* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #193 Date: Sunday 17th August 2003 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. English Magicians Involved In “Secrets of Magic” TV Exposure!!!   3. Vito Lupo Returns To Zamora Spain   4. Xtreme Close-Up Magic Survives A Week   5. Red Skelton Estate Released Three Videos   6. "American Discovery" Act At Abbotts Get Together   7. A New Auction Website For Magicians And Collectors   8. This Is Your Life Host 'Magically Appears'   9. Deaf Magicians Convention   10. Renowned Swedish Magician - Lecture Tour In The US   11. Saddam's Wizard Spills Beans On Tyrant's Future   12. The Comedy Knockout Comedy Club   13. Wanted Magicians For Close-Up Bar And/Or Restaurant Magic   14. The Amazing ‘Orchante’ Saga - Vol. Two - The Australian Years       Magic New Zealand   15. e-zine archives   16. Subscription Management ------------------------------------ 1. Editor's Message ------------------------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One David Ginn’s New Zealand lecture in Auckland and Wellington has been extremely successful. We have received a lot of positive feedback and look forward to his return in the near future.  If you’re looking for a lecture at your next convention on children’s magic we can certainly recommend David Ginn (USA) new lecture. Last lecture on the tour in New Zealand is in Christchurch this Saturday. Christchurch - Saturday 16th August Start: 7.30pm Contact: Greg & Sue Britt Venue: 23 Halswell Junction Rd, Christchurch 8003 Fee: $15.00 Adults /Under 15 years $10.00 Ph: (03) 322 - 9249 or email elgregoe@inet.net.nz -------------------------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ---------------------------------- 2. English Magicians Involved In “Secrets of Magic” TV Exposure!!! ---------------------------------- Message from Duncan Trillo (UK) British magic hit an all-time low on Saturday night (August 2nd) with the transmission of Secrets of Magic (Objective Productions for BBC1). I had to have a good think before deciding to go ahead and review the show as I know all the magicians involved, both in front of and behind the camera. Most are really good friends, some I've known for 20 years. Between them they have been responsible for some of the finest televised magic I've ever seen and MagicWeek has supported their work and will no doubt support future projects too. But I thought Secrets of Magic was a disgrace. In my article/review I've tried to explain why I believe magic is so very special and why it should be treasured. Secrets of Magic: Secrets of Magic Objective Productions BBC1 Saturday 8.35pm 2nd August 2003 Article/Review by Duncan Trillo Based on the show's dire multiple-choice format, here's one for the producers to ponder. Secrets of Magic was made because.. A. There's lots of money to be made out of exposing magic on television. B. Now is the perfect time to cash-in on magic's current popularity. C. We don't care what magicians think. D. All of the above. This is not going to be a straight-forward review, it can't be. I really want to try and convey why I thought the programme was so wrong and why it should never have been made. I think its makers have completely forgotten what magic is all about.. MAGIC I love watching magic. I've loved it ever since I was a little boy. From seeing the "Chinese Wallet" in the school playground to watching the brilliance of Al Goshman and Richard Ross at Ron's Day, to the spectacle of Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, to just the other night at The Magic Circle when Lol said "Duncan come and look at this" as he introduced me to a visiting magician who was performing some amazing sleights with a deck of cards. And I love performing magic. I've done it for 25 years all over the world. For me magic is very special. I treasure it, and think how lucky I am to be a part of it. I respect "magic" - its creators and performers, past and present, and the very art of magic itself. That's why this type of show leaves me so incensed. Years ago I used to perform in Covent Garden and battled with angle problems (with a silent act) but managed, just about. Today, when I do an after dinner cabaret, I often come up against those same angle problems, with difficult room layouts and people sitting on either side of me, but I try my very best to minimise the possibilities of anyone seeing something that they shouldn't. I'm not perfect, but.. THE THOUGHT OF EXPOSING MAGIC ON NATIONAL TELEVISION IS ALIEN TO ME and always has been. I just don't get it. I don't understand how anyone who has grown up with magic can do it. Don't they understand that it's not the METHOD that has an impact on an audience - it is the EFFECT! That as soon as you expose the method you completely devalue the magic, your performance and your art. No matter how you dress it up, as in this production. And exposing bogus