On the verge of disappearing only a short time ago, magicians have pulled themselves out of a hat of obscurity, only to emerge as important players in a high-stakes game of video poker.
With no fewer than six specials airing over five weeks this spring, magic is enjoying an unprecedented resurgence on television. It follows the remarkable growth in interest here, along the Strip, where nearly a dozen major showrooms regularly feature magicians.
Last month, in the shadow of giant marquees proclaiming the presence of heavyweight performers David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy, the producers of NBC’s upcoming “Hidden Secrets of Magic” were trying to re-create several tricks that have vexed generations of conjurers and sleight-of-hand artists. The setting was Caesars Magical Empire, a grandiose shrine to legerdemain that will open June 1 at the Caesars Palace resort.
On this day, Chicago native Bill Malone is entertaining a small group of spectators with a rarely performed 70-year-old card trick. It requires immediately cutting to the aces in a freshly opened and diligently shuffled deck of cards.
In bantering with his guests, Malone explains how magician John Scarne once amazed Al Capone and gambler Arnold Rothstein with the trick, which was made more difficult because the mobsters insisted on furnishing the cards and controlling the shuffle. Today, Malone’s concentration is continually interrupted by the wailing of the Magical Empire’s newly installed fire alarms.
“This is cruel and unusual punishment,” says producer Gary Ouellet, who can’t imagine why the city’s fire marshal picked this particular day to scrutinize the system. “Scarne’s Legendary Aces is tough enough to do once, let alone 12 times.”
Malone eventually manages to get through the trick without disruption, but not before impressing his audience of telegenic young actors with his patience and ability to produce aces at will–a miraculous feat usually reserved for blackjack dealers.
Happy to have this sequence finally in the can, Ouellet tells the cast and crew to break for lunch.
Along with executive producers Gary Pudney and Bob Jaffe, who also are on the set, Ouellet is responsible for NBC’s popular “World’s Greatest Magic” and “Lance Burton: Master Magician” specials, and ABC’s “Champions of Magic.”
Ouellet, a Montreal-based lawyer, harbors a “lifelong passion” for magic that also has resulted in books and lectures on the subject, as well as a certain proficiency as a performer. As a producer, he rounds up the acts and helps the artists get through the often nerve-racking process of taping a television show.
“It’s hard to shoot card tricks on television,” he explains in a whisper between takes. “We want to let people at home follow and see the cards. People assume all magic on TV is a camera trick, so it’s easy to fail.”
On “The Hidden Secrets of Magic,” several top magicians will re-create classic tricks, illusions and escapes in their original form, including the Hindu Rope Trick, the Light and Heavy Chest, Sawing a Woman in Half and the Mysterious Blue Room. Vintage film footage will offer historical perspective on these feats, all of which lead to an attempt by Lance Burton to survive a Buried Alive escape that Houdini refused to try.
Technology vs. intimacy
The resurgence in the popularity of magic continues to fascinate Ouellet.
“We’re living in an age when people walk on the moon and we take it for granted,” he said. “Only magic brings back the sense of wonder that we’ve lost, makes us go, `Ahhh!’
“All of our specials have won their timeslots. Last fall, `World’s Greatest Magic II’ was pitted against the Beatles, and it beat them. We were as surprised as anyone.”
The diversity of magic acts–ranging from traditional cape-and-wand artists to modern-day Merlins who make historical landmarks vanish–works in the favor of both the artists and the producers of television shows.
“Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy are terrific performers, who rely on technology and staging to sell their show,” said Bob Jaffe, co-producer of “Hidden Secrets.” “The Blue Room Trick, in our special, was created in 1870 to mystify people in London by producing ghosts on stage. It’s as relevant today as it was then.”
Still, contemporary audiences–jaded by the wonders of science and Hollywood editing techniques–don’t easily relinquish their skepticism.
