I.B.M. Ring 9

Ring Reports

April 2008

See photos from this meeting

No. 9, Atlanta, Georgia - Georgia Magic Club
3rd Monday, 7:00 PM, Funny Farm Comedy Club, Alpharetta Hwy, Roswell, GA

DEBBIE LEIFER, President (Debbie@MagicDebbie.com)
LYNN FOX, Vice President (lynnfox@bellsouth.net)
GUY PHILLIPS, Secretary (guyphilips@bellsouth.net)
Ring 9 Web Site: www.GaMagicClub.com



Our April 2008 meeting was the occasion of the 4th Annual Doyne Michie Excellence in Close-Up Magic Competition. To enhance the evening our president, DEBBIE LEIFER, set up a Tonight Show style interview with DOYNE MICHIE. It was obvious that much research and planning went into the interview to fit in a majority of this man's varied and awesome accomplishments in the limited time allotted. Debbie and Doyne chatted about his years as a pioneer in the early days of trade show magic, the development of his Laughter Therapy program, Doyne's international travels to entertain at military hospitals, and the remarkable way this great-grandfather combined his work as a pastor, magician, inventor of magic, and most importantly, very generous human being. Highlights of the interview were a video clip from one of Doyne's VA hospital visits in Germany that was covered by TV news, and his performance of his own creation, the Texas Penny.

Our 2008 Close-Up Contest began with the introduction of our first contestant, MERRITT AMBROSE. He entered to a voiceover welcoming us aboard an ocean liner in 1909. Merritt entered in character, dressed in early 1900's attire. His first effect was Tommy Wonder's Ring, Watch and Wallet. Merritt's ring, his watch, and his wallet vanished from a small envelope, only to re-appear back on his body in the exact places they were taken from. After borrowing a bill, Merritt tore it in half, offering half back as a "receipt", while vanishing the other half. When the bulb was removed from a lit floor lamp, it was shattered to reveal the vanished half bill that perfectly matched the "receipt". Closing with Wonder's Watch in Nest of Boxes, Merritt boldly borrowed the watch of one of the contest judges. Playing the role of an enthusiastic auctioneer offering the watch for bid, he "accidentally" smashed the watch. (Not a good way to get high marks from that judge!) The borrowed watch was found in perfect working order inside a nest of sealed boxes wrapped in 40 feet of ribbon and paper.

EVAN REYNOLDS came to the table with his usual wry sense of humor and a collection of Star Wars paraphernalia. When contestants were told they could use music as long as they provided the equipment to play it on, we never imagined what Evan devised. He pulled out a musical Star Wars greeting card, and his collection of action figures were center stage as he entertained the two audience members who sat tableside as Evan proceeded to entertain us with funny and amazing antics and magic including a sponge ball routine, and an Ambitious Card routine utilizing only three cards.

KEITH RAINEY has an elegant style that brings to mind the early days of parlour magic. Displaying an English penny at his fingertips, with a wave of his hand it transformed into a small round brass box. The contents were two 1964 Kennedy half dollars and one English penny. Keith caused the English penny to vanish and reappear inside the box between the two silver coins. After turning the box upside down to trap all three coins, Keith extracted the copper one. Requesting that the MC place all three coins inside the box in silver-copper-silver order, Keith emptied the box to reveal they had transformed into two English pennies and one half dollar. Then Keith delighted us with a performance of his signature piece, utilizing a small leather cylinder, a slice of cork, and four 1921 Morgan silver dollars. One by one, each silver dollar vanished, until he lifted the cylinder to reveal they had reappeared underneath the cork. The cylinder now covered the coins, and the cork was placed inside Keith's hand. A moment later, the silver dollars were in his hand and the cork was back inside the otherwise empty cylinder.

TERRY WENHAM, also known as "Charley" made a big splash with some of the material from his new book, "Elegant and Other Things of Beauty". After a nice sponge ball routine that climaxed with the vanish of ten balls from his hand, Terry performed his original "Whyley's Warped Monte", a face-up card sandwiched between two other cards visibly melted down to become the bottom card. Terry concluded this tight set with Ambitious Memories, another from his book. The deck burst into flames as a signed quarter burned its way through the deck to locate the signed card. Nice execution of some original material.

