brought in some printed materials from Las Vegas and informed us about the new Criss Angel show opening in a Cirque Show at the Luxor.
With business meeting over, we began our monthly show. This month Tom Salvador was the emcee. First up was KP and Professor Knox (Cory). The professor did a fine job of juggling glowing balls and when the lights were turned low, he brought down the house. KP did "Dots Impossible", where blue dots and red dots on cards change places. Finally he did a unique exchange of a red ribbon and a blue ribbon while held around a volunteers closed arm. Charlie Pfrogner revived an old classic, The Grandma's Necklace in its original form with cord and large beads.
Chris Dunn passed out a paper to all present with nine animal characters on it and invited the audience to start eliminating characters by making specific moves of their choice. We all ended up on the American Eagle since it is going to soon be the 4th of July. Max Maven has done this type of effect on television many times and it was nice to see Chris theme it for the holiday. Kostya Kimlat, resident card wiz, did a cute card story about four kings on a desert island who wanted to get home. No, Sam the Bellhop did not rescue them. James Songster and Joe Vecciarelli presented a portion of their library show with a pirate theme. They had a square circle and a treasure map and lots of humor. They and a spectator finally made it to the correct island and found the treasure.
Ravelli had a red,green and blue colored rope routine. They traveled and they ended up mysteriously tied. Dan Stapleton capped off the show with The Patriotic Ropes.
If you get to Orlando, please join us for a Ring meeting. Good things are always happening in Ring 170.
Art Thomas and Dennis Phillips
Some fun news is that Tom and Donna Salvador and moving their magic shop inside Pizzazz Theatrical, a magic, costume and makeup store on the East side of Orlando.
Mark Fitzgerald showed a new fancy magic wand he bought and then advised us on a new product available at office supply stores that turns a home computer and color printer into a poster making machine.
Finally Joe Vecciarelli brought in some printed materials from Las Vegas and informed us about the new Criss Angel show opening in a Cirque Show at the Luxor.
With business meeting over, we began our monthly show. This month Tom Salvador was the emcee. First up was KP and Professor Knox (Cory). The professor did a fine job of juggling glowing balls and when the lights were turned low, he brought down the house. KP did "Dots Impossible", where blue dots and red dots on cards change places. Finally he did a unique exchange of a red ribbon and a blue ribbon while held around a volunteers closed arm. Charlie Pfrogner revived an old classic, The Grandma's Necklace in its original form with cord and large beads.
Chris Dunn passed out a paper to all present with nine animal characters on it and invited the audience to start eliminating characters by making specific moves of their choice. We all ended up on the American Eagle since it is going to soon be the 4th of July. Max Maven has done this type of effect on television many times and it was nice to see Chris theme it for the holiday. Kostya Kimlat, resident card wiz, did a cute card story about four kings on a desert island who wanted to get home. No, Sam the Bellhop did not rescue them. James Songster and Joe Vecciarelli presented a portion of their library show with a pirate theme. They had a square circle and a treasure map and lots of humor. They and a spectator finally made it to the correct island and found the treasure.
Ravelli had a red,green and blue colored rope routine. They traveled and they ended up mysteriously tied. Dan Stapleton capped off the show with The Patriotic Ropes.
If you get to Orlando, please join us for a Ring meeting. Good things are always happening in Ring 170.
Art Thomas and Dennis Phillips
2007-07 Criss Angel Editorial
To: mumeditor@sesamemag.com
Subject: Criss Angel editorial
John-Before reading your comments from your July editorial, concerning Criss Angel's "Luxor levitation", I was wondering...is it just me? Mr. Angel is quickly taking a "live-on-stage" profession into the realm of "wrestlers animation". Yes, we all know that those watching wrestling often wonder "is that for real"? Yet, most magicians, hopefully, don't expect the laymen to think that magicians are real.
