Posts
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 03/17/2010 at 7:30 PM SHARP
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
2010-03 From the Editor
Many, many apologies, due to many reasons I am very late with this edition of the newsletter. Hopefully this has not inconvenienced too many people. Hopefully the coming month I can get back to a more regular schedule.
This edition has some slide shows with pictures from the Flea Market and the Jim Swain lecture, as well as a video; I hope that you like them.
This edition has some slide shows with pictures from the Flea Market and the Jim Swain lecture, as well as a video; I hope that you like them.
2010-03 Ring Report
President Craig Fennessy called the meeting to order on February 17th and introduced the Ring's officers to the members and guests in attendance.
Craig informed the group that our esteemed member Jack Kodell was recovering from a touch of pneumonia at a local hospital and expected to be released shortly. He went on to say that the Ring's Flea Market will be held on March 13th and will feature Michael Ammar doing a lecture and workshop and Michael Eaton doing a mini-lecture. Several lectures have been scheduled already for the Spring and will include Chris Capehart on May 11th and Bob Sheets in June. The Ring's Annual Banquet is also planned for April. (Editors note: The banquet has been moved to May. More to follow soon.)
The Ring's informal get-togethers for lunch at the MacDonald's just west of I-4 on Sand Lake Road have been going along quite well and the membership were all invited to attend on Tuesdays at noon if they were in the area.
Mark Fitzgerald and Doug Otto are both performing at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday nights.
Dave Koenig is doing a Podcast for Radioesp.com titled 'Dark Truth'
Bev Bergeron was up next with his technique in demonstrating the Vanishing Glass and Coin, an effect which he had observed the late Kerrel Fox and Slydini perform. Bev's handling of the effect was superb.
Phil Schwartz followed Bev with Magic History Moment #19 a treatise on Printing and Broadsides as they pertained to magic lore. The Ring learned that Printing with Woodcuts came as early as 200 AD and was used until the Intaglio process, utilizing etched copper or zinc plates, was developed in the 15th Century. This was the accepted method of printing until the close of the 18th Century (1796) when Lithography, a process of printing from a stone or metal plate based on the repulsion between grease and water was perfected. Phil had examples of broadsides (large posters printed on one side advertising magic performances) from the 19th Century and the early 20th Century of Harry Houdini, John Henry Anderson and Alexander Herrmann.
Kerry Pierce emceed the performance segment of the meeting with Charlie Pfrogner starting off with a very entertaining Cut and Restored Rope effect with a twist at the end. Dan Stapleton followed with a great trick from Grant's Brilliant Card Magic. James Songster and Mike Martin as 'Carnak' did a comedy routine that even “Johnny” would have enjoyed. Jim McNiff did a challenging mind reading determination with cards that mystified the audience. Will Wortman demonstrated his skill in coin manipulation and other sleights to an amazed membership. Ravelli closed out the performances with a variety of effects from Coin Magic for kids, dollar bill from tissue paper and torn bill restoration and finished with an extraction of all the paper, from the act, out of his mouth.
A fine time was had by all.
Sheldon Brook
Craig informed the group that our esteemed member Jack Kodell was recovering from a touch of pneumonia at a local hospital and expected to be released shortly. He went on to say that the Ring's Flea Market will be held on March 13th and will feature Michael Ammar doing a lecture and workshop and Michael Eaton doing a mini-lecture. Several lectures have been scheduled already for the Spring and will include Chris Capehart on May 11th and Bob Sheets in June. The Ring's Annual Banquet is also planned for April. (Editors note: The banquet has been moved to May. More to follow soon.)
The Ring's informal get-togethers for lunch at the MacDonald's just west of I-4 on Sand Lake Road have been going along quite well and the membership were all invited to attend on Tuesdays at noon if they were in the area.
Mark Fitzgerald and Doug Otto are both performing at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday nights.
Dave Koenig is doing a Podcast for Radioesp.com titled 'Dark Truth'
Bev Bergeron was up next with his technique in demonstrating the Vanishing Glass and Coin, an effect which he had observed the late Kerrel Fox and Slydini perform. Bev's handling of the effect was superb.
Phil Schwartz followed Bev with Magic History Moment #19 a treatise on Printing and Broadsides as they pertained to magic lore. The Ring learned that Printing with Woodcuts came as early as 200 AD and was used until the Intaglio process, utilizing etched copper or zinc plates, was developed in the 15th Century. This was the accepted method of printing until the close of the 18th Century (1796) when Lithography, a process of printing from a stone or metal plate based on the repulsion between grease and water was perfected. Phil had examples of broadsides (large posters printed on one side advertising magic performances) from the 19th Century and the early 20th Century of Harry Houdini, John Henry Anderson and Alexander Herrmann.
Kerry Pierce emceed the performance segment of the meeting with Charlie Pfrogner starting off with a very entertaining Cut and Restored Rope effect with a twist at the end. Dan Stapleton followed with a great trick from Grant's Brilliant Card Magic. James Songster and Mike Martin as 'Carnak' did a comedy routine that even “Johnny” would have enjoyed. Jim McNiff did a challenging mind reading determination with cards that mystified the audience. Will Wortman demonstrated his skill in coin manipulation and other sleights to an amazed membership. Ravelli closed out the performances with a variety of effects from Coin Magic for kids, dollar bill from tissue paper and torn bill restoration and finished with an extraction of all the paper, from the act, out of his mouth.
A fine time was had by all.
Sheldon Brook
2010-03 Magician Joke (Thanks Dennis)
Good magic jokes are tough to come by...You have to be a magician to get the humor.
A magician looking for a new trick went to a magic shop in his home town. The man in the shop handed him an ordinary-looking pair of glasses and said, “These are $1,000.”
The magician was shocked. “A thousand dollars for a pair of glasses?”
“Try ‘em on; they’re special glasses.”
The magician tried them on and suddenly the clerk was naked. So were the female shoppers! He removed the glasses and everyone was clothed again. “Sold!” he said.
Riding the train home, the magician put the glasses on once more. All the passengers were naked! He took them off and everyone was clothed again. When the magician got home, he put his new glasses on before opening the front door. He entered his living room, and there on the sofa were his wife and his best friend -- buck naked! But when he took the glasses off, they were still naked.
