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.
As we were waiting for the November Ring 46 meeting to begin, former member Gravelly Finley III and his lovely wife came in bearing boxes of magic props and books. It seems that they had cleaned out their attic and decided that since Gravelly was no longer into magic, they would bring the items to give to the Ring members. These weren’t beginner magic props, either. We’re talking very nice paraphernalia and books. What an incredibly generous gesture!
Our featured performer for the month was John Shack. John invited Marty Ludlum to select a card, which John then placed into the middle of the deck. With a magical gesture, the selected Jack of Diamonds returned to the top of the pack. John then tossed the card into the air where it visibly transformed into a card with half of the front of the card and half of the back of the card on each side. This is an effect that John came up with that is now being marketed as “Split Ends.” He generously offered them to our members at a discounted price.
John concluded by having a card selected and returned to the deck face down. Suddenly the deck was face up and the selected card was the only face-down card. As a kicker, the previously red-backed deck was now a blue-backed deck.
President Cassidy Smith led a discussion on having a set list for one’s show. Several members offered suggestions based on their experiences.
Our business meeting was very brief. Treasurer Michael King apprised us of our financial situation, which is pretty good. Next, officer elections were held for 2023 and all the current officers were re-elected by acclamation. Cassidy Smith will continue as President, Justin Teeman as Vice President, Michael King as Treasurer, and Lee Woodside as Secretary.
Jerry Bowzer showed off his recently acquired Collector’s Edition of the new book UNANCHORED, by Ryan Schlutz. Jerry said that he would not open the two decks of cards that were included. He showed us some of the photographs in the book, which were excellent.
David Teeman led off our member performances. He showed us the items he had performed at his church’s “Trunk or Treat” event for Halloween. He showed a mesh bag with an egg that he used to play “catch” with the kids, a 6-foot ruler (a gag with six feet on it) that he used to prove that kids were tall enough to participate, a finger chopper, and an empty drawer box. When the magic word was yelled out by all, the box became filled with candy (actually bags of pretzels.) David then invited Derrick Beeson to join him “on stage” and asked Derrick to merely think of a card. He handed Derrick a card and asked him what was printed on it. “My Card” was the answer.
Jeff Davis, who has worked for many famous magic manufacturers over the years and has recently moved back to Oklahoma, demonstrated a trick that he had hand crafted. He blew up a long balloon and placed it through holes in the side of a small cabinet, which was open in the front. When the balloon was “popped,” a dove appeared in its place. (Actually, Jeff did not have a dove, so a wadded up towel was brought into play.) He said that the biggest problem with many magic props is that the manufacturers don’t know how to paint them properly so that they will stand up to repeated use.
Derrick Beeson invited young Tucker Johnson to help him. After examining a red deck of playing cards, Tucker selected one and returned it to the deck. Derrick made a magical pass and asked Tucker to look for his card in the deck. It wasn’t there! Derrick spread the blue deck and, sure enough, there was the selected red-backed card. Derrick said that this was David Regal’s “Flight of Fancy.”
It being November, one of our themes for the meeting was “Turkey Magic,” that is magic that didn’t live up to the hype in the ad. (Imagine that.) Cassidy Smith showed us several items that he was disappointed in, including an appearing rose that came with what he called “craptacular” instructions. He also had a zig-zag card. The problem was that the card being zig-zagged had a black back, which although obtainable, is not what lay people are used to seeing. He also showed us a bouquet of flowers where the flowers bow when the performer does, the only problem being that one of the flowers doesn’t do its thing.
Michael King talked about a trick he had where a nut threaded itself off a bolt. The only problem was that the apparatus hummed a symphony while the magic was taking place. And yes, lay people are smart enough to imagine there being a tiny motor doing the work.
To wrap up the meeting, Cassidy Smith performed a “Table Hopper’s Trio” of coin magic. He began by removing three coins quite magically from an empty coin purse frame. One coin then performed acrobatics across the back of his hand. A second coin penetrated the table. The third coin engaged in time travel, falling up from the hand it had been dropped into and then changed to a dime, where it had started life as a baby coin.
The meeting closed by Cassidy Smith reminding everyone of the Holiday Party and parlor/stage magic contest in December.
Lee Woodside