Children’s magic was the theme for the August meeting of IBM Ring 50. It was the appropriate time to focus on hocus-pocus for kids with the seventh and final series of Harry Potter books just released. Some of Ring 50’s best children performers were on hand to entertain many children from the Washington DC area. There were 98 attending this spectacular event. Michael Taggert, President of IBM Ring 50, was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. 
Michael Taggert opened the children’s show by blowing bubbles and magically catching a bubble and turning it into a crystal ball. A child assisted him in catching more bubbles and placing them into a box. The bubbles then turned into bubble gum for all the kids in the audience.
Capt Token (aka Louis Hofheimer) opened with his Harry Potter fireball wand followed by a cut and restored rope routine. After he vanished a cane, Capt Token wheeled out a dollhouse. This was rotated and shown on all sides. The audience shouted the magic words “Abracadabra” and a clown doll appeared in the doorway of the dollhouse. Again Capt Token warmed up the audience and they were shouting the magic words and out popped Janie Johnston dressed in a clown costume.
Laurie Curry, in white tails and red boa, showed the children a bouquet of flowerless green stems until her back was turn and then the children saw the flowers bloomed. When she turned around and look at the bouquet it was always flowerless. She repeated this several times until she was able to catch the flowers in bloom. Next a child was given a wand, but to everyone's surprise, the magician still had a wand in her hand! The child put the first wand in the left hand and took the second wand. Again the magi was left with a wand in her hand! She placed this wand under the assistant's arm. The effect was repeated, until the helper can barely hold them all! Laurie next had the help of several children and produced many magic wands for them to use in helping her change a yellow and blue handkerchief into a green handkerchief in her bag.
Lorenzo the Great (Larry Lipman), a past president of Ring 50, displayed a large jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. Colorful tubes were placed over each jar. After a few magic words he told the kids the peanut butter and jelly changed places. The kids are naturally a bit
skeptical... He really got them going by offering to repeat the miracle and return the jars to their original locations before he lifted the covers! The kids started to riot! They were unconvinced to say the least, until Lorenzo lifted off the covers and showed that the change really did happen! Next Larry showed both sides of two pieces of bread and placed them into a brown paper bag. Six-year-old birthday girl, Valentina, held the bag following the PB&J illusion. When the bag was opened inside she found the two pieces of bread had magically transformed into a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich! Then Lorenzo the Great showed two aluminum tubes to be empty. A balloon was blown up inside one of the tubes, filling it up. He gave another one to a child assistant. Lorenzo pushed a large-diameter knitting needle through one of the side holes, then clear through the balloon and out the other side without the balloon breaking! He instructed the child to do the same. When his needle hit the balloon, it popped. Then a few magic words were spoken and the child was able to pierce the balloon without breaking it. After removing the needles, the still-inflated balloon is pulled from the tube and all were passed around for inspection. Larry finished with his rendition of "Birds and Green Worms", his kids show version of professor's nightmare with green ropes.
John Roberts, another past president of Ring 50, performed one of the most amusing and entertaining tricks in magic. He introduced his world famous bunny buddy “Waldo” and performed the world famous rabbit in the hat card revelation. A card is selected and returned to the pack. The magician picked up a black hat and a rabbit popped into view. The cards were shown to the rabbit and he was asked to pick out the selected card. The deck was dropped into the hat. The rabbit tries and tries. Cards flew wildly out of the hat in all directions. The rabbit reappeared with a sign saying he couldn’t fine it. Eventually, the rabbit reappeared with the selected card held between his paws.
Noland Montgomery explained that he was going to attempt to bake a cake by magic and prepared to bake a cake for the birthday girl, Valentina, He magically produced a bakers cap and apron for her to ear while she held a cake pan. Several attempts where to gather the correct ingredients for the magical batter for the cake. They put in some flour, stirred in some sugar. With a flash of fire the pan was covered by the lid and became very hot. So hot it may have ruined the cake because when the lid was removed out jumped a spring snake.
Turley the Magician (Hugh Turley) entertained everyone with the classic bedtime story about the three little pigs with the help of two children. One child wearing a wolf mask and the other wearing a pig’s nose acted their respective parts. Turley began with a plain cloth bag and changed the bag each time to represent the pigs straw house, stick house, and brick house. The children were great actors throughout the magical story.
Closing the evening Children Show was Louis Meyer, Vice President of Ring 50, performed one of the all time kids' show favorites! Louis made his pet rabbit appear. However he had been run thru the wringer and was flat as a pancake! However Mr. Rabbit was easier to carry this way. The magician brought out a box with a crank on the side and rollers in the front and showed the box empty. A young assistant shared with him her magic powers and helped Louis to feed the flat rabbit thru the wringer into the box. They turned the crank and the flat rabbit was fed into the box. Hoping to reverse the process. Upon opening the box, a real live white rabbit appeared. Following the show each of the children in the audience was able to pet the rabbit.
Michael Taggert opened the children’s show by blowing bubbles and magically catching a bubble and turning it into a crystal ball. A child assisted him in catching more bubbles and placing them into a box. The bubbles then turned into bubble gum for all the kids in the audience.
