the fylde mystics, 10- 2014.pdf

Promoting the performance of Magic

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The Fylde Mystics

October 2014

Editorial by Paul Joyce.News, Views and comments

Morgan & West Review byGeorge Jennings

Magic Decoded By Allan Clarke

Your Club need you - AlanMylecraine

Magician FX Offer

DVD & Book Library

Fylde Mystics Programme

Magical Memoranda

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Editorial by Paul JoyceWhere there is no imagination there is no horror."Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Welcome to the October edition. I am sure you will agree that

September has been a fantastic month for the Fylde Mystics

and am sure October will continue in the same vein.

Looking ahead, I am looking at putting together the Xmas

edition (sorry, I know it sounds a while off!). Ideally, I would like

to be able to do a special Xmas edition, if you have any stories

that you think may be of interest please do let me have them,

all articles are appreciated.

See you soon

Paul

Morgan and West Chorley Little Theatre Friday Sep-tember 19th A grand adventure

By George Jennings

Just under a year ago we went to the Chorley Little

Theatre to see Morgan and West and they came back

with a different show in the same characters they had

already established as Victorian travellers. I had

thought that as they had gone down really well that

word of mouth would have increased the size of

audience, but if anything there were slightly less than

before. Perhaps the audience did not realise it would

be a new show.

However this time the number of magicians present hadincreased. Brian Sefton was back for a second time, butthere were several more that I recognised mainly fromthe Manchester area, which was a surprise as theywere doing the same show at the Lowry in October.

After they had introduced themselves in a rather novelway they talked about misdirection and made excellentuse of changing focus between the two of them for aseries of effects that registered well including the vanishof their magic book.

The plot for the rest of the show was based on theirmagic book of lies having disappeared, stolen, and theirtravels following a series of clues, a bit like round theworld in 80 days, to get the book back.

In Magicseen they had said that their characters wereVictorian educated and silly and that certainly describesthis performance. I mean how many acts do you knowthat do jokes based on Latin, even though it was quite agood one? I am not sure that given the amount of chil-dren attending that this particularly registered well withall the audience.

They did an excellent presentation of the misers dreaminvolving a child from the audience and the use of a fullsize puppet a bit like the Tina Lenert act. The head wasa top hat with goggles on and it was operated betweenthe two of them and it had a similar sort of effect on thelad as some of the monsters on Dr Who.

A double salt, or as presented here, a double sugarpour got a good reaction. Less effective was a series ofeffects that started with three runes being selected froma bag.

We were told by Morgan that they all had fir trees onthem. The problem was that even in a small theatrethese could not be seen. It would have been better ifthe person doing the selecting had said what they werebefore proceeding. These were then revealed to havebeen predicted on a document that had a whole seriesof runic characters on them. So by the time it got to thecorrect one it just looked like a series of outs and lackedimpact. A tarot cutting was also too small to be seenproperly, but the concluding section using two spiritslates did register strongly.

The Tony Stevens no tear paper and a version of thecard sword without playing cards were both strongitems, but going into the interval turned out to be an anticlimax. Given the way they were presenting the story itneeded a cliff-hanger of some sort a bit like the DickBarton stories, for those old enough to remember them,to finish the first half.

Instead it just sort of stopped in a very low-key sort ofway and the audience were just left bemused not surewhat to do. In fact the only way we knew it was the in-terval was that the house lights came on and no oneapplauded as by then it was too late to react. Even touse the Dick Barton idea of a voice over with a series ofquestions relating to what was to happen on the rest ofthe quest would have worked in this situation.

In the second half they used a previously recap, likeyou get at the start on so many TV series as a joke andthis, if we had been left wondering what was going tohappen next, would have worked really well at the startof part two.

The second half was shorter than the first half. For meone of the stand out bits was the use of a mouth coil.This is where the use of a double act really scores. Nor-mally when you see someone use one you are restrict-ed to an arm length at any time of pulling it out. Herethe use of a second person allows a much greater dis-tance to be used and it is far more impressive as itseems as though far more is being produced than isreally happening and without the danger of it beingsnapped.

