In late June, the Harry Riser Assembly #31 joined forces with IBM Ring 10 for our annual magic picnic proving once again that a group of magicians have no difficulty making large quantities of hot dogs disappear.  

In honor of Independence Day the theme for the July meeting was Red White and Blue magic. Your humble scribe started off the evening with a brief video presentation of his recent pilgrimage to the House of Robert-Houdin in Blois, France.  Robert-Houdinâ??s genius still shines forth when seeing his automatons over 150 years after their creation.  Our newly installed President, Taylor Martin, kicked off the magical portion of the evening with a brief history lesson on phlogiston, an invisible substance which alchemists believed was released when there was heat and fire. Taylor entertained the group with the â??Green Purple Orange Mysteryâ??, an effect originally described in The Discoverie of Witchcraft in 1584.  One red, one white and one blue rope (the mystery is why is the effect called â??the Green Purple Orange Mysteryâ??) were tied together.  The ropes were sprinkled with phlogiston  by a willing spectator and mysteriously fused into a single red white and blue rope.  Tom Winterrowd continued the festive spirit by producing red, white, and blue silks from a â??church collection bagâ??, transforming them into white, blue and red silks.  He  then mixed things up by producing a psychedelic silk with a mixture of all three colors.  Tom capped it off by producing an American flag to thunderous applause.  President Taylor next explained the origin of the phrase â??two bits, four bits, six bits a dollarâ??  and dramatically demonstrating the concept with the help of his little black money bag.  The evening concluded with a presentation by Taylor of â??coin through the back of the handâ?? and â??coin through legâ?? from Boboâ??s Modern Coin Magic.

Submitted by Steve Spence, Scribe

A Trip Up the Royal Road

The evening began with the installation of newly elected officers for the 2013/2014 year.   Incoming President, Taylor Martin, announced that this will be his second tour of duty as President of SAM #31.  His first was in the â??87/â??88 year, 23 years ago!  Rounding out the officer corps for this year are Don Miller, 1st Vice President, Aaron Kalinowski, 2nd Vice President, Dale Benson, Secretary, Jay Newby, Treasurer, and Tom Winterrowd, Sargent at Arms.  Joseph Fuller led the ceremony.

The focus of the magic was Jean Hugard and Frederick Braueâ??s  The Royal Road to Card Magic.  Several members performed card tricks from the book and then Don Miller led us all on a Royal Road teach in.

Daniel Lee, not being able to decide which trick to perform, did three--Design for Laughter, Do As I Do, and Three Cards Across.  Tom Winterrowd preceeded his card effect by surprising Phil Dubbs with his own â??American Express Credit Card.â??  After doing a mental credit check,  the card was mysteriously found to have Philâ??s name on it...an immediate approval!

Taylor Martin then performed his own variation on McDonaldâ??s Aces using an â??Ask Alexanderâ?? deck from Conjuring Arts.  While telling us stories about Alexander, the four aces each appeared.  Taylor made a point of reminding us that he was using a move which he learned from our namesake, Harry Riser.

The final card trick of the evening was performed by Rocky Raccoon and his trainer, Mike Kohrman.  Rocky astounded Karen Miller by finding in the fanned deck the card she had previously randomly selected.

The performances were then followed by an excellent Royal Road teaching session led by Don Miller.  Warning us that it would be ambitious, he proceeded to demonstrate techniques taught in the book including ideas for how to use the overhand shuffle, key cards and various lifts.  

For our April Fools meeting the theme was coin magic.  Jim Croop started the evening off with his own presentation of David Williamsonâ??s â??The Wishing Well.â?? It is an ungimmicked copper silver coin transposition.  Jim spun a very clever tale which included the wishing well, highway robbers, and silver and copper coins.    

Jay Newby, while demonstrating Boboâ??s â??Coin through the Ring,â?? which he would later be teaching us in the educational portion of the evening, outdid himself with an intriguing tale of how he ended up in the federal witness protection program.  We, of course, would not think of including his photo with this write up.

Later Jay followed up with a seemingly rational discussion about the appropriateness of performance or script in relation to the age of the audience.  He then proceeded to attempt to break a bottle and eat the glass (Tomas Medinaâ??s Geek Magic.)    Unfortunately, the bottle would not break, even after being hammered on the floor, so Jay went ahead and ate the glass anyway.  He says that next time he will use a Miller Lite bottle.

Taylor Martin, who almost always provides an interesting historical sidelight to his magic, produced an ancient Chinese coin, or so he said on April Fools Day, with a hole in the middle.  He then proceeded to entertain us with  the Silent Mora Coin Trick, also  described in Bobo's Modern Coin Magic. 

