* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #242 Date: Sunday 21st March 2004 Editor: Alan Watson www.magicianz.com www.alan-watson.com e-mail: AW@Alan-Watson.com ================================ Hi here is the latest news ================================   1. Editor’s Message   2. FREE, bonus day for I.B.M. Junior Members - McBride to lead Workshop!   3. Paul Daniels Needs Help, Or Rather HELP!   4. The Passing Of Peter Kane   5. 12th martinka.com Auction   6. Saturday At Reubens - A Magic Film by Filmmaker Leslie Danoff   7. Magic Mountaineering The M&M's Of Magic   8. They Come In Three: By-Jamie-G   9. The Amazing Orchante Saga   10. e-zine Archives   11. Subscription Management ------------------ 1. Editor's Message ------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One Received 67 messages this week about the IBM and SAM conventions in 2005 being scheduled at the same time!! IBM 5-9 July and SAM 6-9 July. On a positive note, I hear that one of the organisations is currently trying to resolve this clashing of dates in 2005. Let’s hope we have some positive news to report on this issue soon. --------------------- Chris Parkinson is Auckland Hospital after recovering from a triple bypass heart operation. He's expected to be home by Wednesday this coming week. Messages can be sent to: parky@webmaster.co.nz ---------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ----------------- 2. FREE, bonus day for I.B.M. Junior Members - McBride to lead Workshop! ----------------- Message from Mindy Burden (US) Last year's first ever Convention Junior Workshop was a big success! Fantasma Toys and Aldo Colombini combined for a wonderful learning experience. This year the Convention will feature the Tuesday Teen Bonus Day. Just as the name implies, this is a FREE, bonus day for I.B.M. Junior Members. The event starts at 12:00noon and runs until 6:00pm at our headquarters hotel, the Renaissance Cleveland on Tuesday, June 29. Jeff McBride and Fantasma will team up to provide a tremendous learning experience! Dan Garrett, creative inventor/author/and lecturer and Tim Hannig, youth entertainer, will also be on hand to discuss and teach. This is an outstanding opportunity for beginner, intermediate, and advanced teen magicians. All you need do is register for the I.B.M. Convention in Cleveland. ----------------- 3. Paul Daniels Needs Help, Or Rather HELP! ----------------- Message from Paul Daniels If you are offered, or come across, or work in the airline industry and see lying around in an airport, a Head Chopper in two canvas bags, PLEASE get in touch with me through my web site www.pauldaniels.co.uk One bag has a narrow table with four legs in it. The other bag has the bit that bolts onto the table, the Head Chopper itself. This is solid trapezoid shape that hinges open to take the head and sliding up and down inside is the frame with the blade set inside. Manufactured by Jack Silver in the UK, I bought it new some 40 odd years ago. It toured the clubs with me. Then it got 'posh' and toured the night clubs and the theatres with me. Then my son Martin (yes, there is another Daniels out there) took it on the road and onto the ships with him and (you may find this strange) it has enormous sentimental value to him. He was working for P & O Cruise Lines, sailed into New Orleans where a bus company loaded it up and that is the last he saw of it. Apparently it was then supposed to be loaded onto a charter plane (Thomson's Holiday Company under charter to P & O) and flown to Manchester. It did not arrive in Manchester and the company, so far, have not found it. Like I said, HELP! ----------------- 4. The Passing Of Peter Kane ----------------- Message from Geoff Maltby It was with great sadness that we learned on March 18th of the passing of our old friend and regular contributor, Peter Kane, who left us at far too early an age. He told us of his illness some time ago, but recently gave us cause to believe that his condition had stabilized. So the unexpectedness of his death was both a shock and a surprise. Only a few weeks ago, we spent a lot of time with him at Blackpool, recording his latest batch of creative material for The Magician. He was also looking forward to joining us on the Repro Magic Cruise in May. It is not often that the words creative genius can be truthfully applied to anyone. But in Peter’s case, they could. From a very young age, his originations began to take the magic world by a storm. It all began around fifty years ago, when the late Gus Southall encouraged his youthful protege to submit an idea which he called Watch the Ace to Hugard’s Magic Monthly. The trick later became better known worldwide as Wild Card. Many of Peter’s ideas have been among magic’s most performed effects. Several became modern classics, and few are the magicians who have never worked at least one them: Gypsy’s Curse, Elongated Lady, Shrinking Card Case, the Gun Trick, Cash Galore, to name but some. Often they spawned numerous copies and rip-offs, as well as inspiring genuine creativity in others. Much of his originality seemed to owe little to what had gone before. He was one of that small group of rare and gifted inventors who appear capable of plucking brand new magical plots and effects out of the ether, and then turning them into something solid and workable. Peter was not one of those magicians hungry for acclaim, who burst into every gathering eager to show off their latest creations. Instead, he was usually to be found in some quiet corner, sitting with a small group of friends and not showing the least inclination to perform anything. His international reputation was based purely on the quality of his output and had nothing whatever to do with any kind of self promotion. Above all, he was a down-to-earth likeable gregarious person with a wry sense of humour and completely lacking in vanity or pretentiousness. He will be sorely missed by his many friends and admirers, and the whole magic world is the poorer for his passing. ----------------- 5. 