Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00393)

krishtar wrote:
> Thank you, very clear and helpful, Bart.
I actually became introduced to many aspects of the occult by way of 
stage magic, and am therefore very familiar with the history of stage magic.

I was most involved during the 1970's, when three very important things 
took place. The first was the publication of MAGIC AND SHOWMANSHIP, an 
important book because it pointed out what should have been obvious: 
most stage magicians had no motivation. In a world of special effects, 
the magic alone was not sufficient. A stage magician had to create a 
character, and that character required a reason why he or she was on 
stage, performing effects, where, ideally, the audience is too busy 
enjoying the effects to worry about how they are done.

The second was magician/actor Doug Henning actually putting those ideas 
in place in THE MAGIC SHOW and MERLIN. Note how, for example, even David 
Copperfield, in many ways a throwback to the previous state of magic 
performance, still sets up his effects as skits, where, for example, 
they often become special effects incorporated into dance routines.

The third was the resurgence of the charlatan, led by Uri Geller. I 
remember, at first, there was a lot of controversy among stage magicians 
about James Randi's involvement. There were, after all, mentalists like 
George "the Amazing Kreskin" Kresge, for whom "is he real or not?" was 
part of their current image. To many stage magicians, Randi was trying 
to ruin a fellow magician's act. I first met Randi during that period, 
and he explained to me the important difference: Kreskin and other 
mentalists never stated they had real powers; Geller did. And Geller was 
doing more than just entertaining; he was taking money from people in 
order to exercise these powers. Randi opened my eyes to the level of con 
artistry out there, although I stopped communicating with him during the 
period where he did not differentiate between people who believed in 
things not scientifically proven, and intentional frauds (he has gone 
back to attacking only the intentional frauds, and merely trying to test 
those who are sincere in their beliefs).