Ring 50 Schedule

2009
February 4 …..… Magic Teach-in, (reminder dues due)
March 4……..……’What’s New at Barry’s’
April 1 ………..….. Auction Night, Nominations for Officers
April 17 & 18…… Magi-Whirl 2009, Washington DC, Ring 50
April 19............... Four Hour Masters Class with Jeff McBride
May 6…………..... Dan Lacey Contest, Election of Officers
June 3……………. Winton Carroll Contest “Most Humorous Magician”
June 30 - July 4, 2009…… 81st IBM Convention, Nashville, Tennessee
July ……………… No Ring 50 Meeting

January Ring 50 Meeting 'History of Magic'

Broken Wand Ceremony for Phillip Miller

Past President Mike Taggert stepped in and opened the first meeting of 2009. Mike introduced the TVP for Washington DC, Jim Flanigan, who performed a broken wand ceremony along with Jack Nance for Phillip Miller who passed away on December 13, 2008. Phil, originally from Illinois, was an educator. He moved to DC and went to work for the Federal Government at the Pentagon as Deputy Director of Defense Supply Agency. He retired from the Government. He was a member of the Order of Merlin of the I.B.M. and a member of the Invisible Lodge (Masons). He is survived by his brother Mike Miller in Atlanta GA. Rucj Uffelman spoke of him fondly as a fellow member in the Virginia Magic Society. Larry Lipman reminisced about how Phil welcomed Larry to Ring 50. Buddy Smith spoke as well and said what a good friend he was and was also a fellow Mason. Mike Taggert gave a dissertation on their friendship and good times with Phil.

Mike Taggert, Magi-Whirl Chairman, made reminders about the upcoming ‘Best Little Convention in the National Capital Area”, on April 17 & 18, 2009. Registrations can be made at www.Magi-Whirl.Org and be sure to get your registrations in early to save money. Jeff McBride is the main attraction for Gala Show.

History of Magic

The theme for the January meeting was ‘History of Magic’. John Roberts started off with the beginning of I.B.M. in 1922, its founders and the first issue of the Linking Ring. Because it was founded by two Americans and a Canadian, the society was deemed "International". In 1980 he obtained a collection of magic magazines and discovered in the collection the first issue of the Linking Ring. He read excerpts from it and then gave us all a copy of it.

Arnie Fuoco wowed all present with a classic card effect: ‘Out of This World’. Arnie went into great detail about the history of this 1942 Paul Curry effect. A trick Dia Vernon called ‘trick of the century’. Paul Curry was an inventor of magic (Inspired Dean Dill's Box) as well as: "Open Prediction". Arnie went on to explain some of the transformations and variations the trick has made throughout the years.

Dick Christian told of how important the old books of magic are and how the influence the magic of today. He gave us a listing of books about Magic and Magic History he recommends that we should read and gain the true basics of magic. These books have the foundations of the magic today.

Eric Henning, our Victorian Magician, closed the evening with a history of the Downs Palm from its beginnings with a Peruvian-born illusionist; who had great success in France in the late 1800's performing as L'Homme Masque, or "The Masked Man" (Jose Antenar de Gago). T. Nelson Downs brought it to the US but used the move from a different angle. Eric described Victorian magic as being developed from old con games to respective magic presentations. He also reiterated that books are a great place to learn basic magic effects and handling.

by Bob Patterson & Sam Brothers

January Magi-Gram is Online

The January 2009 issue of the Magi-Gram is now online, and will also be emailed and mailed to members. You can see it, read it, and even download it to your computer or print it out by going to this link. It's also linked on the right hand column of this page. Please thank longtime editor and TVP Jim Flanigan for his tireless efforts and excellent work.

Broken Wand Ceremony for Phillip H. Miller

Phillip Miller, 72, of Annandale, Va., died December 13, 2008. He held I.B.M. number 26655M and was a member of the Order of Merlin. Originally from Illinois, he was an educator who moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he went to work for the federal government as the deputy director of the Defense Supply Agency at the Pentagon until he retired. Phil was also a member of the Invisible Lodge (Masons) and was active in the foundry Methodist Church of Washington. For the last 10 years, Phil enjoyed learning juggling. He recently moved to Greenspring Village in Springfield, Va. He is survived by a brother, Mike Miller, in Atlanta. A Broken Wand ceremony will be performed at the January 7th meeting of Ring 50 by TVP Jim Flanigan. Jack Nance, another longtime close friend of Phil will break the wand.

Magic That Pleases The Eye

There were 63 members and guests attending the Duane Laflin Lecture at IBM Ring 50 on Wednesday, December 3rd. Laflin’s lecture was finding those hidden treasure in our unused magic. A New Look for Old Props – Cultures changing, magicians need to change too. He has a lot of "out of the box" thinking. He took some things that everyone is doing and put a new spin on it. Laflin really puts the MAGIC into everything he does. Throughout the evening you could hear members commenting, I have one of those and never thought to use it that way. Even the seasoned pros were talking about the way he improved upon tricks they had been doing and how they could not wait to add them to their routines and others who had not use silks were lining up to load up on items he used in his lecture. It was a magical, informative, and entertaining evening.

~ ~ Bob Patterson