But we can also perform illusions that are respected by those (not in the know) by performing "in-one" and without cuts, digital enhancements or edits. Someone recently stated that "an edit is a lie"! With edits, cut-aways and out-of-frame advantages, we might as well be watching a cartoon. Let's get back the respect that we non-TV performing magicians once had. Can some noteworthy magicians out there please teach CA a few more effects (and we know that he can do them) that can, not only fool the viewers and (real) spectators, but gain the respect of us who have learned how to perform magic without the use of...yes, camera trickery.
Dan Stapleton
Subject: Criss Angel editorial
John-Before reading your comments from your July editorial, concerning Criss Angel's "Luxor levitation", I was wondering...is it just me? Mr. Angel is quickly taking a "live-on-stage" profession into the realm of "wrestlers animation". Yes, we all know that those watching wrestling often wonder "is that for real"? Yet, most magicians, hopefully, don't expect the laymen to think that magicians are real.
But we can also perform illusions that are respected by those (not in the know) by performing "in-one" and without cuts, digital enhancements or edits. Someone recently stated that "an edit is a lie"! With edits, cut-aways and out-of-frame advantages, we might as well be watching a cartoon. Let's get back the respect that we non-TV performing magicians once had. Can some noteworthy magicians out there please teach CA a few more effects (and we know that he can do them) that can, not only fool the viewers and (real) spectators, but gain the respect of us who have learned how to perform magic without the use of...yes, camera trickery.
Dan Stapleton
2007-07 Request for Children's Magicians
Looking for magicians to perform for children during a July 13-16 event at Hunters Creek. It's for Lifestyles gym equipment. No pay but many local businesses to promote yourself.Call Craig at 407-856-8308.
2007-07 Siver Trails
In the last few days I have created a BLACK MAGIC show as a demonstration of the art to about 16 Magicians on a cave stage creating illusions that demonstrated various types of styles in the art.
None of those present had ever seen this type of magic before and were baffled by its simplicity. I was trying to show the ways to use the art form in modern magic Some of the persons present are planning to use several ideas that were explained.
But most important was the assistance from afar. This was received from Charles Pfrogner and Richard Newcomb, who each in their own way added to the presentation.
I can not thank them enough as it was reported to me that it was a fantastic show.
George Bernard (Dr.White)
None of those present had ever seen this type of magic before and were baffled by its simplicity. I was trying to show the ways to use the art form in modern magic Some of the persons present are planning to use several ideas that were explained.
But most important was the assistance from afar. This was received from Charles Pfrogner and Richard Newcomb, who each in their own way added to the presentation.
I can not thank them enough as it was reported to me that it was a fantastic show.
George Bernard (Dr.White)
2007-07 Dennis' Deliberations
Sadly, we lost my friend Lee Barnard earlier this month. Lee was a year younger than me. I have known him since I moved to Orlando in 1975. His 8 by 10 headshot use to hang in Clarence Godwin's old "Funway" magic shop on East Colonial located across from Fashion Square Mall. When Clarence found out that I had just come from working in Radio and TV in Charlotte, he made sure I knew about Lee Barnard, also a radio announcer. Lee, at the time had stylish fluffy 70s hair and wore paisley tux coats in his gig. He was the announcer at The Club Juana in Casselberry, Mike Pinter's stripper bar. It has now been razed to make way for a massive highway interchange at 17-92 and 436. Though the Club Juana featured totally nudity in the late show, a novelty in Conservative Orlando in the sex-crazed Disco late 70s, it was probably the closet thing to classic Burlesque here in town.
Wally Boag and Don Novis brought a touch of Burlesque to Disneyland in California in 1955 when they helped in putting together Slue Foot Sue's Golden Horseshoe Review. Slue Foot Sue's bit with her hand-held mirror reflecting the spot light on selected men in the audience and kissing the bald man's head was an old Burlesque bit. When Disney opening The Magic Kingdom here in Orlando, this presentation was brought to our doorstep and , of course, featured Bev Bergeron.
Old time Burlesque was "Strip Tease" with an emphasis on the "Tease" and strippers rarely went down to less than a G-string and pasties. The Club Juana had a nice small stage and featured some variety acts. A number of female magicians ,including Paula Paul (Panda), played there with their magic acts. A few times my wife,Cindy and I went to the club to see the magic act. I seem to remember Barclay Shaw playing there. Unlike any of the other topless places in Orlando, they never badgered you to buy drinks and hand over your wallet. Much like the old Empire Room at the Langford Hotel, you could simply walk in and tell them you just wanted to see the show.
