The War Magician
March 1, 2008 7:35 PM   Subscribe

"You want to do WHAT?" said the British Army – or as their oh-so-polite upper crust officers probably put it: "Sorry, ol’ chap, but we don’t seem to have an urgent need for magicians right at this very moment." But Jasper Maskelyne proved to be very useful. Tales of his service are a mixture of fact and legend. First link via.
posted by amyms (15 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Thanks! I remember reading about Maskelyne's exploits in The Linking Ring back in the 70s, and was always fascinated by the ingenuity.
posted by The Deej at 8:06 PM on March 1, 2008


What's with magicians and facial hair? Are they convenient places to hide things?
posted by spiderskull at 8:18 PM on March 1, 2008


cool!
posted by milestogo at 9:20 PM on March 1, 2008


Spiderskull: probably.
posted by Billegible at 9:21 PM on March 1, 2008


Great story. The account of the construction of the fake trucks and water pipes at El Alamein reminds me of the mannequin parachuters that were used to "invade" Calais to draw attention from Normandy in Operation Foritude. Also of Cryponomicon, natch.
posted by gsteff at 9:22 PM on March 1, 2008


Oh, this isn't about Jonathan Strange?
posted by nzero at 9:51 PM on March 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


What's with magicians and facial hair?

Many British men had a similarly hairy upper lip in those days. He was just being normal.

But more generally, magicians used face fur (real or artificial) as stage makeup, as an easy way to look a bit exotic -- if he looks like the usher who led you to your seat, you'll have a harder time believing he knows the ancient Indian secret of levitation or whatever it is he's selling that night. And if you're watching his face, his fingers can more easily get up to mischief.
posted by pracowity at 11:51 PM on March 1, 2008


I remember a great documentary about Maskelyne (probably the Channel 4 one linked to). It was presented by a contemporary magician and they re-created some of his 'tricks' and showed how effective they would be.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:06 AM on March 2, 2008


Just make sure to put the river back afterwards.
posted by DU at 3:25 AM on March 2, 2008 [1 favorite]


I've heard that his exploits have been vastly exaggerated by him and others, but I don't know if there's any historical consensus about this.
posted by languagehat at 6:19 AM on March 2, 2008


languagehat: "I've heard that his exploits have been vastly exaggerated by him and others, but I don't know if there's any historical consensus about this."

If you're interested in that type of thing you might want to look at Masquerade: The amazing camouflage deceptions of World War II by Seymour Reit. Even though its tone is a bit jingoistic (and the evil Germans use nasty trickery and deceit while the noble Englishmen use cunning and clever deceptions) it's a pretty good researched overview over the tactics employed and an analysis of their effectiveness.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 7:58 AM on March 2, 2008


I've heard that his exploits have been vastly exaggerated by him and others

A magician exaggerating his exploits? The hell you say!
posted by The Deej at 9:00 AM on March 2, 2008 [1 favorite]


I've heard that his exploits have been vastly exaggerated by him and others.

The third link goes into great detail investigating and debunking a lot of the claims. The problem is that I doubt the doubter. He relies alot on letters from his son, and in one of the letters his son explains how he disowned his father after he remarried soon after his mother died of cancer. Not exactly an objective source.

I like the idea presented in this link that maybe the British were engaging in their own Magician showmanship. Maybe they wanted the Germans to know that they had hired this renowned magician with amazing capabilities of deception, so that they would then doubt a lot of their reconnaissance, even when it was accurate.

The British were masters at playing mind games like this.
posted by eye of newt at 10:31 AM on March 2, 2008 [1 favorite]


or as their oh-so-polite upper crust officers probably put it: "Sorry, ol’ chap, but we don’t seem to have an urgent need for magicians right at this very moment."

For heaven's sake; British people, even army officers, don't still talk like we're living in a 1940's war movie. Oh... It's about what? Err. As you were, carry on.
posted by ArkhanJG at 11:35 AM on March 2, 2008


So that's the bastard who invented the pay toilet!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:59 AM on March 2, 2008


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