Flash Points Comedy Magic

Flash Points
Fleming Flashpaper
Wendy Sobel, Editor
Page 1
 GO TO THE WEBSITE FOR FUN STUFF
www.ibmring21.org
April 7 — Comedy Magic
May 5 — Rope Workshop with Nicolas Garcia
June 4 — PICNIC (It’s a Saturday!)
The Caryl Fleming IBM Ring 21
CARYL FLEMING
RING #21 HOLLYWOOD
Celebrating the enjoyment &
camaraderie of magic since 1938!
Providence St. Elizabeth Care Center
(At Biloxi 3 blocks east of Cahuenga Blvd.)
10425 Magnolia Blvd.
North Hollywood, California
We’re on the Web!
www.ibmring21.org
Comedy Magic
Ring 21 was fortunate in March to have the lecture by Tom Ogden, which
was all about the comedy.
I think everyone came away from that evening with some great ideas.
This will be a perfect opportunity for members to utilize some of the suggestions Tom gave us, or not.
Anyway, if you are a “closet” comic, this might be a great time to share
some of the stuff you have been working on.
So the only rule this Thursday night is: Have
some fun. And maybe we can figure out what
makes you (or anyone) laugh?
If anyone is so inclined, it might be a time to
also discuss what touches someone’s funny
bone, while mystifying them. What works for
you?
I look forward to seeing you this Thursday,
April 7 at 7:15 at the Providence St. Elizabeth
Care Center. 10425 Magnolia Blvd.
North Hollywood, California
Page 2
Caryl Fleming
Ring #21
Hollywood
The Fleming Flashpaper
News, Information & Current Happenings of IBM Ring 21
Prez-tidigitation
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Recap of Meeting
6
Greats of Magic
4
Calendar of Events
5
Prez Message
2
Flash Pot
April
2016
5
Flash Points
1
Magic Trick
7
Hello Ring 21,
Our March meeting was outstanding. Tom Ogden’s lecture was funny,
informative and covered a lot of ground. If you would like to see the highlights, please read Gerry Schiller’s article on pages 6 and 7.
Our April meeting is about comedy magic. What tickles your funny bone?
What makes people laugh? This is the time to get silly, be loose and dive
into what makes people tick. If you know how to lead someone into having a good time, come and share your suggestions. Those who were at
Tom Ogden’s lecture got some very good ideas on how to approach comedy magic and make it work for you.
May is going to be a great meeting. Nicolas Garcia has agreed to again
give us a rope workshop. He has so many innovative and different ideas
on things to do with rope that he is truly a master. He does know how to
mystify, and then he demystifies it as he teaches us how to do some of
the great things he does with just a piece of rope.
June we have our annual picnic. It is on Saturday, June 4 beginning at 3
pm to 7 pm (or so). This is the time to bring family and friends to enjoy
some bbq, potluck, and, of course, magic, magic, magic with our auction
and whoever-wants-to-perform magic show. We will also be auctioning
off the MegaRita which Bob Thomas has been demonstrating (and will
demonstrate again at the April meeting). You have to see it to understand just how great an illusion it is. It is a stage presentation.
I am feeling very introspective right now. I have just left a memorial service for Irene Larsen, fondly known as Princess Irene. For those of you
who are members at the Magic Castle, you know exactly who she is.
For those who are not members, she was one of the founders of the
Magic Castle. She was an ambassador for magic the world over. She
was one of those people who always made you feel welcome. She
loved animals and was an outspoken advocate for the humane handling
by magicians of their furry assistants. She is missed now, and will be into the future. Good Night, Irene. Sweet Dreams.
Magically yours,
Wendy Sobel
Page 3
2015-2016 Executive Board
Members at Large
President: Wendy Sobel (310) 753-5357
Bill Turner (818) 786-5326
wsobel@roadrunner.com
billturner26.2@hotmail.com
Vice-President: Bob Thomas (661) 360-3068
Lois Harmeyer (626) 358-2637
lharmeyer@dslextreme.com
bdbbss@yahoo.com
Secretary: Gerry Schiller (805) 499-8921
Don Kenney (818) 896-7261
geraldschiller@gmail.com
dkmagik@ca.rr.com
Treasurer: Robert De La Guerra (818) 269-8917
Terrell Chafin (323) 478-9748
delaguerramagic@yahoo.com
Sgt.-At-Arms: Karl Johnson (818) 790-9600
karl.johnson@gwcmic.com
terrell.chafin@gmail.com
Peter Dang (818) 726-9386
peterdangdesigns@gmail.com
The Pacific Coast Association of Magicians (PCAM) 2016 returns to Southern California (PCAM)
August 4 through August 7, 2016. PCAM 2016 will be held at the Grand Vista Hotel in Simi Valley,
California. The hotel is located walking distance from the Simi Town Center on First and Enchanted Way.
