I.B.M. Ring 362
Dr. James William Elliott Ring
Bangor, Maine

Ring Event Report
July 4, 2006

VAUDEVILLE RETURNS TO HISTORIC CRITERION THEATRE
AS RING STAGES ALL-STAR MAGICAL REVUE

Submitted by Geoffrey Miller.

The All-Star Magical Revue went off beautifully yesterday. We started gathering at Bar Harbor's Criterion Theater around 8 in the morning and began setting up. One or two of the more obsessive among us got there even earlier and got the sound and lighting set up as well. The Criterion staff had done a wonderful job of cleaning up the stage and getting things ship shape for us, so it was easy to move in and get ready.

Once props and people were in place, it was time to move on to the parade. Dr. Wilson, Professor Miller, Sign Girl, Admiral the Clown and several Eostara Dancers walked and danced the rather long parade route through the town (around the town might be a better description). Dr. Wilson's non-stop ballyhoo kept everyone on their toes while Professor Miller carried the giant sun with our show poster on it. Sign Girl gestured informatively while Admiral the Clown walked her lobster and put smiles on many faces. Then there were the reactions to the dancers, which ran the gamut. Everyone seemed entranced.

A quick lunch provided by Randy Von Smith in the greenroom at the theater preceded the pre-show final check of props and people. The pre-show music started and the house opened. We ended up with about 250 in the audience - not bad at all for a first year.

Dr. Wilson started things off with the infamous Ladder of Swords, followed by Professor Miller's Linking Rings routine - assisted by Admiral the Clown. It never hurts to add the odd chuckle even to a classic. Eostara Dancers wove their own magic followed by Wes Booth with some classics of his own including the Giant Monte. Alan Drew sawed Admiral in half - a classic effect with some hysterical twists. Then the great drawing was held to see who would win the fabulous Trip Round the World. Aubrey gamely climbed into the Tip-Over Trunk and vanished without trace. General chaos and an intermission followed when the lucky traveler failed to return and no number of magic words could remedy the situation.

After the intermission, Dr. Wilson escaped from a straight jacket bound with chains - while having a few second thoughts about letting Professor Miller do the chaining. All the same, the chains fell off, the jacket came off and the escape got a lively round of applause. Alan Drew presented a couple more classics of magic doing the Milk Pitcher and Torn and Restored Newspaper in his own inimitable fashion. Wes Booth performed his own version of Hippity Hop Rabbits using the figures of Scar and Mufasa from the Lion King. Professor Miller made snow fall in the classic Snowstorm in China illusion, followed again by Eostara Dancers.

Finally, it was time to deal with the missing tourist. The trunk came out again and everyone tried some magic words. Finally, Admiral the Clown reached into the trunk and found the EZ Magic book wherein she found the true magic words. Everyone had forgotten the Purple Puppy Chow part of the charm. When used, the traveler returned in a flash. What followed was a generally chaotic finale of productions wherein magician vied with each other for a supremacy that no one actually achieved. Equals we all are.

At least, that's my take on it. The theater management was pleased, we were pleased and the audience seemed very pleased.

For myself, I want to thank Dr. Wilson, without whom this show would not have happened. He got us into the theater and generally got all of us whipped up into that creative frenzy necessary to pull something like this off. I do hope he will get a few days rest before the Theater of Marvels lights up again. Thanks also go to Meri who puts up with all of this stoically.

I also want to thank everyone who took part on-stage and off. This was an historic event - the return of vaudeville to the Criterion, which hasn't seen anything like this since the first half of the 20th century. It took a lot to pull it off, but we all did it.

If you couldn't be there this year, think about next year. We almost certainly will be doing this again.

See photos of Ring 362's parade unit from the Bar Harbor Times. You'll see Dr. Wilson, Professor Miller, Sign Girl and some of Eostara. Click the link to the Next Photo in Album to see additional photos.