16th March 2021.
Tonight’s meeting, hosted by our president Dale Trueman, was ‘Magic with a Story”. Dale welcomed everyone to the meeting then started the entertainment with his version of the famous Emerson and West effect “Colour Monte”. Instead of using the usual marketed version Dale chose to use his own cards. Dale’s first performer of the night was John Kanawati who performed John Carney’s Inscrutable where the jokers kept intruding as John tried to cut to the aces. The four jokers then instantly changed to the aces bring the effect to a great conclusion. John then performed Phoenix Aces, originally published in Cliff Green’s Professional Card Magic in 1961 and still considered by many to be one of the most difficult card effects ever created.
Stephen Bell was the next performer with a rendition of the Cannibal Cards. The cannibals, or the kings to you and me, gobbled up three chosen cards with all the sound effects, the burps and the crunching of the bones. The kings the also vanished into the pack one at a time only to appear face up with the chosen cards between them. Stephen then performed Brother John Hamman’s Gemini Twins. Michael Giblin was on next. He told the story of a raffle ticket that he had acquired whilst having a coffee at The Dunes, one of his local restaurants. He had the audience as a group choose a two digit number. Miraculously the number chosen proved to be 37, the same number as the Dunes raffle ticket.
We can always rely on Phuoc Can Hua to perform. Tonight was a home made effect based on a longer routine. He slid a jumbo evil black king into an open frame. As the card entered the frame it visually changed into a red spot card. The effect was so good we immediately asked Phuoc to do it again which he did. Peter Wood came on and appeared to be repeating Dale’s earlier performance with Colour Monte but the it was obvious that he had 4 cards and not 3. Peter had three blank cards and a red ace which no one could follow. The effect, known as “The Illinois Shuffle”, concluded with the cards changing to three duplicate aces and one blank card. Our new member Steve Miller told a delightful love story that started in war torn London in 1944. A photo of the loving couple was torn in half, the couple were separated by the war and they both began new lives with new partners. Over 50 years later, they were both single again and fate brought them back together. When the two halves of the photo were shown the images of the couple were also shown to have aged.
Peter Rodgers then performed Dai Vernon Cutting the Aces from the Stars of Magic. Peter explained that he used to perform this routine as a teenager but hadn’t performed it for close to 50 years. He then ended his performance with “The Thirty-Second Sense” from John Bannon’s Destination Zero. Peter mentioned that as he was hosting next months meeting that he would discus the principal behind this effect then. Conway Restom told the story of when he was in Las Vegas. He got involved in probably an illegal card game with some members of the Mafia . He kept realising that he had an extra card but when he got rid of a card another appeared. Conway was actually performing Lee Asher’s “You Can Bet Your Asher” from Lee Ashers 1999 lecture notes. Lee’s routine is his variation of Tommy Tucker’s 6 Card Repeat with a Royal Flush kicker. Conway has added another kicker from a suggestion by French underground card worker “Bebel” to also switch his discards for the aces.
Dale Truman came back with a routine that he has been working on for some time. It is part of an East Sydney theatrical venture which is opening with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in our city. To set the scene Dale gave us a history lesson of the 1920/30’s East Sydney gangster era. This time in our history included the Great Depression, the 6 oclock swill in the pubs and the availability of drugs such as cocaine. East Sydney with over 30 brothels illegal gambling casinos and the Razor Gangs was the centre of the Australian crime scene. Dale in character and playing the part of Snowy, a cocaine dealer produced a cut throat razor and handfuls of “cocaine” using the technique of the giant salt pour that most magicians know.
Bruce Glen, then showed a routine that he is developing for his “Gentleman Magician” show at the Sir Stamford hotel. The effect concerns postcards found in the Lost Property at the hotel. The postcards from 1962 tell a love story and photos of from the period vanish from an envelope and the writing vanishes from the cards. Was the whole story our imagination or did it really occur. We will never know.
As is normally with our meetings we adjourned for supper and much fraternal discussions amongst the members.
Peter Rodgers
Sydney Magic Club 