Rick Smith Jr. Featured: A Mystery For UsInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Rick Smith Jr. and Not Miss Ward

The Macomb Eagle covered Ohio magician Rick Smith, Jr. in its November 2nd
editions.

The article used his most recent performance for a local high school as its
introduction to this gifted performer. The article notes Mr. Smith’s show was
brought to the school as a reward for students who met or exceeded sales goals
in a yearbook fundraiser.

That has to be kind of flattering for Mr. Smith.

The show was apparently a huge success with the students — even though they
failed to win a bet for $100.00. Mr. Smith, expert in the deadly art of card
throwing, offered two students a c-note if they could throw a card across the
gym. They failed, Mr. Smith kept his money, the crowd received a fantastic
show.

Mr. Smith has been featured on Ripley?s Believe It or Not!?, Last Call with
Carson Daly, Steve Harvey?s Big Time and is featured in the Guinness Book of
World Records. (More on other card throwing contenders in a later article).

Mr. Smith claims to have shattered the world-record for throwing a playing
card 216 feet 4 inches. He can throw cards through apples, celery, bananas, and
watermelon rinds and uses his accurate aim to hit targets up to 90 feet
away.

Mr. Smith also has one of the best web sites we’ve ever seen. His use
of Flash in the intro is perfect. Absolutely perfect. Check it out here.

So?

What?

So, why is this act special? You usually have some twist or nuance
significant only because you lack any original thought to be derived from your
coverage of magicians. Is the point only that he is a headliner, that he was
featured on national television, that he broke a record for longest card toss?
C’mon, Tom, we need more. Give us more.

First, the name is Tim. Just because you are a trite rhetorical device
used to evoke excitement and anticipation, doesn’t mean you can get the author’s
name wrong.

Our bad. Sorry. Anyway, what’s the bird’s-eye lowdown on this story.

Glad you asked.

Read the description of this next trick. We’ll ask questions when you’re
done.

Even the staunchest doubters were left scratching their heads
following the finale of Smith?s show. Cory Moshier, Kevin Lock, Jordan Simmons,
Tyler Dugan, Sarah Reihm and Becca Ward, were chosen to help Smith with the
grand finale.

As they gathered around the small, wooden trunk on display, Smith shared with
his audience a brief history of the late Harry Houdini, ?the greatest escape
artist that ever lived.? Smith had his assistants demonstrate the trunk had
nothing to hide before Smith climbed in the trunk and had his helpers lock him
in.

Ward then climbed on top of the trunk and pulled the black curtain up over
the trunk and herself. As the curtain was lowered Smith was standing on top of
the trunk and Ward was found inside of the locked trunk.

We’ve read this description now five times. We read it backwards. We
translated it with Google’s language tool in to Italian and into French. We then
translated it back.

We are still puzzled.

Who is…

Rick Smith Jr. and Not Miss Ward

The Macomb Eagle covered Ohio magician Rick Smith, Jr. in its November 2nd
editions.

That has to be kind of flattering for Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith also has one of the best web sites we’ve ever seen. His use
of Flash in the intro is perfect. Absolutely perfect. Check it out here.

So?

What?

So, why is this act special? You usually have some twist or nuance
significant only because you lack any original thought to be derived from your
coverage of magicians. Is the point only that he is a headliner, that he was
featured on national television, that he broke a record for longest card toss?
C’mon, Tom, we need more. Give us more.

First, the name is Tim. Just because you are a trite rhetorical device
used to evoke excitement and anticipation, doesn’t mean you can get the author’s
name wrong.

Our bad. Sorry. Anyway, what’s the bird’s-eye lowdown on this story.

Glad you asked.

Read the description of this next trick. We’ll ask questions when you’re
done.

Even the staunchest doubters were left scratching their heads
following the finale of Smith?s show. Cory Moshier, Kevin Lock, Jordan Simmons,
Tyler Dugan, Sarah Reihm and Becca Ward, were chosen to help Smith with the
grand finale.

As they gathered around the small, wooden trunk on display, Smith shared with
his audience a brief history of the late Harry Houdini, ?the greatest escape
artist that ever lived.? Smith had his assistants demonstrate the trunk had
nothing to hide before Smith climbed in the trunk and had his helpers lock him
in.

Ward then climbed on top of the trunk and pulled the black curtain up over
the trunk and herself. As the curtain was lowered Smith was standing on top of
the trunk and Ward was found inside of the locked trunk.

We’ve read this description now five times. We read it backwards. We
translated it with Google’s language tool in to Italian and into French. We then
translated it back.

We are still puzzled.

Who is “Becca Ward”?

The article says Miss Ward was one of the six chosen to assist in the Sub
Trunk.

Chosen? From where was this mysterious Miss Ward chosen?

Was she chosen from the audience of top-selling teens? Was she a
student-teacher? Was she a teacher of students? Or, was Miss Ward with Mr.
Smith?

Curious, eh?

So here are the scenarios with which our pea-sized brain boggles.

Scenario Number One:

Miss Ward is a pure, innocent, non-magician, student. She is chosen
to be one of the six on stage for some reason — perhaps her flexibility? Her
ability to keep a secret?

In the course of being bound and lowered into the trunk, Mr. Smith had
sufficient time and privacy to teach Miss Ward the secret of what she was about
to perform.

Problems with this method:

Other than putting a classic effect into the hands of a perfect stranger and
essentially leaving the stage to be placed inside a box right as the show came
to an end, no problem at all.

Of course, even if Miss Ward could pick up on
the instruction she was receiving in the short time she received it, she still
had to execute moves many assistants describe as difficult.

Number Two:

Miss Ward came with the show and was planted in the audience.

Problems with this method:

Assuming the Mann Act does not apply to
the performance of magic effects (“it shall be illegal to transport a woman
across state lines for immoral purposes”), we wonder how her addition to the
crowd of 49 high-selling students went unnoticed by the other 48? If there were
400 top-sellers, we could see sneaking her into the crowd as just another
student.

Number Three:

Miss Ward was a puppet.

Problems with this method:

Most puppets do not have legs that would
allow them to stand on a box without assistance. Plus, the article said nothing
about her having a huge puppet-like noggin.

Number Four:

Miss Ward was a student at the school, a top-seller, and had time to
prepare to perform the classic effect for several weeks before the show.

Problems with this method:

That is an incredible amount of preparation for this one show. We are loathe
to prepare anything, ever.

In fact, we have forgotten to remove our birds from the Tear-Apart Dove
Vanish only to notice as we start to perform the accompanying dove production or
smell the evidence of our lazy nature.

We know that just because we wouldn’t
do it, doesn’t mean Mr. Smith wouldn’t.

Number Five:

The reporter was wrong.

Miss Ward was not chosen from the audience. She was with the show. She was
dressed like someone from the audience but assuredly has worked with Mr. Smith
for years and was well-versed in the method and presentation of the Sub
Trunk.

Problems with this method:

When was the last time you read an article in a national publication that
contained a mistake?

Right, never.

We think the puppet theory is more likely than
this.

It’s a puzzler. Could be a stroke of genius or a typo.

Check out the full
story and tell us what you make of it.

Send your suggested solutions to comments@insidemagic.com. We’ll publish the
results.

Do yourself a favor, though, and check out Mr. Smith’s incredible web site. It is
one of the best uses of Flash we’ve ever seen.

magic news 魔术 마술 マジック magic