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
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.