My costume shop, Allied Costumes, did provide a few items for Lee Barnard. At that time he was always after me to make a Broom Suspension for him, in my "spare time". It became kind of a running joke between us through the years in that I never seemed to have the "spare time" ( the truth!). One other joke between us was based on the fact that Lee had worked as a radio announcer here in Orlando. I also had a radio background from up north. I always was after Lee to let me know if there were any jobs openings in radio here in town and his answer was always "No, and you don't want to know because you don't want to work radio in this town!".That became a kind of running joke between us for all these years.When Lee started coming regularly to the ring meetings his first words to me were, 'No I don;t have a line on any radio jobs and where is my broom?"
Orlando lost a real magic enthusiast. Thank you Dan Stapleton for spotlighting Lee at the Tribute a month ago. Rest in peace, Lee.
Clarence Godwin's Funway Store was the local magician's Mecca back in the mid 70s. Clarence was chemist by trade and ran a state lab up in Sanford. One of his managers was James Sherrill. Godwin was tall and thin and I assumed he would live to a ripe old age but he died of a heart attack in the late 80s while in his early 60s. James Sherrill and I were pallbearers at his funeral. Funway had a decent magic counter and Clarence had a few people building props for him. Art Week's, a plumber in Lakeland and excellent metal and woodworker, built a few illusions for him. Several ended up in Brett Glascock's cruise ship show. Art can be seen in Paul Osborne's second illusion book.Clarence also developed a line of theatrical makeup. During they Hollywood East mania here in town when Orlando was promoted as the next movie capital of the world and Disney and Universal were building their studios, Clarence changed the name from Funway to "Paramount Theatricals". When Clarence died he had just married Pat and she was a Jehovah's Witness. That religious group's beliefs did not approve of her owning a "magic store' so she eventually sold it to Madge Simpson, who also had managed Funway and changed the name to Madge Elaine's World of Entertainment. Today it is Pizzazz and owned by Kay Gonzales and still is a source for magic.
Frequent magic faces you would see in the store was Michael Ramm (Chambers) and his wife Nadine. Mike toured a shopping center magic show with his own stage and backdrops. I saw his act a few times at the old Colonial Plaza Mall and he also performed at the 1979 Florida Magic Convention. He had a Metamorphosis truck that looked like an open fronted circus wagon. Nadine also curled up in a Mirror Sword Box. Wayne Scott ("Scotty") built many of his props. Wayne and his family, now in Howey-in-the-Hills , still build most of the clown shoes for the Ringling show. The first time I met Harry Wise, he was just off a Ghost Show tour for Phil Morris. One evening I was directing a TV program for WBTV television in Charlotte and in the control room in front of the video switcher with a stop watch in my hand. The door to the control room opens and in walks Harry Wise who told me he was a friend of Phil Morris. Apparently Phil and his wife Amy needed to go somewhere for the evening so Phil suggested that Harry come see me at the studio! Phil was well known by everyone at the station so his phone call to the station got Harry through the front door. In the meantime, Harry is trying to tell me and the control room crew , the Audio man, Technical director, video control operator , his life story. He even tried a few tricks! We were in the middle of doing a live show! Harry is a character.
A couple of years later and I was living here in Orlando and I got to know Harry a lot better. I still have the Abbots Frame of Life and Death Illusion I bought from him 20 years ago. J.L. Harding and Stardust, his wife, had a homebuilt illusion show. J.L.'s main job was for Goodyear Tire Company. He lived in Apopka. He had done a fairly good job building his props on a limited budget. His big yearly event was his Benefit show for the Crippled Children's home in Umatilla. I played it a few years with Wallace Berry and Gary Kornfield. J.L. got transferred to Atlanta and did not take his props with him. He all but gave me most of his illusions.