Two guests also performed.  Lion Fludd  followed Taylor with his â??authentic chinese coins from Mexico!â??  He then proceeded to thread three coins on a ribbon.  The coins, one at a time and all together, mysteriously were on the ribbon, then off the ribbon, then on again.  Jeff Jay, who bills himself as a master hypnotist, demonstrated that if you watch intently the spinning stripes on a wheel, a coin will appear to become smaller...then larger.  This inspired Lion to show us his version of an optical illusion using playing cards.  The chosen card appeared to have the illusion of a hole in the card.  This became a hole in the entire deck of cards, which then became a deck of cards with no hole.  April Fools!

The finale was provided by President Steve Spence who flawlessly performed his original presentation of the four mischievous Kennedy brothers represented by four Kennedy half dollars.  The handling for the effect was taken from Michael Rubinsteinâ??s â??Knockout Coin Magic.â??  Michael called it the â??two card reverse matrix.â??

Since March historically has been a month of treachery and deceit, at least in the days of Julius Caesar, our theme for the month was Treachery and Deception.  Before the evening was over we experienced both.

Our master of ceremonies and SAM #31 President, Steve Spence, kicked off the evening with a very nice rendition of Axel Heckler's Just a Cup.  Wearing his red hat and using a single cup and die plus a red draw string bag, Steve introduced his effect as the Cup of Deception. His volunteer helper, Jay Newby, was never able to tell whether the die was under the cup, in the hand, or in the pocket.

Don Miller then proceeded to create a fan of cards on his hand.  The fan then defied gravity by not tumbling to the floor when his supporting hand was removed.  He admitted that his trick, although deceptive, was not particularly treacherous, unless one considers the possibility of a paper cut from the cards.

 

Jim Croop invited President Spence to a chair up front and proceeded to terrify him and delight the rest of us with Stefan Olschewski's EGGstremely Dangerous.   Much to Steve's relief, and our disappointment, each of the cups poured over his head contained  only air and none the raw egg  The raw egg was eventually found in a cup previously set aside in a paper bag.

 

Taylor Martin then reminded us of Jay Marshall's observation,  "Old age and treachery will beat youth and talent every time."  He then proceeded to prove his point by performing the evening's most treacherous effect, the Dante built version of the Sword Through the Neck.  Taylor introduced  his Italian steel sword and the Collar of Torquemade, the leader of the Spanish Inquisition.  His victim, Aaron Kalinowski, was extremely cooperative considering what was happening at the back of his neck.  He was also extremely relieved when the deception reached its conclusion and his neck was still intact.

Following the treachery and deception performances the group engaged in a very interesting discussion of the role and appeal of danger in magic.

February was the month for valentines and romance.  Thus, our theme was Magic From the Heart.  Our hearts were warmed with stories of valentine flowers,, the two streams of life, dreams which come true, and magic parasols.

Jim Croop kicked off the evening of romantic magic with the Anniversary Waltz using the Doc Eason handling originally described by Chris Carter.  He introduced it as two people, two cards and two streams of life. Daniel Lee followed up with the 'Hula Fusion' version of the same effect by Carl Andrews.  They both were assisted by our very own romantic couple, Christian and Katalina Painter.  

Mike Root told us the story of the valentine flower he had purchased for his wife, which, unfortunately, fell off the stem and could not be found.  The story had a happy ending as the flower eventually reappeared and Mike was able to salvage his Valentine's Day remembrance.  Tom Winterrowd then shared an effect he has been doing for 60 years.  It had to do with his breakaway parasol (also 60 years old) and mysterious silks which his wife found in her purse in place of the money she was looking for.  

Christian and Katalina topped off the evening with their version of a Woody Aragon's The Other Half.  They called it dreams.  We each were given four dreams (cards).  After tearing them in half followed by a series of random discards and shuffles, the two remaining halves matched!  Thus, demonstrating that dreams do come true in the month of romance.  As a bonus, Christian taught us a coin trick, Impromptu Change, which will be described in one of his upcoming MUM columns.

A highlight of the evening was Christian and Katalina reporting on their recent  trip to Japan.  They were much impressed with the rigor of magic rehearsals, the expertise of the deaf magicians, and the magic bars for which admission  is $100 per person for two hours. 

Taylor Martin was our professor for our monthly teaching session. This month's lesson was from Volume 3 of Tarbell, pages 308-310.  Using 18' silks we relearned the art of tying a square knot and then learned the mysteries of the dissolving knot and the pull apart knots.  Taylor is an excellent teacher and his one on one tutoring was 'knot' in vain.

Here is the report of our January 7, 2013 meeting submitted to MUM Magazine.

