Inside Magic congratulates David Copperfield on his deserved ascension to the awesome position of King of Magic and awarded the “Magician of the Century” designation.
The Society of American Magicians (“SAM”) bestowed both accolades upon the peripatetic and prolific prestidigitator.
Mr. Copperfield has earned many titles and laudatory commendations throughout his incredible career but unlike us, is not willing to rest on his laurels. The SAM’s press release notes the ever-young performer still puts in an honest day’s work by presenting his full show more than 500 times a year.
The Society previously picked him as “Magician of the Century” for the 20th Century – quite a feat considering the incredible lot of magicians that performed from 1900 through 2000.
This is the first time the Society has named a “King of Magic.”
Our U.S. Constitutional research shows Mr. Copperfield’s acceptance of this title does not run afoul of Article 1, Section 9:
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
See, Cornell’s fantastic resource, the Legal Information Institute here..
Note, it is a popular misconception that a more strict prohibition against titles was added to the Constitution by Amendment. While there was a Titiles of Nobility Amendment passed by the Senate, House of Representatives, it was not ratified by the requisite number of states and is not law.
We would like to go on record as saying that even if the Titles of Nobility Amendment had been ratified and Mr. Copperfield’s acceptance of the title “King” violated that law, we would not turn him in.
The Society gave the title in recognition his efforts “to advance, elevate, and preserve magic as a performing art, to promote harmonious fellowship throughout the world of magic, and to maintain and improve ethical standards in the field of magic.”
However, as Inside Magic reported recently, Mr. Copperfield earned the more significant and lasting title of Father with the recent birth of his daughter, Sky. The magician and his beautiful French model girlfriend, Chloe Gosselin kept Sky’s arrival under wraps for about 16 months before the lay and magic press discovered the happy news.
Under traditional rules and customs pertaining to royalty, Sky would properly be considered a Princess of Magic but Chloe Gosselin could not attain the title of Queen of Magic unless she married the then-existing King.
Additionally, we are informed by a scholar on royalty that kingship is rarely attained by talent or popular acclaim. In fact, 77.41 percent of all kings or queens attained their position simultaneously with the murder, execution, coup d’état, or suspicious disappearance of the previous monarch. Continue reading King Copperfield Joins Roster of Magic Royalty
Penn Jillette is a gifted and entertaining writer of things magic and otherwise. We have reviewed his written work on this unworthy magic web site in the past and we’ll have a review of his newest book, God, No! Signs You May Already be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales next week.
Mr. Jillette could probably write a pretty decent Magic for Beginners book and teach basic sleights effectively. But that’s not how he chooses to use his remarkable talent. Like his silent partner, Teller, Mr. Jillette uses magic as a device or tool to offer his unique and usually correct perspective (from our point o’ view) of the topic or issue he has chosen to explain.
His writing seems effortless and spontaneous. We would like to think that style is a result of thousands of drafts, re-writes, third-party editing, and gut-wrenching revisions.
We presume, however, his writing style reflects his true persona. We don’t have that gift. In fact, the sentence, “We don’t have that gift” took two and a half hours to craft. We began with “we not as good as he is at writing that way,” worked our way towards “he is better at writing than speaking and he is very good at speaking too,” and finally “We don’t have that same ability that he, Penn Jillette has.”
Our point? We like Penn Jillette’s writing.
In fact, we are not ashamed to say we would marry his writing if such a thing were possible. We don’t know if that makes us gay for wanting to marry the writing style of a man, but if it does, we’ll take those slings and arrows and make lemonade served in slings with arrows for stirrers. Continue reading Penn Jillette: Card Trick as Rhetorical Tool
The overpaid Inside Magic editors and unpaid interns peruse all media constantly for interesting leads. We wish we could say that was how we stumbled upon the Samantha Padilla interview from the July, 2011 edition of Low Rider Magazine.
Actually, we read Low Rider to get the latest news on the pneumatic lift technology used in the creation of God’s gift to body shop artisans, Hoppers.
The big Phoenix Hopper Contest sponsored by Low Rider magazine just left us lusting for more of the great PSSSWhtchhsss Clunk sounding goodness that is a high-quality lowrider hopper. We did not enter this year because the elders in our familial unit loathe a good hoppin’ ride.
