Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring
Meets 7:00 pm, 1st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC
LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.
Our annual Holiday Party began with a feast. The Ring provided turkey, ham and drinks our members brought a smorgasbord of side dishes and deserts. Despite our best efforts, we could not make all the food disappear.
Jim Green told us a little known fact that $100 bills have two holes in them and proceeded to put a toothpick through the holes on a borrowed bill. Jim then blew up a balloon and, despite the fact that he did not tie off the stem, the balloon did not deflate. He told us that he uses a clear glass marble to achieve this effect.
December is the month when we conduct our Stage & Parlor Magic contest. David Teeman led off by performing the venerable coloring book. He then placed a Rubik’s Cube into a two-sided box, and after much byplay with the audience, he showed that the cube was no longer in the box, but had teleported to a hat.
Jay Relkin arrived “on stage” wearing a blazer adorned with flashing Christmas lights. He asked his volunteer, Abby, to select from several possible travel destinations. As she thought of a destination, he took a photo of her holding a blank card. When he showed her the photo on his phone, the picture was of the Eiffel Tower and she revealed that her destination was Paris. Jay then brought out a cigarette lighter and caused the flame from the lighter to jump to various places. He concluded by “eating” the fire.
Lee Woodside said that he was going to perform a true classic of magic. He said that if a magician had come to one’s grandfather’s school when the grandfather was a little boy, he might have performed this very trick. Lee showed a very large die, a gentleman’s top hat, and a beautiful small cabinet. He placed the die into the cabinet and demonstrated that it was truly there. After much byplay, he showed that the die had vanished from the cabinet, but had returned to the top hat.
Mark Cristiano invited Callie to select a playing card and sign it. The card was returned to the deck and the deck was placed in Santa’s bag. Mark reached into the bag without looking and retrieved the signed four of spades.
Rick Johnson began with stories about his family’s lack of appreciation for his magic. His material was better than that of some professional stand-up comedians. Rick then offered to show us a trick that he had not performed in ten years. After waving his magic wand and chanting “abracadabra,” he pulled from his hat not a rabbit, but a rabbit’s skeleton. Rick then asked the audience to stand and for each person to indicate with body language whether they thought a coin would land on heads or tails. After repeating this for several coin flips and having the people who were wrong sit down, only Jerry Bowzer remained standing. Rick displayed several large flash cards one at a time that described who the winner would be. The last card had “Jerry Bowzer” written on it.
When the votes were tallied, President Cassidy Smith announced Lee Woodside as the third-place winner, Rick Johnson as the second-place winner, and Mark Cristiano as the first-place winner. Each winner received a gift certificate for his choice of online magic dealer.
Michael King asked that each of the five participants “pick his pocket.” He laid out five pockets cut from various clothing items and each contestant got to take the contents of one of the pockets.
Michael handed a book to each of three volunteers: Callie, Cassidy and Brian. Each turned to a page in his or her book and selected a word. Michael divined each of the words.
Our annual Officers Planning Meeting was hosted by Lee Woodside at his home the week after our December meeting. Cassidy Smith, Justin Teeman, Michael King, and Lee Woodside planned out what should be an exciting year of magic in 2024.
Lee Woodside