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….

What Happened at the meeting on Friday 21st February

Noel Clair led the meeting with the theme of Coin Tricks.  As an introduction, he started with a mathematical item that required several number inputs from a spectator, and the results were the spectator’s age and two digits of their phone number.

Steve Irwin showed us a close-up coin item.  Right in front of each person, he placed a coin openly on his palm, rubbed the coin vigorously, and it vanished.  He clearly showed us his hands and arms, and there was nowhere for the coin to go!

Neil Lynch chose a coin transposition for his item.  He displayed a silver coin in his palm, made a mystic pass, and the coin had changed into a copper coin.  Surprising !

Al Hirschel is very keen on impromptu items that a magician can do if he is asked to “Do a magic trick”.  Al did for us a “Do and Demonstrate” for an impromptu Coin through Spectator’s Palm.  Obviously anyone can carry or borrow a dollar coin, the only apparatus needed, and his impromptu presentation was convincing.

Another strong presentation was given to us by David Whitson.   He had developed a story presentation for Dynamic Coins, the classic brass coin box that many of us (including myself) have stored away, unused.  His story involved a person crossing over borders from one country to another and avoiding the theft of his money by the dishonest border guards by using the coin box to vanish his money.  We might be inspired to try it out !   David also had a novelty item of one large coin that could be split into two coins of the same diameter.

“Would you please mark your initials on this five cent piece?” asked Andrew Pickard of a volunteer.  He then showed the volunteer a pair of dishes, closed with rubber bands.  On opening these, and the enclosed pair of dishes, we found the marked coin in the centre of this nest.  A nice presentation of classic magic!

The evening was then very capably wrapped up by Noel Clair.  He used the French drop to vanish a coin,  and then produced from his knee, elbow or a spectator’s ear.  Taking a large card mat he performed a nice coin matrix (“with just a little shake of my hand one coin moves diagonally across..”).  He showed us how skilled was his manipulation as he repeatedly vanished and produced a huge coin (4 cm diameter across)  –  a coin that seemed impossible to hide !

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 21st January

The theme of the January 2014 meeting was ”Free Choice” – which is a pretty broad theme ! - hosted by Al Hirschel.  "Free Choice" could include items we had been working on during the holidays..... 

Al's free choice was an alphabet game, in which the goal was to be the last person to cross out the last letter of the 26.  This fascinated all of us, particularly David Blunden, who did a logical and mathematical analysis of it to discover its workings ! 

Joel Howlett showed a diary with a card written on each day, and the card chosen by the spectator matched the one that was written on today’s date in the diary! In another card item, the chosen card disappeared from the deck and appeared back in the card box, which was on the table all the time. 

Next, Joel did a magnificent item.  He cut off ten talons from the pack of cards, and showed that they each had 1, 2 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 cards in them!  Then he turned over the top card of each pile and showed they were all the spades from 1 to 10 in numerical order!   He added the K, Q, J of Spades to complete the suit, then he mixed up the remaining cards.  Dividing the cards with two cuts, he displayed each of the the three packets – one had all the hearts in numerical order, and the others likewise all the clubs and all the diamonds. Stunning!…….   think of the practice this must necessitate !

John Ferguson did an item of Chemical Magic – Colourless to Muddy to Colourless illustrating a story that he told. (This uses silver nitrate, sodium hydroxide and ammonia.)

Al Hirschel did one of those wonderful story-telling items he likes so much in which he repeatedly turns over cards to illustrate the story he is telling. They work well - as long as every card turns up at the right moment, as they did - there's practice and skill.

Noel Clair was into story telling as well, and his story was based on the well-known jumping rubber bands, which we hardly recognized, it was so cleverly illustrated by his story.

He performed some items using hair securers, and levitated a card.  Then he did that beautiful classic, Card Warp, in which a card bent inside another card reverses from front to back as you push it through.

Barry Whitson performed Equal-Unequal Ropes – a nice rope routine that always goes well.

David Whitson showed us Three Card Monte using giant cards, and he talked about methods for doing this.