methods, as was sometimes the case, doesn't make it "alright" either (that's just a red herring). Nor does the "sucker trick" argument hold any water - not for a split-second. This wasn't a "sucker trick" with a clever twist in the context of a full performance of magic - this was a series of contrived exposures, packaged, pumped out, and sold as Secrets of Magic. MAGIC IS SPECIAL Some of my most vivid early memories are associated with magic. I'll never forget a pre Christmas trip to London and a visit to Harrods toy department when I was about eight years old. There was a magic counter manned by a magician in full get-up: tux, frilly dress shirt, bow tie, the lot! This was the first time I'd seen a real magician. With a flourish I was invited to "pick a card" which I did, and then to "press the button on the back." I pressed on the back of the card, and it changed into a different card! It really did. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen! I absolutely loved it! My parents bought me a deck, not to be opened until Christmas.. but I couldn't wait. Somehow these cards could change into other cards… but how? During the long car journey home I had to have a look. I remember my heart sinking when I opened the box and pressed on the back of a card… it didn't change. I tried another card, it didn't change either. I was really disappointed. It wasn't until I read the instructions and started to practise that I realised just how special these cards really were. The secret was actually quite simple, but the effect was far from simple, the effect was pure magic! I took the cards to school and had great fun showing card tricks to friends, but I never told them the secret. Eight years old and I knew that it was wrong to reveal the secret - that would spoil the fun. SECRETS OF MAGIC Now, years on, and my heart sank again. Secrets of Magic spoilt the fun. Exposing actual and bogus methods left, right and centre. 'Performance' didn't come into the equation, the magicians were the producers 'props' and 'exposure' was the star of the show. It was as if they'd set out to rip the soul out of magic. What were executive producers Anthony Owen and Andrew O'Connor, who have been responsible for some excellent productions in the past (Derren Brown: Mind Control, and the award-winning Quick Trick Show) thinking about? What right do they think they have to dilute something that I, and thousands of others, really care about, reducing it to nothing more than a cheap laugh on a third-rate game show? Why are magicians producing this programme and why are magicians appearing on it? There were many exposure sequences in the show, here is one of them: A young woman from the audience joined magician Etienne Pradier at his table. He showed her three coins and an empty metal goblet which was covered with a silk. He placed the first coin into his pocket, magically it travelled to the goblet (invisibly) landing with an audible "clink." The second coin vanished from within the folds of a small piece of paper, and it too could be heard "arriving" in the goblet. "That's amazing" said the spectator. Finally the third coin just disappeared - one moment it was in his hands, the next - gone! The goblet was uncovered and there, inside, were the three coins. Magic! It looked very good and by this time the woman was clearly enchanted - she loved it! This was good magic performed by an excellent magician (a recent Card Magic 3rd place FISM winner). Job done, or so you would have thought.. The trick was then thrown over to three "TV personalities" to dissect before they were invited to select method A, B, C, or D from a 4-way multiple choice list. Then the studio audience were invited to vote A, B, C, or D as well. This really was dreadful stuff. "Three years at drama school for this" eyes rolling skyward, said panelist Lesley Grantham, clearly embarrassed. Then Etienne exposed the method, in this case half bogus and half actual, but all very plausible (either way that's irrelevant of course), then he repeated the whole thing again, using different methods to "fool" everyone. So what! You could carry on all night doing that. The whole concept is so flawed. Why are they making an exposure show in the first place? Why are they prostituting magic? Up popped John Lenahan. The last time I saw John on TV he was exposing a mind-reading trick on How Do They Do That? years ago. This time he was walking along a platform on Waterloo Station in a grey suit (he looked like a ticket inspector - I thought he must be going through a bad patch) trying to round-up a few passers-by to show a card trick to, before explaining how it's all done of course. Magically the 'card behind train window' (later exposed) was far str onger than the shoe trick seen in the "fooled you" sequence that followed (that wasn't exposed), but none of the production team spotted that because they were so focused on exposing