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Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 20th, 2018, 8:20 pm
by Riversky
Magicians don't usually reveal their secrets — but one of the world's most famous magicians — David Copperfield — just did.

https://www.npr.org/2018/04/20/60442393 ... t-to-trick

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 20th, 2018, 9:28 pm
by Richard Kaufman
No, he didn't reveal the secret.

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 21st, 2018, 4:30 am
by observer
The real point is, never ask a spec to do anything more demanding than selecting a card and remembering it.

And even then, have them hold the card up for the rest of the audience to see, so that when they freak out at the idea of being on stage and forget it, at least a few people will know what it was.

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 21st, 2018, 7:33 am
by performer
Alas you only have to reveal part of the secret for laymen to be satisfied that they know all there is to know. Come to think of it I don't think I would relish rushing through unfamiliar terrain either. I can quite see someone slipping and hurting themselves. I am surprised it hasn't happened already. Mind you it probably has and we haven't heard about it.

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 21st, 2018, 12:57 pm
by Christopher1979
performer wrote:Alas you only have to reveal part of the secret for laymen to be satisfied that they know all there is to know. Come to think of it I don't think I would relish rushing through unfamiliar terrain either. I can quite see someone slipping and hurting themselves. I am surprised it hasn't happened already. Mind you it probably has and we haven't heard about it.


Not really related, but, what you said made me think of a YouTube clip of the sawing a women in half trick. The women had problems in the box and the magician really did "saw a women in half"...... Disturbing to say the least.... :!:

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 21st, 2018, 8:23 pm
by Brad Henderson
Richard Kaufman wrote:No, he didn't reveal the secret.



on the news segment i saw they stated that the volunteers were substituted with stage hands before taking them out the back and down corridors etc. They even aired the video footage of them making that trip.

it certainly wasn’t everything, but it also wasn’t
nothing.

unless you are making the argument that it wasn’t dc per se who did the revealing per se

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 22nd, 2018, 1:16 pm
by erdnasephile
I'm not sure why the media is so breathless over the alleged reveal. The GMA correspondent I saw said something like: "They don't really disappear...they run to the back of the theater through passageways!"

Well...duh.

It's sort of frightening if there are really people out there who were shocked at this.

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: April 22nd, 2018, 5:30 pm
by performer
I think the secret of the trick was already out there even before this incident happened. Presumably this trick has been performed hundreds of times over the years and hundreds of people have taken this little run and afterwards told their friends what happened. So hundreds know how it is done already. Not quite as bad as You Tube exposure but bad enough. This is what happens when you use stooges which is what those audience members ended up being.

I am not the judge or jury here but running down dark passageways and unfamiliar terrain where construction has been going on is asking for trouble.

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: June 1st, 2018, 3:24 am
by EndersGame
Richard Kaufman wrote:No, he didn't reveal the secret.

On the positive side, it's great that they consulted you and quoted you Mr Kaufman!

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: June 2nd, 2018, 6:42 pm
by performer
I have been informed by a highly irritated Mr Dickens in the spirit world that David Kotkin is not the only entertainer who has stolen the title of his book and used it as a stage name. Here is another chap doing the same thing. Some might say he is more entertaining than Mr Kotkin. He is certainly funnier and a better ventriloquist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0tylk6JKk4

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: June 2nd, 2018, 11:03 pm
by Richard Kaufman
Wayne Dobson did a fabulous version of that bit. It was hysterical.

Edited to correct Wayne Rogers to Wayne Dobson. Argh!

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: June 3rd, 2018, 4:30 am
by AJM
The ‘vent’ David Copperfield found fame in the 80’s in a BBC sketch show called Three of a Kind, which also starred (Sir) Lenny Henry and Tracey Ullman. While the latter pair went on to bigger and better things, the British DC disappeared into obscurity.

Wayne Dobson also used to do a similar piece in his act as I recall.

Feel free to delete this post if considered off-topic.

Andrew

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: June 3rd, 2018, 6:41 am
by Max Maven
Richard Kaufman wrote:Wayne Rogers did a fabulous version of that bit. It was hysterical.


You’re misremembering: that was Wayne Dobson.

The bit has been used by many vents. I recall a very good rendition by the excellent French ventriloquist Georges Schlick.

Contrary to Mark Lewis’ proclamation, the bit precedes Britain’s Dennis Spicer in the 1950s.

Although it is probably older, the earliest reference of which I’m aware is, surprisingly, by an American not thought of as a vent: Lord Buckley, who was doing his version in the 1940s. He called the routine “The Chairs.”

Re: Copperfield Forced To Reveal Secret To Trick

Posted: June 3rd, 2018, 6:10 pm
by observer
AJM wrote:The ‘vent’ David Copperfield found fame in the 80’s in a BBC sketch show called Three of a Kind, which also starred (Sir) Lenny Henry and Tracey Ullman. While the latter pair went on to bigger and better things, the British DC disappeared into obscurity.

Andrew


Born Stanley Barlow. Doing speaking now perhaps? A link from 2015:

http://comedians4u.co.uk/comedian/david ... #more-8548