Magic New Zealand® E-zine

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* Magic New Zealand®
* Proudly sponsored by International Entertainment Ltd (New Zealand)
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Issue Number: #1550
Date: Sunday 12th January 2020
Editor: Alan Watson QSM
www.watson.co.nz
E-mail: editor@magicnewzealand.com
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Hi here is the latest news
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1. Editor's Message
2. Johnny Ace Palmer's Wife Susan Killed By A Drunk Driver
3. MAGIC Live 2020!
4. Vanish Magic Magazine Edition 66
5. The Magic Word Podcast
6. FISM North American Championship Of Magic 2020
7. 28th FISM World Championship Of Magic, Quebec City 2021
8. Tie Breaker! - John Carey #66
9. Potter & Potter Auctions Poster Auction
10. Stand Up Magic - by Paul Romhany
9. The Orchante Saga - Beginnings
10. E-zine Archives
11. Privacy Policy and Copyright Notice

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1. Editor's Message
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If you would like to read the Magic New Zealand e-zine in HTML format
go to: http://www.magicnewzealand.com/ezine-archive/2020-Jan-to-Dec-2020/1550-Jan10-2020.html

If you would like to write a regular column for Magic New Zealand or have some magic news drop me a line:
Editor@MagicNewZealand.com

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2. Johnny Ace Palmer's Wife Susan Killed By A Drunk Driver
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Article forwarded on by Peter Phillips (US)

Woman, 61, Dies After Alleged Drunk Teen Driver Hits Car In Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach (CBSLA) - Huntington Beach residents were grieving Thursday night after a beloved teacher was killed in a Wednesday night crash with a teenage driver who was allegedly drunk.

"She's my daughter's favorite substitute teacher," Lily Pham, a neighbor, said.

Susan Palmer, 61, was killed Wednesday night after the car she was in was struck by a 17-year-old from Westminster driving the wrong way on Gothard Street in Huntington Beach at about 9:30 p.m. The teen, who police said was driving under the influence, collided into the car where Palmer was a passenger.

She was taken to the hospital with major internal injuries and later died. The driver and other passengers suffered minor injuries.

"I just cannot believe it," Thang Pham, a neighbor, said. "I don't know how to describe it."
Neighbors said Palmer had been married for decades to the love of her life, Johnny "Ace" Palmer, a professional magician. The pair had two daughters together, one who just got engaged.
"I don't know how Johnny, how he's going to handle without Susan," Lily said. "They were such a sweet, loving couple. They were always together."

The teen driver was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/01/02/woman-61-dies-after-alleged-drunk-teen-driver-hits-car-in-huntington-beach/?fbclid=IwAR0-t7sNsHHxdXXKY61HGriEIj60c_Ua9LH5KAKwbibm5gFg-vy3rfQHCVA

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3. MAGIC Live 2020!
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Message by Stan Allen (US)

I'm very excited to announce that the next MAGIC Live is August 2-5, 2020, at The Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas.

Registration is $455, with a convenient payment plan available. We've also arranged the amazing room rate of just $50 per night (plus resort fee and room tax). When you combine the cost of registration and hotel, MAGIC Live is one of the best deals of the year.

Each registration includes tickets to all performances, plus access to sessions, workshops, special events, parties, and our dealer room, as well as giveaway items and complimentary notes. And there are no extra-charge events!

General Registration opens on Wednesday, February 5, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Your registration is 90% refundable through June 1, 2020.

To find out more about why MAGIC Live is like no other convention in the world, please visit our website. Or better yet, just ask a friend.

Look forward to seeing you in August. Surprise await!

Stan
MagicConvention.com

P.S. You can follow our countdown to Registration on Facebook and Instagram, as we revisit some of the highlights from Live 2019!

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4. Vanish Magic Magazine Edition 66
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Message by Paul Romhany Editor Vanish Magazine

Download And Printed Magazine

Our feature story is Canadian magician Jeff Christensen who has inspired many with his articles in Vanish but also with the work he and his family are doing with their foundation to help children and families around the world.

We pay tribute to Lee Allen, and Simon Aronson - two great people who contributed so much to our craft.

Mike Miller has been a behind the scenes person for a very long time and Vanish gets the exclusive story on Mike and how work he has done helping other magicians.

Felicity Fields tackles topics that many others won't. In this edition she talks about knowing the history of the magic you perform - and is the routine or trick still current in today's society.

David Penn sits down with director Ben Berman who just released the film The Amazing Johnathan.

Magic Tricks - a variety of tricks you can learn from close-up to stand-up.

Reviews - the latest in magic tricks, DVDs and more.

This And So Much More.

