* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #279 Date: Sunday 15th August 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. Paul And Debbie Daniels To Be On TV 'Reality' Show   3. The John McNicholas Magician's Round Table   4. Tony Wilson’s Magical Adventures   5. 25 Photographs Of Les Cole, "The Great Levante"   6. Pacific Coast Association Of Magicians   7. The Comedy Of Errors   8. Looking For "Turtle Trio"   9. Magician-Comic George Johnstone Is Dead At 85   10. Update On LVMI   11. Cath Jamison - Woman Of Deception   12. World's Greatest Card Trick - Jamie-G   13. The Amazing Orchante Saga   14. e-zine Archives   15. Subscription Management ------------------ 1. Editors Message ------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One It’s a grandson - Troy Thrilled to announce that my daughter Melanie (one of the twins) gave birth to Troy on Monday 9th August at 11am. Melanie had stomach cramps and just 40 minutes later in hospital Troy arrived naturally, and by 2.30pm she was back at home with baby and proud Dad, Mike Spiers and 5 year old budding magician sister Aleshia.  Now that’s a quick trick! ----------------------------------- Spam programme!!! I have had a major problem with my spam programme over the last two weeks.  My spam programme is supposed to be self-learning but has got overzealous with bouncing legitimate messages.  If you’ve had problems sending me a message and it’s been bouncing, put the word “Magic” in the subject line, and I’m sure to receive it. ----------------- The Magic Circle Centenary Burns Scandrett (DeLarno) will be attending The Magic Circle Centenary in London, 20 - 23 July 2005 and looking for someone to share accommodation at the Convention hotel over that period. Email him at delarno@xtra.co.nz. So far there is 9 New Zealanders booked to attend The Centenary Celebrations of the Magic Circle: Burns Scandrett, Tony and Mary Wilson, Kris and Kristine Kardo, Bill and Marlene Seagraves, Michele and I. Places are limited and are filling fast - suggest you book NOW. Go to: www.themagiccirclecentenary.co.uk --------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ----------------- 2. Paul And Debbie Daniels To Be On TV 'Reality' Show ----------------- Message from Paul Daniels (UK) This week I had to do something that I have never done before and that I HATED to do: I had to ask if I could let someone down on a contract. I have never done that before and the inner torment was enormous. I had agreed to appear for Domenico Dante at his convention near Venice in mid October. I love Italy and in particular Venice and Rome..they are my favourites, but nothing to do with this message, I just thought I would tell you. The problem was that for the last couple of years producers have been trying to get Debbie and I onto so-called 'Reality' shows and we have said 'no' because we don't find them entertaining ourselves. The producers must have thought it was the money so they kept offering larger and larger amounts of it until finally it arrived at a sum that we would have been truly stupid (no comments please) to turn down. Domenico's event was right in the middle of the three weeks that we will be locked away on the TV series. I sent a factual message to him, saying that if he could not release us we would be there, and still friends. He was immediately on the telephone saying that he recognised that business was business and that of course we must do the television show. I know this will mean a lot more work for him, so I wanted the World of Watson's Wizards to know what a nice man he is. ----------------- 3. The John McNicholas Magician's Round Table ----------------- Message from Eric Appel Wednesday Sept. 15, 2004 Jay Sankey What more really needs to be said other than that? His innovative sleight, his original routines, his new way of looking at magic make this performer and lecturer one of the most sought after lecturers in the world, and we have him coming to share his insights with us. If you can only make one lecture a year, this is the one to make. Coins, rubber bands, cards, pool chalk, damn near any object becomes MAGIC in his hands. His "simple is better" approach to his newer offerings will give something for everyone, and prove that you don't have to kill yourself to do great magic. