The Billet Article - Presidential

This article is taken from The Billet Issue - 406 - Nov 2005, Authored by Melvyn Shalks

Presidential

Isn't life hectic? The Mathew Johnson lecture was a "Wow". Mathew provided a great evenings entertainment. What a lovely person!

Last minute dinner bookings have played havoc with my social calendar. All the meal processing is time consuming. I thank those of you who answered my plea to book early.

Ian Adair's article in the last Billet was nostalgic. He was referring to the same Boys Magic Service about which I have been writing.

He also mentioned dealers Max Andrews and Davenports. I am a catalogue collector and have pinched lots of ideas from catalogues to make my own effects, I will introduce some from these and more, in future presidentials.

On the subject of pinching, I remember a young performer doing another magician's original routine word for word. He was confronted and he vowed never to plagiarize again. I know that this is true because I was that young performer.

Since then I have seen two other young magicians perform routines, which originated elsewhere. These were done verbatim. They belonged to Paul Daniels and Wayne Dobson. The lads did them well but theft is theft. Audiences do remember and these antics are not desirable traits. Perhaps this could be discussed at one of our 'Question times'. The main point is that these magicians are superb in their own right and do not need to copy. Lateral thinking would have stronger results.

Eat well, dance and enjoy the cabaret on the 18th .

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