Do You Believe In Magic?
Me with one of David Copperfield's trucks (2001-2002'ish)
I love magic and magicians. I remember when I was a kid, my grandfather had this book, an encyclopedia of sorts on how different things work like telephones, magnets, and it even had a small section on a few different magic tricks. It included illusions like sawing a woman in half and Houdini's milk can escape, and I was fascinated! I would gravitate to that section of the book every time I went to visit and could pull it off the shelf.
Do NOT try this at home! (image)
My mother also dabbled in magic for a short while when she had a short gig as a party clown. She'd dress up for children's parties and do simple tricks like pulling a bouquet of flowers out of a hat, making scarves appear and disappear, that sort of thing. When we'd be at home, I play with the trick wand that could break apart into pieces and then magically get put back together. I was easily amused as a kid.
But what really cemented my fascination with magic and illusions is when I watched my first David Copperfield TV special, The Magic of David Copperfield XIV: F·L·Y·I·N·G – Live The Dream. I remember sitting on the couch, glued to the TV as I watched Copperfield appear in an elevator suspended above the stage, perform a card trick with Orson Wells, and perform one of his greatest illusions...flying. I cried when Copperfield pushed against the ground and took off, soaring across the stage like a bird in flight. I watched every single one of Copperfield's TV specials until he stopped doing them after "Tornado of Fire" in 2001, although you can find almost all of them (even the ones from the 1970's!) on YouTube.
That hair though!
I was lucky enough to see David Copperfield live during his "Portal" tour, and I got to have a nice chat with one of the semi-truck drivers after the show. He told us about what it's like moving all of the equipment from city to city (without spoiling anything obviously) and even gave me a pin with David's face on it! Since then, Copperfield has now been performing regularly in Las Vegas, and I really want to get out there and see him again.
Of course, the other well known magic-related TV special was the run of "Breaking The Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Reveled" Of course these specials were controversial, giving away how the magic is done? How dare they! But I've never been one to suddenly become disappointed when I learn how something is done, there's a reason I love devouring the behind-the-scenes bits on DVDs from my favorite shows and movies. Many of the illusion reveals are available on YouTube (linked above) and at the time of this posting, the full specials are available on Netflix.
Unfortunately the age of magic specials on TV seems to have gone the way of the dodo. There's a few exceptions like Penn and Teller's Fool Us on the CW. Is it due to a wane in public interest? The age of the social media where our attention spans have gotten too short? Is magic no longer "special" because it can be so easily explained? I don't know the answer, but it's a shame either way. Guess it's time to start planning that trip to Las Vegas.
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