Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

President Cassidy Smith introduced Lee Woodside as the featured performer for our August meeting. Lee invited Jerry Bowzer to assist him “on stage.” Lee pulled a blue drawstring bag from a champagne cooler and stated that he had found a good use for Crown Royal bags. He said that he tosses his spare quarters into the bag and when he gets enough quarters, he buys another bottle of Crown Royal. He said that he is also saving up for a bottle of champagne for New Year’s. He invited Jerry to scoop up a handful of quarters from the bucket and place them onto the table. Lee then removed several sheets of paper from a manila envelope. The first said, “I will have as many coins as you.” Jerry counted eleven quarters and Lee removed that many from the bag. The next sheet said, “Plus three more” and Lee removed three more coins from the bag. The last two pages said, “Plus enough left over to bring your total to $5.75.” Lee handed Jerry the bag and asked him to count the total of his coins and those in the bag. Sure enough, the total was correct!

Lee explained that when he was an engineering student at Oklahoma State University, his roommate in the dorm was an accounting major. Lee said that his roommate could add and subtract with the best of them, but when it came to multiplication and division, he could only multiply or divide by two. Lee then demonstrated how his roommate would multiply two larger numbers using those constraints. He called this “Aggie Math.”

Cassidy Smith led a discussion on mathematical tricks. Justin Teeman mentioned that Martin Gardner’s MAGIC, MATHEMATICS & MYSTERY book was a good source of material.

Jerry Bowzer showed his recently acquired book, 52 EXPLORATIONS, by Andi Gladwin and Jack Parker. He said that it was not a book for the beginner because it references sleights without explaining how to perform them. He said that it does, however, contain some killer routines.

David Teeman led off the member performances with his rapid addition blocks. The four blocks, each with four numbers printed vertically on each face, can be arranged in multiple ways to create an addition problem with four 4-digit numbers. David proved that he could add the four numbers in his head faster than Jay Relkin could key them into his phone’s calculator app.

Jim Green performed his variation on Jim Steinmeyer’s famous nine-card trick. He then asked for a number from the audience and created a magic square where every conceivable addition of four numbers yielded that total.

Malaki Dracwin (AKA David Swanson), our longtime scribe, showed his leather-bound collection of ten years’ worth of our annual Grimoires. He has actually been the editor of our annual Grimoire for over twenty-five years. He said that he is working on a new edition to come out in early 2023 and invited submissions from our members. Each magician who submits an article, trick, essay, joke, or any other magic-related item will receive a free copy of the Grimoire. Those who do not submit may purchase it for a nominal fee.

Shaun Clark performed a routine that he learned from the book that he won as a prize at the last meeting. (The book was STANDUP CARD MAGIC, by Roberto Giobbi.) He had a card selected and shown and then he placed it face-down on the table and set a stemmed goblet on top of it. He then showed a Joker and placed it back side out in the goblet. After talking about Houdini’s famous “Metamorphosis” illusion, he showed that the two cards had switched places.

Derrick Beeson showed off his new “Magic Card Plus” credit card. After asking for a random three-digit number and performing some math, he showed that the calculated number matched the expiration date on the card (10-89). After performing a couple more effects with the credit card, he brought out a deck of cards, pulled out one card, and laid it face-down on the table. He then had an audience member name any number between one and ten. He counted down to that number in the deck and showed the two of diamond. He turned over the card he had set on the table and it was the two of hearts, the mate of the one chosen.

“Magic Mike” Stelzer asked young Tucker Taylor to select a number. When Tucker chose 34, Mike quickly drew out a magic square where every row, column and diagonal added to the chosen number.

Malaki showed us his jewel-encrusted thimble and proceeded to wow us with his manipulation skill. He said that he had constructed the thimble in his Wizard’s Workshoppe.

Jay Relkin demonstrated his ability to divine the fifth root of numbers. He had audience members secretly select two-digit numbers and raise them to the fifth power. When they told Jay

the resulting number, he calculated the fifth root of the number in his head. For example, Lee Woodside gave him the number 537, 824 and Jay correctly gave the fifth root as 14.

The names of all the evening’s performers were placed into a hat and one name was drawn. Shaun Clark was the lucky winner for the second month in a row. He became the proud owner of Michael Skinner’s CLASSIC SAMPLER.

Cassidy Smith announced that he would host a magic cruise for magicians and their plus-ones on August 22^nd. Cassidy is a longtime Captain and tour guide for the river cruises on Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Canal.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

We presented our annual “Pandemonium of Magic” show the Saturday before Father’s Day. Cassidy Smith acted as emcee and opened the show with his Michael Ammar style cups and balls routine, climaxing with the production of a lemon, a lime, a potato and a turnip. In act two, Cassidy amazed us with his “Cowboy Cassidy” lasso spinning. The climax was when he jumped back and forth through a vertically spinning lasso.