“Damn!” he said. “A thousand dollars for this stupid effect and in 30 minutes it’s broken!”
A magician looking for a new trick went to a magic shop in his home town. The man in the shop handed him an ordinary-looking pair of glasses and said, “These are $1,000.”
The magician was shocked. “A thousand dollars for a pair of glasses?”
“Try ‘em on; they’re special glasses.”
The magician tried them on and suddenly the clerk was naked. So were the female shoppers! He removed the glasses and everyone was clothed again. “Sold!” he said.
Riding the train home, the magician put the glasses on once more. All the passengers were naked! He took them off and everyone was clothed again. When the magician got home, he put his new glasses on before opening the front door. He entered his living room, and there on the sofa were his wife and his best friend -- buck naked! But when he took the glasses off, they were still naked.
“Damn!” he said. “A thousand dollars for this stupid effect and in 30 minutes it’s broken!”
2010-03 Dennis' Deliberations
"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson." - Tom Bodett
My Canadian magic friend, Larry Thornton saw Mac King on a Canadian TV comedy show. Nothing but prop-less stand-up comics until Mac walks on. He did the basic three cards across routine (girl and guy each counting out ten cards). His palming off three cards from the first (girl's) pile and adding them to the second (guy's) pile was blatantly obvious (only) to magicians, and the rest was just silly bits (routining). Then for his final number he put a bag over his head, turned his back, and appeared to crush it down onto his shoulders. That's it, the whole act. ...Rapturous laughter and applause. Exit, stage left.
Mac King gets flown up to eastern Canada from Las Vegas, all expenses paid, and gets mega-bucks for a "schlock" bare-bones comedy card routine any local conjuring hack can do, while we "hacks" [speak for yourself!] fight to survive and scramble our collective rear ends off every time the economy takes a dip.
Meanwhile, back at the magic dealers, they're busy hawking the latest expensive "miracle" guaranteed to make you a star, fill your coffers with shekels, and give you everlasting success and happiness. -- Or at least until they come up with another high-priced miracle. ... But could they sell the ever-reliable journeyman's classic, Three Cards Across, complete with a killer routine in booklet form, for even the price of a bus ticket into town? Not a chance.
There are two kinds of magic dealers' customers: Those who continually ask, "What's new?" -- and those who find the old stuff and use it to fool the heck out of the first guys. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who perform magic badly, and those who regret having seen it.
In spite of record snow falls here during our first winter in Virginia, we “trust” Al Gore and believe that things will warm up eventually. (No comments- I am trying to be funny)
Spring cleaning is around the corner. Spring cleaning really has meaning when your house has been sealed tight for 4 months and you have not be able to even put out all the garbage due to cancelled garbage collection. Up here every garbage truck is also fitted with a snow plow and the roads come before garbage collection. After all, it will not rot outside in freezing temperatures.
My wife says one of her fears is that she may be stuck cleaning out my junk if I should suddenly die. She says that losing me would be a heart break but trashing the things that were my identity would be another heart break. I keep telling her to just call my magic friends and they will come take it all if it is free.
I am also into Ham Radio. About 20 years ago, I got a call from the family of a widow. It led to me going over to the house of a 68 year old widow of a ham radio guy.
Sitting in his ham shack was some of the finest radio gear available at the time. (A Collins S-Line and a Collins KWM 2-A and on and on). The widow asked me if I wanted “the radios”. I looked at all of them and said, “There has to be at least $20,000 worth of stuff here and at 50% of the used market value I still could not afford to buy it. But I will be happy to tell you how to sell it and maybe help you put ads out and show it and sell it for you to help you out.” She looked at me and said, “Sell it? Are you kidding? I just want this stuff out of my house! You can take all of it. Go get your truck and get it out of my sight!”
She had a lot of anger in her voice for a recent widow. I said, “I am sure your husband would want you to get something out of all of this”. She snapped back, “He left me lots of money and I want this stuff out of my sight. He spent all his life working making money and then playing with this stuff. He never cared about me. He spent hours back here talking with strangers while I sat alone. No, I don’t care about this stuff, get it out of my sight!”
That is so sad. I never wanted that to be in that kind of sad situation with my wife. I moved the stuff, gave some away, sold some and still have some.
You are going to LOVE this effect… It costs you nothing! No props. Nothing to carry!
First watch the genius, Paul Daniels! This is one of the strongest things I do in an adult act where most of the audience does not know each other.
I use the techniques of cueing that you will find in Ricki Dunn’s book called “Zapped”.
http://www.nnmagic.com/books/zapped.htm
It is all the set up and cuing.
My method:
There are only two things that I do. The entire set up can be summarized as:
1) Before the show I scour the audience to look for a few gentlemen that are alert, smiling, interested and do not seem connected with a group other than a woman.
2) I call about 3 guys quietly off to the side (I need a spare in case one gets called out!) and tell them,
“Let’s have a lot of fun. I need your help to fool the audience and you are going to be in on the secret. You need to be the best actor you can. The audience is not laughing at you but at how you are a victim of what I am doing to you. Use your imagination and pretend that the chair has powers. It will have the power to shock your back end while you are sitting and you will jump up like you were shocked.
The second power is that it will stick to you like crazy glue so you can’t get loose.
I will tell you when to act like one of these two ways with the chair.
If I tap you twice and say “TWO” pretend like it has shocked you and jump up like you were shocked. If you want to feel you back end the audience will love it and think that I am being mean. I will be the fool, not you!”
If I put your hands on the chair and say slowly “this chair”, you will hold onto the chair until I tell you to let go. Good, now let’s do a fast run through. (Physically and verbally demonstrate and have them demonstrate) and stress that they will get the audience’s sympathy and I will be the fool.
I hope you enjoy this! It has been a winner for me.
Dennis Phillips
My Canadian magic friend, Larry Thornton saw Mac King on a Canadian TV comedy show. Nothing but prop-less stand-up comics until Mac walks on. He did the basic three cards across routine (girl and guy each counting out ten cards). His palming off three cards from the first (girl's) pile and adding them to the second (guy's) pile was blatantly obvious (only) to magicians, and the rest was just silly bits (routining). Then for his final number he put a bag over his head, turned his back, and appeared to crush it down onto his shoulders. That's it, the whole act. ...Rapturous laughter and applause. Exit, stage left.