methods as opposed to presenting effects (i.e. from a lay viewpoint: picking a card is "fair and square" and its appearance on an incoming train's window "magic" but making someone's shoe appear on board a train that was drawing into a platform, nominated by the spectator, in the hands of another magician, is instantly dismissed as being too impossible and therefore "stooged"). Three key magic methods were exposed in the card/train sequence. Danny Buckler exposed a switch that is used by some of the world's top illusionists, convincingly, every day of the year, all over the world, and so it went on. This programme shouldn't have been made. It showed a total lack of respect for both the magic community and the viewing public. Throughout the entire production there was an underlying arrogance that was palpable. No one likes a smug magician - even less a smug producer. The viewing figures were poor (Summer slump hits BBC1) but I understand that six more shows are in the pipeline (it's common knowledge that the BBC has been clutching at straws recently, and doesn't it just show). As I was writing this I thought, "Should I let them have their say to balance things out?" and then I thought, "No, they had their say on Saturday night, now it's my turn." Sorry guys, but it's just not on. © Duncan Trillo MIMC. 9th August 2003 Secrets of Magic Hosted by: Nick Knowles. With: Simone Bienne, Danny Buckler, John Lenahan and Etienne Pradier. Special Guests: Leslie Grantham, Ulrika Jonsson, Donal MacIntyre. The Voice of: Howard Hughes. Magic Designer: Richard Pinner. Make Up: Estelle Horder, Lynne Short. Wardrobe: Helen Woolfenden. Consultant Producers: David Britland, Andy Nyman. Music: Julian Ronnie. Graphic Design: Bill Wilson. Techniacal Facilities: Fountain Studios, The Farm. Location Director: Jeremy Wooding. Floor Manager: Alan Conley. Production Secretary: Emily Senior. Production Accountant: Nigel Woods. Vision Supervisor: Simon Atkinson. Video Tape Editors: Steve Andrews, Stefan Stuckert. Dubbing Mixer: Nigel Edwards. Vision Mixer: Simon Sanders. Camera Supervisor: Phil Piotrowsky. Sound Supervisor: Bob Owens. Script Supervisor: Sue Davis. Head of Production: Barry Read. Production Manager: Kat Taylor. Lighting Director: Al Gurdon. Designer: Julian Healy. Researcher: Sophie Chandler. Celebrity Booker: Emma McDonald. Assistant Producer: Caroline Bloch. Commissioning Editor for the BBC: Jonathan Beazley. Executive Producers: Anthony Owen, Andrew O'Connor. Director: Simon Staffurth. Objective Productions for BBC 2003. ---------------------------------- 3. Vito Lupo Returns To Zamora Spain ---------------------------------- Message from Vito Lupo Vito Lupo returns to Zamora Spain, September 11-15, 2003 to join crew and friends of Luis Matos for its annual Magic Festival. Following his European visit, Vito Lupo Lectures & Headlines at the SEAM 2003 Chattanooga, Tennessee Magic Convention, September 18-21, 2003 ---------------------------------- 4. Xtreme Close-Up Magic Survives A Week ---------------------------------- Message from Steve and Jan Dacri (US) Well, week one is done and dusted, and it was a fun experience. The only close-up show in Las Vegas is getting a lot of initial press and audience response to the set-up of the room has been fantastic. In my five or six years of working at Caesars Magical Empire. I always thought that the show would be good for close-up magic, and get it out to the public. That never happened, and the place sits gathering dust behind locked doors over at Caesars Palace. "Xtreme Close-Up Magic" is already gathering steam as people become aware of the show. Unlike CME, the showroom where the close-up magic takes place is not a jewel box theatre designed for such, it is more of a night club setting. The Orleans is a fabulous hotel, built in 1996, a favorite among locals here in town, as well as tourists and business people. Huge casino, 1,500 hotel rooms, ten restaurants, enormous bowling alley, 14-screen movie theatre, celebrity showroom, sports bar, and our showroom, Brendan's. The showroom is actually a large Irish Pub/Sports Bar type deal with a stage in the middle. The place can hold about 150, but we set it for 100 at tables of four. Small stage, curtains, usually plays host to a jazz band a couple nights and blues bands, rock bands, singers, etc. On the surface, not the best room for magic, but it has many features that turn it into the perfect close-up magic showcase. Only thing missing is the raised seating. We have that in discussions for the future, if the show is doing well. There are 17 large screens surrounding the stage, a long bar in the back runs the length of the room. The screens make for a great visual experience. We have created some neat video with cool graphics and magic. A "pre-show" video program plays for the half hour before the show actually starts. Sets the tone of the room, with humourous magic