“When you make a space shuttle or herd of elephants disappear on TV, you have to convince viewers you’re not doing camera tricks, and we don’t,” says Jaffe. “We try to convey intimacy. A consultant could come up with a way to make Caesars Palace disappear, but you can’t do that with closeup.
“Some of the best magicians are those doing closeup tricks right there in your face . . . and you don’t know how they do it. They spend thousands of hours in practice.”
That certainly would describe Malone, whose gold-on-black business card features a deck of cards and the word “Entertainer.”
Raised on Chicago’s South Side, the Tilden High graduate was shining shoes in taverns when he met a fellow who gave him a copy of “Scarne on Cards,” then taught him a trick. He took to sleight-of-hand like he was born to it, mastering his craft behind the bar in the old New Yorker Lounge, at Foster and Lincoln Avenues, and other watering holes that catered to closeup magic.
“Chicago’s always been the magic capital of the United States,” said Malone. “At one time, there were 11 magic bars in the city, all going at one time.”
After his name became known, Malone began working conventions and corporate shows. He now is based in Florida.
Something up their sleeves
Steve Forte, who advises casino bosses on card sharks and surveillance tips, also is featured on “Hidden Secrets.” After Malone’s routine, he takes over the table to demonstrate various false shuffles and cheating techniques that look very much like magic.
“You can’t take a scam artist and make him a Billy Malone, who’s a top sleight-of-hand artist and great entertainer,” says Forte. “A magician can do better false moves, false shuffles, because they have a passion for it.
“I’ve learned a lot from magicians, because they’ve taken card handling to a degree that I’ve never seen.”
Until “World’s Greatest Magic” proved to be a surprise hit in 1994, the recent history of magic on television pretty much entailed an annual Copperfield special and the occasional Penn & Teller, Ricky Jay or Harry Anderson appearance on late-night talk shows.
Stan Allen, editor of Magic magazine, credits “World’s Greatest Magic” with demonstrating the diversity of the art.
“The difference between David Copperfield and Penn & Teller is day and night,” says Allen, whose Las Vegas-based publication reaches 8,500 subscribers. “If everybody is trying to be like David Copperfield, then it will get old fast. The question is how many magicians are producing art and not just show.”
The magicians on “Hidden Secrets” and “Champions” are among the best performing today. In other recent shows, Fox showcased Robert Gallup–who performed a Death Dive from a plane–and comic magician Rudy Coby, while CBS will offer “Harry Anderson: The Tricks of His Trade,” which gives the sitcom star (“Dave’s World,” “Night Court”) a chance to return to his roots.
In a bit of scheduling chutzpah, NBC brought back the “Lance Burton: Master Magician” special from the last sweeps period and aired it Saturday.
John Miller, NBC’s executive vice president of advertising, promotions and event programming, hopes to make Burton a household name. “We’re trying to create our own David Copperfield with Lance Burton,” he says.
So far, Miller explains, the ratings have been good for magic shows, which means that other networks will be looking for “their guys,” as well.
“But there’s only so many times you can make a jet or space shuttle disappear,” Miller said. “You have to keep your uniqueness. So far, though, magic has improved the time periods it’s been put in.”
Riding the ratings tiger
One thing that everyone involved in the profession–from producers to the magicians themselves–is concerned about is the tendency television has to overexpose a trend. The dramatic growth in the number of comedy clubs in the ’80s, for example, was quickly stalled by the simultaneous increase in the number of comics showcased on cable TV networks.
“The top people will always work, but there’s the danger of overexposure. There were 17 specials in 1995,” says Mark Kalin, who has just finished bisecting his partner, Jinger Leigh, for about the 10th time in rehearsal for “Hidden Secrets.” “There’s a lot of talk in the magic community about what happened in comedy.”
Steve Marks, an agent who packages magic shows for television, including “Hidden Secrets,” believes it’s up to the magicians themselves to “rise to the occasion, by making sure the quality holds up and elevating the art to keep people interested in it.
“I’m always afraid we’re cooking the golden goose.”