Our "free choices" ended up as a really enjoyable night.

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.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 16th August

The theme was “Self Working Tricks”, and the host David Whitson led off the evening with a demonstration of animating a stuffed animal,  “Wally the Wombat”.  While making a stuffed animal appear alive is not directly magic, it is linked to the production of a stuffed animal – especially for those of us who do not wish to raise a live rabbit or dove.   He next used a Drawer Box to produce a teddy bear puppet.

The theme of self-working tricks covers just about every facet of magic, as demonstrated by Barry Whitson performing a rope cutting trick, followed by Al Hirschel performing a close-up item – a magic key in which the tongue could be moved up and down by the magician but not by the spectator.

Tom Blunden had two items for us – the rolling together of a $10 and $20 bills so that they changed places, and the paper cutting item, “Staricle” (from Dan Harlan). Straight cuts with scissors produce a star and a round  circle - the production of this large round hole allows the performer to put his head inside it for an applause cue !

The workings of the “Fire-book” were shown and explained by John Ferguson.  He next showed how a vanished silk reappeared inside a Coke bottle.  Another silk effect used was the Crystal Box, in which a silk appears instantly inside an empty perspex box just with a wave of the hand.  John demonstrated the Egyptian water box, a wooden box that can be shown empty and then a glass of Coke is produced from inside it.  There are problems in using this, though with sight angles.  Cards with coloured spots were used in a baffling mind-reading effect. Because John had not practiced the Penetrating Block effect, and wanted to do it, he was grateful when David Whitson volunteered to perform it for him.

What a collection of magic items Noel Clair had for us!  He had been given a “D-Lite”, and he manipulated the glowing red light so it appeared to come from his mouth, his ear, and so on.  Two coins passed magically through a glass.  He did for us the age-old miracle of the Magic Colouring Book, in which initially blank pages turn into drawings and then into coloured pictures. Coins tricks followed – he loves them – a coin disappearing from a little double door box, Coins Across, and one of the Coin Box type tricks.  His version of Three Card Monte was very smooth, as was the card wallet switch.  The Card Warp effect is a superb mystery, and he did it justice.  He passed a rope around, then through, a volunteer’s arm, foot and leg.  He finished off with colour changing silks and colour changing shoelaces.  His concatenation of items shows just how widely the term “Self-working trick” applies!

Monica Howlett and Deadra gave us a change of pace. Monica sang for us two songs to Deadra’s great guitar playing – “How to Save a Life”, and “Little Talks”.  Nice rendition, and a neat rehearsal for items in our October Show.  Moody and expressive !

Al Hirschel rounded the evening off with his automatic trick with the theme of islands and treasure.  He showed us just how self-working is this item.  This one really is "From A Shuffled Deck In Use"!  Starting with any pack, even a borrowed one, he showed us how to deal the cards out from a shuffled pack, and still tell a fascinating story, with a surprising finish.  This was a vivid practical demonstration of how useful is a self-working trick, allowing the magician to concentrate on presentation.  He did a great job.

What Happened at the meeting on Friday 19th July

The theme of the meeting was “Close-up Magic”.  It was hosted by John Ferguson who led off with Tenyo’s “Invisible Zone”, in which the middle of a biro pen vanishes.  He had been circulating around the room earlier showing an illusion – a finger ring that appears to grow larger as it is turned around the finger (from grandillusions.com).

David Whitson, our President, recalled his earliest years in magic as he did his earliest items - spikes through coin, a coin vanishing in a slide, and Professor’s Nightmare with woven ropes that looked like wands.  Cheerful nostalgia!

One of our recent visitors, Elliott, asked a spectator to give a number, then he dealt cards to that number, and there was previously the chosen card face up in the deck. Clever!   

Andrew Pickard, who loves bill changes, made a spectator’s $20 change into a $5 bill, then handed the $5 back to the spectator!  After making a hole in a bill with a pen, he showed it had healed itself.  Finally, the poor spectator was rewarded with his money back when Andrew restored his $20.