Brian and Michelle Tabor presented a card trick where, once a card was selected, signed, and returned to the deck, Brian placed the deck in his mouth and lowered the deck onto an animal trap. When the trap snapped shut on the deck, Brian removed the folded, signed card from his mouth. He then presented a bank night routine using a paper shredder to add drama.

David Teeman and his lovely, young assistant Byrnna performed a routine using silk scarves, climaxing in the production of a beautiful butterfly scarf. In act two, David performed a book test using three Time magazines, allowing his volunteer the free choice of any one of the three. The word selected by the volunteer proved to be missing from the dictionary David provided. The page was found, with the freely-chosen word circled, in an envelope handed out at the beginning of the routine.

Michael King performed his ever-popular “One-Man Circus” routine. After demonstrating his juggling and plate-spinning skills, he amazed us by juggling clubs while riding a unicycle.

Lee Woodside confessed to having a secret desire to be a game show host. Volunteers Brynna and her dad, Daryl took turns keeping their eyes on three tree frogs as Lee mixed them monte style. Brynna won all the candy bars and Daryl received a consolation prize of a jumping frog toy and had to endure Lee’s terrible puns. As the frog said, “Time’s fun when you’re having flies.”

Mike Stelzer, decked out in his martial arts regalia, invited an audience member to select a card. After much posturing with two swords, the table holding a watermelon gave way, smashing the watermelon and revealing a jumbo card matching the selected one.

We all had a lot of fun and cleared a profit for the ring, so we considered it a success. Best of all, we got to experience the joy of performing magic for the public in a stage setting.

Vice President Justin Teeman introduced Shaun Clark as our featured performer for the July meeting. Shaun asked for volunteers and Brian Tabor and Jay Relkin stepped forward. Shaun openly shuffled a deck and then turned half the deck over and shuffled the face up and face down cards together. He invited his volunteers to each take a turn further randomizing the deck. He now had each select a card and return it to the deck. When Shaun spread the deck, we were amazed that all the cards were now face down, with the exception of the Ace of Diamonds and the Eight of Clubs chosen by Brian and Jay.

Shaun now asked for a volunteer with Instagram on his phone. Jeremy Stillwell stepped forward to assist. Shaun asked three different audience members to name a color, a rank, and a suit, thereby designating a playing card. Shaun now asked Jeremy to check Shaun’s Instagram page, where he found a photo of a face-down deck spread on a table. When Jeremy scrolled to the right, he found that the selected card was face up in the spread. Shaun said that this effect could also be done using Facebook.

Our theme for July was “Card Effects that Play Well on Stage.” Justin Teeman led a discussion on what effects might meet that criterion. Lee Woodside testified that the “Thought Transmitter” routine that he learned years ago from the “Linking Ring” plays very well for a larger audience. He also suggested Harry Anderson’s “Three Card Monarch” and card manipulations, such as those done by Jeff McBride. Jim Green said that the giant zig-zag card fram that Rick Martin made for him plays very well. David Teeman showed us his monte routine made with huge cards.

Lee Woodside said that he was going to attempt to use verbal control to persuade Michelle Tabor to pick the same card as he did. He first showed the audience a number of jumbo playing cards. He selected one (Seven of Spades), showing it to the audience, but not Michelle, and placed it back-out on a small easel. He then fanned another packet of jumbo cards for the audience to see (all sevens of spades) and claimed that he would have Michelle select the same card as he did. He now asked Michelle if she would like the top card of the packet, saying, “No one ever picks the top card, but do not let that influence your choice in any way.” He continued moving cards from the top to the bottom until Michelle made her choice, which he handed to her and asked her to not show the audience. He now asked her to name the card she selected. When she said, “The two of diamonds,” Lee did a double-take and looked worried. However, when he turned around the card on the easel, it proved to also be the two of diamonds. The spirit of Billy McComb lives!

Gary Trosper showed a game that his father used to play with him to get Gary to do his chores. After showing three deuces and a king and setting the king aside, the king showed up among the deuces and the set-aside card proved to be a deuce. As a climax, the king vanished and Gary was left with four deuces.

David Teeman brought out a bag and pulled the tip of a silk scarf out of it. He had Jay Relkin pick a card, show it to the audience, and return it to the deck. When David divined the wrong card, he pulled out his magician’s insurance policy. There was a loose card in the folded policy, the jack of clubs, and it too proved to be the wrong card. When the insurance policy was fully unfolded, a giant king of hearts was displayed. When David pulled the silk scarf completely out of the bag, it had a large image of a King of Hearts. David said that he routinely performs this effect as a gospel routine.

Brian Tabor brought out ten jumbo playing cards. He had Jerry Bowzer pick cards to be included in Brian’s poker hand and also his own poker hand. Jerry ended up with a full house, but Brian bested him with a straight flush.

Paul Nightingale asked the audience what a pirate’s favorite letter is. When everyone shouted out “R,” Paul said that no, his favorite letter is “C” (sea). He had Brian Tabor select a card and return it to the deck. He handed the deck to Brian, and while he was looking for his card, Paul placed the edge of the card in his mouth. Paul also performed an ambitious card routine and a color change.

