Comments on: The War Magician

The War Magician

amyms — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:35:21 -0800

"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.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:06:09 -0800

Thanks! I remember reading about Maskelyne's exploits in The Linking Ring back in the 70s, and was always fascinated by the ingenuity.

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:18:19 -0800

What's with magicians and facial hair? Are they convenient places to hide things?

By: milestogo

milestogo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:20:51 -0800

cool!

By: Billegible

Billegible — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:21:33 -0800

Spiderskull: probably.

By: gsteff

gsteff — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:22:33 -0800

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.

By: nzero

nzero — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:51:21 -0800

Oh, this isn't about Jonathan Strange?

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:51:32 -0800

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.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:06:45 -0800

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.

By: DU

DU — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:25:34 -0800

Just make sure to put the river back afterwards.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 06:19:25 -0800

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.

By: PontifexPrimus

PontifexPrimus — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:58:49 -0800

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.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 09:00:29 -0800

I've heard that his exploits have been vastly exaggerated by him and others A magician exaggerating his exploits? The hell you say!

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:31:43 -0800

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.

By: ArkhanJG

ArkhanJG — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:35:40 -0800

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.

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:59:26 -0800

So that's the bastard who invented the pay toilet!