12th martinka.com Auction ----------------- Message from Ted Bogusta I thought you might be interested to know that the 12th martinka.com auction of vintage and modern magic is now underway and has 300 items online. We will be listing even more lots over the next few days. You can view the listed material at www.martinka.com/auction. You'll find collectible books, posters, apparatus and items for the performing magician. Even if you are not a poster collector, you may still enjoy browsing the stone litho posters of Blackstone, Thurston, Raymond and others. The auctions are all scheduled to end this Sunday, March 21st. If you would like to bid, please complete the simple registration form listed on our website. After this sale, our next auction will be in June and is already half full, if you have items that you would like to consign, please contact us asap. ----------------- 6. Saturday At Reubens - A Magic Film by Filmmaker Leslie Danoff ----------------- Message from Nicholas Carifo Just received this note from Rich Howard of the Greater Pittsburgh Magic Network about the magic documentary film "Saturday at Reuben's". I had the honor of introducing this film, which I first reviewed at a Los Angeles film festival last year, at the IBM convention in Kansas City. It seems the IBM is scheduling a "back by popular demand" showing in Cleveland this summer. I look forward to it again. You can find out more of the film (and a blurb from my review) at the film's website: http://www.saturdayatreubens.com PS: Attached below are notes from Rich Howard and Leslie Danoff ----------------------------- Hello, Those of us who were at the IBM Convention last year in Kansas City received a surprise treat with the special showing of the documentary "Saturday at Reuben's". Those that are going to Cleveland this year will also get see this wonderful film that gives the lay audience a glimpse into the comraderie and brotherhood we share in the magic community. But here's great news I received today from the filmmaker, Leslie Danoff, of Danova Productions: "At long last, after much encouragement from magicians whom I met last summer at the IBM Kansas City Convention, I have created a website to try to market SATURDAY AT REUBEN'S. Now I have to figure out how to make it possible for the magicians to find it. If you are interested, please visit us at http://saturdayatreubens.com/ Thanks, Leslie Danoff ----------------- 7. Magic Mountaineering The M&M's Of Magic ----------------- February 21, 2004 Wow! In spite of the rain, slippery streets and freezing weather (48 degrees is considered ice time in Southern California) Glenn Vodhanel made the trip from far away Brea for the M&M's get together. Pat Wagner cruised in from Hollywood, Albert and Pat Raskind from Van Nuys along with a couple of locals from Woodland Hills, Dr. Harvey Rosen and Chuck Henderson. We wish a speedy and complete recovery to tough guy Dan Strauss who will beat up on that medical problem he is undergoing and make certain to attend our next Magic Mountaineering. Dr. Rosen tossed a 6 inch long black bag on the table along with three coins – two silver and one copper. The copper was the same size as the other two coins. He placed the two silver coins inside a small round brass, one inch high, container only a little wider than the coins. After placing a brass lid over the container Dr. R picked up the copper coin which immediately disappeared from both his hands only to reappear inside the brass container and between the two silver coins. He repeated the effect a second time except a copper and silver coin were placed inside the same container that was then closed with the lid. Dr. R picked up the silver coin that remained on the table and it once again promptly disappeared only to reappear inside the brass container, however, the copper coin was gone. He looked on the underside of another lid that was in front of us during the entire effect, only to discover the missing copper. Later, Dr. Rosen placed the copper inside his pocket only to have it reappear inside the container. He placed one of the silver coins inside his pocket, however, it reappeared inside the container. A spectator was asked to choose a coin. Silver was chosen. The coin disappeared and then mysteriously reappeared inside the black bag that was lying on the table. A spectator was asked to examine the brass container. There were only a couple of problems: The container was no longer a container because it had somehow