In ordinary life, people are not very fond of being deceived. But on the other hand, a card trick or a rabbit that emerged from an illusionist's top hat can cause a storm of delight. And if an artist is inclined to a wide scale, then he can even become the idol of millions.
The most striking example of such success, perhaps, is David Copperfield, who not only conquered the hearts of his contemporaries, but also earned a fortune with his art.
A quarter from Odessa
David Seth Kotkin was born in the small town of Metuchen in the US state of New Jersey. It is interesting that the grandfather of the future illusionist was a native of Odessa and a fan of card games. He moved to Metuchen, however, from Germany, where their family did not get along in the local Jewish community. It was rumored that the reason for moving overseas was the ineradicable craving of grandfather David for cheating.
He loved not only to distort the deck, but also to show the deceived partners a couple of original card tricks. Over time, the losers matched the extraordinary luck of Kotkin Sr. with his own sleight of hand, and the reputation of a "lucky player" was irrevocably lost, and the family ended up in America. However, David himself, born in 1956, links the move of his ancestors from Germany to the United States with the outbreak of World War II.
The future great illusionist from childhood was distinguished by outstanding abilities and hard work. At the age of four, he already memorized whole passages of the Torah text. When the grandfather showed little Dodik the first card trick, he repeated it, and after a while he came up with his own, but not one. By the age of five, Kotkin Jr.was busy entertaining the parishioners of the local synagogue on Saturdays with a simple illusion program. Most of his stunts were based on memory and sleight of hand. The boy also helped his father in his clothing store and at the same time was ahead of his peers in his studies.
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The wizard chooses an alias
By the age of 12, David Kotkin, performing under the pseudonym Davino, was receiving five dollars per program (very good money at that time), and any Metuchen hall was at his service. People were gagging in lines to watch the prodigy's concerts. At the age of 12, David was accepted into the American Society of Magicians, and at 16 he taught the art of magic to theater students in New York. A year later he was invited to the Broadway musical "The Wizard". It was then that David adopted the pseudonym Copperfield. For a long time it was believed that he was named after the Dickensian hero. However, David was not a fan of reading and, most likely, he just heard this name by chance, and it struck him as significant and mysterious.
At 22, Copperfield was invited to television, where he hosted the ABC Magic. The magician even played a minor role in one of the films. After a while, his own television project, "The Magic of David Copperfield", was launched. Then the thought of larger illusions occurred to him. Moreover, the tricks "from Copperfield" every year became more complex and colorful. At that time, the art of illusionism in America involved ventriloquism and card tricks, and the use of technical means in the work gave the enterprising magician a huge advantage over colleagues.
How the Statue of Liberty disappeared
The rise of Copperfield's career began after his stunt with the disappearance of the Statue of Liberty. The grandiose monument (the total weight of its steel structure and copper used for the ebb is 156 tons, the height of the statue is 46 meters) - a visiting card not only of New York, but also of the United States of America - has disappeared not only from the field of view of observers, but also from the radar screen. Plus there was a video from a helicopter showing an empty pedestal.
But first things first. 1983, seats for spectators were set on Liberty Island, but not too many, because tickets cost fabulous money.
From the side of the monument, facing New York, two huge towers with powerful floodlights aimed at the spectator's seats rose. Between the towers, a huge cloth was pulled, hiding the statue. The magic has begun! Copperfield bent over the radar screen, closed his eyes, and the mark disappeared. The banner immediately fell, and the statue was gone - in its place the beams of searchlights crossed. For those who are especially distrustful, a video picture was added - an empty pedestal taken from a helicopter.
Different versions of the disappearance were put forward: the monument was hidden under the ground (however, this is impossible, since there is a museum in the pedestal); the statue was laid horizontally (which is also unrealistic to do with such a colossus); the statue was hidden by a system of one-hundred-meter mirrors (also technically impracticable).
The answer was found by the Russian illusionist Timur Abdulov. Probably, he was led on the trail by a hoax by another American illusionist Harry Blackstone. He once made the 30-meter Christmas tree “disappear” with the help of the play of light and shadow.