Mac King gets flown up to eastern Canada from Las Vegas, all expenses paid, and gets mega-bucks for a "schlock" bare-bones comedy card routine any local conjuring hack can do, while we "hacks" [speak for yourself!] fight to survive and scramble our collective rear ends off every time the economy takes a dip.
Meanwhile, back at the magic dealers, they're busy hawking the latest expensive "miracle" guaranteed to make you a star, fill your coffers with shekels, and give you everlasting success and happiness. -- Or at least until they come up with another high-priced miracle. ... But could they sell the ever-reliable journeyman's classic, Three Cards Across, complete with a killer routine in booklet form, for even the price of a bus ticket into town? Not a chance.
There are two kinds of magic dealers' customers: Those who continually ask, "What's new?" -- and those who find the old stuff and use it to fool the heck out of the first guys. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who perform magic badly, and those who regret having seen it.
In spite of record snow falls here during our first winter in Virginia, we “trust” Al Gore and believe that things will warm up eventually. (No comments- I am trying to be funny)
Spring cleaning is around the corner. Spring cleaning really has meaning when your house has been sealed tight for 4 months and you have not be able to even put out all the garbage due to cancelled garbage collection. Up here every garbage truck is also fitted with a snow plow and the roads come before garbage collection. After all, it will not rot outside in freezing temperatures.
My wife says one of her fears is that she may be stuck cleaning out my junk if I should suddenly die. She says that losing me would be a heart break but trashing the things that were my identity would be another heart break. I keep telling her to just call my magic friends and they will come take it all if it is free.
I am also into Ham Radio. About 20 years ago, I got a call from the family of a widow. It led to me going over to the house of a 68 year old widow of a ham radio guy.
Sitting in his ham shack was some of the finest radio gear available at the time. (A Collins S-Line and a Collins KWM 2-A and on and on). The widow asked me if I wanted “the radios”. I looked at all of them and said, “There has to be at least $20,000 worth of stuff here and at 50% of the used market value I still could not afford to buy it. But I will be happy to tell you how to sell it and maybe help you put ads out and show it and sell it for you to help you out.” She looked at me and said, “Sell it? Are you kidding? I just want this stuff out of my house! You can take all of it. Go get your truck and get it out of my sight!”
She had a lot of anger in her voice for a recent widow. I said, “I am sure your husband would want you to get something out of all of this”. She snapped back, “He left me lots of money and I want this stuff out of my sight. He spent all his life working making money and then playing with this stuff. He never cared about me. He spent hours back here talking with strangers while I sat alone. No, I don’t care about this stuff, get it out of my sight!”
That is so sad. I never wanted that to be in that kind of sad situation with my wife. I moved the stuff, gave some away, sold some and still have some.
You are going to LOVE this effect… It costs you nothing! No props. Nothing to carry!
First watch the genius, Paul Daniels! This is one of the strongest things I do in an adult act where most of the audience does not know each other.
I use the techniques of cueing that you will find in Ricki Dunn’s book called “Zapped”.
http://www.nnmagic.com/books/zapped.htm
It is all the set up and cuing.
My method:
There are only two things that I do. The entire set up can be summarized as:
1) Before the show I scour the audience to look for a few gentlemen that are alert, smiling, interested and do not seem connected with a group other than a woman.
2) I call about 3 guys quietly off to the side (I need a spare in case one gets called out!) and tell them,
“Let’s have a lot of fun. I need your help to fool the audience and you are going to be in on the secret. You need to be the best actor you can. The audience is not laughing at you but at how you are a victim of what I am doing to you. Use your imagination and pretend that the chair has powers. It will have the power to shock your back end while you are sitting and you will jump up like you were shocked.
The second power is that it will stick to you like crazy glue so you can’t get loose.
I will tell you when to act like one of these two ways with the chair.
If I tap you twice and say “TWO” pretend like it has shocked you and jump up like you were shocked. If you want to feel you back end the audience will love it and think that I am being mean. I will be the fool, not you!”
If I put your hands on the chair and say slowly “this chair”, you will hold onto the chair until I tell you to let go. Good, now let’s do a fast run through. (Physically and verbally demonstrate and have them demonstrate) and stress that they will get the audience’s sympathy and I will be the fool.
I hope you enjoy this! It has been a winner for me.
Dennis Phillips
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
2010-02 Famulus newsletter
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 02/17/2010 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme:
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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, 02/17/2010 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme:
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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.
2010-02 From the Editor
Apologies to the Ring, due to technical difficulties (a broken laptop) this newsletter was published much later than it should have been. I have learned how much we rely on technology today, and how great the inconvenience when it fails.
Hopefully this delay was not too inconvenient for anyone.
After all the cold weather in Florida (and yes, Dennis, I know you will say what we experienced is not cold) I am sure everyone is looking forward to the arrival of Spring and warmer weather. Spring brings us a special magic link, as the Harry Potter area at Universal will open. What magic will be on display when this new part of a theme parks opens?
Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Flea Market next month
Your editor
Stefan
Hopefully this delay was not too inconvenient for anyone.
After all the cold weather in Florida (and yes, Dennis, I know you will say what we experienced is not cold) I am sure everyone is looking forward to the arrival of Spring and warmer weather. Spring brings us a special magic link, as the Harry Potter area at Universal will open. What magic will be on display when this new part of a theme parks opens?
Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Flea Market next month
Your editor
Stefan
Sunday, February 14, 2010
2010-02 Magic Club Takes To The Streets?
[Are things really this bad that our members are taking to street magic? - Editor ;-)]
http://www.orlandosentinel.
Joe Vecciarelli
Coach Coordinator
Cirque du Monde - Orlando
Walt Disney World Boys & Girls Club
http://www.orlandosentinel.
Joe Vecciarelli
Coach Coordinator
Cirque du Monde - Orlando
Walt Disney World Boys & Girls Club
2010-02 Request for magic help
Greetings!
Hope this e-mail finds you doing well.
In just a few weeks I am planning to film a follow-up to the Roadrunner Cull DVD.
The contents are up on-line and a special offer for a pre-order.
PLEASE take a minute of your time to let me know what you thought of the first DVD by filling out this 5 question survey.
