The Mystery of the Disappearing IBM Ring 220

Thanks to the diligent detective work of Toronto magician Trevor Hamilton, the mysterious missing Ring 220 charter appears - as if by magic - above. As you can see this now defunct IBM Ring (located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) was officially opened April 1st, 1975. (We can only hope that the date doesn't mean it was ever intended to be some kind of a joke!) Its original twelve charter members are listed - including John Giordmaine and Sid Lorraine - the two long time magic friends for whom the Ring was named. Trevor reports that an earlier "temporary" IBM Ring charter was issued November 5th, 1973 so John would have been well aware of the upcoming IBM honour in his name. Too bad he didn't live long enough to see the Ring officially recognized. I assume his name was included in the "temporary" charter membership and was left posthumously on the official charter out of respect for him. Our sincere thanks go to Trevor for uncovering this fascinating document for us.

(John's name also appears on the original 1941 charter for IBM Ring 17, Toronto, too. See PAGE 10.)

Now - the mystery continues - whatever happened to Ring 220? If you know, please get in touch. My e mail address is on page eleven. Meantime, I guess I'll be doing a little magical detective work of my own!

(LEFT) Another blurry screen shot of the John Giordmaine 8 mm colour film now on You-Tube via Rick Fisher of Fab Magic.

Click HERE to return to Page 22 and scroll down to nearly the bottom for all the appropriate external links.

You'll find two great still photos from the same 1961 Abbott Magic Get Together on the next page.

LATE NEWS... Many thanks for kind words of support and encouragement since our return to the internet to (in no particular order) Joseph Giordmaine, "Dr Sammy" Jakubowicz, Ariel Frailich, Vanni Pule, Shawn Farquhar at CAM (who has also linked to us), Joan Caesar, Johnny Ould, Rick Fisher, Jeff Pinsky, Chris Wasshuber, Pincmagic, "Magic Mike" Segal, James Randi, George Schindler, Bob Taylor, Nicole Lee and others. Your positive responses are incredibly motivating to help keep this site alive.

Both "Dr. Sammy" and Johnny Ould recommend a You-Tube link I did not know about which shows a brief clip of the "Scattering of Seeds" TV documentary about John G. You can find it HERE.

Thumb tips to "Dr. Sammy" and Johnny Ould!