But the magic aspect to this story comes from the insightful interview of the young and physically attractive, Samantha Padilla.
(We would say she is attractive but we haven’t seen her inside. Outer beauty if fleeting and subjective. We’re big on the inner beauty. We’re not shallow like those who put a premium on how someone looks on the outside. In fact, we seek women with large mouths and few teeth so we can get an unobstructed look down theiresophagus whilst we pretend to be fixing a light or painting the ceiling — we need to explain why we’re on a ladder and need them to stand just under our perch).
Ms. Padilla calls herself a “Self-Made Hundredaire” and describes her profession as “Go-Go Dancer.” We haven’t heard the expression “Go-Go Dancer” in years. She is clearly an old soul or renaissance woman interested in the rich history of dancing for drunk guys. (See, Introductory chapter of our best seller The History of 3D: Dancing for Drunks in Dives, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).
The interviewer asks how he could interest the Low Rider beauty:
LRG: How does he keep your attention? Samantha: If I knew there would probably be a guy out there that would still be holding my attention.
LRG: So you have a hard time finding a guy to hold your attention? Samantha: Ummm. Nam. Nam. Nam. I don’t know. I don’t know the correct answer to that one. Maybe B? What’s the question?
We thought the Hundredaire comment was classic but this passage convinced us Ms. Padilla has an Inside Magic kind of humor.
So, where would one take Ms. Padilla if one wanted to have a successful first date?
LRG: Where should he take you? Samantha: I got asked out yesterday and he took me to the Magic Castle. That was fun. If a guy can’t make me laugh we have a problem.
We knew there had to be someone out there who would understand. She’s just 40 years too late.
How to not impress the young hopping car enthusiast?
LRG: What’s the best way for a guy to get your number? Samantha: Show genuine interest in me and don’t holler at me like a dog.
With a tip of the Hatlo Hat of Magic to Carl Jones and his always interesting listserve, we read with great interest of the clowns looking to change their perception from “creepy” to “charming.”
We write about clowns and their status in our society with knowledge of John Steinbeck’s caveat, “Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.” We take solace in our position above a marine mammal.
The author asserts and we have verified it to be true that until John Wayne Gacy and Stephen King depicted clowns as evil predators, clowning was accepted in polite society. Gacy did it in reality and King via his novel IT.
The article notes that clowns perform as clowns to entertain. Clowns get into show business more for the show than the business. Like all of us, clowns have feelings and can be hurt when children or adults exhibit fear and not enjoyment.
Paul Kleinberger — who performs as Fuddi Duddy the Clown around Albany, N.Y. — says King’s 1986 novel, “It,” with its evil clown character Pennywise, is blamed by most contemporary clowns for hurting their image.
“Some people say that if it wasn’t for Stephen King, clowns would have an easier time,” Kleinberger told HuffPost Weird News. “I don’t know if that’s the case. I mean, when someone tells me they’re afraid of clowns, I say, ‘Well, I’m afraid of bankers.’
We read Mr. Kleinberger’s retort not as a joke but a profound statement on the inequality our painted brethren and sistern suffer daily. No doubt most clowns fear bankers and their incessant debt collection calls. Continue reading Creepy No More, Clowns Urge
Regarding (Cornflake the Clown) Justin Lane and his magic clone Magic Matt for making false and misleading claims on awards for publicity purposes.
The New Zealand Commerce Commission has concluded its investigation into this matter and has issued Cornflakes Magic World (Justin Lane) with a Compliance Advice Letter.
A Compliance Advice Letter informs the trader that the New Zealand Commerce Commission has received complaints, outlines the details of the complaint and informs the trader that the Commission is of
the opinion that they are at risk of breaching the Fair Trading Act 1986.
Justin has now complied with the Commerce Commissions requests and removed from all his websites, social media and promotional material items that were of concern and he also has apologised.
If you have similar problems with dishonest and misleading advertising by performers in your area or country then it is worthwhile looking at what legal channels you can pursue to have these false or misleading advertising claims removed.
Inside Magic congratulates David Copperfield on his deserved ascension to the awesome position of King of Magic and awarded the “Magician of the Century” designation.
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