(Hank) Moorehouse 1934 – 2011 - The Society of American Magicians

Promises - When I ran
for second vice president, I
made a video campaign piece
outlining several goals I was
committed to accomplishing.
Thanks to the national presidents
who preceded me, we
were able to get them all done before I even became president. The
final one happened this past June with the help of past presidents
Mike Miller and Mark Weidhaas, and RVP Jania Taylor.
The goal was to produce magic shows in theaters that featured
young magicians and promoted the S.A.M. and S.Y.M. There are
many people out there with a strong interest in magic, who have
the potential to be great members of our society and local assemblies.
Unfortunately, they are not aware of our organization, but
they are aware of magic shows at their local theater.
So, when I had the opportunity to produce a family magic
show at Detroit’s Meadow Brook Music Festival, I capitalized
on it. The show went over well; we featured two young and very
talented magicians, TJ Ketchmark and Savannah Durocher. It’s
too early to tell what impact this show will have on the Detroit
assembly, but all indications are that it was successful. We will
work to produce more of these shows and continue to fine tune
the program.
membershiP Cards - When PNP Mike Miller met
Israeli deputy Yosi Notkovitz, our new style membership card
was born. Yosi’s suggestion was a hard plastic card similar to a
credit card or hotel key – a card that doesn’t wear out and one that
you can be proud to show off to someone. We didn’t want to stop
there; we also decided that the card should reflect our rich history
and feature past members of historical significance to the S.A.M.
Each year, another member from our past would be highlighted,
making the membership card a collector’s item. We wanted to
take it even further; we are magicians, so shouldn’t our membership
card be magical? Each year we will incorporate a new magic
effect into the card.
This year I decided to feature past national president and
former M-U-M editor Milbourne Christopher. Mr. Christopher
certainly did a lot for the S.A.M. and the art of magic, and his
legacy lives on through the Milbourne Christopher Foundation.
The MCF presents their prestigious awards at the banquet of our
national convention. This year, Maurine Christopher, wife of
the late Milbourne, was the guest of honor for the Life Member
gathering. This is where the new membership cards were unveiled.
I hope you enjoy your new membership card; you’ll receive
it when you renew your membership. I am very excited about
the new magic effect within the card. M-U-M columnist Steve
Marshall was the creative force behind it, and I think you’ll have
fun with it.
We also added a new feature to the life member’s cards – gold!
If you want the gold version of the membership card, contact our
life member chairperson Clem Kinnicutt at lifemembers@aol.
com. Also, if you’d like to learn more about Milbourne Christopher
you can read the article John Moehring wrote about him in
M-U-M on either our Web site or via the magicSAM app for the
8 M-U-M Magazine
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
VINNY GROSSO
iPhone/iPad/iPod touch.
something for everyone - We recently released
the first Smartphone app for a magic organization, magicSAM.
The response has been amazing. In just the first month it has
been downloaded approximately seven hundred times in eight
countries and installed on a thousand devices. It’s only going to
get better, because we are diligently working on the next version!
We are also exploring porting the app over to other devices
such as Android and Blackberry. Whenever we work on a project
in the S.A.M., we always have to ask ourselves, “Is this a good
thing for our members?” There is no single program or service
that we provide our members that is a perfect fit for everyone.
That’s why we try to offer as many unique benefits as we can, so
there truly is something for everyone.
With magicSAM, we wanted to lead the way with the first
Smartphone app for a magic organization; we knew we were
going to have to focus on one platform. We chose Apple’s iOS
platform because of its market reach. The number of downloads
and installs we’ve had the first month validates that decision.
Please send us your feedback on ways to improve the app, or let
us know of other platforms you would be interested in. I can’t
promise we’ll be able to do everything that’s requested, but we
will continue to strive to offer something for everyone.
travel tiPs - I travel a lot, and I travel with people who
travel a lot. I have picked up many travel tips through the years,
and I will periodically share them with you here. One of my
favorites is from Brad Sherwood. Brad is an improv artist who
was regularly featured on Whose Line is It Anyway; he is perpetually
on tour with his improv partner Colin Mochrie. Brad likes a
dark hotel room at night and was frustrated with the gap between
the curtains covering the window. His solution? Take a hanger
out of the closet, the one with clips for pants. Use the clips to join
together the two curtains. Presto! You can now sleep in darkness.
If you want to see more of Brad’s genius, check out Two Man
Group on Amazon.com; it’s a DVD of Colin and Brad’s improv
show.
summer of Conventions friends - The summer
is in full swing and so are magic conventions. Magic conventions
are not just great for the magic they provide, they’re also a great
way to catch up with friends you haven’t seen in a while.
Is it just me, or do we all go through the following cycle as a
magician? As a young magician we go to our first convention and
we don’t miss a single event. We practice newly learned effects
between lectures, buy all that we can from the dealer’s room, and
leave with enough new things for two shows. It’s all about the
magic. Then, as we get older and we go to conventions, we end
up missing events because we’re too involved in a conversation
with an old friend. The line-up of acts performing and lecturing
becomes secondary to the friends who will be attending. It’s all
about our friends in magic.
To use PNP Mark Weidhaas’s line: “You have a friend in the
S.A.M.” I hope to see you at one of the conventions! �
—Vinny Grosso