Be A Part of Volume 2.
THANK YOU!
All the best!
Kostya
p.s. if the link above doesn't work, just copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.kostyamagic.com/
Hope this e-mail finds you doing well.
In just a few weeks I am planning to film a follow-up to the Roadrunner Cull DVD.
The contents are up on-line and a special offer for a pre-order.
PLEASE take a minute of your time to let me know what you thought of the first DVD by filling out this 5 question survey.
Be A Part of Volume 2.
THANK YOU!
All the best!
Kostya
p.s. if the link above doesn't work, just copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.kostyamagic.com/
2010-02 Book Review “Beating a Dead Horse, The Life and Times of Jay Marshall” by Sandy Marshall
Jay Marshall told his son Sandy to write the story of Jay’s life “after I croak”. What Sandy ended up writing was several stories. It is about Jay’s life but it is also about Sandy’s life and his interaction and non-interaction with Jay’s life. It is also a story about Jay’s friends, many of whom were magicians and it is a story about the history of entertainment in the twentieth century and how it changed with the advent of television. It is also a love story. Jay and Frances were married for almost 48 years and her death in 2002 took a toll on Jay and he became very despondent.
One of Jay’s friends and his roommate in New York City was Lee Noble (ne Edwin Burchell). He is mentioned 8 times in the book. Lee was a member our Ring for many years and died in 2003 in a car accident. I saw him MC an evening magic show at a magic convention once where he was very polished and smooth and I saw him usher at the Bob Carr Theatre many times (I guess theater was in his blood). In all those years I never knew of his background in New York or that he was a friend of so many great magicians. That is why the tributes to the great magicians that Dan Stapleton has done are so important.
I saw Jay at several magic conventions over the years where I saw him do his act with Lefty and he always got a great response from the audience. You think that you know someone by watching them perform or talking to them for a few minutes but as this book shows I really did not know Jay Marshall at all. Jay billed himself as one of the better cheaper acts. He was on Ed Sullivan 14 times and opened for Frank Sinatra in September 1951 when Frank first went to Las Vegas. He married Al Baker’s daughter, a love child of Al and a nice Jewish lady named Miss G. Graft, who lived in Canada. The story of how Al presented his daughter Naomi as a talented young woman who was a great cook to Jay (when she was neither) is a lesson in great misdirection. They had two boys and were officially married 13 years but the relationship ended after nine years when Jay moved into an apartment with Lee Noble in Manhattan.
Jay was in two Broadway plays and played all of the big venues in New York in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Jay was on television from the beginning starting in 1940 and was on all of the major shows; Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Garry Moore, Sid Caesar, Kate Smith, Jackie Gleason, and even the Morning Show hosted by Walter Cronkite, before Cronkite went to the news side of television. Jay even wrote a book, “TV-Magic and You” which he labeled the poor man’s Encyclopedia of Television Technique.
Jay’s youngest son, Sandy, found himself with an abusive step father when his mother Naomi remarried. Sandy rebelled and Naomi sent him to his father, who had married Frances Ireland, nine years older than Jay. Frances did not like the intrusion than Sandy made in her life with Jay. Needless to say there was much conflict with the new family of Jay, Frances and Sandy. Sandy spent much of his life trying to prove to his dad that he was more than just, Jay’s kid. Sandy went on to win two Emmy’s.
Late in Jay’s life he became the good family man that he never was in the first seventy years of his life. Besides stage and television Jay loved to do Punch and Judy shows. He also was one of the first trade show magicians working for Chevy. Jay was a consummate collector and had over a million books in his collection when he died on May 10, 2005 at age 85. It is a great book for any magician interested in Jay Marshall or in what the entertainment industry was like in the last half of the twentieth century. After reading the book I feel that I know Jay Marshall a little better.
Gary Adams
2010-02 Dennis' Deliberations
"The people long eagerly for two things -bread and circuses." Juvenal Roman rhetorician, satirical poet (c. 60-140 A.D.)
I heard about the Orlando controversy between the Fox Network and its place on Bright House cable. Fox wanted more money for their content and threatened to pull the plug on their signal to cable. Attorney John Morgan represented some guy who appeared ready to have nervous breakdown from losing his TV football game. For now the issue seems resolved. I predict more wars between cable and content providers. Most of you know that Comcast Cable system just bought NBC from GE. The new owners inherit the Jay Leno fiasco. His programming move from 11:30 to 10:00PM has proved a disaster. He and his format weren’t ready for prime time. I don’t think that even Johnny Carson would have worked in prime time. I gave up on Leno years ago when his show degenerated into making fun of people. Recall that most of his comedy bits are making fun of ignorant people. I do not doubt his comedy premises but do viewers enjoy him rubbing our national noses in the fact that many Americans, especially the young ones, don’t know anything, can not spell and have no organized mental thought process? By the way, who was buried in Grant’s Tomb?
What does my dear wife use to chase away the Virginia darkness and the winter isolation? Television. The idiot box. We have a wide screen Hi-Def set. I spend my time in the basement watching magic videos on my DVD player in front of an old CRT tube or reading or watching You Tube.
The daylight hours are shorter here, since we are further north here in Virginia. Dawn, during the dead of winter, is at 7:20AM and dusk is at 4:45PM. The leaden overcast skies make the days seem even shorter. TV is the antidote. In Russia it is Vodka. I do not know which is worse. It is a case of either rotting your brain or rotting your liver.
Upstairs the idiot box squawks on. Look, I used to work in commercial television. It was not like the almost complete mindless nonsense on today! Sure, we had Gilligan’s Island, but a better proportion of the even prime time shows had artists and literary quality and variety shows still had a place in prime time.
Today, occasionally a magician is on. Jeff Dunham, filthy humor and all, is on with his ventriloquism shtick on the Comedy Channel but otherwise magic is seldom seen on TV. I long for the days when variety shows were a staple of broadcast television.
