Sunday, November 08, 2009

Children’s Magic Presented at the November Meeting

Seventeen children and forty adults packed the meeting room at the Holiday Inn in Alexandria to watch members of Ring 50 perform “Kids Magic”. President Louis Meyer was the lead-off magician. He introduced his friend “Rodney” who perched upon a lota bowl. Louis emptied the bowl throughout his act and the bowl appeared to hold gallons of water.

Lorenzo the Great” (Larry Lipman) got on his knees and entertained the littlest of the kids with a silk routine. Each of the little kids held a silk and helped “Lorenzo the Great” make it disappear. He followed this with a Jasper the Ghost Halloween routine.

Noland Montgomery performed a miser's dream routine using a boy from the audience as a helper, plucking coins from the boy’s ear, shirt, elbow, collar, and hair, and then finishing with a stream of coins from the boy's nose. This was followed by a puppet routine using a rabbit-in-hat puppet named "Chester," who did exactly the opposite of everything Noland told him, to the hysterical delight of the audience.

With Hippity Hop Rabbits, "Whitey" and "Blackie", John Roberts had the kids screaming "turn them around" - adults laughing - the kids yelling - "No, The other way!” Then at the end there was absolute silence when the surprise ending occurred with the back side of "Whitey" and "Blackie" rabbits were now red and green.

Dwight Redman performed 'Dots Impossible' showing a two-sided giant domino card with a spot on one side and four spots on the other. He turned the domino card back to the first side- now there were three spots instead of one! He turned it over again, and now there were six spots instead of four! If that wasn’t amazing enough, he pretended to "teach the secret" to the audience. Just when they thought they knew how it's done- there were now eight spots on the card! Then Dwight performed his version of Martin Lewis’ Cardiographic. The magician had a spectator select a card and then he took a sketch pad and began to draw what he believed will be the selected card. Then he told the audience that it is really just the deck of cards he was drawing. As if by magic, the chosen card appeared from the sketch of the deck! Then the sketch is torn from the pad and given to the spectator to keep!

Bob Mills (special guest) did some funny gags then a routine in which the Mom knew ahead of time which color Peanut M&M would be taken out of the bag by her son, and then the remaining M&Ms all changed to her chosen color, blue.

Past President Eric Henning folded a handkerchief into a mouse, then wound it up (to the delight of the kids) and chased it around the room as it jumped out of his hands. He then told a story (set to music) about a kingdom without colors, and had the children collect the colors from their clothes and toss them at a tube and a black-and-white flower silk became colored and grew to four times its size. His energy kicked the show up a notch.

Theo Rushin presented his version of the Benson Bowl routine with a young lady from the audience. This is a true classic of magic in which sponge balls magically disappear and reappear one at a time under an inverted bowl.

Dick Christian did two effects, his classic egg bag routine with a girl (Sarah) and boy (Robert) from the audience. Then after producing several colorful silks he produced a seldom-seen classic live rabbit ("Snowball, the Magic Bunny") from his empty top hat. At the conclusion of the show, the children were invited to the stage to pet “Snowball”.

Click here to read the November Magi-Gram Newsletter.

Ring 50 Welcomes New Members
Three new members were voted into Ring 50 on November 4, 2009. Robert Brantner is an amateur magician and a pilot with the airline industry. He hails from West River Maryland. Herb Hughes form Alexandria Virginia is an orthodontist and became interested in magic in 1990. He started performing illusions for his patients and subsequently performed at elementary schools, Fall Festivals, Christmas shows and dental illusions during Dental Month. Greg Szlyk, from Fredericksburg Virginia, has been interested in magic since he was a child. He is most comfortable with close-up magic with coins and cards. Congratulations to these new members of I.B.M. Ring 50.

Devin Knight to Lecture at the December 2nd Meeting
Devin Knight’s lecture is a combination of comedy, close-up stage magic, and mentalism. He has something for everyone. Devin has a long list of effects to be taught during his lecture. Items such as: One-By-One, Tele-Food, Impossible Prediction, Sanda-Panda, Improved Baby-Gag, Around The Square, Salt To Bulb, Random Thoughts, Predictionary, Paint Surprise, Borrowed Ring To Light bulb, Farsight, Psychic Spectator, Chess Gambit, The Best Of Al Mann, Plus other surprise items to be added. The lecture is free to paid-up Ring 50 members, all other magicians $10 at the door.

Magi-Whirl 2010
Bob Patterson reminded members to register early for Magi-Whirl 2010 to save. Magi-Whirl will be April 9 & 10, 2010. The headliners for the two day event are: Duane Laflin, Sammy Smith, and Jim Sisti. There will be four lectures, plus three close-up performances, and a 90 minute Gala evening show.

Ring 50 Treasurer Collecting Dues for 2010
Ring 50 annual dues of $15 for 2010 are due by the February. Anyone, wishing to do so, may pay their dues at the December 2nd meeting. The Ring 50 Treasurer, Bob Patterson, requests that you pay by check, as this eases the record keeping. Make checks payable to IBM Ring 50. Cash will be accepted providing you have the correct change ($15). If you are unable to make the meetings, you can also send a check to his home address at 3450 Wainscott Place, Lake Ridge, VA 22192-5362. Enjoy your Ring activities throughout 2010 by paying your dues now.

~ ~ Bob Patterson