There was also a very nice combination of being tied upand put into a bag with a triple prediction whilst appar-ently tied up before doing an escape from the ropes.The big trick in this half was a substitution trunk whichspectators had sat on during parts of the show usingthe locks as the reason they needed to change places.There were other tricks with billiard balls, rope routinesand a dove pan, but the finish was a verbal one as tohow they travelled in time to recover the book to finishthe act.

I am keen on using stories in magic and this is basedon one huge story. The weakness in using stories isthat sometimes it is difficult to get the magic to fit thestory and there are times in this that there are too manywords used to get to the magic.

Although I preferred the earlier show as it had moremagic this is still worth seeing if you get the opportunityas it a rare thing to see an approach like this used on tohow to present magic. As this is a show on tour I wouldnot be surprised if based on the reactions of the audi-ence if they make some changes as the structure at theend of the first half does need changing if they are toget an audience to respond. If you go you can let usknow if it does.

Magic Decoded? by Allan Clarke

Steve CohenLost Magic DecodedHistory Channel

Amongst a number of programmes I recorded from the TV thispast year was 'Lost Magic Decoded'. I noticed in the advertisingthat it was being presented by 'Magician to the Millionaires',Steve Cohen who performs each weekend at a suite in theprestigious Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

The magic decoded thing did worry me a little as I was afraidthat secrets would be revealed in Steve's bid to re-create some ofthe lost magic of the past. I neednt have worried as the out-comes left a lot more questions than answers. I watched Steve acouple of years ago when he was part of the line up for the'Essential Magic Conference' and he was most impressive, notonly with his magic but in the process he followed when trying tosecure what must be some of the best gig's in the world andconvincing The owners of the Waldorf Astoria that it would begood for their business. Now there's a book I would pay goodmoney for!

However, back to the programme.His aim during the two hour 'special'was to explore and try to recreatesome of the best known and oftenlost secrets of a number of puzzlingillusions. His first foray was in 'Pulsestopping', first presented by Herman.This took place in a private suite ofthe Waldorf to an appreciative audience and followed a well trodpath of having a physician tap out the beat of Steve's pulse in aglass as he slowed it to a stop and re-started it. The suspense hecreated was palpable and was a fitting demonstration of howperformers played up the impossibility of what they were doing.
http://www.chambermagic.comhttp://www.waldorfnewyork.com/gallery/photos/http://www.essentialmagicconference.com/http://www.essentialmagicconference.com/

'Automaton' of magic, 'The Turk'.The Turk was the brainchild ofWolfgang Von Kempelen. It was achess playing 'robot' first displayed inVienna in 1770 and became feted byKings and Quens around the world. Itwent into the history books when Napo-leon himself challenged the Turk to agame. (and lost by the way - some-thing unheard of in Napoleons reign).

Unfortunately, it's secret went to the grave with it's maker and thedevice itself perished in a fire in 1835. Steve set out to figure outhow it worked with the help of legendary prop builder JohnGaughan. The finished device was tested in front of a live audi-ence and was challenged by a Russian Chess Grand Master whotried and failed to win against this new incarnation.

We next went back to the Waldorf for a great presentation of 'anydrink called for'. Called 'Think a drink', this is exactly what Stevere-created. Not just any old coke, orange or whisky shots either,but Tequila, Mohitos and a White Russian! This last one poured bythe spectator themselves, BEFORE announcing the thought ofdrink! He also used a clever device, the 'Ideamotor reflex' I spokeabout a couple of issues ago. A key suspended from a threadwould spin according to the thoughts of the spectator holding it.He cleverly finished the routine by demonstrating that thoughtcould also bend the key!

Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, known as the 'Father of ModernMagic', inspired Steve to re-create the 'Light and Heavy' box.Illuminating the effect with the true story of Robert-Houdin's in-volvement in bringing a rebel war to and end in Algeria by dem-onstrating to the Leader of the Mariba warriors that he could taketheir powers away. Steve brought it right up to date by visitingKlostermans 'Salon De Magie' to examine the original Houdin boxbefore taking a replica to a weight lifting studio in New York andshowing that he too had the power. Rivetting stuff!
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/20/gaughan.htmlhttp://boingboing.net/2012/02/20/gaughan.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Eug%C3%A8ne_Robert-Houdinhttp://www.salondemagie.com/salon.htm

One of the great unsolved mysteries inMagic is that of the 'Indian Rope Trick'.Cohen set off to Delhi to witness a modernday Fakir perform the effect. It was filmedand looks impossible. It was performed out-doors with a long thick rope apparently stiff-ened enough for a small boy to climb to thetop. In this version however there wasn't thechopping up and reassembly of the corpsethat was the stuff of the original. Steve soughtout the secret but we'll never know if it wasrevealed to him.

The programme finished with Steve attempting the most famousof all stage illusions, 'The Bullet Catch'. During the course of theresearch it was noted that since the start of the effect beingattempted, over 500 magicians have been killed during the per-formance, leading many to believe that the effect was somehow'cursed'. Most notably of course was Chung Ling Soo aka WilliamRobinson who toured Europe with the effect. Interestingly hedidn't perform it at every show, maybe as a testament to theinherent danger. This of course meant that his final show at theWood Green Empire in London in March of 1918 was all the morepoignant. Steve did research the effect and discovered howChung's performance became 'faulty'. He also highlighted the TVepisode where UK Magician, Simon Drake, performed it in 1990but went on to suffer a breakdown because of it. This didn't stopSteve wanting to re-create the effect and the finale of the showwas the most harrowing.

A licenced marksman put a marked bullet in the chamber of aGlock pistol. On the mark, he fired the round through a frameof glass intended to show that the bullet actually left the gun.Cohen hits the deck groaning and is soon carted off to hospitalbut not after having confirmed that the marked bullet was in-deed caught. It turns out (with some uncomfortable pictures) thata shard of glass from the frame became a projectile, hitting Stevein the chest and bringing him to the floor. It must have been a

the chest and bringing him to the floor. It must have been anightmare scenario for Steve and for the production team.All was well eventually and Steve returned, vowing neveragain to attempt the catch. Interestingly there were somenotable cameos in the film, Eddie Dawes and Bill Kalush to men-tion a couple, together with some great footage of Houdini anda chat with Peter Lamont from the Magic Circle in London.

There were a couple of other effects demonstrated from theWaldorf such as the 'brick under hat' and my personal favourite,the nail through a solid block which encouraged me to try to findmy version of it made by Eddie Gibson.

Interesting fact about me you never knew: Eddie Gibson and Iwent to the same schools albeit a couple of years apart. My Gran,who I spent most summers with, was a neighbour.

This was a great film which I think can still be downloaded fromAmazon, although only from the US. It was a very entertainingcouple of hours with some very instructive insights into the world ofMagic.

Steve Cohen can be found here:

Check out the gallery and particu-larly Steve's appearance on theDavid Letter- man show!
http://www.eddiegibsonmagic.nethttp://www.chambermagic.com

Hello All,

I hope this email finds you all well and hope you all enjoyed our two lectureswhich we have enjoyed this month, both Roger Woods and Shawn Farquhar.

The next meeting is on Tuesday 7th October and will be a HANDS ON work-shop of card/coin sleights etc. This is a night where we will sit around the ta-ble and workshop, I have included this as a meeting night at a request of afew members, I hope everyone supports it. We have Mark Southworth trav-elling over from Chorley who is a fantastic technician and will be happy toteach whatever you like. If there is anything imparticular you would like somehelp with PLEASE EMAIL ME so that I can advise Mark prior to his attendance.He will bring cards, coins and anything needed to demonstrate and more im-portantly teach a particular sleight.

Lets make this a true Fylde Mystics classic night with lots of people partakingin the workshop.

I look forward to hearing from you all so that I can advise Mark in advance.

Alan Mylecraine

The Fylde Mystics and Magician FX

This month I have managed to secure an exclusive deal for allmembers of The Fylde Mystics.

A good friend of mine for some years is Gary Cardura and acouple of years ago he set up an online magic store

http://www.magicianfx.co.uk .

