What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 20th September

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.