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see one of the best magic lecturers in the world LIVE and in-person! This is a BRAND NEW LECTURE featuring killer close-up and mentalism material! Doors open @ 7pm. Lectures starts @ 8pm. Cost is $15.00 for members, and $20.00 for non-members VFW Hall is @ 20 Pennsylvania RR Ave, Linden, N.J. (two blocks from the Linden RR Station) ----------------- 4. Tony Wilson’s Magical Adventures ----------------- Message from Tony Wilson - IBM International President 2004 - 2005 Our first few hours with Phil and Robbie Willmarth in Raleigh, North Carolina were spent having a lovely meal before Phil and I headed off for a rehearsal for the Magic Show Ring 199 that was arranged for the Saturday night. Phil and I were on the bill and a technical rehearsal was necessary a few days before the event to ensure the public show flowed well on the night. All proceeds were to be given to the Habitat for Humanity and several hundred people were expected. Mary and Robbie went for a 2.5 mile walk around the lake where their lovely home is situated. The next morning was IBM business with Phil on his computer and me on mine. We naturally spent a lot of time together discussing my projects for the IBM including on line publishing, electronic translation of the Linking Ring magazine into other languages and my video magic tuition donation project for third world countries. After lunch the four of us went to see the movie “Farenheit 9/11” which had recently been released. Food for thought. A trip to Duke University was also conducted including an official visit to the Chapel. As we left the University grounds the heavens opened up for us to experience another US electrical storm. More IBM discussions with Phil took place while Mary and Robbie discussed other things, including a dinner party for the following night. We all visited a large store the next day that specializes in anything for your kitchen in both food content and implements. The same day was the big magic show that Ring 199 had organized. IBM Past President Bill Spooner kicked off the festivities with the inaugural presentation of his research into magic wands at 4pm that afternoon. The power point presentation Bill had prepared went well and he held the audience captive for well over an hour with his excellent PowerPoint presentation. While there is more work to be done, this lecture will be of interest to all working magicians as well as those interested in the historical aspects of our art. Local Ring members entertained the audience in the foyer prior to the show starting and over 300 people attended. The Habitat for Humanity project benefited from the donations given to the tune of $1700. I look forward to receiving a DVD of the whole show in due course as I was backstage for the length of the concert as I was positioned near the end and also made a presentation to the President of Ring 199, Tom Beaman, on behalf of my Ring 160 and myself. Late night drinks after the concert gave Mary and me the opportunity to meet Steve Beam who is well known in the magic world. The next day it was time to head north to Colon, Michigan which Robbie and Phil normally drive to in one day (12 Hours!) 12 hours is the approximate time it takes a flight from Auckland, NZ to Los Angeles and vice versa. Because of our presence (and our luggage!) they decided to break the journey in Columbus, Ohio. IBM Past President Jep Hostetler and his lovely wife Joyce had offered to put us all up in their home near Ohio State University. We all enjoyed an Ethiopian meal together before retiring for the night and to gather our strength for the last 4 hours of driving to reach our destination Colon, Michigan and the Abbott Magic Company 67th Annual Get Together. More news next week…… ----------------- 5. 25 Photographs Of Les Cole, "The Great Levante" ----------------- Message from Kent Blackmore (Aust) In the process of making a minor update to my "Magic In Sydney" website, I have added a small album of twenty-five photographs of Les Cole, "The Great Levante". Mostly, these are photos which were not published in my book "Levante - His Life, No Illusion" as in some cases the quality was a little poor, but I think you'll enjoy seeing them. And you can still make Mike Caveney happy by purchasing the book : ) http://users.bigpond.com/kblackmore ----------------- 6. Pacific Coast Association Of Magicians ----------------- Message from Shawn Farquhar (Canada) Just thought you might like to know I was named President of the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians and will be hosting the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians convention, PCAM 2005, which will be a Pacific Coastal Cruise on the Ms Norwegian Star sailing from Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles, Ca. It will start on September 25th and end on the 30th, 2005. I have selected an exclusive travel agent to handle all the cruise bookings. Her name is Katherine O'Neil and is at Cruise Holidays in Port Coquitlam. You can call her at: Katherine O'Neill- Manager Cruise Holidays of Port Coquitlam 105 - 2310 Ottawa Street Port Coquitlam, B.C. 604-472-1212 604-472-1213 (fax) www.cruising4us.com/www.cruising4us.com Toll free: 1-888-245-1900 Katherine will be handling the cruise reservations and I will be handling the convention registrations. Registration for the convention is $125.00 US per person and can be done online at my website or you can mail a money order/cheque made payable to Shawn Farquhar. Hope all is