Michael King asked Paul to select a card from a fanned deck. He picked the Jack of Spades. After Michael shuffled the deck some more, he had Paul select another card – again a jack. Michael then took out a jumbo deck of playing cards and related the story of Jack Spade, new age detective. As he told the story, he turned over playing cards that matched the narrative, with lots of puns involved.

The names of all the evening’s performers were placed into a hat and Jay Relkin’s name was drawn. He was the lucky winner of STANDUP CARD MAGIC, by Roberto Giobbi, which was very appropriate for the night’s theme.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our June meeting was devoted to our annual close-up contest. Numbers were drawn from a fedora to determine the order of performance.

Jim Green was the first contestant and he amazed us with what he called his “Stupid Bean Trick.” A tin can was filled brim-full with jelly beans and a paper sack was placed upside down over the can. When the sack was removed, the beans were gone and Jim poured blue liquid from the can into a cocktail glass.

Brian Tabor placed a single M&M into each of several coin envelopes, but in the final envelope he placed a cockroach. After mixing the envelopes, he had audience members point to one envelope at a time. He would tear the top off the envelope, and without looking inside first, pour the contents into his mouth. When only one envelope remained, he opened it and out came the cockroach. Brian then had an audience member cut a packet of cards off a deck and turn the packet over on top of the remaining cards. He spread the deck and removed the first face-down card, the nine of clubs. He showed a small round mirror, and as he did so, smoke began rising from a cup he had on the table. He lowered the mirror into the smoke and when he brought it back out, “9C” appeared on the mirror glass. He called this effect “Smoke & Mirrors.”

Jim Short explained that he sometimes read books so many times that they fell apart. He showed the separated pages and the cover of one such book. He passed out a stack of pages to each of several audience members and asked each person to mix up the pages. He handed the book’s cover to another person and a dictionary to another volunteer. All the pages were retrieved by an audience volunteer and mixed again. Jim asked the person with the cover page to insert it anywhere into the stack of pages. He then showed his prediction, which was three numbers. He showed that the first word on the page next to the cover was “here.” He asked the person with the dictionary to go to the page, line and word using his prediction numbers. Sure enough, the word in the dictionary matched.

Michael “Magical Mike” Stelzer showed a stack of business cards that he had collected. As audience participants picked cards, Mike would divine the name of the person or business and the phone number on each card. Mike then removed a deck of playing cards from its box and placed the cards and box onto a table. As Mike turned away from the audience, he invited four volunteers to each choose a card and place it into the box. However, when it was his turn, wise guy Lee Woodside took a deck of ESP cards from his pocket, selected a “circle” card, and placed that into the box on the table. When Mike turned around, he held another playing card box. The cards inside that box exactly matched the ones chosen by the volunteers, including the “circle” ESP card.

Shaun Clark performed a very entertaining routine with four “Ninja Rings,” which were linking rings about four or five inches in diameter. He was able to link to a ring held by Jerry Bowzer and was also able to cause one of two linked rings to unlink onto his arm. Shaun then asked Rick Johnson to cut a deck of cards, complete the cut, look at the top card and set it aside face down on the table. He then asked Rick to look through the deck and find the first card of the same suit as his selection. Rick continued to do this as Shaun divined each of the cards and then finally divined the original chosen card.

Lee Woodside asked the audience to go back in time and pretend they were walking down the midway at the San Diego exposition in 1932. He told them to imagine that they saw a man wearing a fedora and holding a deck of cards with a crowd of people around him. He then reminded them that this was supposed to be close-up magic and invited them to leave their seats and crowd around his table. Lee then proceeded to perform the venerable Svengali pitch, as described in THE EXPERT AT THE PITCH TABLE book and accompanying video. For some reason, every card selected was the three of clubs. Penn & Teller would have approved.

Audience members were asked to rate each performer on a scale of one to ten (no decimals or fractions, please) and the votes were tallied by our Treasurer Michael King while the rest of us took a break. After the break, President Cassidy Smith announced that Shaun Clark was the third-place winner; Brian Tabor took second-place, and Lee Woodside won first-place. The prizes were cash money (to be spent on magic, of course) plus a trophy to be presented at a later date.

Cassidy Smith showed us the “Amazing Coffee Cups and Beans” set that he had recently acquired. Although the cups looked like regular porcelain cups you might find at a diner, they were actually made of a very strong material that is almost indestructible. The set included giant coffee beans to use in place of balls and allowed for a final load of hot coffee or individual coffee beans. I can’t wait for Cassidy to get this worked up so he can perform it for us.

Jim Short reviewed the SPELLBINDERS book by Jim Stott that explains variations on Jim Steinmeyer’s “Nine Card Problem” published in one of his IMPUZZIBLITIES books. He said that it contained many great routines and ideas. He also said that there were a number of gospel routines.

