Noel
Clair had returned
from a holiday in Vanuatu, excited that he had been able to do informal
performances of magic for people in restaurants and elsewhere, and was well
received. He thought he had given about
30 performances.
He went on for us
to do the Bottle Top Matrix to the theme of escaping prisoners, calling it
“Escape from Alcatraz”. Noel
demonstrated his acting skills as he showed us the frustration of the governor
of the prison as his prisoners kept escaping !
He did
magic with brass cups and coins, moving the coin to the cup you least
expected. He had modified the equipment
to make it more serviceable. He had a
magic wallet that enabled playing cards to jump from one side, with “X” cross
tapes to the other side.
Then he
launched out on to “Card Warp”, that marvelous card reversal trick that
requires careful, rehearsed handling.
His handling was as smooth as silk.
At one point he said “Can you credit that ?” – well, no we couldn’t –
even though we knew how it worked, it was still amazing.
Using hair
bands instead of rubber bands for the jumping bands, and spot on dinner knife
with the Paddle move, again Noel put new energy and inventiveness into
classical items.
The sudden
appearance of a slice of watermelon in David Whitson’s mouth startled us
! He had produced the watermelon to
celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival, which is the theme of the Public Show
we are having in October. Next, he set
the scene by talking about static electricity – pieces of paper sticking
to a plastic rod – and then he went on
to show a wand sticking to his hand “as if by magic". He also demonstrated how
to turn a handkerchief into a finger puppet that moved mysteriously at
command.
A
mini-workshop followed, in which David demonstrated how to catch an invisible
ball in a brown paper bag and make it appear as though a real ball had suddenly
materialized inside the bag. This
involved careful timing to snap the paper bag with the fingers at just the
right moment when the invisible ball thrown to you would have arrived at the
bag.
BarryWhitson
did a restoration
item. Having had a match lit so that
it was blackened, he covered it in a handkerchief, and had it cleanly broken by a spectator. Yet, when the handkerchief was opened up,
the match had been restored.
The next
item was “Incredible”. Josey
showed us two pieces of paper that spelled the word “Incredible” when they were
pulled apart, and, as they were pulled apart, two paper clips on the sides of
the papers became linked together.
A
psychology Professor demonstrates challenges with everyday objects in video on the internet,
and he had just posted a new video in the week of our meeting. John Ferguson did some of these
items. He displayed an empty glass
tumbler and a partly filled balloon, and challenged us to use the balloon to
lift the tumbler without touching the tumbler. (You drop a lighted match into
the tumbler and put the balloon on top of the glass. Reduced air pressure sucks the balloon into the glass and it is
easy to lift the tumbler.)
He placed a
cherry tomato in a wine glass, and challenged us to remove the tomato without
touching or moving the glass.
He showed a
glass half filled with water and balanced a credit card on the rim. The challenge was to place a coin on the outer
half of the credit card and keep it balanced. Josey was the one who solved it – fill the glass to the rim with
water and the surface tension of the
water will hold the credit card steady even with a coin added to it.
There were
more items that seemed to fascinate everyone …
what a shame you missed the meeting !
Please try to be there at the November meeting, with the themes “Thumb
Tip Magic” and “Mentalism”.
Remember
that the October meeting is not being held at the Mayfield RSL club but at the
Wesley Uniting Church Hall because it is
rehearsal for our show.