sequences (clips from many early, classic TV shows that I have guested on) playing on every TV screen. We wired our video camera into the system, and during my performance a roving "Bunny Cam" follows the action. Anywhere you look, the close-up images of the trick, sometimes from above, or from behind, giving a unique perspective to the performance. Our Bunny Cam is operated by Jan (when she is not off on a speaking engagement), dressed in a sort-of a black bunny outfit complete with ears and tail. Jan is joined by our Bunny cam in Training girl and sometimes magicians assistant, Jessica Rabbit, dressed with white bunny ears and tail. Some of the action takes place on the small stage, some at a close-up table that is directly in front of the stage, right in the audience, lit separately, where I sit with invited audience members and do traditional sit-down stuff. One portion of the show is performed while walking among the tables, with 4 designated tables pre-lit with a light source that goes on as I approach it, allowing the visibility to increase, and as always, I am followed by the Bunny Cam for added visuals. Opening night was packed, (I didn't see the numbers, they were probably all free!), and the intimate room comes alive. A special remote video does the introduction of the show, then it's all live. We do a matinee on Tuesdays at 4pm, the rest of the shows are at 7 pm. The matinee was not much fun, small crowd, and as I have been told, the afternoon shows are tough to attract a crowd, and they are mostly free all over town, so I can tell you that we will most likely drop that one afternoon show and concentrate our efforts on the evenings. We had good crowds for the first week, not sold out, but respectable for starters. Especially considering that very little advertising has been done yet. The show officially opens in Sept, so this month is a way for us all to get the kinks worked out, settle into the venue and get the word of mouth started. I did TV and radio locally here in Vegas, all arranged by the Orleans Hotel to get things rolling, and have been doing almost daily interviews with the press. Haven't settled in to that all-important "routine" that takes place when you begin a long engagement in one place, as so many things have yet to fall into place, its all still new. We are enjoying the experience, and look forward to a fun experience, with the satisfaction that comes from knowing that we are highlighting close-up magic and making it accessible to a large segment of the public. We have guest magicians starting this week, and my plan is to someday have this show become a permanent fixture of the Las Vegas Entertainment Offerings, where close-up magic will be offered by an International, and rotating group of the top performers in the business. For now, if you are planning to visit Las Vegas in the next 5 months, be sure to catch our show and say hi.. Steve and Jan Dacri Show details and tickets can be purchased on the website, www.orleanscasino.com or you can reach Jan for further info jan@magicwebchannel.com ---------------------------------- 5. Red Skelton Estate Released Three Videos ---------------------------------- Message from Bev Bergeron (US) The Red Skelton Estate has released three video tapes of the Skelton TV show called: "The Best of Red Skelton." On tape No. 2 you will find Bev Bergeron doing a Silent Bit with Red in which Red is cooking in a dinner and Bev as a robber eats some of Red's cooking then does the stuntman's 180 flip to the floor. This skit was shot in 1970 at N.B.C. after the show moved from C.B.S. ---------------------------------- 6. "American Discovery" Act At Abbotts Get Together ---------------------------------- Message from Maria Ibanez (US) This just in from Tony Chaudhuri, proud father of twins Ariel and Damara who took the Grand Prize with their "American Discovery" act at Abbotts Get Together. The twins also won the high score of all acts including both juniors and seniors and were asked to perform on the Saturday night show with Gene Anderson, Jay Marshall, Franz Harary and Shimada -- they were thrilled. Congratulations to them. As a personal note from me -- keep your eye on these girls, I expect great things from them. We've seen their growth at Florida State year after year and they are super. ---------------------------------- 7. A New Auction Website For Magicians And Collectors ---------------------------------- www.YesterdaysMagic.com A new auction website for magicians and collectors. Owen, Mysto, Thayer, Klingl, Coradi, Martinka, Rotterberg, Petrie and Lewis, Rings and Things and Collectors Workshop are just a few of the makers of quality magic being offered on Yesterdays Magic.com If you're tired of being sniped on Ebay, or would like to see something described without using the words "Rare", "One of a kind" or "Hard to find" then Yesterdays Magic.com is for you. If someone should