I am so sick of reality shows; I am tempted to throw my wife’s TV out the window. Most of them are fake, and the people whose lives revolve around watching that garbage need to get a life. A psychological study was done in 2004 to find out why reality TV is so popular (http://nisonger.osu.edu/
TV is mostly junk in my opinion... It's easy to criticize reality TV. It totally stinks, but that is not the point. America sacrificed quality content to the almighty dollar decades ago. I am old enough to remember Playhouse 90 and CBS Reports. Networks are in a highly competitive and fragmented situation today so they have to turn a profit and the equation is: advertising revenue – the cost of production = gross profit. Reality TV is cheap to produce and it generates enough of an audience to make it attractive to advertisers. TV is going to get a lot worse before it starts getting better and the odds are we will never see another era where the networks compete based on quality. As harsh as all of this sounds, we are getting exactly what we are asking for as a society.
Remember the good old black-and-white Goodson/Toddman shows like "What's my line" and "Password" - which were entertaining and made you actually use your brain? Yes, some of us remember when MTV actually played rock videos, when A&E really meant "Arts" and Entertainment. Now it's no Arts and very little Entertainment. Remember when you could actually learn something on The Learning Channel? Those were the days. Remember the Ed Sullivan Show and The Magic Land of Allakazam? I am disgusted the way “America’s Got Talent” selects and harshly treats magicians.
Even the Weather Channel has begun to include more non-weather related content. They were running some “home improvement” thing the other day while it was snowing like heck outside my window and I did not know how safe the route was to pick up my kids in Hagerstown or when the snow would end and how much would stick. A local TV station was rerunning the weather from 2 days before because the weatherman could not get into the station. I called up the TV manager and told him the least they could do is get the guy Skype or an I-Phone so he could do the report from his house.
So when did TLC, The Learning Channel, become The Dysfunctional Family and Surgical Monstrosities-All-the-Time-
Our society is becoming a sicker society, tainted with entertainment interests in watching other people fail and getting a thrill from it – Reality TV. “Jon and Kate plus 8 now minus one- to be continued” Who cares? Kate got a new hairdo. Who cares?
Yes, I guess there is a good definition of Reality TV: It's showing us for who we really are, a country full of creeps? On top of all this, money fuels it and helps drive the networks to gear shows to generate more money, regardless of whether or not it's any value, or that we are any better by watching it. It is a self-perpetuating downward spiral.
I know people who go home and watch DVR'ed shows all night while they are DVR’ing more shows at the same time. That makes no sense! Get a life. I would rather go for a jog and lose a few pounds than watch a dozen weepers crash diet their way through The Biggest Loser. Need a resolution? Go take a dance lesson when Dancing with the Stars is on. Go to a local concert or a karaoke night. Organize a drawer, reupholster a chair, or plant a flower instead of watching HGTV for ten hours. Turn off Joyce Meter , Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn and just read your Bible for yourself! Magicians! Get out and do a magic show for a needy cause!
One evening my wife was sitting at the dining room table doing a craft project. The TV was off. I asked, “Why are you doing a craft project?” She said, “We have 725 TV channels and the DVR has 26 hours of shows that I have saved. We spend $94 a month but really there is nothing worth watching”… Yes!!! My wife is coming to her senses!
I heard about the Orlando controversy between the Fox Network and its place on Bright House cable. Fox wanted more money for their content and threatened to pull the plug on their signal to cable. Attorney John Morgan represented some guy who appeared ready to have nervous breakdown from losing his TV football game. For now the issue seems resolved. I predict more wars between cable and content providers. Most of you know that Comcast Cable system just bought NBC from GE. The new owners inherit the Jay Leno fiasco. His programming move from 11:30 to 10:00PM has proved a disaster. He and his format weren’t ready for prime time. I don’t think that even Johnny Carson would have worked in prime time. I gave up on Leno years ago when his show degenerated into making fun of people. Recall that most of his comedy bits are making fun of ignorant people. I do not doubt his comedy premises but do viewers enjoy him rubbing our national noses in the fact that many Americans, especially the young ones, don’t know anything, can not spell and have no organized mental thought process? By the way, who was buried in Grant’s Tomb?
What does my dear wife use to chase away the Virginia darkness and the winter isolation? Television. The idiot box. We have a wide screen Hi-Def set. I spend my time in the basement watching magic videos on my DVD player in front of an old CRT tube or reading or watching You Tube.
The daylight hours are shorter here, since we are further north here in Virginia. Dawn, during the dead of winter, is at 7:20AM and dusk is at 4:45PM. The leaden overcast skies make the days seem even shorter. TV is the antidote. In Russia it is Vodka. I do not know which is worse. It is a case of either rotting your brain or rotting your liver.
Upstairs the idiot box squawks on. Look, I used to work in commercial television. It was not like the almost complete mindless nonsense on today! Sure, we had Gilligan’s Island, but a better proportion of the even prime time shows had artists and literary quality and variety shows still had a place in prime time.
Today, occasionally a magician is on. Jeff Dunham, filthy humor and all, is on with his ventriloquism shtick on the Comedy Channel but otherwise magic is seldom seen on TV. I long for the days when variety shows were a staple of broadcast television.
I am so sick of reality shows; I am tempted to throw my wife’s TV out the window. Most of them are fake, and the people whose lives revolve around watching that garbage need to get a life. A psychological study was done in 2004 to find out why reality TV is so popular (http://nisonger.osu.edu/
- The results showed that status is the main motivational force that drives interest in reality television. The more status-oriented people are, the more likely they are to view reality television and report pleasure and enjoyment. People who are motivated by status have an above-average need to feel self-important.
- Reality television viewers are more motivated by vengeance than are non viewers. The desire for vengeance is closely associated with enjoyment of competition.
TV is mostly junk in my opinion... It's easy to criticize reality TV. It totally stinks, but that is not the point. America sacrificed quality content to the almighty dollar decades ago. I am old enough to remember Playhouse 90 and CBS Reports. Networks are in a highly competitive and fragmented situation today so they have to turn a profit and the equation is: advertising revenue – the cost of production = gross profit. Reality TV is cheap to produce and it generates enough of an audience to make it attractive to advertisers. TV is going to get a lot worse before it starts getting better and the odds are we will never see another era where the networks compete based on quality. As harsh as all of this sounds, we are getting exactly what we are asking for as a society.