Michael King showed some plain-looking black cards. He borrowed a cell phone and had the owner of the phone hold one of the cards as Michael took a photo of it with the cell phone’s camera. The resultant photo showed him holding a playing card instead of the black card. Michael said that in addition to various playing cards, landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower could be selected. He told us this was “Rainbow,” by Higar and does not require an app on the participant’s phone. It leaves the audience member with a memento of the performance on his or her own phone.

Our business meeting for the month concentrated on planning for our annual public show: Pandemonium. Michael King announced that professional magician and life member of Ring 46 David Thomas had volunteered to close the show. The show will take place on June 18^th.

David Teeman led off member performances by inviting Abby Bickle to open a sugar packet and pour the contents into his fist. After much squeezing of his hand and concentration, David opened his hand to reveal a “sugar bunny.” David then showed four four-sided wooden sticks, each of which had four one-digit numbers printed vertically on each face. He invited Brian Tabor to arrange the sticks so that four four-digit numbers were shown. David announced the total of the four numbers before Brian had time to key in the first number on his phone’s calculator app. David then admitted that he was a graduate of the Evelyn Wood speed-adding course. That reference went right over the heads of some of the younger members.

Michael King handed a Rubik’s Cube to Brian Tabor and asked him to randomize it and then hand it to Abby Bickle. Abby joined Michael “on stage” and mixed up the cube some more. Michael brought out another cube and amazingly, all the sides of the two Rubik’s Cubes matched perfectly. Michael then threw his cube into the air and when he caught it, it was solved.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

As the featured performer for our May meeting, Lee Woodside kicked things off with his “Captain Lee’s Magic Medicine Show.” After extolling the virtues of his Magical Medicine for Mysterious Maladies, Lee showed how he gathered the magical waters for his elixir from a small mountain spring (lota bowl.) He then showed how he tested the waters for the necessary special magnetic qualities (hydrostatic glass.) Finally, he demonstrated how one bottle of the amazing medicine might be all that would ever be needed (multum in parvo).

President Cassidy Smith led a discussion on liquid magic, which was the theme of our May meeting. He showed the “moves” necessary for the famous “card under glass” effect made popular by Doc Eason. Jim Green mentioned one of his favorite effects, which he called the “stupid bean trick,” where coffee beans turn into coffee. Lee Woodside mentioned an effect with three stacked drinking glasses. Liquid may be poured into any one of the glasses and the glasses may then be separated with the liquid in them.

Cassidy showed us an optical illusion rug that he bought on Amazon for $42. The rug had a geometric design that appeared to be the opening to a tunnel. Cassidy also showed us Jim Steinmeyer’s “Hospitality” illusion that he recently acquired. Drinks named by audience members are all poured from the same milk carton and then handed out to prove that they are real. Jim Green performed the “shrinking head” effect using a disk with a spiral design that was turned by a handheld drill.

Lee Woodside performed an effect where a small coffee creamer pitcher was inverted on his table. He turned the creamer right side up and then poured cream from it into his coffee mug.

David Teeman showed us the tricks that he had taken with him to perform at a recent Comic-Con. He showed his egg in a mesh bag trick, mental choice, mental block release, and color-changing knives. He had Jonathon Taylor place a red silk scarf into a change bag. He then had Jonathon select a card, look at it, and replace it in the deck. When David was unable to produce the selected card, he had Jonathon remove the scarf, which now had a giant King of Hearts printed on it. David next played a game where the audience guessed which hand a sponge ball was in. He climaxed this by turning the ball into a giant sponge bunny. Finally, David performed his “Refreshment Rainbow” effect with playing cards. Four cards turned over one at a time. As a climax, each card had a different soft drink on the back of it, despite the fact that each card had been shown to have a normal back.

Mike Stelzer introduced us to his small friend, Gabby. After a brief conversation, Gabby said he was thirsty. Mike produced a glass of milk with a straw in it and the small vent dummy drank the milk.

Jonathon Taylor poured water into his fist, made a magical gesture and showed that the water had disappeared. He then caused it to reappear.

The names of the performers were placed into a basket and one name was drawn. Jonathon Taylor became the proud owner of the Magic Tea Kettle Book.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Mike Stelzer was the featured performer for our April meeting. He began by causing a cell phone to vanish and then reappear. He then broke the cell phone, placed it into an envelope addressed to “Cell Phone Repair Shop” and pulled the repaired phone from the envelope.

Mike placed a wrist watch face down on the table. He showed a piece of paper cut into a circle and brought out a hole punch. He invited anyone to say stop as he moved the hole punch around the edge of the circle. When “stop” was yelled out, he punched a hole in the paper at that point. He turned the paper over to reveal a clock face and the hole marked a time of 9:30. When he turned the watch over, the time on the watch was indeed 9:30.

Mike wrote a three-digit number in red ink on a pad. He then traded the red ink pen for a black one and asked three different audience members to each call out a single-digit number, which he wrote on the pad. When he turned the pad around the number selected by the audience matched his prediction of 472.