January was a magical month in Indianapolis.  In addition to our monthly SAM #31 meeting, our annual SAM/IBM winter show, free and open to the public, featured Patrick Smith and Craig Stone and was produced and MC'd by our very own, The Amazing Barry (Rice).  Adding to the month of magic the 2013 Third Annual Winter Magic Festival took place the weekend of January 18-20. It was presented by the IndyFringe in association with IndyMagic Monthly. Five separate shows were repeated throughout the weekend. And, of course, every first Tuesday features an IndyMagic Monthly performance at the Theatre on the Square.  Indianapolis is fast becoming a 'happening' town for magic and for magicians.

We had a really good turnout, considering it was the flu season, for our 'Out of the Box' SAM #31 Club meeting.  We began the evening by auctioning off a beautiful close up pad, created, custom built by Jay Newby and donated by Ed Filby.  The close up pad  generated $50 for our club treasury.  Also included in the auction were a couple of chardonnay wine bottles with magical labels donated by Tom Winterrowd.  Unfortunately the bottles were empty!

Taylor Martin earned the distinction of being our first performer of 2013 doing his 1,2,3,4 coins and a card.  We witnessed his original and very effective 'Taylor Twist.'    Taylor also shared with us another of his original adaptations--the shrinking card box.  It was definitely 'out of the box' magic.  Tom Winterrowd did his version of Gene Kenney's Three  Card Assembly.  President Steve Spence did a very nice coin routine where the coins diminished in size and then reappeared through the air.  The coins were 'out of a red box.'

Jay Newby was our professor for our monthly teaching session. This month he selected  two effects from JB Bobo's New Modern Coin Magic.  First, from chapter 10,  Jay shared a very  carefully orchestrated description of the secret turnover moves for the Okito Coin Box.  Jay even provided a complimentary Okito box for the SAM members who were present.  The original coin boxes sold for 50 cents each in 1911!  Jay then turned to chapter 12 of Bobo's and taught us the Milton Kort's routine of coins through the table, using four coins and an expanded shell.

Several of our magicians, in the spirit of the holiday season,  performed tricks with a Christmas theme.  Mike Root put us in a festive mood with  a Christmas tree square circle which he had purchased at an auction.  The cutout on the square was in the shape of a Christmas tree.  The circle provided the green and the decorations.  Mike also had a Christmas wand with a snow ball on the end.   Also, in keeping with the season, he shared with us the Legend of the Christmas Tree.

Robin Myers proceeded to tell a rather complicated story that had to do with  Christmas shopping with his wife. During the course of his story he referred us to two websites which he though might be useful -- desperatemagicians.com and brokemagicians.com!    Ultimately he produced  a Christmas tree card castle along with an inspirational holiday message.

Jay Newby did a very creative version of the matrix which he called the â??Military Matrix.â??    The four chips represented four branches of the service.  The four cards included a flag for each branch.  Jayâ??s story was well thought out and well received.

Taylor Martin shared an effect known as Vases and Ropes.  Involved were two red ropes, two vases open at both ends, the phenomenon of internal levitation, a red silk and water.  The effect was awesome as somehow the ropes and the silk periodically seemed to get stuck in the vases although the water went right through.  

Don Miller entertained us all with his newly acquired Rotary Pizza from Smoky Mountain Magic, a very creative and upgraded version of the classic coin die box.  First, though, he made us all raise our right hands and take the five year old kid pledge.  Basically we all pledged to behave like five year olds while watching the trick.  It was amazing how easily  this group was able to act like a bunch of five year olds!

The reference for our evening teaching session was the Royal Road to Card Magic.  Master teacher, Jim Croop, was the leader.   The session focused on the double lift vs the double turnover and the differences between the two.  Jim patiently explained the various techniques involved, including the thumb count, the pinkie count and the snap double.  We learned both the approach recommended in the Royal Road and the Aaron Fisher approach.  Jim capped off the teaching session by demonstrating three different card effects easily performed using the techniques he had just described.

Here is the report submitted to MUM Magazine regarding both our November parlor magic meeting and the special show which we did for the National Executive Council.

The first full week in November was a busy and exciting week for the Harry Riser SAM #31 Assembly.  At the beginning of the week we had our regular SAM #31 Assembly meeting with the theme of parlor magic.  At the end of the week we had the pleasure of hosting SAM's  National Executive Council meeting.

The parlor magic evening began with Barry Rice, otherwise known as The Amazing Barry,  performing a lively and very humorous rendition of Cards Across.  Mike Kohrmann broke out his Kamillion Koins and checked out the moods of several of the volunteers.  George Notarus astounded us all when his five ones became five tens, and then most astounding of all, the five tens became five one hundreds!  He said it was all in the hands. 

