A Master Class in Street Performance

Page 2
Scribbling From
The Scribe of the Scroll
Page 3
Thoughts from the President
Page 4
Walter Blaney Website
Page 5
BeLieve Me But Cut The Cards.
Page 6
“The Veep Speaks”
Page 7
Proposed By-Law Changes
Page 8
Vintage Ads
Page 9
“Requiem for Tricky Boxes
Geoff Grimes
Page 11
Photos from Daryl Howard
A Master Class in Street Performance
January Meeting
Eric Evans Lecture was absolutely
amazing. We started our meeting a
little early and were treated to the
amazing performance of Eric Evans.
presence and command of the area.
I mentioned this in my column, (page
2), but I find many street performers
to be too brash for my tastes. Like
his teacher Cellini before him, Eric
Evans came across as a real class
I, your dear editor, was sitting to the act.
side of the performance. Crosspointe
has a horse-shoe shaped seating This lecture reminds me of how lucky
area, but Evans was so bullet-proof, we are to be members, and have
that I could see everything. Or should access to the Dallas Magic Club.
I say, I could see nothing. His angles
were flawless.
♣♥♠♦
Seeing this performance, I felt really
energized about the peformance
of magic. I really liked his stage
The international magic community
was saddened by the recent loss of
Aldo Colombini. He will be missed.
Page 14
Gems from Diamond Jim
Eric Evans masterful handling of Slydini
Silks. Photos by Daryl Howard.
DMC
Officers
Derrel Allen
President
Frank Seltzer
Vice President
Reade Quinton
Secretary/Treasurer
Brad Ingle
Sgt. At Arms
Mark Jensen
Past President
Chuck Lehr
Dean of The DMC
Board Members:
Mike McElroy
Until July 2015
Jeff Halberg
Until Nov. 2014
David Knight
Until Nov. 2014
T.A.O.M.
Board Members
Frank Seltzer
S.A.M. Representative
Until July 2014
Cameron Rivers
I.B.M. Representative
Until July 2014
Wizard’s Scroll
Staff
Brad Ingle
Wizard’s Scroll Editor
[email protected]
Daryl Howard
DMC Photographer
Reade Quinton
DMC Monthly Report
Columnists:
Mark Jensen
Michael Smith
Frank Seltzer
Derrel Allen
Brad Ingle
I recently worked a strolling
gig for an awards banquet.
I’m almost cancelled as I was
feeling quite sick since the
day earlier, but knew that it
would HAUNT me for years,
and destroy my reputation, if I
flaked out. I strove to ignore my
illness, and solider on.
I would stay and “bounce” the
door during the main act. Of
course I said yes. When the
Beckers did their act, I would
only let people in between their
phases. Debbie had her hands
full of props and I would open
the door. The only “bouncing” I
did was to guide people in when
the act changed
scenes.
When I got to
my gig, I saw
that I wasn’t the
As I was driving
only
magician
home,
my
hired. Fred and
illness that I had
Debbie Becker,
previously ignored
who are certainly
hit me like a ton of
better than I am,
bricks. I had to call
were the main
in sick to my “real”
entertainment.
job the next day.
I was a little
Hopefully, I didn’t
intimidated, as
make anyone sick,
they are so awesome. I went but I think I was out of the
over, shook their hands, and contagious phase.
told them exactly what I was
♣♥♠♦
going to do. I didn’t want to
step on any toes.
I thought Eric Evans was
incredible. I think a lot of street
They were very kind, and since performers come across as
they had worked TAOM last brash loudmouths -- they
Summer, they asked about sometimes have to be. I was
DMC’s very own Mark Jensen. very impressed with the stage
presence that Evans showed.
My gig went pretty well. I tried I wasn’t sitting in a good spot,
to hit every table, and people but his act was so structured,
standing in line waiting for that his angles were bullet
drinks. I did have a gothic chick proof. Frank Seltzer and
bring my act down by her too- Cameron Rivers assured me
cool-for-school attitude.
that I had to purchase his book,
The Secret Art of Magic. It
I only worked for a little bit, really is a fantastic treatise on
but the organizer asked me if the management of crowds.
Thoughts from the President
We have endured the winter chill, and spring
is just around the corner. Hopes for sunshine
and gentle breezes dance in our heads as we
drive the frosty memories of this cold wintery
spell from our minds. The misery that is cold
is only deepened with the passing of Aldo
Columbini. His contribution to magic and to
mankind in general is enormous and he will
be greatly missed.