Mike handed a locked combination lock to Cassidy Smith. He then asked Jim Green for a two-digit number. Jay Relkin and Brian Tabor provided two more numbers. When Cassidy dialed the audience-selected numbers into the lock, it miraculously snapped open. Mike concluded by donning a pair of handcuffs and asking Cassidy to cover his hands with a silk scarf with Houdini’s likeness on it. Almost immediately, Mike escaped from the handcuffs.

Justin Teeman led a discussion on the difference between a trickster and a magician. He finished with a quote from Jerry Andrus: “If I fail to fool you, I haven’t done my job as a magician; If I make you feel foolish, I haven’t done my job as a human being.”

Cassidy Smith wowed us with a coin matrix effect, where four quarters placed in a square converged magically into one pile of coins. He then taught us the moves for accomplishing this classic of magic. Cassidy then presented each paid-up member of Ring 46 with a close-up mat with the club logo and the member’s name on it. What a wonderful surprise!

Jim Green kicked off the member performances portion of the meeting by inviting Michelle Tabor to join him “on stage.” He gave Michelle a bunny nose to put on. He then waved his magic wand and the wand unrolled to show a giant bunny, with a hole where the face would be. He had Michelle hold it up to show that he had turned her into a rabbit.

Jim then showed a tray with six small face-down metal cups on it, numbered one through six. He asked Michelle to shake a die in a dice cup. Michelle rolled a 3 and when that cup was lifted, she found that she had won a piece of candy. J. David Teeman, Rick Johnson, Cassidy Smith, and Brian Tabor tried their luck and each also won a piece of candy. When Jim lifted the remaining cup, he showed that he, the magician had won the money prize. He said the effect was known as “Always a Winner.”

J. David Teeman presented a bar bet. He brought out five goblets and placed them in a line on the table. The three cups on one end each held a piece of candy. The goal was to move only one cup and have a piece of candy in every other cup. Brian Tabor figured out the solution.

David then asked if anyone could name a number that, when spelled, would have all of its letters in alphabetical order. That was a bit tougher. David next brought out his ball on cord trick. He could cause the ball to stop at any point along the cord, but when he handed it to an audience member, she could not make it work. Finally, David cautioned us about a three-card monte game going on nearby. He showed three jumbo cards, two black aces and a red queen, and demonstrated how he had been separated from his cash.

Lee Woodside handed out some of his business cards. Each card had a hole in it and the question, “Can you push a quarter through the hole without harming the card?” After giving everyone time to ponder the solution, Lee laid a quarter on the table, took out a chop stick and stuck it through the hole and pushed the quarter with it. Lee told about a bet he had heard about sixty years ago. The bet was that you could not cut a deck three times without cutting to an Ace, Jack or Deuce. It sounds fair, but the probability of doing it is only about 44.7%. (If you cut three separate packets.) He then told about a scam where three people flip coins and the odd man wins. The con is that you have a double-headed coin and your buddy has a double-tailed coin. Thus, one of you will always win.

Brian Tabor showed a small drawstring bag and said that he had something inside which had never been seen before, but you have to buy him a drink before he’ll show it to you. It turned out that he a had a peanut in the shell.

Jay Relkin invited Michael King to help him. He showed a Polaroid picture which had not yet developed. He borrowed Michael’s cell phone and took a picture of him holding the undeveloped photo. He then showed eight cards bearing drawings of landmarks from around the world. He had Michael “freely” select one, the Eiffel Tower. When the photo of Michael was shown on the phone, he was holding a photo of the Eiffel Tower.

Michael King laid several coins on the table. He and Brian Tabor took turns removing one or two coins at a time. Michael always won by taking the last coin(s). He then gave us the secret of always winning.

The names of all the performers were placed into a hat and one name was drawn. Brian Tabor was the lucky winner of an Alan Ackerman DVD.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Derrick Beeson was our featured performer for March. He performed a beautiful routine with four silver coins, an open-ended leather tube, and a small cork disk. Coins appeared, vanished and traveled from one location to another.

Our theme for March was “Wanderful Magic” and David Teeman showed us several magical wands in his collection. He showed a routine where a wand is used to attempt to bend a spoon and the wand bends instead. He spoke of how the wand chooses the magician and showed the one that chose him: a large wand with a toilet plunger on one end. He demonstrated the Chinese sticks with two sticks that looked like magic wands. He also showed us a rising wand, a receding wand, an expanding wand, a break-away wand, an appearing wand, a fishing pole wand, and multiplying wands. He showed his “Bigger Wands” where bigger and bigger wands are employed until the trick finally works with the use of a humongous wand.

Cassidy Smith showed us a portion of his wand collection, including wands made of wood, metal, acrylic, and marble. He even had one wand that looked like a snake. He performed a metal-detecting routine where the wand located coins that he then produced from various locations. He demonstrated the Vernon wand-spin vanish, the through-the-fist vanish of a coin, and the strike vanish. He finished by showing a comedy card rise using a wand held under the arm with a bit of magician’s wax on the tip of the wand.

