January 1968
NO. 44, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND— Meets 1st Fri. of month at Lady of Charity Hall, 345 Admiral St., Providence, R. I.
ORLANDO GALLUCCIO, President, Providence, R. I. 02908
ARTHUR A. MEOLA, Secretary, No. Providence, R. I. 02904
The December meeting brought out a good attendance. Among our guests was Airman first class David Scribner, a member of Ring 162 in Plainfield, New Jersey, who is presently stationed at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, Mass.
We were reminded that H. Adrian Smith’s library of about 200 magic books dating back to 1562 will be on display at the Brown University Library until February. Magicians in surrounding states should take advantage of this opportunity to view these books from the finest private collection of magic books in the world.
Morris Kay opened the magic portion of the meeting by producing coins from a silk then producing silks from a small box previously shown to be empty and concluding by burning two quarters in a pan which were transformed into fifty pennies. Orlando Galluccio had a card chosen and mixed into the pack. Dividing the pack into small packets, he had several spectators rip them into four pieces and place the pieces into a hat. He then retrieved the four pieces from the hat which matched to make up the chosen card. He followed this with the “Obedient Silks.”
Collation followed and the main topic of conversation was the Christmas Party.
The Christmas Party on Dec. 3rd was conducted by Ring 44 and SAM Assembly 26. It was considered by all who attended an outstanding success.
The party was held at Giuliano’s Restaurant where a delicious full course dinner was served to 175 members and guests. President Galluccio was chairman of the committee and expended considerable time and effort in assuring a good time for all.
Every lady was presented with a Christmas corsage and other items in addition to plastic doilies with Christmas decorations and candied cherries made up by Mrs. Angela Meola. She and Mrs. Irene Percival also donated most of the free door prizes. Mrs. Meola also assisted her secretary husband in securing 82 paid admissions to establish a record for ticket sales.
Morris Kay contributed two large baskets of groceries and Olindo Galluccio gave a radio and several other valuable gifts, which were raffled off and the proceeds donated to the clubs.
With Ed Whitford acting as MC the Christmas Party show was opened by President Galluccio who displayed many variations of tying and untying knots on a rope and wound up his act with a clever neck penetration with one rope.
Morris Kay started his act with a torn and restored wand and proceeded with a production tube, fountain silks, milk pitcher and the diminishing beer bottle in a paper bag.
Herbert Lamond, Herbie and the Derby, presented chalk talk with clever drawings and concluded by having a spectator choose a card which he produced in giant size from a slot on his drawing board.
The final act of the evening was a spectacular Chinese act with Lou Ackenro from Boston appearing as the reincarnation of Chung Ling Foo. He amazed the audience with his rice bowls, pouring water into the bowls and spilling out dry rice. He poured milk into a vase and withdrew several beautiful silks. Knotting a silk around a rope, he pulled the silk through still knotted; made a series of square knots in a rope and after a few more twists stretched out the rope with nary a knot. For a fitting finale he dumped several buckets of water into a large tub and fished out paper buckets, huge silks and finally a large American flag.
Arthur A. Meola
* * *