What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 19th February

The theme of the evening was “Dinner Magic”, suggested by Noel Clair.  He knew we would all be sitting at a table, and thought it was an excellent opportunity for Dinner Magic.

Noel started with a coin matrix, then a coin transposition.  He did the difficult triple coin roll, and then coin through bottom of glass.   He did another matrix with bottle tops, but this time he added a clever story in which the disappearing bottle tops were prisoners escaping from Alcatraz, despite the careful attention of prison guards.  To finish off, he did a rope trick with cut / no-cut scissors and vanishing knots.  

The first item done by John Ferguson failed – involving supporting straws.  More success was achieved with a credit card balanced on the rim of a glass – how to support it when a coin was placed on the outer side of the card? Answer (by Neil Lynch) – fill the glass with water until the surface tension supports the card !  Other “Bar Betchas”, so beloved by our past member Gary Neville, were done with varying success. One easy item was how to support a sheet of paper vertically on your fingertip? – Answer, flute the paper from its corner.

Carrying on from John’s item with the folding paper, Al Hirschel showed us the difference in strength when paper is corrugated.  Placing the sheet between two cups, it became easy to support another cup when it was folded longitudinally in 1 cm folds.

Joel Howlett very  boldly did a disappearing silk – an item that is usually done at a distance, but which he did now in a close-up situation – and, no, we didn’t see anything !  Again, he performed ring on rope and ring off rope, but this happened while the rope was held in the hand of a spectator !  Joel then had 5 cards selected by spectators and torn up into pieces.  The pieces were cast on the table by a spectator and the face up pieces eliminated, until only one piece was left.  A card in a prediction envelope was opened and it matched the piece in suit and number.  Pulled out of the envelope, it was missing a piece – and the piece on the table fitted.  Incredible!

Dennis Norman started with a card and coin matrix, very smoothly done !  He showed us a diamante paddle and proceeded  with a paddle routine where diamonds appeared and disappeared so fast that it had us completely confused – and amazed - by the time it was finished.  

The Genies and IBM had enjoyed a lecture by Chris Capehart, a magician from USA.  Dennis gave a review of this excellent lecture, and what he said was seconded by Joel Howlett, who also was present.

Our President, David Whitson, showed us the impact of story telling in magic.  He did the Chinese sticks, quite nicely.  Someone reminded him of the story that he had told before with this item, and he launched into this story of a Chinese Emperor and the suitor for the Emperor’s daughter.  With the story, the whole item was really enjoyable and entertaining.  May we remember this lesson!   David then did the union of the multicoloured ropes to encourage our own like-mindedness in our Club.