Lee Woodside showed a take-apart dancing cane and a small wand with a loop of cord which he hooked onto David Teeman’s buttonhole. Lee showed a few wands that he cherishes because of their connection to magicians he has known. He showed a bang wand that he received from his late friend Joseph “Shyster Joe” Diggle, a wand made by the late Harold Todd that was first prize in the 2002 Ring 46 close-up contest, and a presentation wand and case made by Howard Hale in his WoodMagic studio.

After a very brief business meeting in which Cassidy Smith announced an upcoming Zoom lecture by Alain Nu, it was back to more magic. Cassidy led a discussion on the top magicians of each decade over the past century.

Jim Short gave a glowing review of Bob Loomis’ SUCCESSFUL SECRET SEARCHING. He told us that it is available on Amazon at the amazing price of only $13.98. The book gives a wealth of information on where to search for material on almost any type of magical effect.

Brian Tabor showed a two-dollar bill and a playing card, both of which had small holes punched in them. He folded the playing card over the bill, lined up the holes, and inserted a toothpick through the card and bill. Amazingly, he was able to slide the bill back and forth almost an inch. He then removed the toothpick and showed that the bill and card were both intact.

Mike Stelzer invited Joe Comet to strap him into a regulation straight jacket. Mike struggled with the restraint in plain view of the audience and manged to free himself in three minutes and 13 seconds.

The names of all the performers were placed into a hat and a name was drawn. David Teeman won Dan Harlan’s “Pack Small, Play Big” DVD.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our featured performer for January was Darryl Brooks. Darryl began by producing playing cards out of thin air with his bare hands. He next tied knots in a silk scarf and pulled the knots from the scarf. When he displayed the scarf, there was a happy face on it with two holes for the eyes where the knots had been removed. After showing a fan of jumbo cards, he had Marty Ludlum select one. He then successfully spelled to the card even though Marty had “lied” about the card he selected. Darryl demonstrated how magicians from China, Australia, and the USA would each magically put a ring on a rope. He showed an old-fashioned school slate with six cards attached with rubber bands and numbered one through six. He asked that a number be chosen, which was four. He showed that the card in position four was the ten of diamonds and then turned the slate around to show that “Ten of Diamonds” was written boldly on the other side of the slate. Darryl asked Paul Nightingale if he had any idea what was written on the other side of a large piece of cardboard he was holding. When Paul answered, “No,” Darryl turned the card around and showed that the word “Know” was written on it. Darryl concluded his performance by showing a polka-dotted can and removing two silk scarves from it, one white and the other black. He replaced the scarves in the can and with a magical pass, the spots disappeared from the can and when the scarves were removed, the white scarf had black polka dots and the black scarf had white polka dots.

Jim Short gave a mini-lecture on the blackjack-themed trick he had performed at the January meeting. He recommended the effect as an opener because the cards in the deck are stacked.

David and Justin Teeman gave a review of the SAM convention they had recently attended in Las Vegas. They said that even though all the headliners were either under the weather or had tested positive for COVID, the Vegas location made it easy to find suitable replacements. David showed a bag of tricks he had taken with him to perform during sessioning. David then asked Jay Relkin to bring him a sugar packet. David magically transformed the contents of the packet into a small “sugar bunny.”

Michael King gave a review of the book OUT OF STOCK that he recently acquired. This is a book about how to add original patter to magic effects rather than using the same tired lines or stealing lines from the pros.

Cassidy Smith gave a mini-lecture on the venerable “two in the hand, one in the pocket” effect. He used paper clips and climaxed the effect with all the clips linked together in a chain. He also showed us a version using nuts and bolts.

Our theme for the February meeting was “Romantic Magic.” Lee Woodside led off by performing David Regal’s “Power of Love” effect along with volunteers Jerry Bowzer and Derrick Beeson using specially printed cards. Lee then performed an ESP Compatibility test that showed the two volunteers to be compatible for friendship and business. This is a Mark Strivings effect called “Warm Fuzzies Up Close.”

David Teeman showed an effect using a bunch of different colored Sharpies. He had Rick Johnson select one Sharpie using a process of elimination. Sure enough, Rick chose the only Sharpie where the cap matched the color the ink.

Paul Nightingale used only four court cards to tell the story of two couples out on the town. As the story progressed, it became hard to believe that only four cards were in play.

Michael Stelzer showed off a number of items that he had purchased from Steve Bender’s Ickle Pickle Products. He had no-cut scissors, a “chain smoking” cigarette, a color-changing tie, and a needle through balloon effect using a giant safety pin and a baby theme.

Jay Relkin asked Marty Ludlum to pick a card. After losing the card in the deck, he magically found it and had Marty hold it securely between his palms. He then had Justin Teeman select a card and that card was also lost in the deck. However, it turned out that the card being held by Marty had changed into Justin’s card.