The hotel rate during the convention will be $102 plus tax with internet services and free onsite parking.
You can call (800) 455 – SIMI and use the reservation code PCAM 1891 for the PCAM hotel rate by July 15,
2016.
Registration for the four-day conference is $185 which includes access to the opening reception, lectures, three magic shows including the Circus Burlesque Show as well as the Tony Eng People's Choice
Luncheon and Show on Sunday, August 7, 2016.
In addition to the shows, PCAM boasts the longest consecutive contest where past winners have used
their PCAM gold medals as stepping stones in the magic community. PCAM maintains its 12 category magic
competition which prepares contestants to participate in national and international contests for such magical
organizations as the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Society of American Magicians and FISM.
PCAM competition is a milestone for your magic career whether it’s from children's entertainment to
stage magic. Past participants have gone on to successful magic careers appearing and competing in National
and International competitions and television programs. These winners include 1984, 1991, 2000 PCAM
Grand Prix winner Shawn Farquhar (Three Time FISM Champion/Penn & Teller) 2006 Trevor and Lorena
Watters (2015 IBM Stage Champions) 2012 PCAM Grand Prix Winner Michael Dardant (FISM 2015) 2013
David and Leeman (America's Got Talent).
Register early because the price goes up on June 1st, 2016, to $250 and on-site registration will be $285.
Parent/Child registration will be $250 throughout the registration process. A $95 registration for spouse,
family member or sibling is available without access to the lectures.
Confirmed performers as of December 2015 are Shawn Farquhar, Paul Draper, Lincoln Kamm, Harry
Allen, Mike Norden, Shawn McMaster and Brian Cook.
Registration will be limited to 150 participants to ensure your active participant with the PCAM performers, lecturers and friends.
“The Final Answer” and “Mega-Rita” have been donated to Ring 21 by John Abrams.
Mega-Rita has been demonstrated in the past and will be demonstrated again at the April meeting.
It will be auctioned off at the Picnic on June 4. The starting price on each is $100.00
T H E F L E M I N G F L A S HP A P E R
APRIL 2016
The Greats of Magic — Gerald Schiller
Page 4
A Series of Capsule Biographies of Famous Magicians
Carter the Great
In 2001 Glen David Gold’s novel Carter Beats
the Devil appeared and quickly became a best
seller. Gold had taken the story of magician
Charles Carter and intertwined it with the
strange death of President Warren G. Harding. And while the book was rather fanciful
in many ways, it did introduce many readers
to Carter and other magicians of his time.
The real Charles J. Carter was born June 14,
1874 in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. A serious
student, he attended Catholic schools and later both Villanova and Loyola Colleges —
even earning a law degree some years later.
He had an early interest in magic, and by the
age of sixteen was performing professionally,
even appearing in New York at Koster and
Bial’s Music Hall as a teenager.
Carter quickly developed a solid reputation
and put together an illusion show which included a transposition called “The Lion’s
Bride.” He also did the famous “Million Dollar Mystery” in which a glass box in the center of the stage produced a large multitude of
items that culminated in the appearance of a
girl and then an assistant dressed as the Devil.
Booked on a tour of Australia and the Orient,
he soon became very partial to performing
abroad. In Oriental countries he was only
required to do one show per day and was
treated royally by everyone. With his wife,
Corinne, he made eight around the world
tours, all highly successful.
A close friend of Harry Houdini, Carter made
a pact with the escape artist that whoever
dies first would try to return and report to
the other. Houdini gave him a copy of his
book, A Magician Among the Spirits and wrote
on the first page: “To my friend Charles Carter best wishes and luck to our pact - Houdini - July
8, 1926.” Just four months later Harry Houdini
would be dead.
In 1933 Carter set up a show at the Chicago
World’s Fair in a theater he named The Temple
of Mystery. Each hour he presented an exciting
show of illusions but the attendance was poor.
Apparently there was so much to see at the fair
that most spectators did not want to sit for an
hour’s magic show.
Carter sold the building to a restaurant and decided to try another world tour. He was approaching 60 and brought his son Lawrence
along on the tour, billing him as Carter the
Great II and letting him do half the show.
In June of 1935 in South Africa Charles Carter
became ill, but he continued appearing briefly in
the show doing a mental act (he feared he would
be breaking the contract if he did not appear on
stage).
On February 13, 1936, Carter died in a hospital
in Bombay, India. His son Lawrence continued
the tour through India and China, eventually returning to the U.S. and putting the show in storage.
