INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA [Assembly Report for June 2006]
Harry Riser Assembly No. 31
President: Steven A. Spence
Secretary: Dale Benson
Meets the first Monday, 7 PM at Mystic Tai Lodge, SE corner of Illinois & North St.

McDonald's Aces at Asembly 31

Continuing The Classics in Magic theme at the November meeting, the Harry Riser Assembly focused on McDonaldâ??s Aces.

Master teacher Harry Riser was the main event. A number of times during the teaching session, he emphasized â??the use of subtlety in card magic.â?? He then proceeded to give us examples of the subtlety concept.

Harry briefed us on the history of the effect. We heard about McDonald, the one-armed magician, and his $100 routine. Harry traced the history back to 1931 when the trick was first published in German by Johann Hofzinser. He brought along his first edition copy of Dai Vernonâ??s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic and showed us the original description of McDonaldâ??s $100 routine. He talked about McDonaldâ??s Aces as performed by Vernon, Lewis Ganson, Charlie Miller, Stewart Judah, Richard Kaufman, and others.

Harry shared that over the years he has learned or invented 15 to 20 ways to vanish the aces. He taught us six of his favoritesâ??three that are fairly simple, and three that are more complicated and require considerable practice. Harry also demonstrated the â??No Lay Down Acesâ?? version that he developed.

As a humorous aside, Harry told us that he once paid $50 to a magician in Coeur dâ??Alene, Idaho, to teach him how to cut the Ace of Spades out of the deck. Harry did it so well that we began to believe that maybe he actually did shell out the fifty bucks for the lesson!

Vice President Chris Wilcox served as host for the evening. In addition to the learning session with Harry Riser, two other members demonstrated their version of similar card effects. Jack Weigle entertained us with his rendering of the â??Spell of Gathering.â?? We were spellbound! And Chris Henderson flawlessly performed Alex Emsleyâ??s Atomic Aces as found in the Collected Works of Alex Emsley.

The Linking Rings will be featured at the next â??classic eveningâ?? scheduled for January 5, 2009.

Submitted by: Dale Benson, Secretary
November 13, 2008