While the art of magic and the arts of magic has been around since pagan times through priests, witches, etc., they are the dare, death-defying magicians who display acts in which we don’t even know. we would dare to think. he gained the largest number of followers and became the most remembered. Here are a few that we think are among the best and most popular of all time.
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871). Jean Robert-Houdin was the son of a French watchmaker, whose interest in magic began when he mistakenly received from a bookseller a two-volume set of books on spells called Scientific Amusements instead of the books on watchmaking he had reserved. He then went on to study magic and opened the first magic theater in France. Houdin is considered the father of modern magic and it is from him that Harry Houdini took his stage name. Among his most popular acts are Second Sight, a two-person mind-reading act in which his blindfolded assistant (played by his son) describes whatever Houdin was holding or doing across the room. ; and Ethereal Suspension, where he suspended his son in midair, balanced only by his right elbow.
Alexander Herrmann (1844-1896). Born into a family that was known as “the first family of magic”, Alexander Herrmann’s father was a doctor who also performed magic acts. His older brother, Carl, was a medical student who became a professional magician. When Alexander was eight years old, Carl kidnapped him from the family home after seeing his interest in magic and took him to Russia to teach him the art. The two brothers performed together until 1885, when they decided to go their separate ways. Nicknamed “Herrmann the Great” by Russian society after his stop-over tour of Russia, Alexander eventually became an American citizen. He died in 1896 while on board a train on his way to a performance. Among his most popular acts is the card toss act, in which he would place a card on the lap of a spectator at the back of the theater and toss it through the air. Another is the Bullet Catch, an extremely dangerous stunt, where bystanders would fire loaded pistols at him and he would catch the bullets and go unharmed.
Harry Houdini (1874-1926). Born in Hungary as Ehrich Weiss, Harry Houdini immigrated to the United States with his family when he was four years old. At age nine he became a trapeze artist. He changed his name to Harry Houdini when he became a professional magician. The first name was chosen in homage to Harry Keller and his surname to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, both magicians who greatly influenced his art. Houdini specialized in escapism, whose most famous act is called the Chinese Water Torture Cell, where he was hung upside down with his ankles encased in a butt, placed in a glass tank filled with water, and the restraints were closed on the top of the cell. In his later years, Houdini devoted himself to exposing the frauds of self-proclaimed psychologists and mediums. He died at age 52 of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix after collapsing on stage during a performance in Michigan.
Harry Blackstone (1885-1965). Born Harry Boughton, Harry Blackstone Sr. was one of the most famous stage magicians during the 1900s, appearing frequently on the vaudeville circuits. His stage career began through a comedy act he did with his brother Peter Bouton. He was extremely popular during WWII through shows he did for the troops and was called The Great Blackstone. While he was considered an “elegant” magician in his white tie and tailcoat, some of his acts, particularly his “Cutting a woman in half”, could be imaginatively gory. This illusion is made with a circular saw. Blackstone would demonstrate how it would be used by sawing a piece of wood. Then they would place an assistant on the table and cut him in half, and the saw was seen to go through his body. Particles from the woman’s body are scattered across the blade, she screams, the blade stops, and of course her body is unharmed. Another famous illusion is the Vanishing Bird Cage, where Blackstone invites children on stage and asks them to touch a cage with a canary inside. Blackstone then lowers the cage, tosses it, and both the cage and the canary disappear in front of the children. In his later years, Blackstone performed at The Magic Castle, a nightclub for magicians and fans of magic. He died in 1965. His son, Harry Blackstone, Jr., followed in his footsteps and is now a famous wizard himself.
David Copperfield (1956-present). Described by Forbes magazine as the most commercially successful magician in history, David Copperfield began practicing magic at age ten, and at twelve he was admitted to the Society of American Magicians. Copperfield likes to work with large-scale illusions and great magical feats. Among his famous acts are the laser illusion and the flying illusion. In the laser illusion, Copperfield’s body is cut into two or more parts by his assistants using a laser beam. As your upper body sits on a chair, your lower half continues to walk. The Flying Illusion is a levitation trick where you fly across the stage, seemingly without the support of any cables. Copperfield then invites a member of the audience, usually female, to join him and they both fly around Superman. Copperfield achieved his fame when he made, in separate instances, a full-size Learjet and the Statue of Liberty disappeared into thin air before the eyes of the public.
David Blaine (1997-present). Of Puerto Rican and Russian Jewish descent, David Blaine White was four years old when he began his interest in magic after watching a magician perform tricks on a subway. Filming his own act and sending the tape to the ABC broadcast network led him to his first television special, where he performed tricks for strangers, up close, while the cameras filmed live. Since then, Blaine has progressed to full-scale physical stunts like Buried Alive, where he was buried in a clear plastic box for seven days, under a tank filled with 3.5 tons of water. Blaine survived on two or three tablespoons of water a day for the entire week, and his only means of communication with the outside world was through a manual doorbell. In 2000, Blaine did another endurance test called Frozen In Time, where he was locked inside a huge block of ice for 62 hours with only air and water to sustain him. Two years later, he braved vertigo by standing on top of a 100-foot-high, 22-inch-wide pillar for 35 hours, enduring high winds and cold weather without food. His tour de force is the illusion of self-levitation, where he rises two feet off the ground. Blaine has been called the next Harry Houdini.
This list is by no means exhaustive. There are many, many more magicians, some from centuries ago, others in recent years, who have been famous and probably some of the best. Magic continues to attract interest, in good times, in bad times, and has spawned a billion dollar industry of magic tricks, accessories, tools, books, and kits.