transformed itself into solid brass without any openings. That's right it was a solid hunk of brass. Dr. Rosen's next effect was with a deck of cards that were shuffled in a "different" way. The top half of the deck was held faces down. The bottom half of the deck were held faces up. Both halves were shuffled together which should have caused some cards to be face up and others face down. When Dr. R performed a face down table spread the cards were not face to face but rather just as they should have been. Here's another from Dr. Harvey "Houdidit" Rosen. After shuffling, he dealt the entire deck into four piles of cards with 13 cards in each pile. After a volunteer selected two piles of cards, Dr. R shuffled them together. And then shuffled the remaining two piles of cards. His next step was to place all the cards together and shuffle them. He dealt two piles of 13 cards each and set the other cards aside. Guess what happened? ONE PILE CONTAINED ALL BLACK CARDS AND THE OTHER PILE ALL RED CARDS. Darn good magic by a darn good magician. Pat Raskind explained to us that mathematics is the basis for everything we do. To prove her point she gave each of us a hand calculator and said, "I'm going to give you a very large number to prove my statement. Please punch the following number in your calculators: 12345679." Everyone did as instructed. Pat asked one of the volunteers to announce any number between one and ten. The volunteer said, "Three." This was followed by Pat's associate, Alberto, placing silver dollars in front of everyone sitting around the table, except the first volunteer, and telling us to think of a number between one and ten except number three because that number has already been selected by the first volunteer. "If the number you decided on is in your final answer you will win all the money." Pat asked that we use our calculator's to multiply the large number already in the calculator by 27 and the number displayed on the calculator would be the same number the first volunteer decided on. We did as instructed and the result of the multiplication was 3.33333333. A very nice effect that can be presented anytime a calculator is handy. It was now time for Pat (Wagner) du Vannes to make her appearance, however, there was a problem -- Pat told us she was very tired and too tired to perform but will force herself to provide entertainment because the "show must go on." Pat removed a deck of cards from its box but she was too tired to shuffle and handed the deck to a volunteer and asked that he shuffle the deck. Pat managed to energize herself to the degree she searched through the deck until a certain card was located and placed face down on the table. She handed the deck to a volunteer, "I am too tired to do this so I want you to go through the deck and select any card except a face card and place it face down on the table next to my card." "Now is where a calculator comes in handy. Write the number of your card on a slip of paper. Double the number. Add 2 and write the total on the paper. Now multiply by 5. Subtract 7. What is the total?" The volunteer answered, "93." Pat was too tired to turn over the two face down cards so she asked the volunteer to please assist. He turned over the two selected cards and, how's this for a surprise ending: One card was 9 and the other 3. A good effect by, a now revived, Pat du Vannes. Glenn "Computer Whiz" Vodhanel stepped up to the plate and informed us he has always been interested in the way things work. He was so interested that he bought and showed us his book "The Way Things Work." This book even explained how to repair a copier. Glenn decided to go a step beyond "The way Things Work" and developed a miniaturized copier that was placed on the table before us. This copier consisted of two 6 inch X 10 inch sheets of clear plastic clamped together and containing one sheet of plain copier paper a couple of inches smaller that the copier. Glenn turned over the plastic copier so we could see the copier paper was blank on both sides. Glenn asked a volunteer to select a card that was blank on both sides from a card fan and then place it inside the copier. He had another card selected but this time from a standard deck of cards. The selected card was placed inside the copier and face down on top of the blank card that was already inside. Glenn explained the copier requires a darkroom for the blank card to develop, therefore, he placed the entire contraption inside a black bag so it could develop. The copier was later removed from the bag and the clamps loosened. Both of the cards were removed - the blank and also the selected card. When they were separated from each other we saw an exact image of the selected card on the blank card that was now blank on only one side. A blankety, blank good effect Glenn. Hope to see everyone this Saturday at 1:00. ----------------- 8. They Come In Three: By-Jamie-G ----------------- Message from Jamie-G They come in three of course I'm talking about my "CARD MELT" and my "CARD PREDICTION" and my "MONEY WARP CARDS". These three effect work great by themselves or all together. Each effect is a one unit gimmick which means no ditching, no palming or hiding or switching of any kind and pretty well self working. Each effect