EXCLUSIVE CHICAGO LECTURE BY BILL ABBOTT



SAM3 started 2006 with a special January meeting: an exclusive Chicago lecture by Canadian magician Bill Abbott.

The notices out of town were exceptional -- and as Chicago magicians found out, well earned. Here are just a couple of quotes that preceded him:

A Rare Opportunity.
Watch a consummate professional working wonders for real people under actual working conditions. Bill has a marvelous rapport with his audience. He is a seriously experienced performer. It was a pleasure watching him work his very commerical wonders.
Jay Sankey
Toronto, Canada

Fun infected everyone in the room.
I haven't laughed this hard at a lecture since I saw Bob Read many years ago.  Folks noted as being harsh critics were having a good time, and Bill actually transformed a room full of magicians into animated people who were laughing and obviously enjoying themselves.   Here was a lesson in being a real magician!

His effect, "The Thing" caused a very jaded mental worker sitting next to me to keep yelling, "I love it!" and it wasn't mentalism... There was a lot of material offered and so many tips that were food for thought. This was a lecture to learn a lot from on many levels.

"Chico, the Mind Reading Chimp" was worth the price of admission several times over just to be there to see it. Composed of so many bits of business and fun that you would need to watch it several times to see what you missed while you were laughing!
Jack Shea Review
on the Electronic Grymoire
May 20, 2005

So, what did he actually do?

Largely, he went into great detail on the exceptional magic contained on his Close-Up For Kids and Stand-Up For Kids DVDs, punctuated by a number of helpful real-world performance insights and vigorous Q&A -- so much info, in fact, that he was up there for two-and-half to three hours!

Effects ranged from one-on-one presentations like "Flash" and "Edwin Alonzo Boyd" (for which he was assisted by Karen Strabel and Paul Bachman, respectively), to big platform-appropriate pieces like "Mind Control" (for which he borrowed Joe Vyleta's glasses, Art Widen's watch, Don Dvorak's keys, somebody's shoe (!), and a business card), "The Thing" (a haunting effect for which Chuck Gekas assisted), and "Chico the Mindreading Chimp," which was assisted by Mera R (shown above). Over 30 members and guests enjoyed being part of the audience and part of the show -- including one (Don Russell) who came all the way from Anchorage Alaska! It was a great night!

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