ARAGORN invited Doyne and his lovely wife Dorothy to join him at the "Sleepytime Honeymoon Resort and Casino", asking how long they've been married. It got a big laugh when they replied "60 years!" to which Aragorn replied "oh, newlyweds!" The first of three tests of true love was Jay Sankey's Holy Moly, a hole in the washer Dorothy held magically transferred to the washer Doyne was holding. Then Sankey's In A Flash resulted in his coin finding her chosen card. The third test of true love was a torn and restored dental floss routine, with torn pieces representing each of them, their children, grandchildren, etc., Aragorn explained that the restoration of the floss represented the enduring love story we witnessed before us.

WES PETTY invited two audience members to examine a half dollar and a Chinese coin with a hole in the middle. While one participant retained the half dollar, Wes asked the other participant if he'd ever heard of "foreign exchange", to which Wes replied "well... now you've seen it!" as he revealed that the Chinese coin he previously held had transformed into the American coin. When the spectator opened her hand she revealed the Chinese coin. Wes then performed an amusing routine, he would display a single coin in the center of his pocket square, and every time it was removed, the other coin mysteriously appeared in its place. The half dollar penetrated the handkerchief while being held by the spectator, and when Wes apologized to folks in the room for perhaps not being able to see the coin, he suddenly revealed it had transformed into a huge half dollar. The kicker was when Wes revealed the handkerchief now contained a GIANT Chinese coin. Closing with cards, Wes instantly located the 4 aces from a shuffled deck by cutting the deck 3 times revealing 3 aces, the fourth ace spun out from the center. When the aces were again lost in the deck they were again located via four different methods. With the aces on the table, the deck was cut into four random piles. Wes revealed he had cut to the four kings, their suits corresponding to the ace above each one. Finally, each quarter of the deck was ribbon spread to reveal that each contained an entire suit, back in perfect "new deck" order.

Our final contestant, HOWIE MARMER had a charming, carefree, amusing style. He produced an albino parakeet from an empty bag, followed by a live dove. While a tableside spectator held a single playing card in her palm, an audience member thought of a card and named it. That was the very card previously placed on the spectator's hand. Next the cards were ribbon spread face down on the table, and Howie asked an audience member to name a second card, then asked her to stay stop as he ran his finger along the spread. Of course the card she stopped him on perfectly matched her previously named card! Howie performed Danberry's Dillusion, a signature transposition, and an impressive muscle pass with a silver dollar. To the delight of the audience, a deck of cards cut itself, reassembled itself, and then split to reveal a named card.

A new and improved theater-style seating format allowed everyone to have a great view of the close-up table, and we finally took advantage of the theatrical lighting in the comedy club we are so lucky to have as our meeting location. The competition's producer and MC, Debbie Leifer, kept the contest fast moving with her amusing audience interaction in between contestants.

The judges deliberated to determine the winner while we were treated to entertaining card magic performed by DOYNE MICHIE. He performed an elaborate interactive routine that involved several audience members. The 86 year old is an inspiration to us all, he never stops working on new material, reinventing standard routines, and developing entertaining magic.

Before announcing the Close-Up Contest winner, Debbie introduced the impressive panel of judges. Our two magician judges were Felix Snipes, a very successful magician and subject of a recent Linking Ring cover story (and gentleman in the truest sense of the word) who devoted his life to sharing his magic ministry around the world; and Nolan Robinson, a highly respected Atlanta close-up magician. Our layperson judge, carefully chosen because of her background as a speaker, author, corporate spokesperson and lifelong fan of magic, added the perspective of a non-magician's viewpoint.

The winner of the 4th Annual Doyne Michie Excellence in Close-Up Magic Competition was HOWIE MARMER!

When in Atlanta on the third Monday of any month, be sure to visit the Georgia Magic Club to see for yourself that all this laughter and fun is a consistent element of every meeting!

Debbie Leifer