Gary offers some amazing deals compared to a lot of thedealers and his prices are rarely bettered. Gary offers freepostage on all orders over 40, plus a free trick or dvd, and,for Fylde Mystics members only I have negotiated an addi-tional 10% discount, just mention Fylde Mystics at the time ofplacing your order (Gary has a list of Fylde Mysticmembers to ensure it is only our paid up members eligible forthis offer).

Please do show him some support, a few of his products andprices on the following pages. (click image to see a video)
http://www.magicianfx.co.ukhttp://www.magicianfx.co.uk/http://www.magicianfx.co.uk/http://www.magicianfx.co.uk/

MYSTICAL DVD LIBRARY1 Card College 1 & 2 (4 discs) Giobbi, Roberto2 Gambling Protection Series (3 Discs) Forte, Steve3 The Minotaur (2 Discs) Harlan, Dan4 Bullets After Dark Bannon, John5 Bullet Party Bannon, John6 Red Mirror Guimaraes, Helder7 Pat Page Pat Page8 Magic By Gosh Albert Goshman9 Corporate Close Up 2 Volume 1 RSVP10 On The Spot Gregory Wilson11 Complete Intro to Coin Magic Michael Ammar12 Blackpool Magic Club 2006 DVD RSVP/BMC13 The Session 2007 Alakazam Magic14 The 52 vs Joker Project Gary Jones & Chris Congreave15 Exchange Rate Inc Cameron Francis16 Elegy Shift Alex Ward17 Interview with Wayne Dobson Jay Fortune18 Reel Magic August 200919 Razzamataz Aldo Colombini20 Fibre Optics Richard Sanders21 The Classics George McBride22 Skip Switch Project Ollie Mealings23 1 Below Zero Andrew Normansell24 Magic Tricks Tutorial DVD Tricks 4u.com25 The Cullfather Iain Moran26 Card Through Window David Forrest27 Linking Cigarette Akira Fujiis28 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 1 Michael Ammar29 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 2 Michael Ammar30 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 3 Michael Ammar31 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 4 Michael Ammar32 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 5 Michael Ammar33 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 6 Michael Ammar34 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 1 Alex Elmsley35 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 2 Alex Elmsley36 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 3 Alex Elmsley

37 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 4 Alex Elmsley38 Fylde Mystics Close Up Comp 2012 Members39 Secrets Of Card Across Worlds Greatest Magic40 Hands Of Mystery Gordon Dickson41 Bright Ideas Christopher Williams42 Mike Austin Lecture Notes Mike Austin43 Smoke & Mirrors John Bannon44 Standing Room Only Aldo Colombini45 Dobsons Choice Wayne Dobson46 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 1 Kaymar47 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 2 Kaymar48 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 3 Kaymar49 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 4 Kaymar50 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 5 Kaymar51 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 6 Kaymar52 Magicbox EXP Magicbox53 David Jones Basic Coin Magic International Magic54 CrowdPuller Peter Wardell

My s t i c a l L i b r a r yBOOK S e c t i o n

1 Born To Perform Lecture Notes Oz Pearlman2 Totat Paul Hallas3 Pool Table Aces Joe Riding4 A Prefoessionals Repertoire Ian Keeble5 UK Sankey Tour Lecture Notes Jay Sankey6 The Cheap Close Up Book Paul Hallas7 Cards Within Al Smith8 Mental Mix Paul Hallas9 Little Miracles Geoffrey Durham10 Kidshows List Of Lists David Ginn11 Old Ideas New Twists Pat Fallon12 Into The Abyss Oz Pearlman13 Almost Unpublished David Ginn14 Nearly Unpublished David Ginn15 Crossing The Fine Line Trevor Duffy16 The Even Cheaper Booklet Paul Hallas17 Pocket Power Jarle Leirpoll18 Aspects Of Entertaining Children Colin Ceekay19 8 King Set Up Frank E Blaisdell20 The Magic Party Mark Leveridge21 Indian Cups & Balls PK Ilango22 Lecture notes From Underground Joe Rindfleisch23 Alan Shaxon lecture Alan Shaxon24 One Minute Miracles Petrick25 Elastrix Ed Mishell & Abe Hurwitz26 Kind Of Magic Lecture Notes Wayne Dobson27 Gobsmacked Lecture Cody S Fisher28 Insight Devib Knight29 Rub The Lamp James Breedon30 Mind Blasters Peter Duffie31 From Page To Stage Neil Roberts32 Encyclopedia Of Card Tricks Jean Hugard33 Bread & Butter Shawn Farquhar