Cassidy Smith showed how to construct a napkin rose. He then showed how the paper rose could be lit by using a “D-Lite” gimmick. He also showed how to magically transform the paper rose into a real one, a perfect effect for Valentine’s Day.

The names of all the performers were dropped into a hat. Jay Relkin’s name was drawn and he went home with a new magic book.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our featured performer for January was Michael King. He handed a book to Jerry Bowzer and asked him to select any word in the book. He riffled through the pages of another book and asked Rick Johnson to say “stop” at any time. He asked Rick to pick a word on the selected page. Mike then directed attention to a large envelope at the back of the room. Inside was a prediction that Jerry would choose the word “receptionist.” There was also a page torn from a book. Mike asked Rick to confirm that it was the page he had selected and that the page was now missing from the book.

Mike handed a small purse to David Teeman and asked him to remove the contents. Inside was a ribbon with three disks with holes threaded onto it. Mike caused one of the disks to penetrate the ribbon. He then caused a second disk to penetrate the ribbon. With the remaining disk still on the ribbon, he had Rick Johnson tie the two ends of the ribbon around the back of Mike’s wrist. When Mike opened his hand, the disk had vanished.

Mike handed out a Rubik’s cube and asked that it be passed around and mixed up. He then brought out a second cube and showed that the six sides perfectly matched those of the cube mixed by the audience members. He then placed the mixed up cube behind his back and solved it “blind.”

Vice President Justin Teeman led a discussion on what makes a good opener. He performed a three-card routine with aces and then told why he thought it was a good opener: it was not a pick-a-card trick, audience members had probably not seen it before, and he knows the routine by heart.

We were very pleased to see Joe Comet return to the club after many years. Joe reminisced about watching the late Jim Smithson perform his comedy waiter routine and his burnt bill routine where he would grill a hot dog while the envelopes burned and put it on a bun and eat it during his act. Only Jim could get away with such things. We miss him.

Cassidy told us that he likes to perform some quick magic while asking those at a table if they would like to see some magic. He also told us that he likes to perform magic for those waiting their turn on the water taxi ride on the Bricktown canal. Cassidy is one of the boat captains.

Jim Short told us that one of his more awkward situations was when a waiter spilled food all over his props. He also told us of the serendipitous situation where he asked someone to name her favorite card and it happened to be the top card of his stack.

Lee Woodside told about the time that he, Tom Todd, and “Shyster Joe” Diggle were having breakfast with Doc Eason the morning after Doc’s lecture in OKC. Lee took out his micro-cassette tape recorder and before he could bring out his deck of cards, Doc blurted out “Nine of Hearts.” Since that happened to be one of the outs on Lee’s tape-recorded prediction effect, Lee forgot about the deck of cards and just played the tape. Doc was floored.

Joe Comet told about the time he was doing magic for a gentleman who was with his girlfriend when the guy’s wife walked into the restaurant. Joe put the girlfriend on his arm and walked her out of the restaurant. He said that he received a fifty-dollar tip for his quick thinking. He also told about the time he threw the deck at the ceiling for the “card on ceiling effect” and the deck disappeared, but the selected card was stuck to the ceiling. Joe then asked an audience member to select a card and draw a fish on the face of it. Joe dropped the card to the floor. He then showed a card that he would use as “bait.” He waved the “bait” card over the “fish” card and the bait card turned into the marked selection. The card on the floor turned out to be the bait card.

David Teeman performed his linking craft loops routine. Cassidy Smith then challenged both Joe and David to perform their routines without speaking. Both magicians proved to be up to the challenge.

Lee Woodside showed off two magic sets that a girl friend of his girlfriend had found at an estate sale and bought for him. The sets dated from the 1970s and contained some interesting tricks. Lee then read a card that he had received from Dayna Davis Savage, the daughter of our Ring 46 namesake, Seymour Davis. Dayna thanked everyone for keeping her dad’s magic alive.

Cassidy Smith performed the coloring book effect with a Bible stories coloring book. The black and white drawings magically changed to color.

Rick Martin showed a zig-zag card frame using a jumbo card. He had made the beautiful prop with his new laser cutter, the latest addition to his professional workshop.

Jerry Bowzer reported that one of his hobbies is the collection of card decks. He likes to buy two of each deck so that he can open one and leave the other sealed. He said that he has about five hundred decks and stores them in boxes made for baseball card collectors.

Jim Short showed off a box of 99.999 gold playing cards that he received as a Christmas present. He also showed a one-hundred-dollar bill. He asked Jerry Bowzer to pick a number from one to fifty-two and a card suit. Jerry picked the number 27 and hearts. Jim dealt 27 cards to the table. He then used that packet to deal the number of cards arrived at by adding the digits of the number 27. When he turned over the top cards of the two packets, there was an ace of hearts and a jack of hearts. Jim now showed that written across the hundred-dollar bill was the word “blAckJack”.