Looking to what is ahead of the club, we
will be modifying the club bylaws to clarify
the position of Secretary/Treasurer. As you
know, Reade Quinton took over this double
duty when Dean of the Club, Chuck Lehr
abandoned us and removed his lovely bride
Joanie to the isolated climes of the Saint Louis
area (just kidding, Chuck.) Since Dr. Quinton
has recently achieved more responsibility at
his work, it is necessary the he be relieved
of some of his club duties. This change
to the bylaws will allow the club to have
smooth transition for the office of Secretary/
Treasurer, and if approved, Secretary and
Treasurer.
Some of you are aware of my work in
online marketing. I am pleased to say that
my efforts are being rewarded. I have been
able to assist a couple of you with your web
presence, and would be happy to help even
more. Later this year, my partner and I, along
with others, will be conducting free online
webinars on local online marketing. If there
are enough magicians, dj’s, local entertainers,
the sessions will address specific needs in
those niches.
In the meantime, I’m preparing for a nice
schedule of Blue & Gold, Upwards, and other
events. I hope you are having success too.
Derrel Allen
The Dallas Magic Club Meets
Monthly, Every Third Thursday.
We usually meet each month at
CrossPointe Church. There is a large
theater area where we meet and peform.
2425 West Parker RD
Carrollton, TX 75010
We start at 7:00 pm, and meetings
usually until a little before 9:00 pm.
Walter Blaney
Just a note to say I have a new website,
walterzaneyblaney.com
It will periodically have additions to a list of short videos of me talking about some of the events during my 60
year career in magic. Currently there are about a half dozen stories.... like
1. My long attempt to finally get booked on the Tonight Show and my back stage experience with Johnny Carson
2. My friendship with David Copperfield and his presentation of my Ladder Levitation
3. The infamous story of the Dave Hoy radio interview with me
4. Why I got bumped from my non-appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show
One can go to the website and view as many or as few as you care to look at. There will be many more added
as time goes on.
Cheers,
Walter Zaney Blaney
BeLIEve Me, But Cut the Cards:
A psychology of Deception For Magicians
Part 19
This month we continue our interview with Lawrence Hass, PhD, magician, mentalist, author, publisher,
and philosopher. He is Associate Dean of the McBride Magic and Mystery School and is a Professor of
Humanities at Austin College in Sherman.
Last month he began by sharing when he was first “bitten” by the magic bug and how magic appealed to
an academic philosophy professor. This month we continue our interview.
MS- Philosophy originally meant” love of wisdom.” Magic is about deception, art, and entertainment.
How do you put those together? How do you respond to Picasso’s statement that “all art is a lie that helps
us see the truth?”
LH- Yes, it is true: from the beginning of Western-European intellectual history, magic and philosophy
have been driven apart, with magic being vilified as “false, dishonest, deception” and philosophy being
valorize as the source of wisdom and source of truth. Like most intellectual dichotomies, this one distorts
the actual state of affairs. In this short space, I would simply like to say that to define magic as “the
art of deception” or as “fooling people” is to miss almost everything I do as a performing magician.
Fooling people is easy! Lying to people is easy! However, astonishing them, delighting them with an
artful experience of the impossible is an exceptionally difficult and fragile thing. It takes all my intellect,
heart, creativity, and a great deal of time to achieve. To give you my working definition of magic, I believe
“Magic is the performance of impossible things, which brings about wonder, delight, and energy.”
And notice: lying to people and deceiving them is not part of the definition!
Having said that, of course magic uses hidden, even secret “techniques.” But every artist uses hidden
techniques to create effects: filmmakers, novelists, painters, actors, and sculptors, to name a few. The
point of magic is not deception, and magic isn’t the art of deception- any more than is filmmaking, painting,
or any other art form. Instead, magic is the art of creating energy, delight, and wonder in the face of
impossible things.
Now, my view of this is an important part of why I am so committed to teaching about magic to laypeople
and above all to magicians! Laypeople because they almost immediately understand the importance of
an art form that creates energy, delight, and wonder; and magicians because once they understand the
proper target of magic performance they are far more likely to hit it!
And so I return to Picasso’s famous quote. I don’t think that art of any form is a “lie.” To say even that
much is to buy into the Platonic view that disqualifies the value of any and all art, including magic. In my
view, art doesn’t “lie” at all; rather art “expresses” the world and the artist’s point of view of the world.
Magic is simply the medium I have chosen to express my deepest sense of things, which I try to do as
honestly as possible.
