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For Harry Houdini’s Wife, Love Was Not a Magic Trick..

For Harry Houdini’s Wife, Love Was Not a Magic Trick..

The epigraph of this novel, a fictionalized account of the love story between the escape artist Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess, is a quotation from W.B. Yeats: “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” 

The Irish poet’s words serve as a warning of sorts: This is not a book for the rationalists among us, given to seeing magic merely as a trick of the mind, a sleight of hand or — as in Houdini’s case — the product of superb physical conditioning and long practice. “Mrs. Houdini” is instead a brief for the mysterious and the unknown, as well as the transcendent, death-defying power of romantic love. Victoria Kelly’s narrative skillfully bounces around in time, its form replicating the novel’s hypothesis about simultaneous dimensions of existence. The prose is involving but workmanlike, devoid of any high literary pretensions. Read more..

http://forward.com/culture/334803/for-harry-houdinis-wife-love-was-not-a-magic-trick/

‘Mrs. Houdini’
By Victoria Kelly
Atria Books, 320 pages, $26

Dynamo’s secrets revealed: Magician shows how YOU can ‘levitate’ in thin air, walk through a wall of water or even shrink your friends just by using a phone..

Dynamo’s secrets revealed: Magician shows how YOU can ‘levitate’ in thin air, walk through a wall of water or even shrink your friends just by using a phone..

Magician Dynamo has unveiled a series of amazing photos which show him apparently walking out of a wall of water, floating in thin air and even using a double decker bus as a skateboard.

Dynamo, whose real name is Steven Frayne, shot to stardom after his TV series Dynamo: Magician Impossible became a huge hit, with more than 30million viewers in the UK alone.

Now the illusionist, who is originally from Bradford, has revealed the secret behind illusions which he says anyone can shoot – with just the help of a smartphone and a few choice props. Read more….

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3482962/Dynamo-s-secrets-revealed-Magician-shows-levitate-air-walk-wall-water-shrink-friends-just-using-phone.html

Neil Patrick Harris’s Latest Trick: A Magic-Themed Immersive Theater Project

Neil Patrick Harris’s Latest Trick: A Magic-Themed Immersive Theater Project

Neil Patrick Harris is collaborating with the producers behind the immersive theater spectacle “Queen of the Night” on a new, magic-themed nightlife project.

One of those producers, Randy Weiner — whose production credits also include “Sleep No More” and “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812″ — said in an interview that the currently untitled project with Mr. Harris’s Prediction Productions was in the works, with an opening aimed for the fall. (Mr. Harris will not be performing in the show.)

Mr. Harris has performed magic at a variety of venues, including the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, where he served as president of the board. Read more.

.http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/neil-patrick-harriss-latest-trick-a-magic-themed-immersive-theater-project/?_r=0

Andre Kole: how famous atheist illusionist tried to debunk Christ – and converted

Andre Kole: how famous atheist illusionist tried to debunk Christ – and converted

n 1983, the world-famous illusionist, David Copperfield, made the world (and his live audience) gasp, as he made the entire Statue of Liberty vanish before their eyes on live television. This monumental illusion would make Copperfield’s name in the world of popular performers, and remain an iconic event in stage illusion history.

The genius behind this, and many other of Copperfield’s illusions, was a man named Andre Kole. A famous magician in his own right, Kole is arguably the most world-traveled illusionist to-date, having performed in 79 countries around the world for over 20 years.

There is a trope common among illusionists, going back as far as the great Houdini: while making a profession of tricking others, illusionists like to expose tricksters.

Over the ages, one can form long lists of illusionists who have made it their hobby to investigate the paranormal and supernatural to expose it for exactly what it is: spectacle being perpetrated upon the human mind. Illusionists have the tendency to be among the harshest of skeptics, certain that if one examines the supernatural long enough, they will find, at the bottom, a cheap trick.  Read more…

http://www.examiner.com/article/andre-kole-how-famous-atheist-illusionist-tried-to-debunk-christ-and-converted