MAGI-GRAM

Official Newsletter of IBM Ring 50 -- The National Capital Ring -- Volume 69 No. 11 November 2015

Camron Francis Lectures at Ring 50

November Meeting

Highlights

President Danny Selnick opened

the meeting at 7:00 PM with 45

members and guests present. He

reminded us about volunteering to

help with Magi-Whirl. Also

reminded everyone to sign up for the

Alexandria Magic Expo to be held

on Nov 15th (see page 6). See

magicians Noland Montgomery,

Louis Hofheimer, Larry Lipman,

and Eric Henning perform at the

Children’s Holiday Show on Dec

2nd

(see page 3).

Larry Lipman announced the

November 18th SAM Assembly 23

meeting will be held at the Press

Club, 7:00 dinner and 8:00 PM

meeting

Erich Singer, a guest from

Rockville MD, won the 50/50

drawing and donated the money to

the Ring. Thanks Erich!!.

Camron Francis

Lecture

(Photos by Mike Wolfson & Bob Patterson)

Lecturer Cameron Francis

Cameron Francis presented his

lecture called “Just About

Anywhere”. He says “There is no

such thing as "one size fits all"

magic. There's no ‘one size fits all’

anything, really. Everyone has

different tastes; what suits one

magician may not suit another.

He believes in magic that can be

performed in almost any

environment at any time. Magic is

adaptable to many different

situations. “These are the types of

tricks I tend to gravitate toward as I

like to be able to perform my tricks

anytime, anywhere”.

(continued on page 2)

In This Issue Meeting Highlights Page 1

Cameron Francis Lecture Page 1

December Holiday Show Page 3

Birthdays Page 3

Who’s Who Ring 50 Page 4

Presidents Corner Page 5

Coming Events Page 6

Ring 50 Schedule Page 7

Items for Sale Page 7

International Brotherhood of Magicians Ring 50

The National Capital Ring

President

Danny Selnick

703-347-5540

president@ibmring50.org

Vice President

Louis Meyer

703-765-1923

vp@ibmring50.org

Secretary

Michael Plotnick

703-660-6272

secretary@ibmring50.org

Treasurer

Bob Patterson

703 490-1222

treasurer@ibmring50.org

Sergeant-at-Arms

Kevin Sievers

703-336-2796

sgtarms@ibmring50.org

Magi-Gram Editor

Bob Patterson

magi-gram@ibmring50.org

November 2015 2

Camron Francis Lecture (continued from page 1)

Most of his effects are fairly easy

to do, have little to no angle

restrictions, and can be performed

just about anywhere.

Cameron Francis and Ken Norris

Francis began with First Aid Box

where he opened the card box and

accidently nearly tore the flap off.

However being a magician he was

able to magically fix it. For his

Creation effect from the “Out of the

Sleight” DVD, he had Ken Norris

take a deck of cards and make

several cuts. Then to make a random

card, Ken removed the top card (7)

for value and the next card was

selected for suit (Hearts). Francis

then declared the 7 of Hearts was the

12th card in the pack. Indeed it was!!

Francis then performed Nothing

but the Truth and had a card selected

by a spectator and hidden away.

Then he reached into his pocket and

retrieved a state of the art Lie

Detector Machine.

Ok, it was actually

a small packet of

beautifully printed

cards to look like

a Lie Detector

Machine. He then

asked members of

the audience a series of questions.

The member could choose to

honorably tell the truth or lie like an

incorrigible scoundrel. Each answer

was 'input' into the lie detector (by

moving one card from the top of the

packet to the bottom for each letter

of the response), and the new top

card was flipped face up. "Is your

card red or black?” If the spectator

lied than the top card would say “L I

E”. “Is it a spot card or a court

card?" Again the cards were counted

and the top card turned over.

Incredibly this revealed either the

word TRUTH or L I E (depending

on whether the spectator was honest

or not)! Through this process the

magician was able to correctly

determine the value of the card

picked by the spectator. But that

wasn't the end of the trick. In a mind

blowing display of magic

awesomeness he flipped the lie

detector packet over and showed that

ALL of the cards were duplicates of

the spectators chosen card!!

Francis with the finale for “Coat”

He followed this with “Coat”, a

novel effect using business cards.