MS- Next month we will conclude our interview with Larry. Until then, remember to “cut the cards.” Mike
The Veep Speaks
Our elections are coming up in April (along with
our Magician of the year contest) and as a result
we need to make changes to our bylaws. For the
past 20 or so years, the position of Secretary and
Treasurer have been combined. Most of those years,
Joanie Lehr capably served in that dual role. She
was helped? By Chuck, da Dean of the club. So in
essence there were two people doing the job. When
Reade took over, he gave it a go. At first it worked
fine, but then as Reade’s duties at work grew his
time became more tight. Reade has decided to not
run for re-election and it was his suggestion that the
duties be split again having a separate Secretary and
Treasurer. When the clubs were founded that was
exactly what we had, so in essence we are going
back to the original set of officers.
In order have the roles broken out, we need to change
our bylaws, to do that and we must do it before our
elections. That is why at this month’s meeting we will
be voting on the changes. We have also included
the possibility that someday we may find another
Chuck and Joanie who don’t mind doing both so we
left open that possibility for the future.
Frank Seltzer
example of what is possible is the Long Beach
Mystics. While not a club like ours, it was set up and
run by junior magicians whose names today are well
known…Dana Daniels, Mike Caveney, Kevin James,
Michael Weber and Stan Allen to name a few.
There was a great documentary on the group and
we’ll look at a few clips from it. The goal is to get more
of us involved with promoting magic to youngsters
and to get cleared by the SAM. We’ll talk about that
at the meeting.
Also there will be performance time so bring a trick
or two and work on your act for the contest. We’ll be
using the TAOM rules:
The act needs to be between 5 and 10 minutes…no
more.
STAGE SETTING – 0 to 10 points.
General
appearance,
eye
appeal,
attractiveness and appropriateness of dress, props,
tables and equipment.
STAGE PRESENCE – 0 to 15 points.
Poise and confidence, intelligible speech,
direct and understandable theme.
I know your eyes glaze over considering bylaw
changes, but it is something we need to do. This
is a fast fix for now. Some have thought we need
to totally re-write the bylaws and that may happen ENTERTAINMENT VALUE – 0 to 30 points.
down the road but for now we need to keep this Indicated by audience reaction, appreciation
short and sweet so we can nominate in March and and overall enjoyment.
then elect in April our new officers.
PRESENTATION AND OVERALL PERFORMANCE
You all know how much I hate business meetings – 0 to 30 points Personality, projection, routining and
but sometimes we just have to do it.
continuity,professional presentation and technical
ability.
This month we focus on junior magicians. They
are the lifeblood of the organization in that without ORIGINALITY – 0 to 15 points.
new younger members coming in, the club would Original material, inventive presentation or routining
eventually die. We have a chapter of the Society of to include new presentations of standard effects –
Young Magicians as an adjunct to our club but over “something different”
the past few months it has fallen by the wayside.
Schedules are busy and there are more demands
on the time of today’s kids…lots of activities to keep There ya go. We’ll sign up in March for the contest.
them and their parents busy.
You can do stage, parlor, closeup, mentalism…
whatever you want. The winner will be announced
at our banquet in May.
The board is focused on promoting magic to younger
people, while continuing to grow our own club. An
Important Changes to By-Laws
Changes to the by-laws
As announced at the last meeting, we will be voting on changes to the bylaws. This needs to be done
this month so we can nominate officers. Reade, our current Secretary/Treasurer will not be running for
re-election. His new duties at work are going to keep him very busy and it was his recommendation that
we split the Secretary and Treasurers positions saying it is too much for one person. The board discussed
this and agreed. For many years and from our beginnings, the positions were separate but over the years
they got combined. The board thinks it is good to divide this up so no one has too much to do. But we
are allowing for the possibility that if we find the right person who actually WANTS to do both, we could
combine them without another vote.
Here are the changes:
Article IV - Officers
Section 1 - Officers of the Dallas Magic Club shall be: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer,
Sergeant at Arms, and three directors plus one alternate director.
Section 2 – These officers shall perform their duties as prescribed by these by-laws and the parliamentary
authority adopted by this Club. No member shall hold more than one office at a time, with the exception of
the Secretary who may also serve as Treasurer but in that case the Secretary/Treasurer will only have one
vote.
Section 3- The President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Sergeant at Arms shall be elected to a
one-year term.
Article VI – Duties
Section 3 - The Secretary shall keep all records and correspondence pertaining to the club, The Secretary
shall keep notes on all Club meetings and provide monthly reports for inclusion in The Linking Ring and
M-U-M.