Though not as well known as illusionists of his
time, such as Thurston, Kellar and Blackstone,
Charles Carter had a long and illustrious career.
Anyone curious about him can check out Gold’s
novel Carter Beats the Devil, or a more accurate
account
in Mike
Caveny’s
authoritative biography,
Carter the
Great.
APRIL 2016
The Flash Pot — a potpourri of news, info, postings, etc.
Happy Birthday to all Ring 21 members celebrating their birthdays in April, including Roger Jennings, George Hwang, Rick Fisher and (although
no longer a member, still in our hearts) Doris
Roach.
Other magical birthdays include: Chung Ling
Soo, David Blaine White, Stan Allen, Paul Daniels,
Milt Larsen, Mark Wilson, Billy McComb, Joseph
Dunninger and Sid Lorraine.
Happy Birthday to all (whether on this
plane of action or the next) from Ring 21!!
Page 5
Just a reminder that on the evenings
when we have a lecture there will be NO raffle,
Trick of the Month or Video of the Month.
The next meeting is Tuesday
The Westside Wizards meet the 2nd Tuesday of the
month. Their new meeting place is Stoner Park
OPICA Adult Day Care Facility,April 12
11759 Missouri Avenue, Los Angeles
(If your birthday was missed, tell Wendy)
IBM Ring 280 — The Mark Wilson Ring
Wednesday, April 20, 2016, North Hollywood,
CA. Scheduled for 7:00 pm, April 20, 2016. at
Four ‘N 20 Pies located at 4723 Laurel Canyon
Blvd., Valley Village, Ca. 91607 Phone 818 761-5128
Magic Castle Swap Meet
Saturday — April 16 - 9 am to 1 pm
This is the greatest one-day magic convention of the year. There will be new and
used magic books, illusions, antiques, collectibles. Whether a novice or an expert,
this is the place to be.
Doors open at 8 am for members.
Bring your friends and magic enthusiasts.
Magic club members (IBM and SAM) pay
$8 entrance fee. $5 for parking their cars.
Please note: THIS IS NOT OPEN TO
THE GENERAL PUBLIC. All nonmembers must be with an active AMA
member. And it is, as always, first come,
first served. (Thank you, Raul Fernandez)
Calendar of Events
Ring 280 meets the 2nd Thursday of the month.
7:30 pm at the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clarita.
24909 Newhall Avenue, Newhall, CA
Thursday April 14 is the next meeting.
www.ibmring280.com for info.
April is a lecture with Dana Daniels.
Please Note
There is NEVER taping of any Ring 21
meeting without prior approval from the
Board. Thank you.
The Caryl Fleming IBM Ring 21
Providence St. Elizabeth Care Center
(At Biloxi three blocks east of Cahuenga Blvd.)
10425 Magnolia Blvd.
North Hollywood, California
Thursday April 7 at
7:15 p.m.
April 7 — Comedy Magic
May 5 — Rope Workshop with Nicolas
June 4 — Picnic (It’s a Saturday!!)
You can see the list of videos
available at the Ring 21 website.
July 7 — Silk Magic (and Ice Cream Social)
www.ibmring21.org
* Calendar subject to change without notice.
Facebook is the
newest way to keep in
touch with everything
that’s happening at
Ring 21.
Page 6
A large and eager group
of ring members assembled to hear from a very
special guest lecturer at
our Thursday, March 3
meeting. After
president Wendy Sobel made some announcements and former
member Raul Fernandez provided information about the
upcoming PCAM conclave in
August it was time to introduce the lecturer, the one and only Tom
Ogden. A numerous award winner and
frequent Magic Castle performer, Tom
has a long and distinguished career in
venues like the circus, cruise ships, television and theaters throughout the
country.
Tom used the
basic “Two in the hand and one
in the pocket” routine using
sponge shoes, and ended with
His primary subject (though he would cover a great deal the final production of a big tenof ground) was comedy magic. As he performed and
nis shoe.
demonstrated a host of effects, he pointed out many
ways to enhance comedic aspects, utilize the moment
for a gag or work with volunteers to produce humorous
situations.
For close-up work he presented and taught such classics at the “Seven Penny
Tricks” and the penetration
with a Five Dollar Bill and a
One Dollar Bill.
Shifting a bit to some basic approaches to kid show magic, he
did his version of the Egg Bag
One of the fascinating things
and then his doggie balloon rouhe did was to take the traditine with one of our members
tional Cards Across (which he said he learned years ago
assuming the role of the young
from a circus performer), present it, analyze it and teach
volunteer.
it. He covered every aspect of the effect, showing
where you could employ a gag (like using the spectator’s
tongue to lick the envelopes) Tom covered some basic laughand how to respond to your getters in kid shows: the MIP—
Magivolunteers to provide a laugh.