try to snipe an auction (bid within the last few remaining seconds) the auction will be extended to allow the previous bidder a fair chance to bid again. Every item will be described without leading text allowing you to believe that " this piece of magic is incredibly rare and if you don't buy it now you will never have another opportunity to own one (here's the part that's always left out)..until I list one of the other five I have a month from now. On Yesterdays Magic.com we put up for auction what we have and we believe our customers to be an intelligent group of people who know what they want. On Yesterdays Magic.com we offer vintage Apparatus, Posters, Books, Magic Sets, Collectables and newer Used Magic. The first auction starts on Monday August 18th . Pre-registration and early auction pre-view will open on Saturday August 16th. YesterdaysMagic.com: Yesterdays magic for today's magician and collector. ---------------------------------- 8. This Is Your Life Host 'Magically Appears' ---------------------------------- Message from Joshua Lee (Aust) Australian 'This is your life' host Mike Munroe is to magically appear as Miss Australia Winner and Miss Universe contestant Renee Henderson disappears at the hands of Pete Smith (acting as Magician) for a surprise reveal for GTV9's 'This is your life' program. Supplied and Choreographed by Duck Cameron, this show will be aired in future weeks. Special thanks to Terry Mc Sweeney for a great idea and Ross Skiffington, who due to a hectic schedule, recommended Duck. For those that remember Young Talent Time (Family Variety program that gave many a magician the opportunity to perform on television), a DVD & VIDEO of the history of the show is being released at the end of October. If you look really closely at the start of the program, you will notice a very, very young Duck Cameron performing magic. ---------------------------------- 9. Deaf Magicians Convention ---------------------------------- Message from Don Drake (US) It was my pleasure to be booked for my lecture, and to act as a judge, in the Deaf Magicians convention, recently held here in Las Vegas at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino. I feel blessed to have learned so much from one convention. The people who ran the convention did an excellent job, and they were some of the nicest folks I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I think I learned more from watching the deaf performers, than I have from viewing other performers without this so-called handicap. Without the audio, or patter, the acts had to be visual only, and I was pleasantly surprised to see some excellent acts! I will leave the reviews to others, but I'd just like to say that I felt honored and pleased to have been invited. I would personally like to thank Sammy Ruiz, and all the others who have taught me so much. I am even considering learning to sign. Break a leg, DONDRAKE ---------------------------------- 10. Renowned Swedish Magician - Lecture Tour In The US ---------------------------------- Message from Maria Ibanez (US) Next October and November, the renowned Swedish magician is coming to the New York and Washington DC/Virginia for a lecture tour arranged by Marc de Souza (email: MDeSouza@DeSouzaBrown.com) and Gleen Gary (email: GlennGary1@aol.com). Please contact them for details. This will be Jahn Gallo’s first lecture tour in the United States! Everybody who has attended Gallo's lectures is raving about them. Jahn has been a professional for over 30 years. He is the kind of pro that seldom attends magic conventions for a very particular reason. He has always been busy working! Jahn has been doing nightclubs all over Europe, The Far East, Japan and other parts of the world. He and his wife Gun have worked on the best cruise lines only (among them the prestigious 6 star Mv Silver Shadow (Silversea Cruises USA), and in Variety Theatres like the legendary Hansa-Theater in Hamburg and Varieté Theater Stuttgart, the world renowned Casino Estoril (Portugal), Casino Madeira, Copacabana Club Tokyo, Ginza Crown Tokyo, Blue Sky Bangkok, just to name a few. He has of course been a lot on TV all over Europe. Jahn is the nicest guy I know. That is not enough to give a lecture. But he is also the most knowledgable magician I ever met! Name any trick, and he will perform it flawlessly (maybe he used to do it ten years ago, but it's still in his spine). He performs many of the old classics in his stage show together with his wife Gun, but every single number has a new twist to it. And he makes the audience laugh in his good-humored, Swedish accent. As a close-up magician (including gambling tricks) very few can beat him. He is as good with cards as with ropes, coins, chips, and banknotes -- you name it. For example he makes The McDonald's Aces in a new way where you show both sides of the cards (it's in the lecture). Jahn has now passed 60 (I think