18th May 2021.
Our May meeting, “Family Magic” was hosted by Jack Sharp and Peter Wood and included many of Sydney’s most experienced children’s entertainers. This was one of our great meetings of 2021. Jack and Peter had obviously both put a lot of thought and effort into preparing tonight’s meeting. To open they explained that virtually all shows for children have a scattering of adults and many performances for adults have children present. They emphasised that you should try to entertain everyone present and that includes adults at kid shows and kids at adult shows. To prove their point they promised to entertain us all with tonight’s program which was a complete show made up of children’s magic to an audience of “so called adults”. We are after all, all magicians and as such, we haven’t really grown up.
Peter and Jack, with a couple of sight gags and a funny line which became a running joke throughout the evening introduced their first guest performer Michael Patterson aka Mr Bamboozle. Michael showed us one of his methods to open a show. He had a load of bits of business, first with his recorded music, then with the masking tape used to divide the audience from the performing area. He managed to tie himself up with the tape which stuck to his body and hands, he had fun with his headset and microphone and a yellow smiley ball which he uses to get the really little kids to get involved. He ended by producing a purse frame to start a sponge ball routine.
Jack then reintroduced Peter who showed an opening routine where a Band-Aid on his forefinger started to jump from one finger to another and then started to multiply reminiscent of a thimble routine. The Band-Aids were all dumped into a hat and they immediately vanished. Jack then introduced the new topic, “Helpers from the Audience”. Peter explained how to get the best helpers with the assistance of a couple of geriatric magicians and two signs. Jack then came back starting with a colour changing silk routine with hand sanitiser and a towel with dirty hand prints playing an important role. To make the silks change colour he needed a wand, the kids kept breaking them, “Mum, they are $10.00 each?”, then they started to get bigger from just a few inches to stage filling proportions. A great routine with plenty of “bits of business”. Peter then dressed up Mark Mercedes and Phuoc Can Hua, aka for tonight as “Fifi”. Peter managed to pass two ropes through “Fifi’s” body. As a continuation of getting audience participation the value of getting colours wrong was highlighted. Jack with the use of Christopher Barnes’s Two-Headed Prediction, one of the great children’s effects of recent years, showed that a kids versa grown ups is a beauty concept for a family magic routine. Peter then showed a wonderful routine with just three paper cups, one filled with water and young spectator from the audience.
Jack & Peter then introduced our next topic for the night, Close Up for Kids. Paul Cummings commenced his spot with his performance of Jimmy Rogers paddle routine, “I’ll Start Again”, from the 1960’s. Originally this effect used a little blackboard bat and chalk, it is now done with a white bat and a whiteboard marker but it is still a lovely routine. Paul then performed a bangle and rope routine. Peter came back attempting to produce a bunny from a hat but only found a hair. He then produced a sponge rabbit and with the use of a little wand it multiplied to two, then four before turning into one giant sponge bunny.
The next topic was “Closers”, the effect that signifies that this is the end of the show. Joey Presto doesn’t like performing for magicians, but as one of Sydney’s leading children’s entertainers Peter and Jack convinced him that he would be well received tonight and he was. Joey commenced with the bit of business to get the audience to hold up their hands if they are here, and then to hold up their hands if they are not here. He then brought out a small step ladder/stand. Most performers would get the child to stand on this so that the performer and the spectator would be on the same level and could look each other face to face. Joey, because of his small stature stood on the stand himself so he could look at his spectator eye to eye. He then with the use of a large wand that unrolled turned spectator Lindsay Gardiner into a bunny rabbit poster. A wizards hat covered Lindsays eyes and left a toilet plunger on his head. Joey had plenty of bits of business and jokes with balloons, various strange wands, some of them multiplying, and Terry Herbert’s Tels Bells which rang for Joey but not his volunteer. Joey’s big final was the transformation of a sausage balloon in a box into Harvey, the most cutest bunny in the world.
Peter and Jacks final performer for the night was the very experienced Sydney entertainer Sean Taylor who explained his ideas in developing a magic act which applies to both family shows and all other magic shows. During his initial warm up where he produced donuts from his mouth he explained that he was prompting the audience to react, explaining his character showing that he’s not intimidating and he was getting the ground rules straight, “He is in Charge”. Sean then goes into a minor audience participation effect followed by a more intense major audience participation effect or routine. Another ten or twelve minute story effect is a good finale. Sean explained that he had followed this procedure from a young man and he later found out it is virtually the same as suggested by Harlan Tarbell in his famous course. To conclude his spot Sean showed three magic props., Where’s That Tiger, Clever Clowns and Tom Thumb that he had purchased from Terry and Norma Burgess in the United Kingdom well over thirty years ago. Although Sean rarely performs these three routines now he still treasures them and he bemoaned the fact that props of this quality are rarely available today.
To close the formal section of the meeting Jack showed one of his favourite closing routines. He gathered together a group of spectators handing each person a pipe on a loop of ribbon and a wooden spoon. He lined them up rearranging the order. He then conducted his Wooded Spoon Symphony on this human xylophone to play Happy Birthday to one of our “very senior” children. This was Jacks rendition of Keith Fields great routine.
Peter and Jack and all their helpers were all given a rousing “thank you” for a great and very entertaining night. Otto Patterson, our oldest member and an always welcomed performer showed everyone a cut and restored rope routine before we retired to supper and the usual fraternisation that takes place after each meeting.
Peter Rodgers
Sydney Magic Club 