well in your world and that we will see you on my ship next year for a five day adventure no one will forget! ----------------- 7. The Comedy Of Errors ----------------- Message from Ross Skiffington (Aust) Just a brief note to say that the tour of The Bell Shakespeare's production of The Comedy of Errors is a hilarious and riotous success. We have already played Hobart, Newcastle and Sydney to full houses and much acclaim and open in Brisbane this week. There is much joy in hearing an audience belly laugh at jokes 400 years old. The magic that I have incorporated into the show works well and I am finding that the audience for Shakespeare is not necessarily the kind of audience who might go to a magic show. After all Shakespeare is "art" is it not? However, you can see by the looks on the faces that they are enjoying it and you can see their sense of wonder. It's probably because the magic is presented within the context of the play, not like an add on, and given full theatricality that they respond so positively. The "art" of magic, given its proper placement, can be thrilling to see and to present. It is also delicious to warm the audience up with some "conjuring" and start the play with a round of applause. The Bell Shakespeare Company does a smart exercise called "Meet the Bell Shakespeare". It is a free introduction to the play, generally on a couple of nights before we open, and comprises many things including a discussion about the play, a demonstration of commedia mask work, how a scene is put together with the same scene worked in different ways by the actors, discussion on costumes and set design and of course the magic. It goes for about 40 mins followed by a Q&A session which has always been lively and interesting. It's a great way to get you introduced to Shakespeare and for those who might be interested they should ring the theatre in the various states to find out the night. We are in Brisbane for 2 weeks followed by Wagga Wagga, Perth and finally Adelaide. Rumour is that this production is headed for Hong Kong, Singapore and The Globe in London. ----------------- 8. Looking For "Turtle Trio" ----------------- Message from Peter Wood (Aust) Does anyone have a Tenyo (I think) item called "Turtle Trio". Three coloured turtles are handed to a spectator along with a small box. The spectator places one of the turtles in the box and closes the lid. The magician uses an X Ray tube (magnetic) to determine the colour of the turtle in the box. If you would consider selling it, please contact Peter Wood at peterwoodmagic@ihug.com.au ----------------- 9. Magician-Comic George Johnstone Is Dead At 85 ----------------- Message sent from Bruce Chadwick (US) Trudi Hahn, Star Tribune August 7, 2004 JOHN0807 Type of calling plan: Individual Family Plan Minutes-of-use: Anytime Nighttime Weekend George Johnstone, a onetime assistant to magician Harry Blackstone Sr. who entertained on the Ed Sullivan show, opened for Elvis and "played the Palace" during a lifelong career as a comedy musician, died Thursday in Burnsville of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 85. Born in Boston in 1919 as George John Johnston, his career started at the age of 9 with the gift of a $1 Mysto Magic Set. By 1936 he was competing at amateur nights in neighborhood theaters. In 1939 he became one of several assistants to Blackstone. Blackstone noted and approved that Johnstone took an interest in repairing and painting the great illusionist's equipment, including the boxes in which pretty ladies were sawn in half. That was the assignment of Johnstone's future wife, Betty, when she joined the show in 1941. They were already married when George was drafted in 1942. Injuries during training kept him from active Army service. After World War II, Blackstone wanted him back, but it was clear vaudeville was over. They settled in the Chicago area, and at Betty's suggestion they started their own act for nightclubs, Betty Johnstone said. But nightclub audiences often stayed through two shows, and one day a club owner asked them to alter their presentation for the later one. Johnstone rehearsed tricks all day, but when he messed up that night, he "joked (his) way out of it. I found out I could make people laugh," he wrote in Magicol magazine in 2001. The comedy magic took off, and in 1950 a talent scout booked the couple for "The Ed Sullivan Show" in New York. "We didn't have a TV at that time," Johnstone's wife said. "My parents and our daughters went to a bar and watched." Right afterward, they played the Palace Theatre in Times Square, another high-prestige venue. By 1956, the Johnstones were invited to open for Elvis Presley on a Southeast tour. At the time, Presley was a cola-drinking, soft-spoken, polite kid, Johnstone wrote in 1993 for The Linking Ring magazine. In later years Johnstone went solo with his act, which he called "a broad satire of magic." He was active until