The Modern Mystic League
NOVEMBER 2022
Blackburn & District Society of Magicians
A goodly number of members, relatives and friends turned out to support Carl Pearson on his President’s Day, making it one of the best attended events of the year.
Guest performer was Joel Dickinson, who opened with an extended version of the Professor’s Nightmare, or Equal/Unequal Ropes. He insisted, even to us, that this was the oldest trick in the world, depicted on the walls of the Pharaohs’ tombs in ancient Egypt, performed by priests. This line of patter is usually reserved for the Cups and Balls – especially as the Equal/Unequal Ropes routine was created by Bob Carver in 1957 !
Next came a lovely sleight-of-hand sequence in which two finger rings (one belonging to an audience member) were repeatedly exchanged and a signed card similarly defied the laws of nature. Particularly striking was the ‘jumping’ of a drawn stick figure (not unlike Dan Harlan’s Cardtoon man) from one card to another. Visually very impressive.
The first half concluded with a small-sized version of the linking rings, with accompanying music. Indeed, one outstanding feature of Joel’s presentation was the regular use of quiet, unobtrusive background music, which served to enhance the effects.
Guest performer was Joel Dickinson, who opened with an extended version of the Professor’s Nightmare, or Equal/Unequal Ropes. He insisted, even to us, that this was the oldest trick in the world, depicted on the walls of the Pharaohs’ tombs in ancient Egypt, performed by priests. This line of patter is usually reserved for the Cups and Balls – especially as the Equal/Unequal Ropes routine was created by Bob Carver in 1957 !
Next came a lovely sleight-of-hand sequence in which two finger rings (one belonging to an audience member) were repeatedly exchanged and a signed card similarly defied the laws of nature. Particularly striking was the ‘jumping’ of a drawn stick figure (not unlike Dan Harlan’s Cardtoon man) from one card to another. Visually very impressive.
The first half concluded with a small-sized version of the linking rings, with accompanying music. Indeed, one outstanding feature of Joel’s presentation was the regular use of quiet, unobtrusive background music, which served to enhance the effects.
PRESIDENT'S DAY WITH JOEL DICKINSON
Part two saw Picture Consequences, wherein a randomly created picture was predicted, and a sequence using just one rope. We also saw an effect employing the classic Any Card At Any Number premise, and a very clean prediction routine built upon a spectator’s choice from three, word cards.
Joel also ‘swallowed’ an inflated balloon and predicted a chosen fruit by producing a single fresh sample from a tin of fruit cocktail – an idea possibly inspired by a similar concept from Trevor Duffy.
The afternoon’s offering certainly had plenty of variety, especially impressing the muggles among us.
Joel was open for questions afterwards, and had a range of his own products, both tricks and books, for sale.
It was a very pleasant way to pass an autumn afternoon, and Carl, along with Caroline and the lads, were thanked by Chairman Roger.
Brian Lead
Joel also ‘swallowed’ an inflated balloon and predicted a chosen fruit by producing a single fresh sample from a tin of fruit cocktail – an idea possibly inspired by a similar concept from Trevor Duffy.
The afternoon’s offering certainly had plenty of variety, especially impressing the muggles among us.
Joel was open for questions afterwards, and had a range of his own products, both tricks and books, for sale.
It was a very pleasant way to pass an autumn afternoon, and Carl, along with Caroline and the lads, were thanked by Chairman Roger.
Brian Lead