he is 62) and does lecture tours since a year back. He is just back from Germany and is leaving for former Czechoslovakia and Hungary soon. From there he is going to South Africa for a full month of lectures, workshops and performances. Believe me: every convention and magic association in Europe is trying to get him! Finally, he is the most generous magician I ever met. He will teach his fellow magician much more than they expect. Moreover, he also shares his experience as a professional entertainer for more than 30 years. His lecture notes are both on a CD-ROM and in print. Why do I write all this to you, dear fellow magicians in Florida? First of all I know Jahn Gallo very well and consider him a good friend. More important: as a member of IBM Ring 303 and SAM in Fort Myers myself, I think we all should take this rare opportunity to negotiate a lecture for Jahn and Gun Gallo in connection to his visit in New York and Virginia. I called Jahn today (August 5). He said that so far he is free two weeks after November 10 and would very much like to visit the Sunshine State! Please click on Jahn Gallo's lecture site www.gallos-lecture.cjb.net and then contact him (you can't miss the button) for negotiations. Between you and me, I know that Marc (de Souza) has made a good deal with Jahn, and so can you. I think he and Gun really would like to come to Florida in November. I hope to be there too, so that you after seeing his lecture can shake my hand for writing this email to you! All The Best in Magic Ulf Morling ---------------------------------- 11. Saddam's Wizard Spills Beans On Tyrant's Future ---------------------------------- Message from Tony Wilson (NZ) Published in New Zealand Herald 13 August The wrinkled old man sprays perfume around the dingy room then holds out his hands and feet for  visitor to bind, instructing him to knot the cloth three times and blow on it.  The lights go out, and small red flashes appear beneath the cloak covering a bowl of magic powders and water.  Something pokes at the vistors - "birds", the wizard says and water splashes from the bowl. The genies have arrived, and the questions begin. Will Saddam be found?  A genie answers in the old man's voice: "Yes." Dead or alive? "Dead." And the US$25 million ($42.54 Million) question: Where is he? "Dhuluaiyah," a village 85km north of Baghdad. Coming from this man, the words carry special meaning.  Thousands of magicians, fortune-tellers and faithhealers may form part of the forbidden fabric of Iraq, but this one is Saddam's own wizard. He has studied magic since he was 10, learning from his aunt's husband.  Now 62, he is one of the most revered magicians in Iraq. The sorcerer asks that he not be identified, and will not even say Saddam's name. "That man is still alive, so I'm afraid..When he is dead I can talk about him." The magician and several others interviewed in Baghdad say Saddam was a firm believer in magic, and even tried "studying the sands" and summoning genies. He frequently consulted two magicians from Iraq, one from Turkey, one from India, a French Arab and a beautiful Jewish witch from Morocco, says the wizard. Academics say Saddam's brutal rule fostered the magical arts. "When you are weak, when you ae oppressed, where can you go? You can't go outside.  You go inside yourself," says a1-Haareth Hassan al-Asadi, who studies parapsychology at Baghdad University. He says at least 60 per cent of Iraqis use some sort of magic. ---------------------------------- 12. The Comedy Knockout Comedy Club ---------------------------------- Message from Melissa (Aust) Don’t Miss a Huge night of comedy featuring Comedy Magician Chuck Fayne The Comedy Knockout Comedy Club The Elephant and Wheelbarrow 169 Fitzroy Street St Kilda Show starts 9pm Tickets $10/$8 Coming Up Wednesday 27 Aug HEADLINER………. CHUCK FAYNE, Craig Egan, Mr Fish, Terry North, Ronny Campbell, David Lennie, Steve Lee, Dwight Banday… ---------------------------------- 13. Wanted Magicians For Close-Up Bar And/Or Restaurant Magic ---------------------------------- Message from Bill Malone (US) Malone's Magic Bar is entering its ninth successful year at the prestigious Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton Florida. We are expanding our entertainment and looking for entertaining magicians that are experienced in close-up bar and/or restaurant magic. We are now accepting videos (these do not have to be professionally done) to give us an idea of your magic routines and performing style. Auditions will then be done in September.  