Now Available As A Printed Magazine - to order visit www.vanishmagazine.com

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5. The Magic Word Podcast
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Message by Scott Wells, M.I.M.C. with Gold Star

Mahdi Gilbert Plus "Late Bloomers in Magic" on The Magic Word Podcast

Podcast episodes are dropped each Thursday except for magic convention updates that happen daily during the course of the convention. After Christmas we released an inspirational podcast featuring Mahdi Gilbert. This Canadian close-up conjuror is creating his own path. You see, he has to since the methods he uses have to work for someone with any hands. Much the 17th century German magician, Matthias (Matthew) Buchinger, Mahdi was born without hands and feet. But he is an inspiration and travels the globe not only performing astounding card magic but also speaking to companies and organizations about the spirit of achievement. You can listen to the podcast, see a video of him on "Penn & Teller Fool Us" television show, see some candid photos, plus download the podcast at: https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwellsmagic/536-mahdi-gilbert

And now that we are in the new year and a new decade, we kick off things with another inspirational episode: "Late Bloomers - Finding Magic Later in Life." This episode was suggested by a listener who himself came into our magic community late in life. So many magicians' stories start off with learning or being inspired as a youngster. Well, some people didn't know about magic as a hobby/profession until much later while they were in their 30's, 40's, 50's or 60's. This week we talk with a dozen people who share their stories of how they became interested in magic and where they hope to go with their new found love of the art. This will be inspirational for anyone who might think it is too late to "teach an old dog new tricks" so to speak. You can listen or download this episode at: https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwellsmagic/537-late-bloomers

On this week's blog, we also list the names of many of those magicians who have passed on during 2019. It is not meant to be a complete nor thorough list by any means. But it is a list of those whom I knew and/or whom I think were inspirational and important to magicians worldwide by their contributions.

Of course you can listen to The Magic Word Podcast through a variety of methods. So I like to say that you can listen wherever and however you normally get your podcasts. If you are looking for a New Year's resolution that will be easy not to break, then plan to listen this year to The Magic Word Podcast as part of your weekly habit. You will do yourself some good!

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6. FISM North American Championship Of Magic 2020
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Message by Joan Caesar (Canada)

The FISM North American Championship of Magic along with The Canadian Association of Magicians convention will be held May 6-10, 2020 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
A registration to this historic convention would make a great Christmas present for the magician in your family. And your family might want to join you.

Quebec City is the only walled city in North America and has a tremendous amount of history. It is as close to the feeling of Europe as you'll find in North America. There are also wonderful shops and restaurants to explore along their cobblestone streets.

Judges will choose the contestants (a maximum of 15) who will move up to compete at FISM 2021 as well as the Canadian Champion. All contestants for a FISM placement must be citizens of North America. All videos must be sent by Feb 15 in order to compete. To be eligible to compete for the Canadian prizes in stage and close up, you must be a member of the Canadian Association of Magicians.

For more information and to register, go to www.FISMNA2020.com

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7. 28th FISM World Championship Of Magic, Quebec City 2021
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Message by Renée-Claude Auclair (Canada)

July 26 to 31st, 2021 will be an amazing gathering for magicians from all over the world!

We have more than 2,000 registrations at this time and we are pleased to announce that we have 1,000 more for those who did not have time to register yet!

Do not hesitate to contact us for any information at: info@fismquebec2021.com
or visit our web site at: www.fismquebec2021.com

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8. Tie Breaker! - John Carey #66
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Message by John Carey (UK)
http://www.johncareymagic.co.uk/

Tie Breaker is a nearly self-working production of the Aces that's fun, interactive and strong. The only stipulation is that the Aces are scattered in four different locations in the deck. This is very easy to manage if necessary in between tricks.

"Today we are going to play a little game where no money will be won or lost, but we do need a winner!" After you say this, turn the deck face up and slightly tilted faces towards you and start spreading the cards. When you see your first Ace simply align it square under the X card to the right of it and bring that spread of cards away from the deck. Call attention to the value of that X card and then place that packet face down on the table, squaring it against the table top. An Ace is secretly on top. Repeat exactly the above same actions three more times, calling attention to a random value, and then tabling a packet and switching in an Ace on top of each face down packet, so you end up with a row of four face down packets. Discard the remaining cards to one side.

"So we have an Eight, a Jack, a Two and a Four." Call out the values you called attention to earlier as you pick off the top card of each of the four face down packets. Stack up those packets and discard the deck. Hand the packet to one of the group for mixing and then ask he or she to deal one for themselves and then one to you and one each to two further spectators. "There can only be one winner tonight. Whoever gets the highest card is the winner. Let's all place a hand on our cards. I will count to three and we must all turn over our card." One, two, three. Oh damn it's a tie!!!"

As per the above script you and the other three persons each turn your cards face up to disclose the Aces as you end with Bill Malone's brilliant It's A Tie line, from his routine of that name in James Swain's Twenty- First Century Card Magic.

