What Happened at the meeting on Friday 21 March

Al Hirschel was the first of our magicians to perform for us this evening.  He started with a brass ball sinking magically into a tube too narrow for it, then moved to a trick with coloured model coffins – he could mysteriously tell which colour had been placed in the cover.

The theme of this meeting had been advertised as “Rubber Band Magic”, but the host, John Ferguson, had realized that most rubber band tricks only last 15 seconds or so, and it would be impossible to fill an evening with only Rubber Band Magic.  Therefore, after consulting with the President, they had broadened the topic to include “Close-up Magic”.   John performed the rubber band through finger, rubber band through card box, and “Particle Chamber”, in which a Canadian 10 cent coin is shredded into silver filings.

“This is a very old trick” announced President David Whitson as he showed us the Mystic Kings.  He had bought this as a young person, and loved it.  Three Kings change to blanks, then change to Aces.  Since rubber band magic was a theme, David also did the colour jumping band on the fingers, then concluded with Rising Wand.

Barry Whitson showed us the exchanging rubber bands, in which coloured hair loops of different colours exchanged places with the jerk of a finger.  Noel Clair commented, “this is the best quick visual effect that I know”.

Dan Harlan’s “Travelling Cash” is a clever item, in which folded paper money placed over one of four strands of rubber band moves down successively with no visible way of it happening.  This was brilliantly performed for us by Joel Howlett.  Afterwards, he couldn’t resist finishing with rubber band vanishing up nose!

Story telling dominated the performance of Noel Clair.   He revitalized the Jumping Rubber Bands by performing it to a story.  He did the Crossing and Uncrossing rubber bands.  Following on the theme of linking and unlinking, he showed that this could happen with safety pins.  While safety pins were in our minds, he did the classical trick of closing a safety pin on a handkerchief, then ripping the safety pin from one end of the hankie to the other, without damaging the material. 

Noel showed us the Dynamic Coins (used last month by David Whitson) and asked members to help him think up a story-line for this.  He showed he is not short of stories by doing the Colour Changing Pocket knife with a story about smuggling the ivory handle through Customs by changing it magically to ebony! 

In another item, he started with three nuts, changed this to a bolt and two nuts, then to one nut and a bolt screwed onto a nut.  Then, he did every manipulation possible with just a pen and a pen-top.  The top disappeared, then reappeared, then the pen vanished and so on…..

Cut and restored rubber band was the first item performed by Stuart Gray.  We saw the band knotted, and really cut with scissors, and then it was whole again!   We couldn’t believe our eyes! Stuart did Silver to Copper coin, then finished by making three coins vanish, then reappear, then vanish, then reappear….