DR RICHARD MOSSEY RING 41, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Meets last Wednesday of month, except July & Aug

Time: Doors Open at 6:30 and Activities start at 7:00 PM CST

Tripoli Shrine Center, 3000 W. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, 53208

Website: ibmring41.com

Email: [email protected]

Info: 262-993-3772

Man, oh man. The Ring 41 January meeting was quite the whirlwind for the members who attended. This month’s theme was the Classics of Magic.

Our resident historian and Ring namesake, Dr. Richard Mossey shared the chronology of what he regards as the best classic in magic, name the Levitation of Princess Karnac. “Doc” stressed this beautiful piece of magic was a true levitation and not merely a suspension. The origins of this effect date back to the 1300s and the last to perform it was Harry Blackstone, Sr., who obtained it from Harry Keller. Various methods have been used to accomplish levitations including wires, counterbalanced weights, behind the curtain lifts, and projections arising from trap doors. Doc has a remarkable grasp of magic history and recalls it in great detail, which is presented in enchanting story form.

New member Gregory George cleverly lead us down the wrong rabbit hole as he presented his Skinkis Six Stack card revelation. We thought he was going to do the old 21 card trick (three piles of seven cards each) but he dealt out six stacks of cards after being first thoroughly shuffled. John Lewit had a series of free choices in eliminating the stacks until only one card remained, the one originally selected at the beginning of the effect.  A real bamboozler.

Bill Crowley introduced us to Loki, the Norse God of Mischief; how appropriate for a magic theme. His story involved eight cards (four boys and four girls) who repeatedly segmented themselves, even when integrated. Twas the doings of Loki, added by Bill’s clever knowledge of the classic oil and water effect.

One of the fundamental classic methods of card sleights is the Elmsley Count.  So many card effects rely on this method, e.g., Twisting the Aces. Tal Kuhnz demonstrated that the Elmsley Count can also be adapted to another non-card effect, a point he cleverly illustrated by performing Danny Archer’s Big Bucks effect, wherein extremely large bills changed from $10 to $100 and back again.

Give a magician enough rope and what will he do with it?  Cut it, of course. John Lewit took the classic cut and restored rope to a new level by presenting routine that involved several knot effects before volunteer Gregory George cut the rope, which was then restored.  Several more cuts of the rope segued into Professor’s Nightmare. John shared a unique handling of the rope that ensured the loops of the rope remained the same length during the cut and restored phase, a subtlety often overlooked.

Gerald Michels presented Match to Flower and a produced a bouquet of flowers from a Dove Pan. Much discussion ensued regards the shapes of various dove pans; the general concern was the cover for some dove pans are too tall and therefore not particularly deceptive.

Steve Ferris, another new member, demonstrated a tricky twist on a Tabaret rope routine. His piece of rope took an impossible direction that fried everyone in the room. The one piece of rope with two ends suddenly have three ends, then four ends, then no ends, then two ends that were removed from the rope, leaving and endless rope that was flipped into a knot. Even static electricity couldn’t explain that effect.

David Seebach explained that in his 20s, he hated the classics because everyone was doing them.  He wanted to be different. With the passage of time and experience, he has reversed his viewpoint and now loves them.  Classics offer a very simple concept, easy for audiences to follow. There are solid reasons why effects like die box, egg bag, linking ring, cups and balls, and many others remain classics. However, classics by themselves, will not get you hired; a strong performance personality is essential.  David shared some of his classic magic props. Glad you could join us again, David.

The magic enthusiasm was contagious and the meeting could have gone on for hours but the building lights were starting to dim, so Glen Gerard, Scott Lane, and Lynn Miner deferred their performances until a future meeting.

Another night of magic and fun.  Thanks to all for attending and also to each performer. Abracadabra…until next month.

Scott Lane

President

Dr Richard Mossey IBM Ring 41