Five business cards with simple

pictures on them are mixed and the

spectator went through a random

process to turn them all face down

but one. This one turned out to be

the one Francis predicted in

advance. He went on to show the

clever kicker ending spelling out the

selection with the cards.

Thinking outside the box the next

presentation was from “Out/In”.

Kevin McGuire took a card and

signed it. A random card was put in

the cellophane around the outside of

the box. Francis gave a shake and

BOOM it morphed into the signed

card. The card was removed from

the cellophane and given to Kevin to

hold. But wait there was a card still

in the box, it was the signed card and

Kevin had the random card.

Francis with Kevin McGuire performing

outside the box with “Out/In”.

Wallet Transformer was a signed

card to wallet: a classic. After the

card was selected and signed,

Francis opened his wallet to show

the card had transported to his

wallet. He removed it from the

wallet and it's the signed card.

Humming Words from “Out of

Sleight” DVD was another business

card effect using letters on the backs

of 12 business cards. After an

involved mixing procedure by Larry

Lipman and handing half of the pile

to Francis, Larry made a word out of

the letters that remained. Then

Francis not only revealed the word

but he also showed a predicted letter

that Larry did not use in an

envelope.

From “Driven” he performed a

Bill and Pen effect. A bill was

folded in half and the ball-point pen

was inserted

vertically into

the fold. The

bill was

unfolded so

that the

spectators can

clearly see the

pen was inside

the bill. The bill was refolded and he

slammed his hand down onto the

November 2015 3

Camron Francis Lecture (continued from page 2)

end of the pen, driving the tip

straight through the fold of the bill.

The pen was pulled through the bill

and placed behind the performer's

ear. The bill was then opened... and

shown to be completely unharmed!

The bill was once again folded. The

pen was inserted horizontally into

the bill so that it was cradled in the

fold. You could clearly see the pen

was inside the bill. The performer

then griped the tip of the pen and

moved it in a sawing motion. The

pen melted right through the bill!

The bill was opened and seen to be

completely unharmed.

Next was Coin in I.D. Francis

brought out three coins of different

values: a penny, dime, and quarter

along with a laminated business

card. Placing all three coins on the

business card, he had the spectator

select one. It was the quarter. The

other two coins are pocketed. The

magician rubbed the quarter on the

business card and caused it to

penetrate the lamination leaving it

stuck inside! The card was fully

examined and could have been kept

by the spectator.

Francis with a penny, dime, and

quarter.

Up next was Wayne Dobson’s

Wayne Man from “Awesome Self

Working Card Tricks” DVD. This

was another anytime, borrowed

shuffled deck trick that looked like

an amazing memory demonstration.

A spectator shuffled, thought of a

number (11), and dealt that many

cards to the table as Francis’ head

was turned, then put the small stack

back on the pack. Then Francis

turned around,

looked at all

the cards and

memorized the

entire deck. He

asked what

number was

thought of (11)

then he named

10th card dealt

to that card and

went on to name the 11th card.

Francis had a card selected,

signed and returned to the deck.

Cards were shuffle but the signed

card had vanished. Attention was

drawn to the card box. When it was

open the spectator reached in side

and removed the folded card. It was

the signed card!

Lastly Francis demonstrated his

sharpie pen. When he pulled it out of

his pocket the pen had been jammed

all the way into the cap except for a

small end sticking out. He shook the

pen and it became a whole pen once

again.

Most everyone enjoyed this

collection of effects from Cameron

Francis and will add a few tricks to

their repertoire. Sales were brisk as

he sold out of some of the items.

It is said that the most difficult

aspect of close-up magic is not

sleight of hand. In fact, it could be

said that learning the tricks is the

easiest part of becoming a solid

close-up magician. The most

difficult aspect of close-up magic is

knowing how to practice, how to

choose the right effects in the first

place and how to handle your

audience and your environment.

On Wednesday, December 2nd

there will be a "Children's Holiday

Magic Show" sponsored by I.B.M.

Ring 50 featuring four of

Washington's finest children's

magicians: Eric Henning, Louis

Hofheimer (Capt. Token), Larry

Lipman (Lorenzo the Great) and

Noland Montgomery.