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9. Potter & Potter Auctions Poster Auction
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Public Auction o January 25, 2020

Vintage Posters

Our first auction of 2020 features hundreds of vintage posters in a wide range of categories, from vibrant vintage travel posters, to circus and film, product advertising, theatrical paper, and war and propaganda posters.

Place your bids at potterauctions.com with a 20% buyer's premium.

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10. Stand Up Magic - by Paul Romhany
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Message by Paul Romhany

Hardcover Book - 480 Pages

Bonus - links to video performances and other bonus material

Hundreds of photos and diagrams

"What makes Stand Up Magic stand out as a publishing coup is that the routines were not assembled merely to fill out the pages, these are routines that have been created for the sole purpose of actually performing them! Romhany has done his homework very thoroughly, and is very gracious in sharing thirty years of research about what to do and why it works These thirty routines have been the foundation of Paul's professional career, and it is very rare that a performer is willing to share that kind of information." - Nick Lewin

For over thirty years Paul Romhany has performed magic as his full-time job. It has taken him to over 120 countries and seen him perform on television, trade shows, cruise ships and the finest stages in the world. This book has thirty of his stand up and stage routines that have helped shape his career.

If you perform any kind of stand up magic then you will find routines in here that are practical, strong and will wow any audience. This is a lifelong collection of routines direct from Paul's repertoire - including full scripts for many of the routines.

Order from www.paulromhanymagic.com

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11. The Orchante Saga - Beginnings
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Written by the late Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)

Friends, Past and Present

Alan Horobin

Alan was born in London, where his father was a Zoo keeper. Alan travelled the world with Circuses, before settling down in New Zealand where he came to be regarded as the best trainer of Chimpanzees, both in New Zealand, and Australia. He had two Chimps that he performed with, Cheetah, who could be quite temperamental, and Charlie.

Alan bought a small single-pole tent, and putting a show together with the chimps and the two Peters, (Taylor & Newberry) went up to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. Nobody on that island had seen a chimpanzee before, except in Tarzan movies - Alan made a bloody fortune.

Each show lasted around 45 minutes - tent emptied out, and 30 minutes later, once again filled to capacity, the next show started. This went on all day and half the night, week after week. It was the nearest you could get, to printing your own money, legally. The people just poured in, returning time after time -Alan bought A BIGGER TENT - TWO poles - then headed off to Fiji, again with Peter Taylor and Newbs, but, this time, with myself and New Zealand's famous Country and Western singer, the late Rusty Greaves, in the show as well. We went from Nadi to Suva, and every place in between, for two solid months -from October 6th to December 10th, 1965 - it was bloody amazing!

While we were showing in the town of Sigatoka, I met a young lady - Hope Foster - her father was the manager of Burns-Phillips, a company that has large department stores all over Fiji, and many other Pacific Islands. Hope was quite beautiful, due to her parents being of an Asian/American/Fijian mix. God knows what she saw in me, but we fell 'in love', and she toured with me and the show for the duration. We made plans that I would return to Fiji in January 1966, after I had finished my Christmas/New Year bookings in New Zealand. My Mum and Dad were totally disgusted that I would traipse off to a 'foreign country' to meet up with some female, for God knows what purpose - bloody hell, I was 22 years old!

When I got over there, I came up with the bright idea of putting on the 'Orchante Show' at Picture Theatres, doing an hour plus show, and after the interval, the feature film would be shown. Hope organised the Theatres, and where we were to go - after all, Fiji was her home and she knew the place inside out. I did a 60/40 split with the Theatre Managers, with 60% coming to me - of course. Hope took me to places way off the Tourist route, - little villages not even on the map. It was during this time, that she also took me to various Hindu festivals, that are not for the eyes of tourists - these were fanatical religious ceremonies, and I was only allowed to attend because of Hope, although I had a sneaking suspicion that my own Yoga talents may also have played a part. I saw some amazing things.

Try this on for size. Sugar is the main export product of Fiji - the cane is cut down with very sharp, very large knives. These knives were also used in some of these Hinduism rites, closed to all but the initiated. I am one of the very few white men to have witnessed this. Getting themselves into a high fever pitch of high zealous fervour, the men slashed themselves - and others - with these knives. Their hands, arms and legs should have been damn near cut off - they should have had huge cuts/scars/wounds on their bodies - NOTHING - NO BLOOD - NOTHING. EXPLAIN THAT - I CAN'T!!! Well, I can, sort of. I know you can control pain and bodily functions with your mind - pure thought - I can push needles through my cheeks, sew a button onto my arm without pain or blood, but what these people do/did is something else, again. The Fijian Fire-walkers are world famous, but the Hindus also perform this feat, not as a tourist attraction - it is a part of their religious ceremonies, and is mind-boggling.