Section 4 – The Treasurer shall maintain all books and financial records for the Club. These books shall
be ready for inspection by an auditing committee. The Treasurer shall deposit all funds in a Dallas Bank
under the name of The Dallas Magic Club. Such funds shall be subject to withdrawal upon the signature
of the Treasurer. No funds in excess of $50 shall be withdrawn for any purpose until duly authorized by a
vote of the membership. Exceptions: Room rental, flowers for funerals or ill members, and miscellaneous
expenses pertaining to Club operations.
(re-numbering the remaining sections in this article)
Section 5 – One of the three directors …..
Section 6 - At a meeting…
Section 7 – A vacancy…..
Article IX – Penalties
Section 1 – Upon notice being given by the Secretary….
(deleting reference to treasurer)
Requiem for Tricky Boxes
Geoff Grimes
I’m a product of my times, I guess. No! More to
the point, the product of the magical times of my
childhood. Isn’t it interesting how those of us caught
up in this “magic thing” fixate on “moments when”
from our increasingly remote past.
They simply cost too much. The first little mirror
box I purchased from Bruce Chadwick at The
Illusion Warehouse almost sixty years later fulfilled
a childhood dream that had drifted in and out of my
imagination for decades.
For me, it was the first time my dad took me
downtown in Houston to Howard’s Fun Shop, the
only magic store I knew of for all the years of my
youth. A cowbell dangling from the top of the tall
door, painted in hunter’s green, slathered in layers
on the door frame and window facing, announced
customers’ entrance and exit. Across the store
windows, posters featuring sleazy illustrations of
buxom girls with Marilyn Monroe look-alike eyes,
hair and other things offered enchantments which,
at that age, I couldn’t even imagine.
So why is it that you’ll never find a tricky box
reviewed in MUM, Magic Magazine, Genii, or
Linking Ring? So why is it in recent months, when a
youngster employed a square circle at the heart of
his qualifying act, he received only polite applause,
“knowing” smirks, furrowed brows, and severe,
sideways glances from his sober audience. Aside
the obvious paucity of demonstrated magical acuity,
did the collective chagrin stem from the performance
or from the props?
Dad escorted me gently past the bawdy gags and
other questionable props to the two side-by-side
glass counters at the rear of the musty store where
the real magic resided under the glow of two long
fluorescent light bulbs. Multi-colored thimbles ,
Chinese sticks, color changing silks, decks of cards,
mysterious coins, the ball and vase—all pretty
standard stuff to the initiated, but to the eye of a young
novice, they were treasures from faraway places. I
wanted them all, and I am sure today, looking back
at that magical time, Howard Campbell, the owner,
was probably eager to have obliged me.
But the greater enchantment came from up above—
above the cases, up on the highest shelves that
lined three sides of the old store. There ensconced
were the “tricky boxes,” a term I wouldn’t hear for
almost fifty years. Painted elaborately in Arabian
designs, Chinese calligraphy, and Hindu caricatures,
the props peered down like untouchable miniature
shrines, most coated in a layer of gray dust. The little
decorative doors on the fronts, the lids on top, the
secret hidden compartments, sliding panels, and
sneaky revolving backs, each mysterious feature
masked amazing contraband—gigantic dragon
scarves, miles of rainbow streamers, bursts of
metallic blossoms, and fountains of snowflakes.
Norm Nielsen is selling break-away boxes and
production tubes starting at $550 and has most on
back order. His four checker cabinets—priced $3500
each!—sold within three hours on the same day
they were announced on his website. More in the
genre of Tony Andruzzi’s bizarre magic of the sixties,
Outlaw Magic sells its electronically enhanced spirit
cabinets, cubes, and quirky little contraptions at
outrageous prices and can’t keep them in stock.
Tora Magic now fills the vacancy left by the closure
of Mikame with an array of magical production
apparati.
“Why won’t they get reviewed?” queries Norman
Beck, a regular product reviewer for MUM Magazine,
“Let me give you a list of reasons.” First of all,
he notes, all products must be submitted to the
magazine for examination. Norm Nielsen, he says,
is not likely to donate a $3500 checker cabinet for
consideration for a paragraph or two in a product
review. Additionally, Norman says, stock items that
come back onto the market likewise are probably
not going to be considered. “Someone or some
company that has just released a newly designed
die box isn’t likely to get honorable mention in a
magazine review.”