We are looking for magicians that are willing to relocate to Florida for a full time career in magic. Contact Mr. Malone at: Phone: 561-487-7634, Fax: 561-487-2318, or e-mail: maloneb@bellsouth.net --------------------------------- 14. The Amazing ‘Orchante’ Saga ---------------------------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Page - 15 The guy selling various Australian parrots and cockatoos at the market stall told us that he’d already clipped one wing to prevent it from flying off, and assured us that the cockatoo, which was getting on to being a year old, would soon tame down after a week or so of living with us. ‘Bollocks’! As you may have gathered, we do not like the idea of keeping pets of any description locked up in a cage - with the exception of snakes, don’t mind them but they are not my idea of a pet. Talking about snakes has given my brain and memory cell? a hefty jolt, so I’m just going to have to make a sizeable diversion here. “Waddya mean, you’re not surprised”? The first time I saw a LIVE SNAKE used in an act was when a magician from Australia was booked onto the ‘Dominion Breweries’ N.Z. hotel circuit for a few weeks (by the Entertainments Director (known as ‘God’) of the company; what a laugh that was - see Vol.1-‘The New Zealand Years’ page 147 paragraphs 6/7), which annoyed the hell out of me as I was working the circuit too, and had been told that his act was similar to mine; His wife worked as his partner/assistant (as Veronica and I did) they were billed as -‘Aly Kabah & Enrica’ (real name was Gerry Holmes). I just had to see this act. I’m guessing that it was sometime in 1973 that Jon Zealando and I went to the Glenfield Tavern in Auckland to watch this act, for the reasons stated above (Jon also performed a ‘yogi’ type act - a totally different presentation to mine) and also because it had been heavily advertised that Aly Kabah was going to perform ‘Psychic Surgery’ as part of his performance. I won’t get into that side of Aly’s show at this time, as there is a lot more to say about it; it played a major role in my own show later. It was the first and only time that I have seen a magician successfully combine Magic with a ‘Fakir’ act and, make it work! The only things that Aly performed in his show that I did in mine, and Jon’s, was to eat fire and in my case, swallow swords, which Jon doesn’t do - not unless it folds up! Aly hammered a nail through his tongue, ate a light bulb and then borrowed somebody’s glass, drank the contents then ate the glass as well - I guess ‘borrowed’ was the wrong word to use. There was a lot more in his show but his ‘Coup De Grace was the ‘Psychic Surgery’, which brought the house down. The other ‘feat’ that elicited almighty screams from the enthralled crowd was when he invited a lady from the audience to join him on stage. Enrica then brought a smallish box onstage and gave it to Aly who then promptly pulled the drawer out of it, and then asked the woman to - “Please place your hand into it - make sure that it’s completely empty”. She felt around - even had a good look inside, then confirmed that it was. Again Aly asked her to make absolutely certain and again, she vowed that it was, whereupon Aly slammed the drawer back in, quickly muttered a few ‘magical words’ that sounded like something in Arabic and immediately pulled the drawer back open, reached in and pulled out a bloody great snake! The poor woman nearly fainted! By now, I guess that every magician in the world reading this will recognise the very ancient and time honoured prop known as the Drawer Box, more commonly seen in children shows, producing and vanishing silk handkerchiefs, lollies etc Not ***xxx??8/-- SNAKES! Damn near every female in the audience screamed and several choice expletives came from the men, but it didn’t end there - Oh No, Aly had barely got started on this one. He bundled the snake back into the drawer, which was a good trick in itself, closed the drawer back in then immediately opened it up and of course the snake was gone. Aly turns the box around and shows the entire audience that it is empty - then he asks the woman to again place her hand into the drawer and confirm for herself then where there was once a snake was now a complete void. She looked at Aly as if he was a total madman, uttered a scream and took off! Aly looks worried, where is the snake, he wanders around looking for it picking up this and that and lifting up the curtains etc. By now the audience is getting worried; you must remember that this is New Zealand, which has no snakes what's so ever, unlike Australia which has some the most deadliest snakes and the world! Aly finally pulls out a little flute and starts playing a little tune on it, wandering around the audience as he does so. Finally he stops at a table that has several people sitting at it - he carefully reaches underneath the table and - pulls out the snake! Every chair at that table flew backwards at a great rate of knots as the people sitting on them scattered, screaming, in all directions! It was a hell of a performance! We became great friends with Aly and Enrica after we arrived in Australia; I'll get back to them later. ------------------------------------- 15. 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