At their ceremonies, the fire-pit is so hot you can't even stand near it - so intense is the heat!. Throw green grass - not in, just at it, and it bursts into flame. They don't run, or walk quickly, along the length of the pit, (as I've seen every 'expert' white man do on various T.V. programmes) - they stroll s-l-o-w-l-y, from one end to the other. Not only that, most Hindus have quite hairy legs - these hairs don't even singe, not even the dried grass ornaments they sometimes wear around their ankles burn!. As far as I'm concerned - all of the foregoing blows science, and medical principals - as we know it - right off this planet. Phew - heavy - or what - none the less, fact! How does that line go - 'there are more things in Heaven and Earth, than are dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio'.

For three months, Hope and I travelled all over Fiji, then she fell 'out of love'. I packed my bags and baggage, and went home to New Zealand, and that was that. I never saw or heard from her again!!!

JUNE 1966 - Alan Horobin, with the tent, Chimps, a monkey, the two Peters and myself in tow went back to Fiji. We toured for two months - I started to wonder what Nationality I was - Kiwi, or Fijian. My God, it was hot working under canvas. Alan had taken all the side-flaps off so
we could get some sort of breeze through the tent - it didn't help much - I tell you, if anyone who was grossly overweight - a really fat bastard - had been with us, they would have finished up looking like 'Twiggy'.

The worst place I can recall was a village called BA. Situated in a small valley, it was so hot I'll swear that the instruments to measure that sort of temperature have yet to be invented. Alan had,
thoughtfully, bought a dozen buckets, and then filled them with water, to cool us down. As each of us finished doing 'our thing', we'd race out the back and upend a bucket or two, over our heads. The steam rose straight up to the upper reaches of the Troposphere - Ok, Ok, I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. IT WAS BLOODY HOT! Even the Fijians couldn't stand it. Alan, again thoughtfully, packed up, and we moved on. Thank God - that was the nearest to Hell I ever want to be.

Years later, early 80's, when Veronica and I practically lived on the cruise ship the 'MINGHUA' (it sailed from Australia to China, Japan, and all ports in between and back again -each cruise took 6 weeks). We were crossing the International Date Line somewhere around Guam - absolutely beautiful day, but it got so hot that by 1pm every passenger, and the crew, had gone inside. I sat out sunbathing for hours, on my own. The swimming pool was all mine. For me, after that Hell-hole BA, the temperature was just right. That's never changed - when we arrived in England 1985 (16 years ago) it was the middle of summer. I froze - still do!

Back to Fiji - another memorable event for me was visiting the Emperor Gold Mines at (I'll never spell this one right) Vautakola. They (the management) took us down more than a mile underground to see the gold seam. Also fascinating, was looking straight up the mile plus mine-shaft and seeing the stars shining brightly, as they do in an unpolluted atmosphere, as though it was a dark night, when in fact it was broad daylight outside. It was a little unnerving being that far underground - you get buried in less than that. (Sorry about that, the pun).

Another incident that springs to mind - Charlie, Al's youngest chimp, decided to climb up one of the two very heavy tent poles, which with the added weight of the tent it supported, weighed 'a ton'. It was immovable. Charlie didn't think so - for no reason at all, he refused to come down, and, in a sheer blinding rage, he started shaking that pole. He shook it so hard, the other pole, the entire tent, nearly came down. Then, thankfully, having gotten whatever was bugging him out of his system, he quietly climbed down, like a lamb, and cuddled up in Alan's arms.

I had read somewhere about the amazing strength of these animals, and also, Alan had warned us not to rile them, especially Cheetah, the eldest one. That was an incredible demonstration of their strength, and Charlie was only a young Chimpanzee!!.

August arrived, and we left Fiji for home (New Zealand). Conclusion next week.

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12. E-zine Archives
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Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e- zine go to:
www.magicnewzealand.com click on the red button centre right "Archives"

When you enter the archive the e- zines are in issue order in folders for each year and are Coded, e.g. 001 Nov06 1999.txt first three numbers (001) denote issue number, then the date (Nov06) and the last figures the year (1999)

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13. Privacy Policy and Copyright Notice
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Our subscriber list is NOT made available to any other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy.

You can subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Magic New Zealand® E- zine at: www.magicnewzealand.com

Magic New Zealand® E-zine is published each Sunday.

The opinions and statements expressed therein are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of Magic New Zealand®. Neither Magic New Zealand® nor Alan Watson QSM vouch for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or other information reported via Magic New Zealand® E- zine.

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Magic New Zealand® reserves the right to alter, correct or disregard any articles submitted.

Readers are encouraged to submit timely articles or news items which may be of interest to subscribers. By submitting articles to this e- zine, the authors grant Magic New Zealand® the right to publish such articles and such authors confirm their copyright of the material submitted.

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Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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.