he was about 75, when his style was no longer popular, his wife said. The couple moved to Minnesota about three years ago to be closer to family. He slipped a neat sleight-of-hand into a 1963 column in which he mourned the waning of magic for "The New Tops" magazine. "I did not write the above column," he wrote toward the end. "I copied it word for word from the N.Y. Evening Sun, dated Nov. 5, 1910. "The moral: Magic is the damnedest corpse you ever saw." In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Marcia Jurgens of Arthur, Ill., and Jennifer Kula of Lakeville; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. A celebration will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday at 9329 178th St. W., Lakeville. Trudi Hahn is at thahn@startribune.com. ----------------- 10. Update On LVMI ----------------- Message from Danny Archer (US) A hot convention gets even hotter! LVMI has just added a special late night Sunday lecture 2 man lecture featuring Daniel Garcia & Luke Dancy (two young rising close-up stars) .. we have also added in the dealers room close-up legend Al Schneider, Yigal Meiska, Tom Jones and Rachel Wild and Joe Porper. Add to those names Mark Strivings, Doug Malloy, Dean Dill and Daryl, and the dealers room has a line-up as good as some conventions! More details below .. 2004 Convention Information The 2003 Las Vegas Magic Invitational (LVMI) was acclaimed far and wide not only for the excellence of its lecturers and performers (David Roth, Shoot Ogawa, Joe Givan, Simon Lovell, Jamy Ian Swiss, Geoff Williams, Armando Lucero, Curtis Kam, Geoff Latta), but for the outstanding contributions from the many special guests and attendees. Every night after the schedule events had finished, there was a who’s who of close-up magic hanging out and jammin’ at the bar. Spotted at the convention were; Paul Wilson, Jeff McBride, Daryl, Lee Asher, Chris Korn, Penn & Teller, Homer Liawag, Chris Kenner, Michael Close, Mac King, Bob Fitch, Michael Forbes, Bill Goodwin, Paul Harris, Brad Henderson,, Daniel Cross, Peter Reveen, Gaetan Bloom, Bob Kohler, Dean Dill, Doug Malloy, Garrett Thomas, Tony Clark, Tim Trono, Dan Watkins, Jeff Hobson and many other magic celebrities. Lecturing in 2004 are: Michael Close, Steve Draun, Kostya Kimlat, Paul Cummins, Chad Long, Aldo Columbini, Gazzo and our guest of Honor is Mr. Roger Klause … Special late night Sunday Lecture with Daniel Garcia & Luke Dancy just added! Dealers include: Al Schneider, Yigel Mesika, Joe Porper, Showplace Magic, Denny & Lee Magic Studio, Showplace Novelty & Magic, Mark Strivings, Dean Dill, Daryl, William Pearce, Belinda Kaesler, and Doug Malloy. 2004 LVMI dates are September 12th – 14th, , September 15th will be a one day Magic University offering extra fee workshops from the lecturers and a few special guests. All the events will be held at The San Remo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV (schedule available on-line at lvmi.net). Unfortunately, for many people, we reached our maximum and had to turn away a whole lot of disappointed people. Don't read about LVMI in the magazines or on the boards and wish you were there … BE THERE! LVMI Registration $165 register online at lvmi.net *Registration is limited. So Act now! Scheduled acts subject to change Ph: 303.321.6267 fax: 303.355-2013 e-mail: lecturenet@aol.com ----------------- 11. Cath Jamison - Woman Of Deception ----------------- Message from Cath Jamison (Aust) Upcoming Public Events - August 2004 Monday 16th August - Magic Mondays Get up close and personal with Cath Jamison Venue: Dantes, Cnr. Gertrude and Napier Streets, Fitzroy Starts: 7.30pm Cost: $10 Sunday 22 August - King of Tonga Back by popular demand, Cath causes madcap hilarity around and on the bar Venue: King of Tonga, 164A Tennyson Street, Elwood ----------------- 12. World's Greatest Card Trick - Jamie-G ----------------- Message from Jamie-G (Canada) Magicians of magic New Zealand I have a special treat for you. I was going to save this effect for magic competition but I believe that my health is so bad right now and three times a week going for dialysis is just going to set me back. I have been sitting on this effect for a couple of years now and I'm going to release to the magic fellowship and to magicians of the world. Hope you enjoy it. Effect: The magician shows a deck of cards. At this point he pulls out a compact disk. The magician then lays the whole deck of cards on top of the compact disk face down. The magician tells the spectator that just by rubbing the top of the deck of card's he can cause enough heat to melt the card. The magician then rubs the top of the deck of cards. At this point the magician then lifts the deck of cards and shows the spectator that in fact a small piece of the card has melted. (The melted part look's silver the same color as the compact disk.) At this point the spectator is blown away and the magician