Report on the Show at Mayfield Bowl, Saturday 20th October

Variety was the order of the night with an excellent performance by eight of our members + close-up at the tables on intermission

It was a family show with an emphasis on the children. David Whitson, our president, was first act with a performance just for the children, making excellent use of the egg bag.   An act that has been used for years and never fails to delight.   He finished with theme of the zoo and ‘find the kangaroo’

Next was seasoned children’s performer Dennis Norman.   One of his best effects was Rocky the raccoon.   A puppet animal, Rocky went over his chest, up his arm and fell on the floor.   The kids loved it.

Dennis had a few kids up on stage and made the most of the lights going off all throughout the Club, albeit only for about 10 seconds!

Andrew Pickard, Warden, was next with a superb bottle production from a book which was held in full view of the audience.   Bottle after bottle was produced from the book. The final production was a bottle of red which was opened, poured into a glass, whereupon he had a few sips.   What an act !

Noel Clair came on with sleight of hand with a jumbo coin and then a rope routine that was second to none.

One of his favourite tricks is Rat Face Jack…A trick involving a rabbit trap.   Not for the faint hearted !

He finished with a torn and restored newspaper which is always popular as it very visual and the audience can relate to a common newspaper

Intermission was only about 15 minutes.   Enough time for the audience to buy a drink from the bar and use the sandbox.   During the recess, a number of our Club members performed some close-up at the tables.

Special mention goes to Geoff Clark, our newest member, who entertained both children and adults alike with cards and ‘special effects’

First after intermission was Grahame Holstein with a perfect demonstration of memory and recall.   Twenty items were randomly selected by the children and written on a white board.   Grahame achieved a perfect score of recalling every item by number.   The children and adults were amazed.

David Blunden came all the way from Sydney just to perform in the show.   This level of commitment was displayed in his performance involving a floating balloon and a running gag with a Lota bowl under the guise of a leek in the roof

Andrew Pickard, Warden, was the last act with his signature ‘snowstorm in China’.   A wonderful effect which delighted all except the cleaners who had a monumental task sweeping up the ‘snowflakes’ !

All in all, it was a good show and every child was given to opportunity of a balloon animal or sword if they wished…One child asked for a bag for his cache of a dozen balloon animals!

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 19th October

Apparatus magic was the theme of the night and Andrew Pickard, better known as Warden, was the host.

He opened the session with a clever penetration trick, The Great Wong’, acquired from the late Konni Rooklyn.   A card with a hole through the middle, was positioned on a stand.   A scroll of Chinese writing was unrolled, rerolled and placed in the stand.   The card penetrated the scroll

David Whitson, our president, was next with a sliding die box.   An oldie but a goodie

Noel Clair gave an excellent demonstration of the ring on the string.   Using perfect sleight-of-hand, he made the ring disappear, reappear and change positions.   He finished with his world famous ‘four coin trick’ where coins magically go from one hand to the other

Our latest new member Geoff Clark finished the show with a medley of apparatus tricks.   Using an apparatus which could be freely examined, moved coins from one side of the table to the other.   Quick, neat and effective

A chosen card was revealed in a plastic sleeve which was self illuminating.   An excellent method of a card revelation not seen before

It was a good night with a combination of apparatus tricks combined with good, old fashioned sleight-of-hand

As one well known magician once said…'Of all the magic in the land, give me clever sleight-of-hand’

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 21st September

AL HIRSCHEL who was hosting the magic, with the theme “Paper Magic and Everyday Objects”, started with Newspaper Tear.  This is a spectacular item, but some of us don’t have the courage to tackle it, because it can go wrong.  To visually tear up something as large as a newspaper and then restore it, is close to a miracle!  Al continued with one of his favourite items in  which he cut a business card in such a way that one can put one’s head through it!   The next item he did was the vanishing salt cellar – a salt cellar is covered with a serviette, then the magician slaps his hand down on top of the salt cellar and it is not there.

JOHN FERGUSON did some “challenges” (also known as “bar betchas”).  He set up a line of three glasses with water in them and three glasses without water – the challenge was to achieve a glass-with-water next to a glass without, right down the line by moving only one glass.  Next, he balanced a credit card on the edge of a glass.  You had to add a coin to the outer side of the credit card without it falling.  He set up a tower of coins with a copper coin on top, and a spare coin.  You had to make the copper coin go to second place without touching the tower, only using the coins in the tower. (You flick the spare coin at the tower to knock out the bottom coin, then place that on top.) Finally with some difficulty, he managed to balance a coin on the edge of a glass using two forks splayed outside the glass.

MICHAEL BLAKEMAN did a card trick – he loves doing them! He had a card chosen, and showed his prediction, that had been in full view.  The prediction was wrong!  He took a cigarette lighter and heated the words of the prediction, and they changed to be the correct card…. a very clever outcome.

DAVID WHITSON took some paper, scrunched it into a ball and placed it in a box.  He drew from the box not torn paper, but a rainbow streamer.  Next, he wrapped a tie around his neck, made a magical gesture, and pulled the tie right through his neck.  David then did his prediction of a famous person – this time the spectator chose “Frank Sinatra” and David showed a picture of him – as a baby!   Another item was a picture of a black cat on a dark night – a black square.  When “the lights were turned on” the cat was shown in vivid colour – (which was a useful road safety effect).

STEVE IRWIN showed an eerie matchbox.   As he gestured at it, the tray of the box opened by itself, then closed by itself.   It was sitting there on his hand, working by itself!   Next, the matchbox turned around in a circle on his hand.  A mysterious effect.

JEFFREY CLARK, a visitor, said he had been to Macdonalds, and showed us a bag from there.  He produced a red D’lite from the bag, and proceeded to eat it, again and again.  He had written his final message in Invisible Ink, which he developed for us to see.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday17th August

Al Hirschel opened the meeting with a performance of Needle through Matchbox.  He then gave the matchbox to Jennifer Ferguson, who opened it to discover it was filled with a solid brass block.  Very mysterious !

Then our President David Whitson, as flagged last month, proceeded to give the first of a series of "Card College" tutorials, this one on the "Overhand Card Shuffle".  We were all given copies of "Shuffling Cards", "Simple Overhand Control" and "Run and Back Control" filled with photographs, and David demonstrated these techniques.  (If you don't understand what these terms mean, you need to come along!)

David intends to continue this "Card College" during the months to come, and this will make Newcastle Society of Magicians the only magic club in NSW that gives magic training during its meetings !