Abbot to Zimmerman

March 1, 2013 11:50 AM

The faces and brief histories of several hundred magicians.
posted by Iridic (12 comments total)

Jesus, magicians have a worse male/female ratio than a Saudi cigar shop.
posted by theodolite at 12:00 PM on March 1

Standard obsessions with deception that peak around early adolescence break down along gender lines. Boys go into slight of hand tricks. girls go for shoplifting.
posted by The Whelk at 12:04 PM on March 1

This is a crappy list. (My husband is a magician, and a lot of the best know magicians are not on this list.)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:14 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

No Doug Henning? Doug Henning???
posted by waraw at 12:52 PM on March 1

No Doug Henning? Doug Henning???

The list invisibility trick is the first thing they teach in magic school.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:01 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]

Biographies of Magic Inventors
posted by davebush at 1:28 PM on March 1

They start with Omahan David Phelps Abbott, creator of the floating ball illusion, widely considered to be one of magic's most astonishing. Teller is obsessed with it.

Abbott was a gentleman magician. He didn't offer public performances, but instead invited small groups to the parlor of his house and performed in that way. He also spent a lot of time exposing fraudulent spiritualists, and wrote a book about it.

I have been trying to figure out which house in Omaha was his for quite a while. I'm fascinated by the guy.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:33 PM on March 1

No entry for Dai Vernon?! roomthreeseventeen is correct.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:43 PM on March 1 [2 favorites]

Rest easy, Johnny, Dai Vernon is there.

The absence of René Lavand, on the other hand, is inexcusable.
posted by rmxwl at 2:10 PM on March 1

Teller is obsessed with it.

And yet, Teller doesn't make the list.

At least it has Martin Gardner.
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:15 PM on March 1

Alan, Alan

Just yesterday I watched a video of Alan Alan being buried alive for an escape Houdini thought was too dangerous to perform & then being frantically dug up when he failed. Apparently Houdini was right.
posted by scalefree at 2:35 PM on March 1

That video was scary. Good to see the paparazzi keep on taking photos instead of helping out. /sarcasm
posted by arcticseal at 7:05 AM on March 2