Remember the good old black-and-white Goodson/Toddman shows like "What's my line" and "Password" - which were entertaining and made you actually use your brain? Yes, some of us remember when MTV actually played rock videos, when A&E really meant "Arts" and Entertainment. Now it's no Arts and very little Entertainment. Remember when you could actually learn something on The Learning Channel? Those were the days. Remember the Ed Sullivan Show and The Magic Land of Allakazam? I am disgusted the way “America’s Got Talent” selects and harshly treats magicians.
Even the Weather Channel has begun to include more non-weather related content. They were running some “home improvement” thing the other day while it was snowing like heck outside my window and I did not know how safe the route was to pick up my kids in Hagerstown or when the snow would end and how much would stick. A local TV station was rerunning the weather from 2 days before because the weatherman could not get into the station. I called up the TV manager and told him the least they could do is get the guy Skype or an I-Phone so he could do the report from his house.
So when did TLC, The Learning Channel, become The Dysfunctional Family and Surgical Monstrosities-All-the-Time-
Our society is becoming a sicker society, tainted with entertainment interests in watching other people fail and getting a thrill from it – Reality TV. “Jon and Kate plus 8 now minus one- to be continued” Who cares? Kate got a new hairdo. Who cares?
Yes, I guess there is a good definition of Reality TV: It's showing us for who we really are, a country full of creeps? On top of all this, money fuels it and helps drive the networks to gear shows to generate more money, regardless of whether or not it's any value, or that we are any better by watching it. It is a self-perpetuating downward spiral.
I know people who go home and watch DVR'ed shows all night while they are DVR’ing more shows at the same time. That makes no sense! Get a life. I would rather go for a jog and lose a few pounds than watch a dozen weepers crash diet their way through The Biggest Loser. Need a resolution? Go take a dance lesson when Dancing with the Stars is on. Go to a local concert or a karaoke night. Organize a drawer, reupholster a chair, or plant a flower instead of watching HGTV for ten hours. Turn off Joyce Meter , Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn and just read your Bible for yourself! Magicians! Get out and do a magic show for a needy cause!
One evening my wife was sitting at the dining room table doing a craft project. The TV was off. I asked, “Why are you doing a craft project?” She said, “We have 725 TV channels and the DVR has 26 hours of shows that I have saved. We spend $94 a month but really there is nothing worth watching”… Yes!!! My wife is coming to her senses!
Enough of this stuff lets talk magic!
I have a mentalism bit that I perform every once in a while. It is a Headline Prediction! This one does not seem to use a stooge and no one would believe that it could.
I ship a package to the show sponsor a week before the show. It is a cardboard box that contains inside an aluminum foil wrapped clear plastic box with a small wooden chest (3 by 3 by 5 inches) inside “to keep it sealed”. (Chests are available at Michael’s Crafts and other stores).
The daily newspaper is brought forward. The cardboard box has been in the sponsor’s possession ever since it was received the week before.
I have the sponsor open the cardboard box. Inside they find the aluminum foil wrapped clear plastic box. The excuse is to prevent x-rays. “If someone knew the future they could make millions by betting on events. To prevent this and to preserve my sanity I never try to predict a headline but a more trivial event. There is an ancient Greek proverb that says, “Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they reveal the future!”
We both peel back the foil on the outside of the clear plastic case. The wooden chest is removed from the inside of the plastic case with foil on it.
I call for my assistant to come forward and hold her (or his) hands out with their finger tips vertical to the floor so they can gently hold the internal locked wooden chest by the ends.
The newspaper is opened and I have the sponsor take the chest and put it in front of him on the table. Here is where you have options as to the “Prediction”. I never tell anyone up to this point that this is a Headline Prediction act. The reason is that if there is a major tragedy you are locked into a real “downer” when it comes to revealing the headline. If there is a happy headline, by all means use it. If not then say that you had a mental block on the front page due to the nature of the headline.
Your out will be this: Stress that you “visualized” a single page. Have the sponsor turn to page 3 as you seemingly vaguely recall a specific number in one of the stories in the 3rd or fourth column. It was the number of people getting rebates on something (use any trivial story with a few facts). I stand away and the guy opens the chest and inside is a white card that fills the chest and on it is written “Page 4 Column 3 396 people”.
Sure enough in the paper on page 4, Column 3 is that number.
I have actually done this predicting 3 stock closing prices! AXP 36.52 etc. You may have Financial Planners following you out the door!
The secret? A stooge! Not the Sponsor but my assistant who holds the chest for the brief time! They have a “thumb writer” on their thumb. The craft box is doctored by sanding the slit on the back where the lid hinges. The card is partly inserted through the slit with most of it hanging out the back where it can be easily written on with a thumb writer. I pre-write the known parts and my assistant fills in the specifics.
I think that this may have originally been “The Jack London Prediction Chest”. I never saw the manuscript or confirmed the creator of this. I was shown the method in the late 60s by Chuck Windley when I was working for him. It is a goodie! Try it!
I can say that after reading Sheldon’s excellent Ring Reports and from my E-mail contacts with those of you that have not forgotten me, “Good things are always happening in Ring 170!”
Dennis Phillips
Saturday, January 16, 2010
2010-01 Famulus newsletter
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 01/20/2010 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme: New Magic
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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, 01/20/2010 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme: New Magic
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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.
2010-01 From the Editor
So before we know it another year has come and gone. Old Father Time has changed into the Baby Time, and for many we reset the clocks and counters and start again. Of course this is also the time for New year's Resolutions, have you kept to yours?
In addition to all the problems at home, we are reminded that things could be a lot worse by the disaster in Haiti. I am sure I speak for the Ring in saying that our thoughts are with the unfortunate souls in that country.
So with new hope for a new year I wish all Ring 170 members, their families and friends all the best for 2010.
Your editor
Stefan
In addition to all the problems at home, we are reminded that things could be a lot worse by the disaster in Haiti. I am sure I speak for the Ring in saying that our thoughts are with the unfortunate souls in that country.
So with new hope for a new year I wish all Ring 170 members, their families and friends all the best for 2010.
Your editor
Stefan
2010-01 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring
President Craig Fennessy called the meeting to order on December 16th, 2009 and introduced the Ring's officers to the 31 members and guests in attendance.
The first order of business was the nomination and election of Officers for calendar year 2010. The results were President: Craig Fennessey, Vice-President: Chris Dunn, Director at Large: James Songster, Treasurer: Art Thomas, Secretary: Sheldon Brook, Sergeant-at-Arms: Joe Vecciarelli. Following the election Jackie Manna presided over a Christmas Gift Exchange and Holiday Party.
