The Independent-News, Volume 100, Number 2, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 9 August 1973 — Page 16

Pick a thousand cards, anu th

At first glance the scene inside the American Legion Hall down on Main Street looks like any other convention, with the two or three hundred people wearing name and hometown tags, sitting around smoky

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A luscious, creamy, no-cook tilling in a crunchy, no-bake crumb crust. Convenience ingredients cut your time and work. Almost as easy as peeling a banana. Here’s how: No-Bake Crust f/3 regular margarine or butter I /4 cup sugar 1/2 teasp< xm cinnarru in *opn< >nal) 1 cuf> Kellogg s * Com Flalu.- Crumbs Xleh margarine, sugar and cinnamon in small saucepan Place over low heat, stir constantly until bubbles form around edges of pan, remove from heat ■Add Q>m Rake Crumbs, mix well Press mixture evenly in 9-inch pte pan to form crust Chill

tables and telling jokes and slapping backs from 11 p.m. until they can no longer sit up. But the illusion fades when it becomes apparent that the five men who seem to be playing blackjack in the corner are ac-

No-Cook Filling 1 package <8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1 can Eagle Brand* Sweetened Condensed Milk* <not etuporated milk) 1/3cup bottled lemon juice (measure accurately) 1 teaspoon lanilla extract 4 medium size npe Dole* bananas 2 tablespoons bottled lerrum juice Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy Add sweetened condensed milk Blend thoroughly Add 1/3 cup lemon juice and vanilla and snr nl thickened Slice 3 bananas, line crust with banana slices Tum filling into crust Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, or til firm (Do not freeze I

tuaily doing pick-a-cards. One fellow makes the chosen card disappear from the deck, then instantly he causes it to reappear in another man’s pocket. Then it’s the other fellow’s turn, and he takes out a half dollar

Cut fourth banana into thin slices, dip in remaining lemon juice Garnish top of pie with banana slices as shown Yield 8 servings "^UgrK>lla• <« Dime* Brands rnav hr used CORNFLAKE i CRUMBS M ■KnMMb

and slams it on the table, somehow causing it to fall to the floor, apparently having penetrated the tabletop. Throughout it all they discuss the advantages of performing the trick by one method rather

than another, and how the “Marlo Scuffle” is really just the old “Overhand Twist,” while really you can palm the coin either underhand or overhand without changing the trick very much. Actually, “Abbott’s Magic GetTogether” seldom looks like a regular convention. These more than 1,000 magicians are addicts of the Art, and their fix will include about 50 hours of stage shows and “talent contests,” plus lectures, conjuring apparatus displays, daily programs of ventriloquism, and literally thousands of pick-a-cards on street corners, at the dinner table, and through the night at the Legion Hall ... for three and a half days. These legerdemain buffs come from almost every state, though most are from the Midwest, and each year they make their pilgrimage to Colon, Michigan, the self-proclaimed "Magic Capitol of the World,” about 60 corn-lined miles Northeast of South Bend, Indiana off the Indiana Turnpike. When they arrive, the magicians nearly double the town’s 1,200 population, and they are forced to stay in motels as far as 30 miles away because the only accommodations in Colon itself are guest houses that townspeople can spare. Add the town's mid90’s heat and humidity and it’s easy to assume that magicians come here for maximum privacy as they exchange the Ancient Secrets. Actually, Colon holds a strong romantic aura for magicians. “The Great Blackstone” made Colon his summer home a few decades ago between doing hundreds of shows each year to packed houses around the world. His colleague, Percy Abbott, visited him here in 1934 and decided to settle and set up Abbott’s Magic Company. Harry Blackstone is buried in Colon (his relatives still live here) and Abbott’s has become the world’s largest supplier of ready-to-perform magician's I bMMHp ’ ffwi iWE 4 i i . ftp* MOB s y Loomis apparently removed his wife’s center in the finale of the Zig Zag Illusion.