Ms.gician Gets Into the Act With Some Laughs, as Well as Sleight of Hand

Joyce Basch, 49, is a kick. She rattles off such jokes as: “My husband gave me a gift of a solar dryer. It was a rope with clothespins.”

Actually, Basch is a sleight-of-hand artist who goes by the clever name of Ms.gician and combines rat-a-tat humor with magic in her fast-paced style.

“The first thing I learned is that you need to develop a character, a personality,” said Basch, of Los Alamitos, who didn’t start her magic career until she was 40. “That’s why I called myself Ms.gician. It’s catchy.”

She warms up audiences with, “I’m really a retired household executive,” a reflection of her earlier stance as “a strong feminist.” She has softened her feelings somewhat, a decision she found necessary to break into the magic field. “But I’m still a strong believer in women’s rights.”

When she decided on her new career, “there was not much available for women working in the magic field. The public was geared to a man magician, but things have changed a little,” she said, adding that she knows of 10 working female magicians.

Basch, who was Mrs. Oklahoma in 1967, got her early training at the now-defunct Los Alamitos Magic Shop, through reading magic books and with the help of other magicians, mostly men. She uses those skills to perform at private parties, club meetings, corporate events and trade shows or just for her two children.

Although she performs both close-up magic and stage routines for both men and women, “women to women seem to be more acceptable.” Basch feels that men “don’t like a woman fooling them or doing shtick on them.”

Despite her magical talents, “my forte is patter, getting people to laugh,” a routine she said is fun for her, but hard work. “When I come home, it takes me a couple of hours just to unwind.”

Although accomplished, “I don’t want to work that hard to make it a full-time career,” said Basch, a member of the Orange County Music Club, the Magic Castle in Hollywood and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

What she would like to do is teach magic classes in local colleges “to encourage women to take part. The field is open, and it’s fun and exciting.”

For herself, “I have two fantasies. One is to live in the Fiji Islands, and the other is to have a self-cleaning oven.”

Basch is a real kick.

Suzie Katz and Brayden Linden consume an incredible amount of diet cola each day, making them self-professed “diet cola-holics,” but $2,500 richer.

The couple--married five years--staunchly contend that together they drink 20 quarts of pop each day.

So by saving the diet cola plastic containers and other recyclables, such as newspapers and aluminum cans, the Santa Ana couple won first prize in the “Fantastic Plastic Good Cents Recycling” contest, which won them $2,500 in grocery gift certificates.

The contest was sponsored by Plastic Recycling Corp. of California.

Katz said they have no explanation for their cola consumption. “We drink it in the morning, noon and night,” she said.

Guess what they plan on buying with the gift certificates.

Mere mortals should be as lucky as Rudy, a miniature dachshund.

His owners, Carolyn M. and Michael Brockert of Costa Mesa, threw him a birthday party with hats, balloons and a ride in a limousine with eight of his buddies and some humans.

“We thought it would be fun,” Carolyn Brockert said. “We needed something to laugh about. And besides, Rudy needed the party.”

She said Rudy thinks he’s a humog--”You know, a cross between a human and a dog.”

Next year, the Brockerts said, they plan on taking him for a ride in a jet with some Airedales.

“That’s a joke, you know,” she said.

Like die-hard football fans, Football Widows, more than 40 women who gather for dinner Mondays while their husbands watch football, didn’t miss a beat despite the football strike.

“We are not simply occupying time,” said Orange County food and restaurant critic Jeri Wilson, who originated the group. “We have developed a special companionship and enjoy socializing over a good meal.”

The final score was Football Widows 40, Husbands 0.

Acknowledgments--Janet K. Cater, director of the Orange County chapter of MADD--Mothers Against Drunk Driving--received the MADD National Presidential Award for the chapter’s Designated Driver Program, which urges: “Be the life of the party. Be a designated driver.”

Column to change--Beginning this week, the People column by Herbert J. Vida moves to Mondays and Wednesdays. A new Vida column, Three Cheers, celebrating the accomplishments of Orange County residents, will appear on Fridays.