James Songster emceed the meeting that followed and offered a Christmas Trivia Quiz. Unknown to the membership until that time, Santa Claus, appearing at two major theme parks in the area and soon to make his presence known around the world on Christmas Eve was a member of our Ring.
Magic Ian continued the holiday merriment by demonstrating a variation of his excellent rope handling and then finished by performing Howie Schwartzman's Card Across. Past Ring President Carl Fowler was up next with his version of “The Locked Deck”. Mike Martin finished the performance segment of the December meeting with a Change Bag Routine and finally pulling a “Hat out of the Rabbit”.
Dan Stapleton made available to the membership a large carton of VHS tapes that past Ring Secretary, Dennis Phillips, had collected over the years. Dennis relocated to the Harrisonburg, Virginia area last summer and is missed.
The Ring looks forward to 2010 with lectures and events already in the planning stage.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!! Sheldon Brook
2010-01 Augmented Reality Magic Trick
This is actually a commercial, but if you ignore the product, quite interestiing
http://www.always.com/
Joe Vecciarelli
It's Unbelievable Magic
Bunnies In Peril
Joe Vecciarelli
It's Unbelievable Magic
Bunnies In Peril
2010-01 Dennis' Deliberations
For all things fade away, become the stuff of legend, and are soon buried in oblivion…So what is left worth living for? This alone: justice in thought, goodness in action, speech that cannot deceive, and a disposition glad of whatever comes… Meditations IV. 33- Marcus Aurelius
I believe that in most people, age brings a certain amount of stoicism. The mature person sees that there are more years behind them than in front of them. For most people this leads to retrospection and a future focus on doing those things that will have permanence. Of course, compared to John Calvert and the late John Booth we all are young whipper-snappers. As we face a new year we can look back on our magical friends who we lost last year and think about how they will be remembered in the future.
I have never gone through a cardiac by-pass operation but I know a lot of guys that have had it done in their 40s and early 50s. Many seemed to collapse into a fog of mania with irrational behavior. They get a new Corvette. They ditch the wife they have had for 25 years. Usually the wife doesn’t understand what is happening. Perhaps the guys believe that by going back to their behaviors when they were in their 20s they will not have to face their morality.
I have known two individuals that decided that they wanted to start the career in magic that they always wanted to do. The first guy, Barry, did not buy a Corvette, he bought $50,000 worth of illusions! Recil Bordner was thrilled and George Kimery pleased as punch. Barry then dumped his wife. She was shattered. I do not think it was her crow’s feet, she was still a nice looking woman. The real reason was that Barry wanted a hot younger chick that could dance. Moreover, he wanted a new woman that did not remember previous mundane 20 years of his failure at a magic career. Barry had an average career as a chemical salesman. Of course, writing orders for chemicals is a totally different skill from marketing a magic show. Unable to totally leave the income from sales, he set out a goal to phase into full time. The results were a disaster. If you intend to be a full-time pro, it requires 25 hours a day and your full attention. His sales job suffered, commissions fell and eventually he was terminated. Now he had alimony payments, child support payments, two households and a high maintenance younger woman. Marriage number two failed, he was forced to sell his props and eventually Barry ended up giving up his dreams of magic. He was bitter and totally dropped out of the scene. We are now into Year 3 of the Great Recession. I have no idea how long it will last. There is not a lot of margin in financial affairs with home equity declining and job insecurity. Keep a cool head. For most folks that have a relatively secure income, the real joy of magic should be found as a hobby or part time business. When you shift from having fun at magic to the challenge of making a living, all the fun goes away.
In an attempt to not to be all somber, there are focused professional magicians like Greg Frewin. I got a hold on a DVD copy of Greg Frewin’s Canadian Special on CBC last month. Greg, as you know, gave up on the Vegas scene and moved back to Niagara Falls and opened up his own magic dinner theater in that tourist town. On the surface the theater appears successful and the culmination of every magician’s dream. I still would like to see his P and L statement. (Professional magicians, understand that P and L does not stand for Petrie and Lewis)
I liked the TV show! It was a bit different from the typical US special. It had just a touch of “reality TV”. I liked the family bits and scenes. The writing and pacing was perfect for a Holiday Family special. It had everything “kids, baby lions, a loving wife, a hot chocolate trick, danger and an inside look at the Frewin Theater operation and his workshop. He is a competent welder. How can you lose with a helicopter shot of a frozen Niagara Falls as dusk? Of course the effect itself gave no reasoning for doing it beside the Falls but we all know that a magic special needs an obligatory Big Stunt. He had a nice use for a Zimmerman base with the Girl in the Triangle Frame to Doves.
Unlike most other US specials, I really got to feel that I had met and related to Greg through the tube. He successfully mixed “walk around”, “street magic” with just enough of the big box stuff to create the image that he lives a magical life. He had a great finale where his family walks out in the snow at night so he can show them a new Christmas tree. Using a couple of D’Lites he pulls lights out of the air and pops them on the tree only to grab a handful of lights to toss at the tree to completely illuminate it. I have never seen a more rational reason to use a D’Lite.
This special will bolster his career and we all will be seeing a lot more of him. His finale was a surprise. Big Fire spikes through him hanging upside down in a cage in a strait jacket. I did not expect him to use the “Shrouded Transformation” gimmick and the big cat as the resolution to his final big stunt.
For years I have been searching for a replacement for the old “Upside down Coke bottle trick” (the water stays in the bottle even when you shove toothpicks up the opening). That is what the water bottle seems like but the advertisement says they do not use a cap or disc. I suspect that it uses a clear “plug”, but I will let others argue over semantics. He followed it up by breathing on another plastic water bottle and turning it into ice. These were appropriate and powerful bits of street magic.
It is month five for us here in the Shenandoah Valley. I am plugging along as a substitute teacher and doing restaurant magic. I am still hoping that something full time opens up in the education field. At the end of February, I am slated to Emcee and help produce a big fund-raiser show for a young cancer victim, using the members of Ring 320.