34 165 Card Tricks & Stunts Jean Hugard35 Magic & Card Tricks Wilfred Jones36 Self Working Table Magic Karl Fulves37 Modern Coin Magic JB Bobo38 Magic Everywhere Matthew Costello39 Locksmiths Training Manual40 Feature 3 Roy Johnson41 Teach Yourself Magic Robert Harbin42 Encyclopedia Of Card Tricks Jean Hugard43 202 Methods Of Forcing Annemann44 Tricks for the travelling trickster Ken De Courcy45 Now you see it, now you don't Bill Tarr46 Traditional Pub Games Arthur Taylor47 Magic With Everyday Objects George Schindler48 Mysterious Book Of Magic Peter Eldon49 Mark Wilsons Greatest Magic Tricks Mark Wilson50 Dubblekross & Simulkross Ken De Courcy51 Clear AntiGravity Lewis Ganson52 Time Flies Roy Baker53 Thirty Card Trick Supreme54 Routines In Rhyme Bill West55 Coin And Money Magic Eddie Joseph56 The Magician Jan 2005 Repro57 The Magician Feb 2005 Repro58 The Magician March 2005 Repro59 The Magician April 2005 Repro60 The Magician May 2005 Repro61 The Magician July 2005 Repro62 The Magician August 2005 Repro63 The Magician September 2005 Repro64 The Magician November 2005 Repro65 The Magician January 2006 Repro66 The Magician March 2006 Repro67 The Magician May 2006 Repro68 The Magician June 2006 Repro69 The Magician December 2006 Repro70 The Magician Xmas 2006 Repro

71 The Magician January 2007 Repro72 The Magician March 2007 Repro73 The Magician May 2007 Repro73 The Magician Holiday 2007 Repro74 The Magician Summer Repro75 Balloon Magic Marvin Hardy76 All Wind & Twists Finale Doug Brearley77 Second Wind & Twists Doug Brearley78 Rainbow Balloons Shirley Ray79 Balloon Toons Bob Wooding80 Balloons Mad Jack81 Entertaining Balloons Jean Merlin82 Card Magic USA Peter Duffie83 Card Conspiracy Duffie/Robertson84 Card Conspiracy 2 Duffie/Robertson85 Beyond Compere Terry Seabrooke86 A Pocketful Of Miracles Hugh Miller87 Mind Blasters Volume 2 Part 1 Peter Duffie88 Mind Blasters Volume 2 Part 2 Peter Duffie89 Subtle Miracles Peter Duffie90 Diamonds From Goal Duffie/Robertson

Dont forget to let Paul know if you want to borrow anybooks. He doesnt always bring the library to the clubbut he can bring along any titles you need. Just givehim a call.

Please note: Thanks to the generosity of membersthere are a few items that will be added to the lists intime for next month.

2014 / 2015 Programme:

5th August 2014 Trick a Tape Session - Perform, Video, Critique... simples!2nd September 2014 STAR LECTURE with

Dr Roger Woods- The Magic of Jessie Demaline.

7th October 2014 Card Sleights Masterclass - Hands on Tuition.

4th November 2014 STAR LECTURE with John Carey, the Card Man's Card Man2nd December 2014 Christmas Meal (open night)

6th January 2015 Childrens Magic - Perform two ef fects suitable for childrens party3rd February 2015 STAR LECTURE with Mark Southworth3rd March 2015 Table Hopping on a shoestring.... hop, perform, hop again.7th April 2015 Close-up Competition Night - Open night - guests welcome.5th May 2015 BOOK CLUB: Perform effects from a book.2nd June 2015 Mentalism/Stage Night. But then you knew that didn't you?2nd July 2015 Mini AGM and Trick Session

Thanks to all who contributed to this months edition, with-out the contributors and the readers it wouldnt be possible!

the fylde mystics, 10- 2014.pdf

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