Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear
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Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear
Audiences would have never suspected that Proteus and the Sphinx were the same trick.
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Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.
Robert-Houdin's original version depended upon a spoken code. His casual instructions to the audi- ence-"Here's an interesting object. Yes, please hand it over. I'll ask you to concentrate on this. Pray tell us what we have"-contained the proper sequence of code words that indicated objects, materials, and characteristics.
Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.
Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.
Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.
If magicians have unfortunately come to view their art as deception, they must recognize that used car salesmen, advertising executives, and politicians are also artists of deception.
The public never heard the name Dircksian Phantasmagoria. Dircks happily accepted five hundred pounds for the idea and waived any future royalties, merely asking that his name be attached to the invention.