Joe Conrad was a Chavez School of Magic graduate who aspired to having a large illusion show. He , like many others, decided to use Orlando as a home base.You know the drill: "I will take a few gigs out of town and then work their attractions here." I am sure like most he realized that steady employment as an illusionist is a rare thing in Orlando. Joe made deals,lost deals and tried. He played a college show at Valencia and I was in the audience. I remembered his doing an upside down Strait Jacket over the stage. Since I am a professor at Valencia in the Theater department I know the stage and rigging in that theater very well. I don't know how he talked them into doing it! If you ever want to do it there, "don't"! Like I say, I know the rigging....
Carlton Beck, of Las Vegas, was in town with his big cat illusions trying to set up a Dinner Attraction with magic. The former Fortune Feast building on 192 was mentioned. He called me a few times and explained some of his business dealings. Later, when Paul Osborne printed my "Million Dollar Platform" system in his Genii Illusion column, Carlton called and wanted my permission to use the principle for an illusion he was building. So many have tried to start a Dinner Illusion show in Orlando and discovered that this is not the town for it. Joe Eddie Fairchild spent a lot of money and effort and never could make the numbers work. Orlando was Vince Carmen's first choice but he was more successful in Sarasota.
Illusionist Mark O'Brien came here from New Jersey because in the late 80s and early 90s he was doing a considerable portion of his work at Nickelodeon /Universal and Disney. Mark also had a nice Convention Show venue here. He managed to swing a deal for two years doing a magic show in the Stanleyville Theater in Busch Gardens.Following a very successful engagement in Germany at a theme park, he returned to Orlando with his leopard, stage crew, wife ( assistant producer and co-performer) and tons of equipment. He had everything that was needed for a Dinner Illusion Show but a building. He even had the business plan. Sadly, his plan was seen by many others and Mark believes it was copied. In the summer of 1999 there were two big fires in his warehouses that destroyed the bulk of his props. The cause of the fires was never determined. Mark believes it could have been arson by business rivals. O'Brien did rebuild most of his show but his Orlando experience at doing an illusion show attraction was not a pleasant one.
Finally we get to the guy that once took the shirt off my back! But he did give it back and then took it again...and I finally got it back. Its a long story!It was a Halloween Night show at the old Lake Eola Band shell. Dan Stapleton was put in charge of producing the show and he got me to be the closing illusion act.That was probably one of the last times, a regular stage would have a full flaming CREMATION done on it. It was Halloween Night 1976 and on the play bill was James Sherrill, Rory Johnston, Dan and and others I have forgotten. My illusion act was the finale. At the time I was in the middle of a tour of fund-raising shows for local schools, so I got my assistants to help. It was a five person act. Ashley Dane -Michael, who went on to a big career as a soap-opera actress in New York, was my main female helper. Debbie Abraham was also a "ta-dah" girl and Tony Todaro was my chief male helper. Larry Norwood rounded out the cast of helpers. I believe I opened with Dove Catching with a net, vanishing cage with doves. The Temple of Benares and a Chair Suspension were performed and then the Cremation or Burning a Girl Alive. I recall that when Larry and Tony pulled the lid off the flaming Cremation and lowered the sides and the charred flaming skeleton could be seen, a loud gasp went through the crowd. Dan , in his rush to get his show together and get to the band shell had forgotten to pack his white tux shirt!So, I unbuttoned my shirt and let Dan wear it and shortly before my act he gave it back to me backstage. I seem to remember that he took it back for the final bows and I wrapped myself up in my long black and red cape. Probably the lightning shirt change was the most backstage excitement I have ever had!
Just a little story from Halloween Night thirty-one years ago!
Dennis Phillips
Wally Boag and Don Novis brought a touch of Burlesque to Disneyland in California in 1955 when they helped in putting together Slue Foot Sue's Golden Horseshoe Review. Slue Foot Sue's bit with her hand-held mirror reflecting the spot light on selected men in the audience and kissing the bald man's head was an old Burlesque bit. When Disney opening The Magic Kingdom here in Orlando, this presentation was brought to our doorstep and , of course, featured Bev Bergeron.