At that moment, when the white matter was stretched between the towers and the Statue of Liberty was hidden, all internal and external lighting was simply turned off. Due to the fact that the monument stands on a remote island, where there are no light sources, it completely merges with the black night sky. The floodlights that illuminate the statue every night are located in a circle and shine so strongly that it can be seen from afar at night, but without lighting it is impossible to see the monument. Additional spotlights supplied by Copperfield must
were to stand behind the statue and, after it disappeared, to cross with their rays the empty space in its place. But they stood not behind, but in front of her and shone vertically so that the light would not fall on the monument. That is, additional spotlights blinded the audience, and the statue simply disappeared against the background of the night sky. Try looking at an object, provided that there is a powerful lantern between it and you.
You won't see anything! So, nothing is visible from the illuminated compartment of the train when it passes through an unlit area.
The helicopter, which was hovering over the "empty" pedestal, also fulfilled its role. It was visible only because the light of a separate spotlight was directed at it, otherwise it, like the statue, would simply dissolve against a black background. And the video, which was transmitted from the helicopter, could be recorded at another time using a model. As for the radar mark, this is just an additional theatrical gesture - hardly anything could prevent Copperfield's team from agreeing with the operator. One way or another, this hoax made David famous. Now he could ask for any sums for his shows and choose the most serious objects for tricks.
Why don't people fly?
However, tricks with light and shadow are good only for television and engaged viewers. For the halls, where the main revenue comes from, Copperfield has other numbers, such as flight. David rises above the stage, soars, turns over, flies through rotating rings and in a transparent box, takes off with a girl in his arms. Everyone admires and is lost in conjecture. They sinned on chain mail made of magnets, on mass hypnosis, levitation …
However, everything is much simpler. Copperfield actually flies with cables attached to a winch. Of course, these are not quite ordinary cables. They are produced by only a few factories in the world and are mainly used in the aerospace industry. These cables are composed of hundreds of intertwined finest and strongest threads. The thickness of one such thread is less than 0.2 millimeters, and it can withstand a weight of up to 100 kilograms.
At a short distance, such a thread is invisible to the naked eye, and David flies against the background of fluttering fabric of a pale blue color with silvery vertical splashes, which makes the technical support tool simply invisible. In addition, powerful spotlights are installed on the sides of the stage to cut off accidental glare, keeping David in the air with only two threads that are attached to a special acrobatic belt hidden under the sweater.
The most expensive part of the focus is the winch, which is fixed above the stage and moves along the rails. She can lift and move the illusionist at different speeds and accelerations and is limited only by the bends of the rails. It is operated by three virtuoso operators. One is responsible for the movement of the winch along the guides, the second is responsible for the horizontal movements of Copperfield, and the third insures them. David turns over himself. This, of course, requires some physical preparation, but it is not a big problem - the main thing is to keep the center of gravity well. All actions have been rehearsed hundreds of times in order to avoid the moment of the "magician" swinging in the air, otherwise everything will be revealed. The skill of all the participants in the trick is honed to automatism, but there is no smell of magic here.
But what about flying in a transparent box? The fact is that in the cover of this design there are slots for the cables on which Copperfield is fixed. The slot may not be wider than 0.5 centimeters, and it is enough to first push the cover vertically between the threads, and then put it in place. Please note that in the box Copperfield always flies sideways to the hall - otherwise the cables will get messed up.
This method of flying was patented back in the 1980s in Hong Kong for … filming kung fu films. Only there everything is easier, because the film can be retouched.
This trick was repeated by the same Timur Abdulov on the stage of the Moscow Aviation Institute, and not only by him, but also by some members of his team. Why doesn't anyone want to use such a spectacular trick? All illusionists unanimously claim that they simply do not want to be said about them: "Flies like Copperfield."
And no fraud?
