Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №32/2001

DISCOVERING THE PAST

MAGIC

Magic first meant the use of mystic words or charms and the claiming of supernatural powers to do things which ordinarily could not be done. The pagan priests and medicine men of Egypt, Greece, and Rome used magic to convince the people that they had power. Tricks were used by them to make gods seem to appear, and tubing was attached to the idols so that they would seem to speak.
Today magic is the entertainment in which actors pretend to be able to do the impossible. It is accepted in very much the same way as fairy tales. While the magician depends to a certain extent on the skill of his hands or mechanical aids, the success of his performance rests for the greatest part in his being able to fool the minds of the spectators into thinking he has done something which just can not be done.
Magic is one of the few forms of entertainment which can be understood and enjoyed by all kinds of people in all countries. People everywhere want to be able to reach up into the air and get anything they want. Magicians seem to be able to do this. All over the world they have worked out the simplest ways to perform their tricks, and although there are slight differences in the equipment used, the methods are very much alike. The rules which magicians follow apply for all magic shows. The same rules are true whether the show is given in New York City or Shanghai, China.
The basic tricks performed by magicians from the beginning of time consisted of commanding objects to appear, disappear, and change places or shapes. One of the oldest tricks in magic and one that is still performed today is known as the Cups and Balls. Three cups are placed mouth down on a table and a small ball appears under each cup. On the magician’s command, the balls wander from one cup to another, or disappear altogether, or are changed into other objects. While the method in all countries is almost identical, the shape of the cups differs. Sometimes cherries or pebbles are used in place of balls. The Chinese magician uses a handleless porcelain teacup; the Turkish magician uses a cone-shaped wooden cup; the Egyptian uses a metal cup like a picnic cup.

Early History

The early magicians performed to entertain. Throughout the entire world, the cleverer magicians entertained at the courts of rulers. Those not so clever performed in the market places for the people or at the homes of the wealthy. Their tricks were on the whole simple. Whatever they needed to help them perform they carried in their pockets or borrowed from the people who watched them. Of the very early magicians little is known, for the first book published on the subject was written in 1584. The only knowledge of them has come from stories passed down from generation to generation.
In medieval times the magicians traveled about their own countries and even went to other countries. They began to make regular trips, carrying their magic in packs on their backs. The people looked forward to their visits. A good many cities even had a “Street of the Conjurers” where the magicians would perform daily. Soon the magicians began to use donkeys or horses in order to carry extra equipment and thus were able to give bigger shows. They also joined with other street performers. They then would give their shows in a rented barn or storehouse where they could have larger audiences than could see a street performance. As the audiences grew larger the magicians started inventing new tricks and began performing more amazing magic. They soon found it necessary to travel in wagons since their equipment became too heavy and bulky to carry in packs on a mule’s back. Little by little the magicians improved their wagons and so made them that the end would open and steps could be let down to turn the wagon itself into a stage.
When mechanical devices began to be used generally, the people were very much afraid of them. The magicians then claimed to have special scientific information. Because they had so much new equipment they began to rent stores and halls. Then since they no longer had to think about using only magic that they could carry easily, they began to build larger tricks. They started to use large tables which had long drapes. Under these drapes were hidden assistants who secretly helped the magician.
At this time the magicians started to advertise their shows in the newspapers of the day. They printed programs which had long lists of their tricks and they wore very costly and fancy costumes.

