Focusing on conjuring and its many miracles

By Omar Katili-Niode

PEBBLE BEACH, California (JP): Conjuring, or magic, is said to be the second oldest profession in the world. Recorded as far back as ancient Egypt, it may well be the oldest of all the theatrical arts.

In the Egyptian days, as well as during the Middle Ages, conjuring was a weapon that was carefully guarded by the priesthood. It served as a tool for them to create an image of sacred powerful beings, and also established the people's belief in supernatural powers.

But despite its unnatural and sometimes frightening characteristics, the art flourished as a form of entertainment, and still does.

Conjurors back in the Egyptian days used to entertain the pharaohs and the royal families, but their dexterity was often misunderstood as supernatural.

As Christianity progressed and the Middle Ages came about, the art was often prosecuted by the church, accused of being the work of the Devil.

Many conjurors, who at the time were mainly street performers, were forced to reveal their secrets to the church in order to avoid being killed. Despite the many expositions that occurred during this time, and the constant prosecution, the art survived as a scorned yet tolerated street-corner diversion, and eventually became what is now known as a popular and commercialized art.

One of the characteristics of conjuring which enables it to adapt to changes in society is that there is no single way to do a trick.

Subterfuges are often modified throughout the years; consequently there are maybe dozens or even hundreds of variations for one trick.

Adding to that, there are hundreds of thousands of tricks today. During the early days, conjuring as a scorned art survived in the form of street shows, often performed to distract people while they were having their pockets picked.

In accordance with its ability to adjust to changes in society, when America started to demand entertainment, conjuring began its transformation from a street art to a well-respected theatrical art.

The man credited with taking the art of conjuring from the streets to the theater was John Henry Anderson, a Scotsman from Aberdeen, also known as the Great Wizard of the North.

Anderson created the image of the classy magician. He sported a tuxedo for his performances, and used flashy and eye-catching props.

But doing magic on stage requires more than performing subterfuges. The conjuror must have a strong personality and good showmanship. The tricks will be less effective in bewildering the audience without the performer's patter, accompanied by humor or drama.

Anderson emphasized the value of entertainment. He declared that "it is the duty of all magicians to give entertainment".

Another significant reason behind the constant adaptations of conjuring is the credulity of the audience. No matter how smart the audience is, the conjuror will always be a step ahead.

A good way to show how conjurors are able to stay a step ahead of the audience is to look back at a particular vaudeville act by the Davenport Brothers, and try to picture how successful their act would be with today's audience.

The Davenport Brothers, Ira Erastus and William Henry, caused a major sensation during the late 1800s.

Their most famous trick was called the Spirit Cabinet, which was where two people were tied hand and foot and seated on a long bench across from each other in an enclosed cabinet. As soon as the cabinet was closed, the audience would hear musical instruments being played from the inside of the cabinet.

Obviously, this type of trickery might not fool even the most gullible person today, but it did fool many people at the time. They actually thought that supernatural spirits were guiding the Davenport Brothers.

Compared with the tricks of today, such as producing and vanishing a helicopter on stage, the Spirit Cabinet seems like child's play; but it did successfully fool the majority of the audiences during the 1800s.

This demonstrates how conjuring is always ahead of the people. If the Davenports performed their Spirit Cabinet today, they would probably be mistaken for comedians instead of conjurors.

The reason why conjuring is able to remain a step ahead of society is because every few decades, an innovator comes along and gains fame.

These revolutionizers are the saviors of conjuring. They are the ones who create new, never before performed stunts that amaze the audience.

To name a few: Robert-Houdin, the famous innovator; Houdini, the escape artist; and Thurston, the King of Cards. Houdini however, is the most interesting of the three.

Also known as "The Elusive American", Houdini revolutionized the art of conjuring by introducing the category of self- liberation, the most physically and mentally demanding category of all conjuring. He performed stunts that would leave the audience breathless and in suspense.

Technological advances also contribute to the constant adaptations of conjuring. The art continues to flourish because conjurors, although often using tricks that were devised long ago, are able to continue to please their audiences because the tricks are constantly revised.

Technology is, in a sense, a crony of conjuring. Together, they have walked side by side for as long as humans can remember.

When technology progresses and stronger and more flexible materials are produced, conjurors will apply these new materials to their props.

A good example of a trick being improved in accordance with advances in technology is David Copperfield's Free Flying.

The original trick was first developed by a conjuror named J.N. Maskelyne, where the conjuror levitated an assistant perfectly parallel to the floor. David Copperfield does not levitate an assistant, rather he levitates himself; but most astoundingly, he flies.

As unbelievable as it may seem, one of the results of the art's amazing ability to adapt is that it has entered the corporate world. Since conjuring consists of many little gadgets and equipment, many tricks are mass-produced and sold to the public. But of course, only a select few tricks are made available to the public; ones that are too precious are not released.

The secrets of magic are well guarded by the true conjurors whose sole purpose is to entertain the people. In deciding to become a conjuror, a person has committed himself or herself to an unofficial pledge to guard the secrets of the art.

The sense of ownership and secrecy, however, comes from their own consciousness; thus they will remain surreptitious as to the methods of their subterfuges. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, there is always those menaces to the art willing to expose secrets that have been guarded for thousands of years.

Conjuring will continue to survive because it will always remain a step ahead of the people, and it will always be able to deceive the people because it is an art that is able to adapt fairly well to the mood of society.

In addition, conjuring has the advantage of being an art that has many branches. Some branches require a prodigal amount of skill. For this type of magic, it is not the secrets that are important; rather, it is the skill of the performer that is admired.

Among these branches are pick-pocketing and self-liberation. And it is these feats that are most likely to achieve great praise from the audience. When these feats are performed, the audience does not feel they have deceived, rather they end up admiring the skill of the performer. Such performances will always win a warm place in everyone's heart.

The writer is a 17-year-old Indonesian student at Stevenson High School in Pebble Beach, California.