is just getting started. Now the card that was just melted gets put back on top of the compact disk. This time it is the back of the card. The magician then rubs the card just like he did the first time. When the magician lifts up the card the whole back of the card has been melted off. (The whole back of the card is silver just like the compact disk.) Now if this were not enough the magician show's the front of a playing card, for example the nine of hearts, the magician then puts the nine of hearts face down on the compact disk and gives it a rub. When the magician lifts the playing card up sure enough the whole face of the card had been melted off. A great new killer effect. Props: A silver compact disk a deck of cards and the total magic silver foil system. Handling The Foil (Preparation) First of all you cannot use a lighter to take the paper off the back of the foil. If you do that then you will remove the glue that is on the back of the foil. Take the foil and crumple it up into a small ball. Uncrumple it and then you slowly peel away the paper. The side that you just removed the paper from is the side with the glue so remember that when you go and put it on something. Put the glue side face down on anything that you are going to put the foil on and take a marker or pen or anything like that and rub it gently. The friction will cause the glue to stick to whatever it is. This foil will stick to anything. You can only use the foil from Canada. In the U.S. they use a different kind of glue so that you can't separate the paper from the foil. The Gimmicks: There are two main gimmick for "The Greatest Card Trick In The World" and I'm going to explain how to make these two gimmicks first then I will explain where to put these very special gimmicks in the deck because it is very important to make sure we cover all corners here because this is a sure fire winner here. Gimmick #-1: The first gimmick in my deck I used a two of hearts in real time you can use whatever card you want but I'm going to explain to you what I have here to a tee. I took a two of hearts and at the bottom of the card about a half an inch wide across the whole bottom of the card you have to put the foil on it. Once you have foiled the front of the card in my case the two of hearts now flip the card over and foil the whole back of the playing card. What this gimmick should look like now is a two of hearts card with a little bit of foil going across the bottom front of it and the full back side of the card has been foiled. Gimmick #-2: This next gimmick will be easy just take any playing card and foil the whole front of the card. So now your gimmick should look like a normal back and the whole front of the card has been foiled. At this point we age now ready to do some wild magic. Note: We are using the compact disk like it is melting the card, this is so that when you lift up the credit looks as if portions of the card match the compact disk. Also if you use clear nail polish and go over all the foiled parts and wait for it to dry this will prolong the life of your new gimmicks. Make sure you take your time putting on the foil and be nice and neat this way your gimmicks will look great and the spectator will believe what you are telling them. Card Location: The two of hearts goes on the bottom of the deck. Your foiled face card goes on top of the deck face down. The deck should appear to look like a normal deck. Take your cards and place them back in the box with the two of hearts facing the back of the deck. Meaning if you are looking at the box and the flap is open you put the cards in facing you. Note: In the method we will be getting in to a special move I don't know if this special move has ever been in print or if it an other person's move. I came up with this special move for the first gimmick because it only makes perfect sense. If this is some one else's particular move I just did not know as for the move itself it was just common sence. Method: Take your C.D. and place it face down on the table. Take the cards out of the deck face down. You have to make sure that your hand is covering the bottom of the bottom card. You can show your spectator the cards now because the palm of your hand is covering the foil part of the bottom card. You then take the cards and place them face down on the C.D. You have to place just a little bit of the deck on the c.d. because you are only going to melt the bottom of the card. Rub your hands together and then place your hand on top of the deck of cards. You tell your spectator you are transferring the heat from your hand to the cards. You then lift up the deck of cards and show that the lower part of the card on the bottom of the deck has now melted with the c.d. making the card a bit silver. From there you are going to take that card and put it face up on the c.d. You then rub your hands together and once again place your hand on top of the