Horror Stories at Assembly #31

Indianapolis, Indiana

Winter was in the air, twelve new inches of snow was on the ground, the wind was blowing, the thermometer was hovering below freezing.  The leadership of SAM #31 made the decision to postpone the planned evening of Illusions because of the difficulty of transporting the Illusions to the meeting site.  Instead, fourteen hardy SAM #31 members spent the evening helping each other with the  tricks they were working up and sharing â??horrorâ?? stories of their performing adventures.

Tom Winterroud, Taylor Martin, and Don Miller shared their stories of performance moments they would just as soon forget.  The stories generated both empathy and amusement.  They also generated some memorable learnings--such as Don Millerâ??s, â??Sometimes you have got to tell them the truth.â??  Or another one of his observations, â??The worst horror stories are when you find out later that you messed up, and you never knew it happened at the time.â?? 

Club President, Steve Spence, requested some help with the use of the thumb tip for a John Carney illusion.  He received a number of very excellent suggestions.

As a bonus for the evening, Chris Henderson expertly performed two card mysteries.  The first was Dr. Billâ??s Impossible Stop Trick from the Collectors Workshop.  The second was â??Attaployâ??, from Mind, Myth or Magic.  Attaploy is  TA Waters version of Jack Hughes â??Attaboyâ??.

A highlight of the evening occurred when club historian, Mike Engle, presented and discussed several items from the clubâ??s historical archives.  Included among them was the original club charter dated April 6, 1940. (The original charter  actually looked better preserved than a number of us who originated in that same decade!!)

Among the charter signers was J.Elder Blackledge, a well established professional magician during the 1930' and 40's. Blackledge was a world traveler and magic historian, who was a founding member and first president of the Indiana Society of Magicians. During 1945 he served as National Vice President of the SAM.

Submitted by: Dale Benson, Secretary

February 2009

Harry E. Riser Assembly No. 31, usually meets the first Monday of the month at 7 pm at Mystic Tie Lodge (2^nd floor), corner of Illinois and North Street, Indianapolis.