However, David's program is not only about flying. Various tricks with the disappearance and appearance of both the illusionist himself and his assistants look very impressive. For example, a pretty girl sits on a chair, throws a blanket over herself, Copperfield makes several mysterious passes with his hands, pulls off the cloth from his assistant, and - lo and behold! - the chair is empty.
It is pertinent to note here that all the action takes place on a massive table, which is the most important part of the illusion. It is made of dark wood, but the front is painted silver. This greatly hides the thickness of the countertop, which is actually 50 centimeters. And on the table is a hollow platform (20 centimeters thick) on which a chair stands. So, the girl hides under the veil. By the way, it is also very remarkable. Indeed, the moment the assistant slides off the table and hides in the hollow tabletop, the silhouette of a human body should remain on the chair. And here everything is simple: a semblance of a hat is sewn into the fabric, which the girl puts on her head. In addition, a cap is attached to the back of the chair to create a silhouette when the chair is empty. In this case, the visibility of the knees is created by the slats extended from the chair.
Next, David rips off the bedspread, crumples and throws it aside. At the same time, the cap hides in the folds of the fabric, and the shins slide back by pressing a button. That's all the magic.
Over time, Copperfield modernizes and complicates his tricks, but they are all based on optical illusion. For example, David magically, at first glance, changes places with his assistant, being a few meters away. The girl is placed on a circus trapeze about one and a half meters from the floor and three meters from the pedestal on which the sorcerer himself is. Both are synchronously covered with bedspreads, and after a few seconds the cloth from the assistant is dropped and the audience is smiling Copperfield. And in its place is a smiling girl, it is not known how she moved there from the trapeze.
In reality, there is also a natural swindle. The trapezoid and the pedestal are one piece and are made in such a way that you can move from one shell to another completely unnoticed by the audience. The drapery system creates the appearance that the trapezoid is hanging in the air (in fact, what happens under it is reliably covered with fabric to match the stage backdrop). Before the demonstration, David walks around the pedestal, showing that everything is visible behind it. But during this fashion show, he quietly pulls the curtain under the trapeze, and everything is ready.
Then everything is simple: the panel that covers the girl is attached to the trapezoid. This allows the assistant to slide to the floor, climb onto the pedestal of Copper Field and grab his blanket. David immediately takes the place of the assistant, and then they simultaneously drop their capes. The main thing is to do everything quickly and not forget about the theatrical effects.
Evil wizard
In fairness, it must be said that David himself never called himself a magician, sorcerer or wizard. If there is a demand for miracles, and he is able to satisfy it, then why not create a show. Copperfield thinks. He does not deny that all his tricks are illusions and tricks. True, he adds that this is also a huge daily work of David himself and his team. And, of course, money. And he earned a lot: at the peak of his career, Copperfield gave up to 500 performances a year. After all, only insurance premiums for the equipment with which David is on tour are about 70 thousand dollars. The equipment itself weighs tens of tons.
The team of the king of illusions employs about 300 people - they are trick developers, engineers, directors, artists, stage workers, and even scientists. An indispensable condition for Copperfield during the tour is the complete replacement of the "native" personnel of any stage and equipment. Even in the State Kremlin Palace, they went to meet him, which became an unprecedented phenomenon. Otherwise, the secrets of the tricks would have been revealed much earlier.
But the cost pays off - the more introductions Copperfield gives, the more money he has to improve his tricks. After all, it is more and more difficult to deceive the modern viewer: the gullible public of the 1980s is in the past. And television does not stand still, and the sensitivity of cameras now significantly exceeds the capabilities of the human eye. This is partly why it was possible to open the veil of secrecy that was shrouded in David's illusions.
However, he continues to keep his secrets very jealously. For example, the German illusionist Robert Herbert wrote a book about the secrets of Copperfield 12 years ago. However, she never saw the light. As they say, not without the help of the magician himself. The Russian whistleblower, Copperfield Timur Abdulov, also faced difficulties. His website on the Internet, which worked for some time and was popular, simply disappeared, and Timur himself stopped all public activities. Probably, David has secrets besides circus tricks.
Boris SHAROV