“To tell you the truth,” explained Norman, “I don’t
know any magicians who use them. Take “Botania,”
But the tricky boxes sat out of reach, as far away for instance. Everybody knows that when the
from the fingertips of my aspirations as the width magician slips off the tube, he didn’t have anything
of my daddy’s economically-challenged wallet. to do with the spring of flowers that pops out.
Where’s the magic in that? Everybody can figure
out they were crammed up inside the tube! I think
that the same thing must be said for—what did you
call them?—‘tricky boxes’? The bottom line for me,
I guess—and this is why I would never use them—I
wouldn’t have anything intelligent to say with one.”
Norman’s reluctance aside, one has to look at the
phenomenon of tricky boxes and their allure for
young magic aficionados from a broader perspective.
Have tricky boxes simply passed out of style? Do
they belong to a period of magical entertainment
that has simply lost its allure? And if so, what does
that say for the large stage illusions and the possible
demise of the illusion show? Aren’t these stage
props only “tricky boxes” on the shelves of Howard
Fun Shops “writ large”? You probably won’t see
Pillsbury sponsoring another television series like
Mark Wilson’s “Magic Circus” of the ‘70’s. And there
hasn’t been a long-running illusion show on or off
Broadway in years.
the crates.”
“You gotta have some of them, I guess,” says Chris
Gracey, co-owner of McKinney’s Main Street Magic
and Fun Company. “Our primary clientele, though,
aren’t into the more expensive stage props, so you
may see most of these sitting up here years from
now.” Look around those top shelves, and you’ll see
some of the classic pieces, retreads for a whole new
generation of young magicians—animal production
boxes, chick pans, lotta bowls, the Hippity Hop
Rabbits, mirror boxes, phantom tubes—the whole
lot.
And I’ve bought my own copy of just about all of
them since getting back into magic a decade or so
ago—filled two warehouses and a storage bin. To
tell the truth, however, every time I acquire a new
tricky box, I’m linking up with a wonderful time in
my childhood, a time when Dad would finally give
in, take off a Saturday morning, pack me up in the
Randy Clower, a producer of magical props in the family’s used car, and drive into town to the magic
1970’s and an avid collector of bizarre props today, store. I’d turn the knob on the door, the cowbell
suggests that “audiences today have a ‘much more would rattle and clang, and I’d step into the magical
discerning eye.’ They aren’t likely to be as easily paradise that was Howard’s Fun Shop, a museum
impressed by a magician in a tuxedo running around in my memory and imagination today, a theatrical
a ‘tricky box’ on stage, posturing with one applause workshop filled with “tricky boxes.”
cue after another. The audiences know he isn’t doing
anything but dancing! Where’s the magic in that?”
I’m just sayin’
Will Baffle (that’s his acquired legal name), a regular Geoff Grimes
at our Monday night sessions, explains that he has
all but hung up his touring illusion show. “No one is
booking these shows any longer,” he explains. “You
wouldn’t believe the investment I have in all this, but
what am I going to do? So, I’ve just decided to park
Photos from Daryl Howard
Karl Hein
Eric Evans
Gems From Diamond Jim
NEVER-ENDING THREAD
GAG: Someone notices a loose thread on your
jacket and begins to remove it. To their horror
they learn that it’s a never-ending thread which
shocks them into a fit of laughter.
SECRET: If wearing a dark jacket, then you’ll
want to use a light colored thread and vice-versa. Place the end of a spool of thread through
the eye of a needle. Pull about five inches of
the thread through the eye. From inside your
coat, use the needle to push the thread through
your jacket at the point that is halfway between
the collar and the shoulder on either side of the
jacket.
Push the needle all the way through the material.
Put away the needle and leave the thread hanging from the back of your jacket. Drop the spool
of thread into the inside jacket pocket that corresponds with the side you pushed the thread
through. Carefully put on your jacket and run
your arm behind the thread when slipping it into
the sleeve of your jacket. You don’t want your
arm between the thread and your pocket. The
thread inside your jacket should rest on the front
part of your shoulder nearest your chest.
Finish putting on your jacket. Pull the thread
back into your jacket so that only a two-inch
piece emerges from your coat. Press it down
flat and you are ready for the fun. The nice person that offers to remove it for you will be in for
a big surprise. Don’t laugh but act aggravated
once they’ve started it. As they continue pulling
the thread secretly retain a few loose buttons in
your hand and drop them on the floor as you
exclaim, “Wonderful!” Say something consoling
like, “Is it your sole purpose in life to serve as a
warning for others?”