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 June meeting was strictly a Zoom meeting. However, we are planning to go back to 100% live meetings in July. Eleven magicians signed on. This meeting was our annual Close-Up Contest.
Lee Woodside kicked off the contest with his “Western Mental” routine. Lee showed a number of images and asked Cassidy Smith, Justin Teeman, Michael King, and David Teeman to each mentally select an image. Lee then correctly divined each image: a horseshoe, a honkey-tonk piano player, a sheriff’s badge, and a “No Bull” sign. Lee said that he had originally made up the effect for Joe Diggle when he was performing his Wild West Medicine Show.
Darryl Brooks showed four handkerchiefs of different colors, each representing a different element: earth, air, fire, and water. He pattered about how combining the elements can create new materials. After poking the four hankies into his hand, he brought for a multi-colored handkerchief. He then showed a list of famous cities. He had someone tell him to stop as he move a paperclip down the list of names. Sure enough, the city selected matched the name of the city in his prediction envelope. He ended by having a playing card selected, lost in the deck, and then found by the world’s smallest magician.
Mike Stelzer placed four Aces in a matrix on his close-up pad and added three more cards on top of each Ace. At his command, the four Aces all migrated to one stack. He next place a number of playing cards into a hat. After removing only two playing cards from the hat, he showed that the rest had vanished. He ended by passing a key through a coin.
David Teeman showed a deck of cards made up of cards with different back designs. When Darryl Brooks called “Stop,” David showed that the two cards thus chosen were both black Jacks, which matched the two cards still in the box. David then showed that all the other cards in the deck were red Jacks, with different back designs. David next showed a clear tube and covered it with a red silk scarf. When he removed the scarf, he pulled a scarf showing a royal flush poker hand. David ended by making a red sponge ball travel suspiciously from hand to hand. He finally admitted that he used two sponge balls, but it turned out that they were now green and yellow.
The acts were judged by the Ring officers (excluding Lee Woodside) after the meeting. Darryl Brooks took first place, Lee Woodside second, and David Teeman third.
President Cassidy Smith performed a Broken Wand ceremony for Joseph T. “Shyster Joe” Diggle, who was a Life Member of Ring 46. Joe was a mentor to many magicians.
Cassidy gave a glowing review of Duane Laflin’s Silk Fountain. He said that it provides color and what looks like difficult manipulation with only a limited amount of practice. He also showed a “The End” silk scarf, which he said is a great way to close a children’s show.
Justin Teeman showed us DON ENGLAND’S T.K.O.s, by John Mendoza that he recently obtained. He also showed us Mr. Jennings’ TAKE IT EASY.
William Rader, our former President who now lives in Colorado, announced that copies of his new “Artisan Tarot” decks have now been printed for distribution to reviewers. He is looking forward to positive reviews so that he can print copies for sale.
Cassidy Smith said, “Money doesn’t grow on trees, but this does,” referring to the leaf that he was holding. With a magical pass, the leaf changed into coin of the realm. He and William Rader then had a discussion about loads for cups and balls. One bit of advice: don’t use a real tomato; it can make a real mess in your trouser pocket.
Lee Woodside