Taylor Martin brought his Troublewit and demonstrated some of the designs he is developing.  Taylor also shared his copy of  William Pinchbeck's  The Expositor.  Published in 1805 it is reputed to be the first American book on the art of magic.  Significantly, in relation to the theme of the evening, the book includes a complete parlor act.

Jim Croop produced a half dollar and an English penny and did the Copper-Silver Transposition. Finally, Phil Dubbs demonstrated a clever version of the sliding knot.  The story had to do with difficulty in tying one's shoes.

For the educational portion of the evening, Don Miller taught us two effects--a beautiful version of the torn and restored dollar bill which he has been doing for twenty years.  The other was the 'half and half' from Tarbell Volume Three.

On Saturday six of our Assembly members had the privilege of performing for the National Executive Council.  Our President, Steve Spence, was the master of ceremonies.  The other performers were Daniel Lee, Barry Rice, Don Miller, and Christian and Katalina Painter.  The show included much good magic and many laughs.  

The Harry Riser Assembly #31 began the evening by recognizing Tom Winterrowd for his 35 consecutive years of membership in SAM. Taylor Martin and Ted Baer are close behind with 27 years as members. Our master of ceremonies for the evening, Jim Croop, introduced our theme, Spooky Magic. Several of our spookiest magicians then presented their Halloween effects. Tom Winterrowd, who did his first public magic performance seventy years ago, shared with us his Jack Daniels official Tennessee Squire certificate and then proceeded to capture the "spirits" of Jack Daniels using his Tennessee Squire bandana and two appropriately sized empty glasses which remained on the tray even when the tray was turned from the horizontal to a vertical position. Daniel Lee shared a spine tingling story regarding Susie, Tony and Billy Spade and the four Hamilton sisters, who turned out to be witches. In Daniel's version of the cannibal cards, the witches devoured the spade siblings accompanied by spooky music and multiple sound effects. Taylor Martin invoked the ghost of the silkworm which made the silk which Taylor proceeded to tie and untie around the volunteer's wrist in amazing ways. The knots would come and go with no apparent help from Taylor. Taylor also told the story of The Yakuza, Japanese criminals who lost their fingers due to selected crimes. While telling the story he produced his ancient wooden finger chopper and surprised us with an unexpected finale. Don Miller demonstrated a trick which he had just received in the mail from England and had never practiced. It had something to do with a spirit, and obviously needed a bit of polishing. He was still looking for the directions when he sat down. Following an interesting conversation about the history of spooky magic and spook shows, we then adjourned to the tables for part two of the evening. Jim Croop proceeded to walk us through chapter one of The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue. The key is being able to control cards. With Jim doing the teaching, together we reviewed, or learned as the case might be, how to hold the deck, the top to bottom overhand shuffle, milking the deck, how to run cards and the jog shuffle. Various breaks were also discussed. While practicing the techniques, the conversation was livened as the experienced magicians related their particular approach to the method for each move.

The theme for the August 6th meeting of the Harry Riser Assembly was "new beginnings." The idea was to showcase tricks that each magician had recently begun working on. Considering that they were new beginnings, the tricks were extremely well performed. It was also the first evening for our new educational format which was also well received. Here is a quick review of the "new beginnings" which were enjoyed by the members. Jim Croop went first with with his version of Alex Linian's "Puncture 2.0" in which the black Bic went through the quarter. Aaron Kalinowski followed with "Psypher and the Holy Grail." Aaron had three spectators, one at a time pick a card, look at it, put it back in the deck and then send their brainwaves to the next person who picked a card and put it back in the deck and then send brainwaves to the third person.  It was only after the third person picked the card that Aaron revealed the name of the card that each of them had picked using his psychic powers. Taylor Martin did Paul Harris's "Free Flight" which involved four coins, his Okito Box, the coins disappearing through his hands (Taylor's original idea), and finally turning up under a card. As a part of the finale, the Okito box also ended up going through his hands. Mike Root did a Halloween-themed version of "Will the Cards Match" which one of the audience members suggested should be called "Will the Ghoul Match".  It put the audience in a pre-Halloween mood. Bill Coffee then topped off the magic with what on the surface started out to be a mind reading trick, then appeared to be messed up, but ultimately was brilliantly salvaged. The new educational format involves a member teaching a bit of magic found in one of the classic books of magic. This evening it was The New Modern Coin Magic, which is the 1966 revised version of J. B. Bobo's classic, Modern Coin Magic published in 1952 for the express purpose of "reestablishing coin magic as a popular branch of conjuring." President Steve Spence shared interesting historical notes such as coins were first noted in the 8th Century BC and that it is safe to say that magic with coins likely began 2,000 years before cards. Steve then taught the group several classic coin moves including the classic palm, the thumb and finger palm, the back finger clip, and the Bobo and utility switches. It was a fun evening combining magic performance and magic education.