Danny Selnick is the chairman for

this fun event and

he expects 100

children or more

and their parents.

You saw how

successful it has been the last few

years for the children and the

community!

Admittance is FREE – when you

bring a donation of toy (preferred)

or can of food for the Alexandria

Citadel, Salvation Army. The

Holiday show starts at 7:00 PM and

will be about 1 hour in duration. Be

sure to bring the kids and see a great

Holiday show compliments of Ring

50 and Bishop Ireton High School!

Richie Klein - 11-Nov

Robert Malinchock - 16-Nov

Michael Plotnick - 28-Nov

Arno Ziesnitz - 29-Nov

Wayne Spillner - 10-Dec

Stan Rosenthal - 11-Dec

Daniel Holtan - 14-Dec

Laurie Curry - 15-Dec

Danny Selnick - 16-Dec

Christopher Biegun - 17-Dec

Sam Brothers - 17-Dec

November 2015 4

January 6th

Meeting has a

Teach-in

Scheduled for

Ring 50

Katherine Rettke 6

Hi, I am Katherine Rettke. I am a

social worker with a Master's Degree

in Social Work from Columbia

University, and a second Master's

Degree in Counseling from Johns

Hopkins University. I currently work

in an emergency room at a hospital

in Washington DC.

I got started in magic in the mid

to late 1990's, when I took a class for

adults given at a community center.

The class was taught by Dick

Christian. From there, I found my

way to Al's Magic Shop. I met Alain

Nu, and began taking classes with

him. I began helping out Alain Nu

behind the scenes with a magic

conference called Phoenix

Gathering, which Alain hosted in the

Washington DC area.

Over the years, I have been lucky

to host a large number of magicians

as they were passing through the

area. I discovered that sharing a

guest room and feeding people is a

wonderful way to meet amazing

folks.

It wasn't my plan to be the first

female president of Ring 50, but I

more or less fell into that role for the

2001- 02 term. Dan Lacey was a

good friend and an amazing person,

and I became more active in the

officer positions of Ring 50 in part

to help Dan during the last year of

his life. The Dan Lacey memorial

magic competition was begun during

my term as Ring 50 president.

I have attended 5 classes at the

McBride Magic and Mystery

School, and I am now a member of

the faculty, serving as executive

assistant. Currently, I would

describe myself as a magic

enthusiast. I love all kinds of magic

and I have been an International

Brotherhood of Magicians member

since 1999.

Kat

Eric Henning Last

Appearance at

Willard’s

On Saturday, November 14 at

8:00 pm, Ring 50 Past President Eric

Henning will make his final

appearance at Willard's Parlour of

Mystery in Arlington, Virginia at the

Ballston Common Mall, 4238

Wilson Blvd.

This is your LAST CHANCE to

see Eric's full evening show in this

wonderful, intimate venue!

As a Ring 50 member, you even

get $10 off! Just use promo code

"FriendOfEric" (without quotes)

when buying your tickets at

www.Willard'sParlour.com

Seating is very limited and

tickets are selling quickly, so get

your group together and reserve your

seats today!

The January Ring 50 ‘Stars of

Magic’ Teach-in will be shaping up

for an educational evening to

enhance our Art of Magic. The

lecturers may present a bit of related

magic history, techniques, and then

teach a trick or two. Each of the

lectures will last about 25 minutes.

The divided group will move to the

next lecture.

If you are interested in being one

of the instructors for the January 6th

Teach-in send an email to

President@IBMRing50.Org.

Know You Know? Ever wondered where the

expression "not playing with a full

deck of cards" came from? In 1707

in England, Queen Anne enforced a

tax on playing cards that eventually

affected both manufacturers and the

public (this practice continued in the

UK until 1960). In 1828

manufacturers placed a tax stamp on

the Ace of Spades instead of the

box. These stamps were taken

seriously by the English

government. One Richard Handy

was executed for forging such a

stamped Ace. To avoid paying the

inflated price some English citizens

began to purchase checks without

any Ace of Spades. Hence they were

"playing without a full deck"!

Magic is a very beautiful

mystery. Even the age old magic

effects still surprise the most modern

men.

November 2015

5

I hope everyone had a great time

at the Cameron Francis lecture --

what a great magician and a super

nice guy. He was so happy

lecturing at Ring 50; he wants to

come back in a few years!

