Inside Magic

As I look at Magic tonight, I am confused. I am not sure which issues will be with us forever and which will leave us as soon as the next fad comes into town. Will we care about ?knock-offs? in five years? Will it matter that David Blaine was in a glass box for 44 days? Will we assume, perhaps ten years from now, that there will never be a better magic show than (fill in your favorite nominee) and that Magic had reached its zenith?

Right now there is much to be concerned about. The most successful magic show in the history of the United States, Siegfried & Roy, will likely never be seen again. The problem with live magic is that it is live.

If you didn?t see Doug Henning at the Court Theater in New York during his run in The Magic Show, you never will again. If you never saw Dai Vernon perform his card magic, your chance is over. If you failed to see Harry Blackstone, Jr. perform the Floating Light Bulb, you will never have another opportunity.

Many of our special events are saved on film or, now, in digital format but no recording device can capture the excitement that comes when the lights dim, the music builds and the curtains part. If you weren?t present when a young David Copperfield began his career in Chicago as the Magic Man, you?ll never see him like that again.

That?s the problem with living in a linear/time-based world.…
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