Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magic

Questions, speculations & updates on the techniques and nature of media fakery
nonhocapito
Member
Posts: 2579
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:38 am
Location: Italy
Contact:

Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magic

Unread post by nonhocapito »

Sorry if this is old stuff, anyway, here it goes: As we discussed the Endeavor fakery, I happened to mention magician David Copperfield and as I did it occurred to me that such contemporary magicians like Copperfield, who work with very well crafted illusions and the collaboration of all sorts of media tricks, are the real masters of fakery. Even more -- they or the people working with them and directing them -- may very well be involved in the design and realization of big fakery events like 9/11 -- because of the "magical" nature of these events, as it is all about timing and point of views.
Don Wayne was David Copperfield's principal magic creator and illusion director for over 18 years, which included 17 television specials and over 800 weeks of international touring.
In conjunction with Jim Steinmeyer he developed a vanishing jet plane illusion performed by Mark Kalin and Jinger at the Reno Hilton in February 2001, which was described at the time as the largest stage illusion in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Wayne
http://donwaynemagic.com/

Image

Quite a "simmy" website, if you ask me. Does Don Wayne even exist?

About the magic plane: it was an American Airlines, of course.
http://bestmagicshow.com/jumbo-jet-disappear/

Remember the big magic trick that launched Copperfield to fame in 1983? The Vanishing of the Statue of Liberty?
(BTW, does anyone know the exact date the stunt was performed? Apparently this piece of information is nowhere to be found in the whole internet...)

Here is the straight dope:
Copperfield had a setup of two towers on a stage, supporting an arch to hold the huge curtain that would be used to conceal the statue. The TV cameras and the live audience only saw the monument through the arch. When the curtains closed, David waxed poetic while the stage was ... slowly ... and imperceptibly ... turned. When the curtains opened, the statue was hidden behind one of the towers, and the audience was looking out to sea. Voila! The Statue of Liberty has disappeared!
Now, you are free to skip on the Luciferian-Masonic symbolism behind the light-bearer Statue "Liberty enlightening the world", as well as on the Masonic symbolism in the "two pillars". But whenever I read "two towers", magic trick, and New York in the same story, well, you know what I have to think of. :rolleyes:

Image

Random quotes about Copperfield:
In 2006 Copperfield bought eleven Bahamian islands...
On March 11, 1984, while rehearsing an illusion called "Escape from Death" where he was shackled and handcuffed in a tank of water...
On 7 May 2009, Copperfield was dropped by Michael Jackson from Jackson's residency at the O2 Arena after an alleged row over money. Copperfield wanted $1 million (£666,000) per show. :rolleyes:
simonshack
Administrator
Posts: 7339
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:09 pm
Location: italy
Contact:

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by simonshack »

nonhocapito wrote:
About the magic plane: it was an American Airlines, of course.
http://bestmagicshow.com/jumbo-jet-disappear/
But...but...over a half-million people witnessed it, nonho! The plane must have disappeared FOR REAL! :P
"It was the climax of their critically acclaimed Carnival of Wonders, and was witnessed by over a half-a-million people."
http://bestmagicshow.com/jumbo-jet-disappear/
john gault
Member
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by john gault »

The Boss, in the title track from “MAGIC”, telling it like it is.
Listen to his pre-amble.
Also, he slows the song down (when playing it live) to emphasize the lyrics.

Springsteen, “Magic” – live in Belfast -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgzYSwLqQcc

“I got a coin in my palm; I can make it disappear,
Got a card up my sleeve, name it and I’ll pull it out your ear,
Got a rabbit in my hat, if you want to come and see,
This is what will be, this is what will be….
I got shackles on my wrist, soon I’ll slip ‘em and be gone,
Put me in a box in your river, I’ll rise up a singing this song,
Trust none of what you hear, even less of what you see—
This is what will be, this is what will be…”

Or if your prefer Italian… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2gz64TY ... re=related

No retreat, no surrender.
nonhocapito
Member
Posts: 2579
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:38 am
Location: Italy
Contact:

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by nonhocapito »

Copperfield too dabbled into vanishing airplanes, back in 1981:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOV8zVRczM
...probably the same trick repeated in February 2001 on a bigger scale, always under the design supervision of "Don Wayne" (who, the more I think about it, I think is nameplace for... who knows?)

Image
Image

(Don Wayne logo from his one-page proxied sim-website http://donwaynemagic.com/)
reel.deal
DELETED THEIR OWN POSTS :(
Posts: 1292
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 12:42 am
Contact:

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by reel.deal »

can David Copperfield, bin David Blaine, time to make way for Dynamo...

full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MUTmHut-Ow
:blink:
ninetynine
Member
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 12:34 am

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by ninetynine »

I have long felt that there is a connection between the magic world and the big simulation for years. Many of the world's top magicians are extremely wealthy and they seem to have an inside group of actors they reuse and recycle for various projects. Thanks for this great forum; I am really enjoying having a place where my "crazy ideas" make sense.
Maat
Member
Posts: 1425
Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:14 am
Contact:

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by Maat »

ninetynine wrote:Thanks for this great forum; I am really enjoying having a place where my "crazy ideas" make sense.
Hi ninetynine,
Glad you found your way here, welcome to our 'asylum' for critical thinkers to 'Get Smart' ;)
Please introduce yourself in the REQUIRED topic for new members. Thanks!
corsarino
Member
Posts: 180
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:04 pm
Contact:

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by corsarino »

from Wikipedia

Magician's assistant
As a young man,[William] Rodriguez worked under the stage name "Roudy" as an assistant to magician James Randi.


Can this note be useful?
anonjedi2
Member
Posts: 860
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:50 am

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by anonjedi2 »

David Blaine's ABC special Real Or Magic debuted last night. I find this stuff sort of entertaining but I wonder if it's worth a discussion here to see what people's thoughts are on how these tricks are performed? Are the celebs in on the tricks? Do you think there are useful bits of information in these tricks that we can apply to the real world? What are your thoughts?


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlgUeD2MQjM


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmjQMtNuZpQ
lux
Member
Posts: 1913
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: Copperfield, the Vanishing Statue, and contemporary magi

Unread post by lux »

I was a working magician for about 8 years in my youth. I played parties, stage shows, local events, etc. I took it very seriously and studied the craft constantly, learning a great deal about it and its history in the process. I also learned quite a bit about hypnosis (for performance purposes), pick-pocket stuff and other related things.

My opinion is that the basics of performance magic is analogous to media fakery to a degree. For example, magicians sometimes use "stooges" (a person who appears to be a member of the audience but is really working for the magician) much like the psy-ops use fake witnesses. Magicians also use misdirection as do the psy-ops to control audience attention. But, beyond general concepts such as this I don't see much point in discussing how a particular card trick is done or how to make a bunny disappear, etc.

IMO, the basic reason people are fooled by magicians is that they fall for the idea that the magician really has super-human abilities and so they stop looking at the show with a critical eye. They make the mistake of listening (to the magician's BS) instead of just looking. Of course, there are tricks of the trade too -- basic movies and devices that are known to magicians. There are also certain basic principles of the craft that apply broadly. But, with a magic act you have a very visible person (the magician) who is the center piece for the whole show, something which is very different from a psy-op where you can have hundreds or more participants and the center of focus (the fall guy usually) is not the one running the show. If you know what I mean. So, the analogy is limited IMO.

BTW, for magicians the hardest audiences to fool are kids. Kids don't have the automatic mental habits and associations that adults have so they tend to just look at what's going on without making any assumptions which is deadly for a magic act. :lol:
Post Reply