Well on to the annual Holiday

Children's Magic Show and I'm so

happy and proud to have Noland

Montgomery, Louis Hofheimer,

Larry Lipman, and Eric Henning as

this year's stars. This show should

be very important to us all at Ring

50 because it's our way to give back

to community -- bringing some of

the region's best performers to one

stage -- but also with everyone's

donations of toys and/or non-

perishable food items -- we bring

holiday cheer to people who are

less fortunate than us. Remember,

we'll need some volunteers to help

set up and take down the room that

evening - try to arrive by 5 pm.

Also to let you know a little bit

about what's going on with Magi-

Whirl 2016 – We have Shin Lim,

Alexander Scott (and Puck) on

contract as lecturers and Gala Show

performers -- and will have a

surprise magician to announce once

her contract is signed (hint). And of

course, we have Arnold Fuoco and

Noland Montgomery performing at

the Gala Show as DC Magicians of

the Year (2015)! We'll have great

lecturers lined up and fantastic

dealers as well. And in advance, I

like to personally thank those

members of Ring 50 that volunteer

as ushers, registration, strolling

magicians, set-up and tear-down.

Since Magi-Whirl 2016 should be

all set by the end of December (if

not earlier) I'm going to ask for

people to really help with getting

the word out. So if you're good

with social media or have other

ideas to reach out to people let me

know. Fact is - we can't do this

alone. This is your club and this is

our event of the year. So if you can

-- step up and help.

Thanks and magically yours

Danny

Magic for Sale

Or Wanted

There was no

Ring 50 auction this

year, so if you have

some magic items for

sale I will gladly put

them in a “For Sale”

section of the Magi-

Gram.

Just give a brief description and

how much you want for the item and

list your email or phone. Indicate if

instructions are included.

On the flip side of the coin: if you

are looking for a great piece of

magic, we can put that in a “Wanted”

ad. Sometimes you can’t fine the

instructions and maybe some other

member of Ring 50 has a set that

he/she can share.

Drop me an email with what you

have or are looking for.

(Magi-Gram@IBMRing50.org)

Ring 50 Treasurer

Collecting Dues for

2016 Ring 50 annual dues of $15 for

2016 are due by February. You

may begin paying your pay your

dues on January 1st by mail or at the

January meeting. The Ring 50

Treasurer, Bob

Patterson,

requests that you

pay by check, as

this eases the

record keeping.

Make checks payable to IBM Ring

50. Cash will be accepted providing

you have the correct change ($15).

If you are unable to make the

meetings, you can send a check to

his home address at 3450 Wainscott

Place, Lake Ridge, VA 22192-

5362. Enjoy your Ring activities

and the Magi-Gram throughout

2016 by paying your dues in

January. Thanks.

A SHORT HISTORY OF

THE INTERNATIONAL

BROTHERHOOD OF

MAGICIANS The International Brotherhood of

Magicians had very humble

beginnings. It started as a letter

writing exchange between three

young men who shared a common

interest, a love for the art of magic.

M.J.G. McMullen of Canada and

Gordon Avery of Buffalo, New York

began writing to each other about

magic in 1922. A few months later a

third young man joined in the

correspondence campaign, his name

was Ernest Schieldge. If those names

sound unfamiliar to you, they should.

It is because they all changed their

names and became known,

respectively, as Len Vintus, Gene

Gordon and Don Rogers.

November 2015

6

Coming Events

4 DAYS OF LECTURES

and MAGIC SHOWS

Early registration for the best

rates and seating is now open for

the Annual 2016 I.B.M.

Convention in San Antonio Texas.

The four-day magic spectacular

will be held at the beautiful Grand

Hyatt Hotel on the Riverwalk July

2-5, 2016.

Talent Coordinator has already

booked outstanding acts from

around the world. Watch for news

releases and stories on

www.magician.org and in The

Linking Ring.

The convention, spanning the

Grand Hyatt Hotel, and the Lila

Cockrell Theater will feature a

welcome party, opening show,

three gala evening shows, final

contest show, a close-up gala show,

international lecturers, dealers from

around the world, optional elegant

banquet, awards presentations,

farewell party, plus special events

for members and spouses.