Capt Token (aka Louis Hofheimer) opened with his Harry Potter fireball wand followed by a cut and restored rope routine. After he vanished a cane, Capt Token wheeled out a dollhouse. This was rotated and shown on all sides. The audience shouted the magic words “Abracadabra” and a clown doll appeared in the doorway of the dollhouse. Again Capt Token warmed up the audience and they were shouting the magic words and out popped Janie Johnston dressed in a clown costume.
Laurie Curry, in white tails and red boa, showed the children a bouquet of flowerless green stems until her back was turn and then the children saw the flowers bloomed. When she turned around and look at the bouquet it was always flowerless. She repeated this several times until she was able to catch the flowers in bloom. Next a child was given a wand, but to everyone's surprise, the magician still had a wand in her hand! The child put the first wand in the left hand and took the second wand. Again the magi was left with a wand in her hand! She placed this wand under the assistant's arm. The effect was repeated, until the helper can barely hold them all! Laurie next had the help of several children and produced many magic wands for them to use in helping her change a yellow and blue handkerchief into a green handkerchief in her bag.Lorenzo the Great (Larry Lipman), a past president of Ring 50, displayed a large jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. Colorful tubes were placed over each jar. After a few magic words he told the kids the peanut butter and jelly changed places. The kids are naturally a bit
skeptical... He really got them going by offering to repeat the miracle and return the jars to their original locations before he lifted the covers! The kids started to riot! They were unconvinced to say the least, until Lorenzo lifted off the covers and showed that the change really did happen! Next Larry showed both sides of two pieces of bread and placed them into a brown paper bag. Six-year-old birthday girl, Valentina, held the bag following the PB&J illusion. When the bag was opened inside she found the two pieces of bread had magically transformed into a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich! Then Lorenzo the Great showed two aluminum tubes to be empty. A balloon was blown up inside one of the tubes, filling it up. He gave another one to a child assistant. Lorenzo pushed a large-diameter knitting needle through one of the side holes, then clear through the balloon and out the other side without the balloon breaking! He instructed the child to do the same. When his needle hit the balloon, it popped. Then a few magic words were spoken and the child was able to pierce the balloon without breaking it. After removing the needles, the still-inflated balloon is pulled from the tube and all were passed around for inspection. Larry finished with his rendition of "Birds and Green Worms", his kids show version of professor's nightmare with green ropes.
John Roberts, another past president of Ring 50, performed one of the most amusing and entertaining tricks in magic. He introduced his world famous bunny buddy “Waldo” and performed the world famous rabbit in the hat card revelation. A card is selected and returned to the pack. The magician picked up a black hat and a rabbit popped into view. The cards were shown to the rabbit and he was asked to pick out the selected card. The deck was dropped into the hat. The rabbit tries and tries. Cards flew wildly out of the hat in all directions. The rabbit reappeared with a sign saying he couldn’t fine it. Eventually, the rabbit reappeared with the selected card held between his paws.
Noland Montgomery explained that he was going to attempt to bake a cake by magic and prepared to bake a cake for the birthday girl, Valentina, He magically produced a bakers cap and apron for her to ear while she held a cake pan. Several attempts where to gather the correct ingredients for the magical batter for the cake. They put in some flour, stirred in some sugar. With a flash of fire the pan was covered by the lid and became very hot. So hot it may have ruined the cake because when the lid was removed out jumped a spring snake.
Turley the Magician (Hugh Turley) entertained everyone with the classic bedtime story about the three little pigs with the help of two children. One child wearing a wolf mask and the other wearing a pig’s nose acted their respective parts. Turley began with a plain cloth bag and changed the bag each time to represent the pigs straw house, stick house, and brick house. The children were great actors throughout the magical story.
Closing the evening Children Show was Louis Meyer, Vice President of Ring 50, performed one of the all time kids' show favorites! Louis made his pet rabbit appear. However he had been run thru the wringer and was flat as a pancake! However Mr. Rabbit was easier to carry this way. The magician brought out a box with a crank on the side and rollers in the front and showed the box empty. A young assistant shared with him her magic powers and helped Louis to feed the flat rabbit thru the wringer into the box. They turned the crank and the flat rabbit was fed into the box. Hoping to reverse the process. Upon opening the box, a real live white rabbit appeared. Following the show each of the children in the audience was able to pet the rabbit. ~ ~ Bob Patterson
Magicians Seek Membership in IBM Ring 50
At the August 1st meeting the following applied for membership in IBM Ring 50 and have membership applications pending with IBM. Upon completion of the HQ IBM membership, and when these magicians attend the next meeting, the members will vote on their acceptance into Ring 50. Danny Selnick, Alexandria VA, is a graduate of School of Magic Arts, Bogota Colombia and has performed for Schools, Hospitals, Ophanages, etc in Columbia. He enjoys stage, close-up, and escapology magic. Donna Jean Audi, Alexandria VA, performs as ‘Sparkplug’ the clown. Magic has always interested her and she wants to make a profession of it. Todd Eisenstadt, Bethesda MD, is a college professor and has performed at charity shows and birthday gigs. Todd is a member of KIDABRA.