card that is on the C.D. You remove your hand and then flip over the card to show that the entire back side of the card has now melted with the C.D.and has turned silver. Pick up the deck of cards and double lift the top two cards and show the front of the card. From here you are going to place the cards back on the pile then remove the top card and place it down on top of your C.D. Once again your going to rub your hands together and place one hand on top of the C.D. Once again you are going to flip over the card and show that it melted with the C.D. and again turned silver. History Of Foil I seen a child making a tinfoil ball one time. He was collecting as much foil as he could that way he could make the ball bigger and bigger. I thought that it was cool on how all the foil would stick together the way it did. The ball was the size of a baseball and it was solid. I initially started to use the foil for card magic and then eventually coins. This is by far a new door in close up magic. It is now a lot easier to make you own new awesome close up magic. I have been using this foil system for about 15 to 20 years know and still to this day in one form or another I use this foil system. Two tricks that come to mind is my magic C.D. burner and a trick that I call silvered. Note: All you have to do is sit down and think about what you want to do in this effect. The best part about this foil is that if you take the paper off the right way the foil (after you start rubbing it to something) it will stick to all most anything. Also you must remember that it rubs right off to. So if you have some coins with this foil on it don't leave the coin in your pocket with other coins because your special coin will get scratched. I.B.M.: I have over 1000 magic foil systems floating around the I.B.M. fellowship around the world. I just came out with this foil system less than two years ago and now it is around the world. This new magic system is totally awesome and it would be a shame if you don't give it a try. Examples Of Tricks That Can Be Done With The Silver Foil #1.Turning a gold coin into a silver one #2.Turning a dime into a silver penny. #3.Melt metal right off of spoons and forks. #4.Magically make a coin so hot the coin starts to peel metal shavings. #5.Take a playing card and rub the face of it on a silver C.D. and the face of the card disappears. #6.Make a gold coin turn silver on one side. #7.Magically break down a coin to its molecular structure #8.Turn normal paper money into real silver bills. #9.Take a normal pop cap and turn it into a silver one. #10.Take a silver coin and make it melt through a piece of paper #11.Produce silver pennies out of the air. Examples Of Tricks That Can Be Done With The Gold Foil #1.Make a quarter turn gold by the wave of your hand. #2.Turn any silver coin into gold. #3.Take a playing card and put it face down on the table take your gold ring off and rub the playing card. When you turn the card over the whole face of the card is now gold. #4.Melt a gold coin into a card. #5.Melt gold off anyone's jewelery. #6.Melt gold off a gold coin. #7.Melt a coin into liquid gold that make the gold move some where else #8.Make a pattle out of tongue depressors Make one side gold and the other side normal. Or if you make two of them you can make one side gold and one side silver for a cool new looking pattle. (Show both sides silver or one side gold and the other side silver, or both sides gold) #9.A cool trick would be whatever coins you put in your hand the coins turn instantly turn into gold ones #10.Take a normal pen and when you pass the pen through your hand once the pen comes out it is gold. General Information: While the paper is still on the foil you can do many things with the foil at this stage. You can use a pen or pencil and make different shapes on the foil like circles, triangles, or any shape you want to draw on the foil. Example if you want to copy the shape of a coin, you just put the coin on the paper side and trace the out line of a coin on the paper side of the foil then cut the shape out than you would remove the foil and than place the circle foil piece anywere you want. This is the neatest way to make whatever shape you want and when it comes to magic with this foil you want to be as neat as possible. Doing the foil this way will save you a lot of pain and you won't waste as much of the foil. New Effect's With The Foil: You can take a silver or gold coin and melt it to a soda can You can do this effect by cutting the foil to the shape of a coin and then putting the foil shape on a soda can, pick the spot you would like on the can and rub the foil with the glue side down on the can. Now what you have is a circle spot of foil on the can the shape of a coin. You can now take a silver or gold coin (whatever the color the foil that you used that will be the color of the coin you will use.) and melt a spot on the soda can with the