Finally, Cindy and I watched Dick Clark last night on New Year’s Eve. Dick Clark was one guy who promoted magic on his variety show productions. He helped to make Franz Harary, Joseph Gabriel, Melinda and produces all three of Rudy Coby’s specials. For those of you old enough to have followed Dick through all these years, we can only say that the guy refuses to die! He is now 80 and still suffering from the effects of his 2004 stroke. This year he spoke clearer and was moving his arms a bit. I will spare you all the plastic surgery, Botox and Pancake makeup lines. The guy never seems to age. Like John Calvert, I believe that he is doing what he loves and that helps to push back the tracks of The Grim Reaper when he comes a calling.
Lets all hope for a better 2010!
From snowy Harrisonburg, Virginia on this New Year Day, the very best to you.
Dennis Phillips
I believe that in most people, age brings a certain amount of stoicism. The mature person sees that there are more years behind them than in front of them. For most people this leads to retrospection and a future focus on doing those things that will have permanence. Of course, compared to John Calvert and the late John Booth we all are young whipper-snappers. As we face a new year we can look back on our magical friends who we lost last year and think about how they will be remembered in the future.
I have never gone through a cardiac by-pass operation but I know a lot of guys that have had it done in their 40s and early 50s. Many seemed to collapse into a fog of mania with irrational behavior. They get a new Corvette. They ditch the wife they have had for 25 years. Usually the wife doesn’t understand what is happening. Perhaps the guys believe that by going back to their behaviors when they were in their 20s they will not have to face their morality.
I have known two individuals that decided that they wanted to start the career in magic that they always wanted to do. The first guy, Barry, did not buy a Corvette, he bought $50,000 worth of illusions! Recil Bordner was thrilled and George Kimery pleased as punch. Barry then dumped his wife. She was shattered. I do not think it was her crow’s feet, she was still a nice looking woman. The real reason was that Barry wanted a hot younger chick that could dance. Moreover, he wanted a new woman that did not remember previous mundane 20 years of his failure at a magic career. Barry had an average career as a chemical salesman. Of course, writing orders for chemicals is a totally different skill from marketing a magic show. Unable to totally leave the income from sales, he set out a goal to phase into full time. The results were a disaster. If you intend to be a full-time pro, it requires 25 hours a day and your full attention. His sales job suffered, commissions fell and eventually he was terminated. Now he had alimony payments, child support payments, two households and a high maintenance younger woman. Marriage number two failed, he was forced to sell his props and eventually Barry ended up giving up his dreams of magic. He was bitter and totally dropped out of the scene. We are now into Year 3 of the Great Recession. I have no idea how long it will last. There is not a lot of margin in financial affairs with home equity declining and job insecurity. Keep a cool head. For most folks that have a relatively secure income, the real joy of magic should be found as a hobby or part time business. When you shift from having fun at magic to the challenge of making a living, all the fun goes away.
In an attempt to not to be all somber, there are focused professional magicians like Greg Frewin. I got a hold on a DVD copy of Greg Frewin’s Canadian Special on CBC last month. Greg, as you know, gave up on the Vegas scene and moved back to Niagara Falls and opened up his own magic dinner theater in that tourist town. On the surface the theater appears successful and the culmination of every magician’s dream. I still would like to see his P and L statement. (Professional magicians, understand that P and L does not stand for Petrie and Lewis)
I liked the TV show! It was a bit different from the typical US special. It had just a touch of “reality TV”. I liked the family bits and scenes. The writing and pacing was perfect for a Holiday Family special. It had everything “kids, baby lions, a loving wife, a hot chocolate trick, danger and an inside look at the Frewin Theater operation and his workshop. He is a competent welder. How can you lose with a helicopter shot of a frozen Niagara Falls as dusk? Of course the effect itself gave no reasoning for doing it beside the Falls but we all know that a magic special needs an obligatory Big Stunt. He had a nice use for a Zimmerman base with the Girl in the Triangle Frame to Doves.
Unlike most other US specials, I really got to feel that I had met and related to Greg through the tube. He successfully mixed “walk around”, “street magic” with just enough of the big box stuff to create the image that he lives a magical life. He had a great finale where his family walks out in the snow at night so he can show them a new Christmas tree. Using a couple of D’Lites he pulls lights out of the air and pops them on the tree only to grab a handful of lights to toss at the tree to completely illuminate it. I have never seen a more rational reason to use a D’Lite.
This special will bolster his career and we all will be seeing a lot more of him. His finale was a surprise. Big Fire spikes through him hanging upside down in a cage in a strait jacket. I did not expect him to use the “Shrouded Transformation” gimmick and the big cat as the resolution to his final big stunt.
For years I have been searching for a replacement for the old “Upside down Coke bottle trick” (the water stays in the bottle even when you shove toothpicks up the opening). That is what the water bottle seems like but the advertisement says they do not use a cap or disc. I suspect that it uses a clear “plug”, but I will let others argue over semantics. He followed it up by breathing on another plastic water bottle and turning it into ice. These were appropriate and powerful bits of street magic.
It is month five for us here in the Shenandoah Valley. I am plugging along as a substitute teacher and doing restaurant magic. I am still hoping that something full time opens up in the education field. At the end of February, I am slated to Emcee and help produce a big fund-raiser show for a young cancer victim, using the members of Ring 320.
Finally, Cindy and I watched Dick Clark last night on New Year’s Eve. Dick Clark was one guy who promoted magic on his variety show productions. He helped to make Franz Harary, Joseph Gabriel, Melinda and produces all three of Rudy Coby’s specials. For those of you old enough to have followed Dick through all these years, we can only say that the guy refuses to die! He is now 80 and still suffering from the effects of his 2004 stroke. This year he spoke clearer and was moving his arms a bit. I will spare you all the plastic surgery, Botox and Pancake makeup lines. The guy never seems to age. Like John Calvert, I believe that he is doing what he loves and that helps to push back the tracks of The Grim Reaper when he comes a calling.
Lets all hope for a better 2010!
From snowy Harrisonburg, Virginia on this New Year Day, the very best to you.
Dennis Phillips
Thursday, December 10, 2009
2009-12 Famulus Newsletter - Ring 170
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 12/16/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme: Gift Exchange
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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, 12/16/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP
Meeting theme: Gift Exchange
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
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 – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.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.
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