can be used for adults as well for children or even family shows. They are small and compact you can take them anywhere. These effects can be used with patter or you can use them with music they just make you look good no matter what you do with them. They are new and fresh and never seen before by laymen and magicians alike. BREAK DOWN: "MONEY WARP CARDS" Magic fans out a deck of cards. That the magician palms off a card and then instantly turns the playing card into a dollar bill. The magician then does this four more times. This effect is a shocker to the spectators that are watching. This effect comes with five cool gimmicks that are fool proof. BREAK DOWN #2: "PREDICTION CARD" The magician gets the spectator to pick a card in a deck, then the spectator places the card back into the deck and the card is lost. The magicians asks the spectator what was his card. (for example say it was the 5 of hearts) The spectator says the 5 of hearts. The magician then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a see through card holder that says card prediction, opens it up and sure enough it's the 5 of hearts. The magician then folds the card in half and than in half again. The magician then gives it a little shake and the card turns into a dollar bill(money) right in front of the spectator. The magician then shows the dollar bill front to back and then puts the bill into his pocket. This effect just blows the spectator out of the water this effect can be used as a stand alone all by itself. BREAK DOWN #3"CARD MELT" The magician gets the spectator to pick a card out of the deck than the card gets put back and lost. The magician then asks the spectator what his card was (for example say it was the 9 of clubs) the spectator says it was the 9 of clubs the magician then goes into his pocket and pulls out a playing card that is all folded up. When the magician unfolds the card its the 9 of clubs but the card is in three pieces. The magician says "WOW" this is weird folds the card back together gives it a rub and gives it a little blow and faster then the eye can see the card is totally back together in one whole piece. This effect is a big blow to layman and a great new effect to magicians. REAL TIME: Tom Craven from the Linking Ring has said that this is awesome magic. Also Tom has called JAMIE-G the "NEW MAGIC GENIUS" JAMIE-G has also came out with the "TOTAL MAGIC FOIL SYSTEM" magician are using this system all around the world. In the first two weeks JAMIE-G had sent out 400-500 magic foil systems to just the I.B.M. members and the members of ring 2100. He just did a workshop of this magic foil system for I.B.M. Ring #22 in Detroit, MI. and the members were shocked on how easy it is to make your own new killer magic effects. To go in-depth in this system for example you can now melt visibly and physically a gold or silver coin or pretty well any metal object you can think of. (until Jamie came up with this system you could not do this) Just to melt a coin in this style is a great break threw in magic and should be a very graded secret and it’s the newest weapon inn magic it's very, very powerful and its unbelievable even to magicians. Guy Bavli master mentalist and mental metal bender were quite impressed with Jamie's system. Even Micheal Ammar used the magic foil system to change a normal penny into a silver one. But for this system this is just a start. You can even melt a playing card. Yes that is what I said you can melt a playing card but I can go on for ever telling you about the magic foil system. I have been doing this system for over 15 years and I'm coming out to the magic world about this system to pass it on "BUT TO MAGICIAN'S ONLY" This is not a small packet trick but a whole new system to magic. I myself have had made hundreds of effects and magic gimmicks and this system has been very good to me. I know for a fact that magicians out there will make their own great effects as well. INFORMATION ABOUT EFFECTS: JAMIE-G promised his magic teacher and also his father years ago to only teach these any other of his magic effects to only magicians. That's why if your not a I.B.M. or I.M.S or S.A.M. or C.A.M. member you probably have not heard of this system or never seen JAMIE-G's magic. Just this year alone he has been in the Linking Ring five times with his magic. Most of the magic that he does is easy mostly self-working and even a child can do these effects. jamiegmagic@aol.com or you can write to him at: JAMIE-G 1607 Marentette Ave. Windsor,Ontario,Canada N8X 4E5 www.windsormagiccircle116.homestead.com I.B.M.