A visit to Disneyland for Steve Irwin had enabled him to buy a tower of three blocks with a picture of Mickey Mouse on them.   No matter how he threaded them in the holder, they reassembled to form Mickey Mouse again – mysterious!  He displayed a stage size “Hot Rod”, and the colour chosen by the spectator took over all the colours on the rod.   We groaned when he produced a finger chopper – but he made it highly amusing as he got a poor victim – um – a volunteer - to risk their finger in this device….  and it all worked out nicely.

Noel Clair did a whole range of close up, starting with  rubber band through finger, and then revealing a chosen card using a crystal ball. He loves the coin matrix, and he did that for us, and then moved on to another coin effect,  “Escape from Alcatraz” the script for which he had invented, in which the convicts are trying to escape and the guards trying to stop them.  Then he gave us the pea and shell game using walnut shells, and another matrix effect using nuts and screws ending with a nut on a screw (how the heck?), and then a commercial item - the rising metal ball in the tube effect. Most of these items were not commercial ones, but ones he had developed himself.

John Ferguson came back to do an item made up years ago by our Club’s founder and famous early magician, Rex Sinclair – a counter elimination game, with the instructions written by Rex himself.  John did Tenyo’s “Tunnel of Darkness”, and another similar dice-change item.  Water poured into a cup on Elliottt’s head vanished, but reappeared when he poured it out of a jug (i.e. a Foo can).  A tiny metal can (“Particle Chamber”) caused a Singapore 5 cents to disintegrate into particles. 

New member Josey Yan did several items for us this time. One was a sweet romantic effect, Love Heart (“two hearts beat as one”).  She tackled the cups and balls, using her knowledge of Chinese language to advantage as she taught us the Chinese words for the colours of the cups she was using!  The dice box with big dice in it she successfully shook into lots of smaller dice.  Her final items were the svengali pack and penetrating Chinese money (naturally!) with a pen, showing it undamaged.

Elliott, and a new visitor Joe Stallard, were bursting with enthusiasm and rounded off the evening very nicely with a clever assortment of card items. These included Joe finding a chosen card stuck under one of the tables in the room – don’t know how he did that undetected, since the room was locked before anyone arrived!

Did you miss the joyful and mysterious time we had?  Oh, you must come to the next meetiing, on "Self-Working Magic" !

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 21st June

This meeting had as its theme, "Silks, Handkerchiefs and Ribbon Magic", with Steve Irwin as Host.

The Ghost tube is a brilliant piece of gear, and  David Whitson handled it nicely, producing a bunch of silks from the Ghost cylinder, which had previously been shown empty – we could see right through it. Then he did an open-handed Blendo in which four silks were clearly shown and then blended in mid air into a four panel multicoloured silk.  Using a  change bag with two volunteers, he produced three enormous silks from nothing, and then draped them across the front of the two volunteers and himself, showing all three persons transformed into circus animals and performer.

Joel Howlett started with a silk in his hand, shook it, and other coloured silks edged their way up from the centre of it, like a silk fountain, and then suddenly there was a bottle in the middle of it all!   He also did the 20th Century silks (should it be called 21st Century now?).

Four colour changes were shown us by Noel Clair ! He pushed a coloured silk into his hand and it changed colour as it went through his hand – and changed colour again, and changed colour again, and changed colour again !  Yes, four colour changes !

Our newest member, Josie Yan, delighted us all by “having a go”, getting up to present us with a magic trick – the torn and restored tissue.  It went well.  Congratulations!

The Host for the evening was Steve Irwin.   He kept doing amazing items throughout the evening in between the others' presentations. Leading off with a very neat colour changing silk,  he later did a nice flash paper effect.  It is always effective to mix the sheen of silk with the fire of flashpaper.   Another brilliant item was appearing flowers from finger tips – both pretty and unexpected.   He also surprised us with silk appearing tied on wand.

A really great evening, in all.  I hope I have whetted your interest, and that if you missed this evening, you’ll make a point of being there at the next one !