Michael King showed that his skill was not limited to card tricks and book tests. He retrieved a set of juggling clubs and a unicycle from his vehicle and wowed us by juggling while riding his unicycle. Of course, in his younger days, he did run away and join the circus for a year.

Cassidy Smith put the names of all the performers in a hat and had one name drawn. The lucky winner was Joe Comet and he took home a Pendragons magic DVD.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our December meeting was originally scheduled to be our annual Parlor & Stage Magic Contest and Holiday Party. However, our one-time junior president, Rob Lake invited the Ring 46 members and their families to join him for his full illusion show to benefit the “Friends for Folks” inmate dog-training organization. It was a no-brainer to take him up on his generous offer.

Rob Lake played to a full auditorium and kept everyone spellbound throughout the show. The show was also being taped for an Armed Forces Network special. After magically appearing onstage, Rob performed everything from linking finger rings together to vanishing along with a motorcycle and reappearing in the audience. I think my favorite effect was when he walked out of the auditorium and then miraculously materialized on top of a table that was surrounded by audience members, an effect which he also performed on “America’s Got Talent” a while back.

Following the show, we were treated to pizza, desserts and soft drinks behind the stage. Rob joined us after taking the time to interact with his audience members as they left the theater. We reminisced about our past Ring 46 “Pandemonium” shows and magicians who are no longer with us. It was a truly magical evening.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

President Cassidy Smith opened the November meeting as our featured performer. He started by magically producing a bouquet of flowers. He then brought out a length of rope and created and vanished knots via several methods: disappearing knot, cowboy knot, nautical knot, archer’s knot, sliding knot, and Will Rogers knot. After performing a cut and restored rope effect, he folded the rope in half and caused the ends to move from one end to the other. He then placed the ends in his coat pocket and they traveled to the other end. He completed his performance by placing hard candies into a bag and magically changing them to Tootsie Rolls.

Brian Tabor continued his lecture series on stacked decks and mnemonics. He showed a “find a card” routine and a numerology birth date routine using a planning calendar. He generously handed out lecture notes to everyone along with the find-a-card trick.

Our business meeting was short and sweet, as usual. The current officers were elected by acclamation for 2022. Lee Woodside announced that he had been contacted by our once junior member Robert Calonkey, who now performs illusions under the stage name Rob Lake. Rob is scheduled to perform a benefit for animal welfare in December and has invited Ring 46 members to attend his show at a greatly reduced price and then join him for a holiday celebration. Everyone agreed that this was a great idea and that we should take Rob up on his generous offer in lieu of our normal December meeting and Holiday Party.

Our theme for November was “turkey magic.” The idea is to show a prop that looked great in the dealer ad or on eBay, but turned out to be less amazing than anticipated.

Lee Woodside showed a “Hoffman’s Rising Card” straight out of “Modern Magic.” It was advertised on eBay as being a gorgeous prop with beautiful wood inlay. What was not mentioned in the ad was that it was manufactured in a third-world country and not the highest quality. Lee had Michelle Tabor, Jerry Bowzer, and Rick Johnson each select a card and then replace it anywhere in the deck. Lee placed the deck into the rising card houlette and asked Rick Martin (AKA Professor Ludicrous) to use his wand to invoke a levitation spell. Alas, the cards did not rise. Lee asked Rick to adjust his wand to a higher setting and repeat the spell. This time there was a loud bang from the wand and the three selected cards flew out of the houlette.

Jim Short performed an effect with two pens featuring a popular search ending logo. One of the pens had a multicolored logo and the other was in purple. He said the pens were in image search mode and they shouldn’t touch or they’ll get stuck. As he went to adjust the settings on the multicolored pen the two accidentally touched, leaving both logos purple. He then handed both pens out for examination.

David Teeman proved that you don’t have to spend a fortune on props to amaze people with magic. He showed us his “$10 Act” that he performed for the “trunk or treat” night at his church. He had a vanishing/reappearing egg in a mesh bag, a “six-foot” ruler for measuring the height of youngsters, a “wand chooses you” giant wand with a toilet plunger on one end, and a drawer box for use in handing out candy. David’s enthusiasm in performing his magic reminds me of the late Bob McAllister.

Mike Stelzer showed us a prop for allowing an arm to be severed in half. However, he said that the effect of the illusion was not very good. I suspect that perhaps that Mike’s muscular body-building arm may have been a bit large for the apparatus.

Michael King told us about a nut and bolt trick he had where the nut would unthread itself visibly from the bolt. He said that the problem was that even in a loud nightclub, the workings were too noisy. He then showed us the new book about the history of magic that David Copperfield has recently published. (NOT part of the turkey magic.)

Cassidy Smith put the names of the performers into a hat and drew names for winners. Each of two winners go to select an item from the magical bag of mystery. Jim Short chose a DVD of performances by famous magicians. Mike Stelzer took home a Juan Tamariz DVD.

Lee Woodside