It was a marvelous way to
cian in Pain and the MIT—
take one trick, break it down
Magician in Trouble situato basic steps and see where
tions, always guaranteed to
there were moments for a
get youngsters laughing.
lot of solid humor.
APRIL 2016
Before concluding his presentation, Tom sat down and
talked about some basic nuts-and-bolts issues: how to
handle phone calls, how to convince the caller he or she
should hire you and how to negotiate your fee.
It was a highly informative evening with some good, solid
magic and some valuable insights into comedy, kid shows,
as well as the “business” of many from many points of
view.
Page 7
Page 8
Gemini Twins (by Karl Fulves) combined with Depth Charge by John Bannon
(these two were merged together by Michael Breggar and shared here by Bob Thomas)
EFFECT: You show a deck of cards face up to be different and mixed. Turning the deck face down you
say “We’re going to create a card using two other random cards.” Ask one spectator to give you a random
number between 10 and 25 (free choice). Say they pick 15. You count the cards face down in a single pile to
their number, place a “marker card” that has ‘suit’ written on it at that spot and drop the rest of the deck on
top of the marker card. You say, “This spot where we stopped will determine the suit of the card we will
create.”
Ask another spectator for a different number from 10-25 (say 11). Count down to that number where
you place another “marker card” that has ‘value’ written on it and drop the rest of the deck on that pile.
You say, “This spot will determine the value of the card we will create.”
Magician thumbs through the deck and removes the cards next to the ‘marker’ cards, turns the two cards
face up and a totally different card is created. Say the value card is a King and the suit card is a Heart. The
card created is the King of Hearts.
Magi says, “Now, much like we created a third card with two random cards, we’ll take your two random
numbers to create a third number (Example: they said 15 and 11 so the number would be 26).
Magi says, “Just so you can see there’s no funny business, I’ll count the cards face up.” You turn the deck
face up, start counting and sure enough the 26th card is, in fact, the King of Hearts! As a kicker, the Magi
turns over the marker cards and on the back of the Value card it says King, the Suit card says Hearts! The
Magi predicted which card would be chosen before the trick even began!
PREPARATION: The card you end up with is forced in a very clever way which seems very random.
Take the card you want to force (our example it’s the King of Hearts) and place it SECOND from the bottom of the deck. On the BOTTOM of the deck place a spot card with the matching suit (our example it’s
Hearts). On the TOP of the deck you place a card that matches the Value of your force card (our example
it’s a King). (Bob suggests using an opposite color for contrast at the end).
Take two index cards. The first card on one side says “Value” on the other side it says “King.” The second card on one side says “Suit” and the other side says “Hearts.” I keep the ‘marker cards’ in the cellophane of the deck so when I take them out it’s easy not to show the “prediction” side.
PRESENTATION: The trick is actually self working - just follow the steps above.
Take the deck out and put the ‘marker/prediction’ slips with King and Hearts face down on the table. No
one knows what you’re going to do, so you can freely show a mixed up deck and even do a false shuffle
and/or cut as long as you maintain tope and bottom stock. Ask for a random number, count to the number,
place the suit card at that spot, drop the rest of the deck on top. Ask for a second number, count to the
number and place the value card there, drop the rest of the deck on top.
Thumb through and pull out the marker cards and the playing card just ABOVE the marker cards (these
will be the two “random” cards). Say, “This card next to the Value card will determine the value and the
card next to the Suit card will determine the suit (turn the cards over). “So if this card is a King and this
card is a Heart, what card are we looking for?” (At least one or more people should say the King of Hearts.)
Say, “Okay. Now, much like we’ve created a random card from two other cards, we’ll create a third
number using the two random numbers you just gave me.” (In the case above it’s 26, but you can add whatever two numbers they gave you and it will work), “and just so you can see there’s no funny business, I’m
going to count the cards face up!”
You turn the deck face up and start counting down to the number STOPPING at the 25th card. Say, “If
the next card, the 26th card, is the King of Hearts, wouldn’t that just be the craziest thing?” (Everyone
should agree!) Take away the 25th card exposing the King and people should fall right out of their chairs!
For the kicker, you tell them there was really only one card that could have been chosen, because you predicted it before you even started. Turn over the value card and show the King; turn over the suit card and
show Hearts!
(Bob Thomas says that he’s used this at work and at strolling gigs and it generally gets great reactions. Enjoy!)
T H E F L E M I N G F L A S HP A P E R