Modern Magic

In the early part of the 19th century magic, as it is known today, came into being. Magicians started to throw away their heavy equipment and did tricks which depended upon personal skill. They gave up their fancy costumes for ordinary evening clothes.
Robert-Houdin (Jean Eugene Robert), a French magician, is called the father of modern magic. He improved magic equipment so that he seemed to use only common and familiar objects in his tricks. He also brought together much knowledge on how to present tricks.
The next person to play a major part in the advancement of magic was John Nevil Maskel-yne. Besides inventing many tricks, he also established a magic theater in London. With his family, he ran the theater for more than 50 years. Maskelyne also greatly encouraged the young magicians of his day and gave many of them an opportunity to perform by hiring them for his theater.
It was during his time that tricks in which persons were used became popular. These tricks are technically called illusions.
In them, persons float in air; an empty box suddenly holds a person; someone else is made to disappear before the eyes of the audience, or a lady is sawed in half and then made whole.
The first great American-born magician was Harry Kellar. He was a fine performer of both large and small tricks.
At the close of the 19th century magicians started to do special types of magic. Howard Thurston did a whole act only with cards; Thomas Nelson Downs performed coin tricks; Harry Houdini specialized in escaping from ropes and handcuffs.
During this period vaudeville was popular. Great stage magicians such as Nicola, Harry Blackstone, and Dante carried tons of magical equipment and had many assistants as they performed around the world. But show business suffered during the depression years of 1929–1937. Many theaters closed, and those that remained open could not afford to pay for a big magic show with 30 persons or more on the payroll. It became harder and harder for this kind of magician to operate.
If magic was to continue to exist, there must be a new kind of magician. Cardini was such a performer. Just as Robert-Houdin had led the way to a new magical era by getting rid of bulky tables and hidden assistants, Cardini created a sensation by inventing a new kind of magical character, a new kind of act. He could perform anywhere, no matter what the conditions, because everything he needed for his act was concealed on his person when he made his entrance.
The new character he created was a man to whom magical things happened. He was not the magician who performed astonishing feats of legerdemain; he acted the part of a man afflicted by magic. His hands, seemingly in spite of himself, would fill with fans of playing cards appearing from nowhere. Billard balls, lighted cigarettes, smoking pipes popped into his hands while he acted puzzled and annoyed by what was happening to him. Needing no visible apparatus, no stage props or traps, no advance preparation, Cardini had invented a different kind of act for the new kind of show business that was developing during the depression. Night clubs, which had no traps in their dance floors and no time in their fast-paced shows for the lengthy stage illusions of the past, welcomed this new kind of magical performer.
Fred Keating was another new kind of magician. Using only three tricks, a bird cage that vanished in full view, a card that vanished and appeared in a spectator’s lighted cigarette, and a trick called the “Chinese sticks,” he used magic as a peg on which to hang humor. Again this was a kind of magic that could exist in the modern entertainment world, and Keating, too, was successful.
Most successful modern magicians use a blend of Cardini’s and Keating’s approaches to magic.
An exception, a third kind of magical approach that has proved itself, is the act in which the magician pretends to supernormal powers. Men such as Joseph Dunninger; and Dr. Stanley Jaks, who are able to perform “miracles” with no equipment, are very successful. Pretending to be able to read minds, these men baffle their audiences with their pseudo-mind-reading abilities.
Television with its special demands has also helped to keep magic alive and popular today. Children’s shows, particularly, have availed themselves of the age-old lure of the man who does the seemingly impossible. Popular for adult television audiences is a magician named Jay Marshall. An American, Marshall, by assuming the role of a stuffy Englishman, presents an act that is magically baffling and amusing because of the character he portrays.
Magic might well have died when the popularity of vaudeville waned, but the ingenuity and skill of these and many other modern magicians gave magic a new lease on life.
A magician, according to Robert-Houdin, is an actor playing the part of a wonder-worker. How great he becomes depends on two things – how much he can fool and how well he can entertain an audience. In the old days it was important to fool the audience. In modern magic shows it is vital to amuse them as well.
More than any other kind of performer, a magician must have an agreeable manner and a confident air. He must know exactly what he is going to do and must practice until he can perform with effortless ease. A magician’s art consists in hiding his art. He has a most difficult task, for he must do one thing while pretending to do another. With a carefree air, for example, he must show the audience his hand and say that it is empty. At the same time he must hide a coin in his “empty” hand.
Much study and practice are necessary before a man can become a truly skillful magician. But it is not hard to perform a few tricks well. David Devant, one of the greatest of all stage magicians, was asked one time how many tricks he knew. He answered that he knew eight. This was not quite true, because he knew hundreds. But he felt that he knew eight tricks perfectly. Since he did these eight tricks better than anyone else, he became famous.
A person can be considered a magician even if he can do only a few tricks. Magic is a fascinating hobby, and there are amateur magicians in every country of the world. These amateurs hold conventions at which they fool each other with prized secrets. They also enjoy being entertained by the best professional magical talent they can hire. Many magazines and books report the best new tricks, as well as news of magicians all over the world. Some materials for magic tricks must be bought, such as boxes with false bottoms. However, many tricks can be learned with no special equipment.

From Britannica Junior Encyclopaedia

A “Street of the Conjurers,” where magicians performed daily,
was a popular gathering place in medieval times.
A magician in the print “Italian Street Scene”
attracts a crowd of admirers and skeptics with his tricks.