Old time Burlesque was "Strip Tease" with an emphasis on the "Tease" and strippers rarely went down to less than a G-string and pasties. The Club Juana had a nice small stage and featured some variety acts. A number of female magicians ,including Paula Paul (Panda), played there with their magic acts. A few times my wife,Cindy and I went to the club to see the magic act. I seem to remember Barclay Shaw playing there. Unlike any of the other topless places in Orlando, they never badgered you to buy drinks and hand over your wallet. Much like the old Empire Room at the Langford Hotel, you could simply walk in and tell them you just wanted to see the show.
My costume shop, Allied Costumes, did provide a few items for Lee Barnard. At that time he was always after me to make a Broom Suspension for him, in my "spare time". It became kind of a running joke between us through the years in that I never seemed to have the "spare time" ( the truth!). One other joke between us was based on the fact that Lee had worked as a radio announcer here in Orlando. I also had a radio background from up north. I always was after Lee to let me know if there were any jobs openings in radio here in town and his answer was always "No, and you don't want to know because you don't want to work radio in this town!".That became a kind of running joke between us for all these years.When Lee started coming regularly to the ring meetings his first words to me were, 'No I don;t have a line on any radio jobs and where is my broom?"
Orlando lost a real magic enthusiast. Thank you Dan Stapleton for spotlighting Lee at the Tribute a month ago. Rest in peace, Lee.
Clarence Godwin's Funway Store was the local magician's Mecca back in the mid 70s. Clarence was chemist by trade and ran a state lab up in Sanford. One of his managers was James Sherrill. Godwin was tall and thin and I assumed he would live to a ripe old age but he died of a heart attack in the late 80s while in his early 60s. James Sherrill and I were pallbearers at his funeral. Funway had a decent magic counter and Clarence had a few people building props for him. Art Week's, a plumber in Lakeland and excellent metal and woodworker, built a few illusions for him. Several ended up in Brett Glascock's cruise ship show. Art can be seen in Paul Osborne's second illusion book.Clarence also developed a line of theatrical makeup. During they Hollywood East mania here in town when Orlando was promoted as the next movie capital of the world and Disney and Universal were building their studios, Clarence changed the name from Funway to "Paramount Theatricals". When Clarence died he had just married Pat and she was a Jehovah's Witness. That religious group's beliefs did not approve of her owning a "magic store' so she eventually sold it to Madge Simpson, who also had managed Funway and changed the name to Madge Elaine's World of Entertainment. Today it is Pizzazz and owned by Kay Gonzales and still is a source for magic.
Frequent magic faces you would see in the store was Michael Ramm (Chambers) and his wife Nadine. Mike toured a shopping center magic show with his own stage and backdrops. I saw his act a few times at the old Colonial Plaza Mall and he also performed at the 1979 Florida Magic Convention. He had a Metamorphosis truck that looked like an open fronted circus wagon. Nadine also curled up in a Mirror Sword Box. Wayne Scott ("Scotty") built many of his props. Wayne and his family, now in Howey-in-the-Hills , still build most of the clown shoes for the Ringling show. The first time I met Harry Wise, he was just off a Ghost Show tour for Phil Morris. One evening I was directing a TV program for WBTV television in Charlotte and in the control room in front of the video switcher with a stop watch in my hand. The door to the control room opens and in walks Harry Wise who told me he was a friend of Phil Morris. Apparently Phil and his wife Amy needed to go somewhere for the evening so Phil suggested that Harry come see me at the studio! Phil was well known by everyone at the station so his phone call to the station got Harry through the front door. In the meantime, Harry is trying to tell me and the control room crew , the Audio man, Technical director, video control operator , his life story. He even tried a few tricks! We were in the middle of doing a live show! Harry is a character.
A couple of years later and I was living here in Orlando and I got to know Harry a lot better. I still have the Abbots Frame of Life and Death Illusion I bought from him 20 years ago. J.L. Harding and Stardust, his wife, had a homebuilt illusion show. J.L.'s main job was for Goodyear Tire Company. He lived in Apopka. He had done a fairly good job building his props on a limited budget. His big yearly event was his Benefit show for the Crippled Children's home in Umatilla. I played it a few years with Wallace Berry and Gary Kornfield. J.L. got transferred to Atlanta and did not take his props with him. He all but gave me most of his illusions.