coin. You can totally vanish the coin or you could keep the coin in your hand and just make it look like you heated the coin up touched the coin with the can and it left its melting mark on the soda can. You must be gental while putting the foil on the soda can it is only one layer of foil and the foil will scratch off the can quite easy if this happens you have to take the foil off the soda can and start again so remember that neatness counts and you don't want to waste the foil because depending on where you live in the world this foil silver or gold will be hard to get more. Even here in Canada where you get the foil the gold foil is still hard to find the right kind that will work like this. So save as much of the foil you can. ----------------- 13. The Amazing Orchante Saga ----------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Page 102 A ‘Blast From The Past’! A few weeks ago, I received e-mail from Trevor Hodson, whom I have known since, hang on a moment while I brush the cobwebs aside, and peer back past the swirling mists of … oh dear God, since 1959! My poor old bones are creaking, just thinking about it! Everybody as far back as I can remember, has always called him by his Stage Name - ‘JON’ (Zealando); I think that is rather rude, that is not his birth name! My birth name is ‘Tommy’, NOT ‘Orchanté’ He was telling me that he had been holidaying with his son Brian for four weeks in a camper-van, from Auckland – following the East-Coast to Wellington, then back up again via Palmerston North, calling on a few ‘NAMES’ from ‘Ancient TIMES that he thought may jog a few memories. They did! In Gisborne, Trevor met up with Mike Brittenden, who used to be on the committee organising the Christmas shows at the Sound Shell back in the Sixties. Trevor informed me that Mike had an anecdote about myself. I asked Trevor if he would contact Mike, requesting that he recount the ‘story’ in his own words, and if I could reproduce it here in my ‘Saga’. Happily, Mike consented; here then, is his tale, word-for-word. Anecdote By Mike Brittenden Hi Jon. Me, and my big mouth! The sands of nearly half a century have fallen into the glass of time since that incident, (How’s that for an opening line!) It would have been somewhere between 1962 and 1967 – I’d have to root through the ‘Herald’s’ morgue and look at the advertising to get any closer. There were just the two of us in the prefab ticket box that ‘Chopper’ Summersby had built. I am guessing that it was midweek, and a quiet night. I know that it was indifferent to ‘shitty’ weather, with a house to match. I made a point of never stopping selling tickets while there was movement in the carnival area, and always kept one window open until I heard the chaser. On occasion, the finale would conclude without this music and the crowd would ooze back to the camping grounds and car parks and the money takers would be unaware.. There were always ‘Internal Amusement Sources’ within the ticket box when the windows finally closed. On this night, I was counting the cash when a ‘scratch’ on the door indicated that ‘The Amazing ORCHANTÉ’ was about to grace us with his presence. I had seen him before, but was unsure when. At first glance, I thought he was Michael Chamberlain. He modestly introduced himself as a ‘One Man’ Show, and was looking for a spot. As you know, this was rather unusual. George Tollerton, Eddie Hegan, or Phil Warren (all well known [now deceased], Auckland Show Biz’ promoters), or whoever was co-ordinating our shows, prearranged the circuit months earlier, and we padded the weaker nights with talent quests, etc. During the course of discussing what he could do, Mr Orchard indicated that he was a – ‘Hypnotist of No Mean Calibre’! Helen, my girlfriend/fiancée/wife at the time, depending on the year, interrupted our conversation with the words, “And who are your stooges?” or something equally rude. Before I had a chance to intervene, Orchanté said something quietly to her, her knees sagged, and she was parallel to the pine needles on the wooden floor! She rapidly regained her feet, but made no further contribution to the conversation. Naturally, I arranged for him to get a spot, and he met the resident compere the following morning. Unfortunately, I missed seeing his performance, and have not heard of him since until our conversation the other night. Over the intervening years, I wonder if he realised how much I would have paid for just that ONE secret, and in total confidentiality! Knowing how he did what he did would have changed the course of my life. With his secret, by now I would have been a ‘Has Been’, instead of a ‘Never Was!’ Hope this fits the bill, Ciao, Mike.  Thank you Mike! As I said to our old friend Trevor (‘Jon’), in our case it is more like: “DIDN’T YOU USED TO BE…?” OR: “WHAT’S AN ‘ORCHANTÉ’?”. CHEEKY BASTARDS! ------------------ 14. 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