REGISTER now for just $300,

at www.magician.org/convention or

download the PDF registration

form and submit it to: I.B.M., 13

Point West Blvd., St. Charles, MO

63301. Phone: 636.724.2400, or

Fax: 636.724.8566. Do it TODAY!

Be sure to reserve your hotel

room early as space is limited.

January 29-31, 2016

Kapital Kidvention has

everything for the Children's

Entertainer. Whether you are a

magician, clown, face painter,

balloon artist or ventriloquist!

There will be 3 days of classes for

everyone. Including tons of

business classes to get more gigs!

The Kapital Kidvention is

reportedly one of the best children

entertainers’ conventions. If you

are a children’s entertainer, and

don’t attend the Kapital

Kidvention, you will be missing a

good one! Kapital Kidvention is a

MUST for any family entertainer.

This year's Kapital Kidvention

has over 25 of the best instructors

in the world! Magic and Puppets:

Robert Baxt, Chris Capehart,

Michael Dardant, Barry Mitchell,

Gene Cordova, Mark Wade, Mike

Hummer, Joshua Messado, and

Nathan Roberts. Balloons: Corinne

‘Sparkles’ Smith, Shonna Flanigan,

Gary Ledbetter, Eric Weinstein,

Jonathan Fudge, and Brian Garner.

Face/Body Painting Presenters: Nick Wolfe, Marcela Murad,

Heather Green, Wiser, Ronnie

Mena, Lea Selley, Jay Bautista,

Sean Avram, and Corey Morgan.

Business Classes: Louis Meyer,

and Christopher Cool. And more to

come

Keep January 29-31, 2016 open

for the Kapital Kidvention.

You can register today at:

www.kapitalkidvention.com/

For more great information:

info@kapitalkidvention.com or call

703-765-1923.

Register NOW for

Alexandria Magic Expo The Alexandria Magic Expo

presented by Penguin Magic will be

on Sunday, Nov. 15 at the Hilton

Alexandria, at Mark Center (5000

Seminary Road). See and buy

magic you won't find anywhere

else. Not even online!

You must be registered to

attend. The early registration fee is

only $9.95. For every registration

with this URL:

http://penguinmagic.com/p/5660?r=

380902 -- Ring 50 will get

"Penguin Dollars" to buy magic --

ideally to be used with Counts of

Conjuring classes (once we get that

up and running again) OR magic to

be used as giveaways at the Club:

* Penguin Magic

* Paul Richards

* Mark Mason

* Meir Yedid

* Nathan Kranzo

* Chris Smith

See you there!!!

Other

Conventions &

Shows

Nov 14, 2015

Kutztown Magic Convention

Kutztown Middle School,

Kutztown, PA. www.kutztownmagicconvention.org

Jan 28-31, 2016

Magi Fest

Crowne Plaza North Hotel

Columbus , Ohio

www.magifest.org

March 3 - 5, 2016

Winter Carnival of Magic

Country Tonite Theatre

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee www.wintercarnivalofmagic.com

November 2015

7

Items for Sale

Ring 50 member Al Albers of Virginia

Beach produces an eBook. One famous park. Two famous magicians. One’s dead, the

other’s staring at death’s door. An eye for an eye, or a case of

mistaken identity?

If you have some magic items for sale I will gladly put them in a “For

Sale” section of the Magi-Gram. Just give a brief description and how

much you want for the item and list your email or phone. Indicate if

instructions are included.

You must be an

active member of

I.B.M. to belong to

Ring 50. If you

haven’t already,

don’t forget to keep your

membership active in the

International Brotherhood of

Magicians to enjoy the benefits

of membership. Send dues to:

International Brotherhood of

Magicians, 13 Point West Blvd,

St. Charles, Missouri, USA

63301.

(Subject to Change)

Dec 2 ….. Holiday Show for

Children (donations)

Jan 6 …… Ring 50 Teach-in

Feb 10 …. Tony Montana

Lecture

Mar 2 …… Ask the Experts

Apr 1&2 .. Magi-Whirl 2016

Membership Have YOU brought a

prospective member to the

meeting? They must be

interested in magic and be a

member of the International

Brotherhood of Magicians.

Applications are available

from the Treasurer.