-Ring #116 (Learn 50 magic tricks for free hidden throughout the web site also learn the history of the Windsor magic circle you would be surprised on who is and was a member. Also please sign in our guest book and let us know you were there. You will be glad you did. Plus you can see some funny pictures of me and other members of the club. And the most part the web site is a lot of fun with a ton of magic links. Just the magic links alone is worth checking out the site tell them JAMIE-G sent you. THANK YOU.) ----------------- 9. The Amazing Orchante Saga ----------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Page 8 The Great Benyon & Pseudo Hypnotism The Great Benyon hits town. For any young ‘Magic Mad’ Kid to see The Great Benyon was, well, MAGIC, with a capital ‘M’. This was the second event! It is all so long ago, like a dream; the ‘Quick Changes’, I can still hear him saying - “Same man, different clothes” (I did notice that he seemed to lose a lot of weight as the show progressed)! The Linking rings, Substitution Trunk, and, the one that really sticks in my mind was ‘The Ghost House’. Then there was the Pseudo-Hypnotism segment - ‘Pseudo’ because I found out much later that it was a ‘Sham’, but I was ‘Sold’, Big Time, on this amazing ‘Hypnotic Power’. The name ‘FRANQUIN’ is also floating about; rumours abound that he can make ‘Anyone Do Anything’, just by looking at them! I just had to find out how to develop this ‘Power’. The local bookshop had two books - ‘Hypnotism and Self Hypnosis’ by Ralph Slater, an English Hypnotist (circa 1952), and ‘Open Your Mind - a Course on Hypnotism’, by Franquin (circa 1954). These two books became my ‘Bibles’. So began my personal ‘journey’; studying and acquiring knowledge, from wherever I could glean it, about the intricacies of the human mind. Yoga, Self-Hypnosis, Psychology, Hypnotism and, practising the hypnotic lessons with the aid of my willing but ‘hapless’ Subjects, at the College. ----------------------- For those of you who have never heard of ‘THE GREAT BENYON’, which I find rather difficult to believe, particularly if you are a New Zealand magician, then I will enlighten you! Edgar Wilson Benyon was born in Auckland, New Zealand, 29th March 1901. From an early age, he aspired to become a Professional Magician, and through dogged determination and a never-flagging ambition, eventually became one of the ‘WORLD’S GREATEST’! How big was, and how many ‘Mysteries’ were in his show? Edgar himself only had a hazy idea but he disclosed in the ‘Linking Ring’ (a magic magazine) Vol. 26, # 5, P20, 1946 - that he had about ‘25 tons of paraphernalia, enough to fill six railroad vans each 40 feet long’! THE BENNY AWARD Created by ‘The Variety Artistes Club of New Zealand’, is an award for the outstanding variety entertainer of the year. It was decided to name it after Edgar, as he was New Zealand’s greatest variety entertainer, a place still undisputed to this day! Edgar himself was the first recipient of the award, a fitting tribute indeed! I was there, along with every other entertainer, on that most auspicious of nights! On September 14th 1978(the day after my 35th birthday), the final curtain fell on ‘The Great Benyon’; one of New Zealand’s greatest entertainers had left us at the age of 77! I have only barely scratched the surface about Edgar Benyon. To read the complete and definitive story of this fascinating and charming man, I can do no more than to sing the praises and highly recommend the wonderful book written by James V. Reilly (Jim) ISBN No. 0 - 9597986 - 1 – 7 ‘SAME MAN ~ DIFFERENT CLOTHES! The Life and Times of THE GREAT BENYON’ I urge you to buy, borrow, beg, or steal this magnificent book of 132 pages, for one of the most engrossing, enthralling, and captivating reads’ of your life! ------------------ 10. Magic New Zealand e-zine Archives ------------------ Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e-zine go to: www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html Both the User Name and Password MUST be entered in lower case to gain access. User Name: magic Password: kiwi When you enter the archive the e-zines are in issue order and are coded. Eg 001 Nov06 1999.txt first three numbers (001) denote issue number, then the date (Nov06) and the last figures the year (1999) ------------------- 11. Subscription Management ------------------- Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Magic New Zealand e-zine: www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html Magic New Zealand e-zine is published weekly, on Sunday. The opinions expressed in this e-zine are those of the individual contributors and not those of Magic New Zealand. Neither Magic New Zealand or Alan Watson can vouch for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or other information reported via Magic New Zealand e-zine. Subscribers to this publication and authors who contribute to it by doing so agree that they will not hold Magic New Zealand and or Alan Watson liable or responsible in any way for the opinions expressed herein. We reserve the right to edit, correct or, in our discretion, choose not to publish any submissions provided to Magic New Zealand for potential publication. Magic New Zealand welcomes readers to submit timely articles or news items which appear to be of interest to our readers. Those submitting to this e-zine agree that we have permission to publish their submissions and that they have the full copyright to the material submitted. All works published by Magic New Zealand are fully protected by international copyright as provided by law, and articles cannot be published for profit by anyone other than the individual author without the written permission of Magic New Zealand. >>This publication may be freely redistributed (but not sold) to other magicians if copied in its ENTIRETY including the copyright notice below and the above disclaimer.<< © Copyright 2004 Alan Watson