Joe Conrad was a Chavez School of Magic graduate who aspired to having a large illusion show. He , like many others, decided to use Orlando as a home base.You know the drill: "I will take a few gigs out of town and then work their attractions here." I am sure like most he realized that steady employment as an illusionist is a rare thing in Orlando. Joe made deals,lost deals and tried. He played a college show at Valencia and I was in the audience. I remembered his doing an upside down Strait Jacket over the stage. Since I am a professor at Valencia in the Theater department I know the stage and rigging in that theater very well. I don't know how he talked them into doing it! If you ever want to do it there, "don't"! Like I say, I know the rigging....
Carlton Beck, of Las Vegas, was in town with his big cat illusions trying to set up a Dinner Attraction with magic. The former Fortune Feast building on 192 was mentioned. He called me a few times and explained some of his business dealings. Later, when Paul Osborne printed my "Million Dollar Platform" system in his Genii Illusion column, Carlton called and wanted my permission to use the principle for an illusion he was building. So many have tried to start a Dinner Illusion show in Orlando and discovered that this is not the town for it. Joe Eddie Fairchild spent a lot of money and effort and never could make the numbers work. Orlando was Vince Carmen's first choice but he was more successful in Sarasota.
Illusionist Mark O'Brien came here from New Jersey because in the late 80s and early 90s he was doing a considerable portion of his work at Nickelodeon /Universal and Disney. Mark also had a nice Convention Show venue here. He managed to swing a deal for two years doing a magic show in the Stanleyville Theater in Busch Gardens.Following a very successful engagement in Germany at a theme park, he returned to Orlando with his leopard, stage crew, wife ( assistant producer and co-performer) and tons of equipment. He had everything that was needed for a Dinner Illusion Show but a building. He even had the business plan. Sadly, his plan was seen by many others and Mark believes it was copied. In the summer of 1999 there were two big fires in his warehouses that destroyed the bulk of his props. The cause of the fires was never determined. Mark believes it could have been arson by business rivals. O'Brien did rebuild most of his show but his Orlando experience at doing an illusion show attraction was not a pleasant one.
Finally we get to the guy that once took the shirt off my back! But he did give it back and then took it again...and I finally got it back. Its a long story!It was a Halloween Night show at the old Lake Eola Band shell. Dan Stapleton was put in charge of producing the show and he got me to be the closing illusion act.That was probably one of the last times, a regular stage would have a full flaming CREMATION done on it. It was Halloween Night 1976 and on the play bill was James Sherrill, Rory Johnston, Dan and and others I have forgotten. My illusion act was the finale. At the time I was in the middle of a tour of fund-raising shows for local schools, so I got my assistants to help. It was a five person act. Ashley Dane -Michael, who went on to a big career as a soap-opera actress in New York, was my main female helper. Debbie Abraham was also a "ta-dah" girl and Tony Todaro was my chief male helper. Larry Norwood rounded out the cast of helpers. I believe I opened with Dove Catching with a net, vanishing cage with doves. The Temple of Benares and a Chair Suspension were performed and then the Cremation or Burning a Girl Alive. I recall that when Larry and Tony pulled the lid off the flaming Cremation and lowered the sides and the charred flaming skeleton could be seen, a loud gasp went through the crowd. Dan , in his rush to get his show together and get to the band shell had forgotten to pack his white tux shirt!So, I unbuttoned my shirt and let Dan wear it and shortly before my act he gave it back to me backstage. I seem to remember that he took it back for the final bows and I wrapped myself up in my long black and red cape. Probably the lightning shirt change was the most backstage excitement I have ever had!
Just a little story from Halloween Night thirty-one years ago!
Dennis Phillips
Sunday, June 24, 2007
2007-07 - Broken Wand Lee Barnard
For those of you who were not able to attend the Broken Wand ceremony for Lee Barnard, click on the play button [>] below.
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