WHY ARE THERE NO MAGIC SUPERSTARS?
by L. B. King
The United States in particular and the free world more generally has for years created Superstars in nearly every public field. Sports stars, musicians, writers, comedians, dancers, and TV and motion picture actors receive constant and enormous publicity and earn huge incomes for their efforts. Even our politicians have become media celebrities. Where among this host of media darlings are the magicians? Why is it that no one since Harry Houdini, a poor performer but an excellent showman, has captured the public's fancy? Why is it that in 1994 nearly every magical performer is compared to a man who died in 1926, more than sixty years ago. Clearly something is wrong.
The earliest recorded performance of magic, which appears in the Westcar Papyrus, reports on Tchatcha-em-ankh at the court of the Pharaoh Khufu in 3766 BC His performance included a demonstration of domination of a lion (one can only guess that Sigfried and Roy studied magical history) and Sawing a Woman in Half. So, while magic is among the oldest performing arts many, if not all, of the effects performed by magicians, even to this day, can be traced to the period between Tchatcha-em-ankh's performance and the mid 1850's. Still, it is widely agreed that Jean Robert-Houdin, a conjurer of that period, is the father of "modern" conjuring. He is acknowledged to have established the style of dress, props, tables and other trappings generally associated with the magical performer. It could be compared to limiting the development of music to the 1850's, the era of Liszt. In many ways the analogy is apt. Music would not be a commercially viable art form today if music had ceased to develop in 1850.
It is interesting to note that the feats for which Houdini was most famous were not Magic but escapes. He is remembered as a magician but his magical skills, in spite of his claim to being the King of Cards, were weak compared with his peers. We have seen the stars of Doug Henning, David Copperfield, Penn and Teller and, most recently, Ricky Jay rise and fall in recent years. None of these performers have approached Houdini's reputation. It is interesting that many of those who have achieved any degree of celebrity have not been classic magicians. Dunninger and Kreskin whatever one may think of their abilities have achieved some measure of success in the magic allied field of mentalism. Henning's claim to fame, such as it is, stems from his impish personality not his magic. David Copperfield's "grand illusions" may be as embarrassing to you as they are to me but they are novel and his "pretty" good looks have been a supreme help to him as well. Penn and Teller aren't magicians at all but comedians who use magic as the brunt of there jokes. Ricky is a different matter worthy of an article by himself. In short there are no magic Superstars and those few who have gained notoriety have done so largely in spite of the fact that they perform magic (e.g., Harry Anderson) not because of it. I'm sure there are those who will argue this point. They should recognize that while one can readily name the film or TV show that established a particular actor or the song that established a singer or group even magicians would be hard pressed to draw a direct link between any magic performers success and any particular effect. To the extent that any link can be drawn it would be a vague one: Sigfried and Roy are associated with wild animals, Norm Nielsen is associated with musical instruments.
Having identified the state of affairs we are left to ask how and why this situation has arisen and what can be done to change it. It would seem that one part of the answer is for magicians to develop specific effects that define them. What do you readers think of that idea. Do you think that the difficulty of marketing Magic in multiple media is part of the problem. How would a video tape of David Copperfield greatest tricks sell? I don't profess to have the answers to all these questions but I know that the answers are part of making Magic part of our popular "culture". I think they are the key to the creation of the first "Super Star" magician since Harry Houdini.