For centuries magic has been referred to as stage magic because it involves entertaining an audience through staging elaborate illusion which makes the impossible seem possible. Those who participate in the staging of these elaborate illusions are called magicians. Learning the history of stage magic begins with understanding where the word magic is derived from. The word is derived from the Latin word magi that refers to Zoroastrians. Zoroastrians in modern times are referred to as conjurers who use magic to communicate with the spiritual realm. The use of illusions have longed been in practice long before it received recognition before it became stage magic. Some of the ancient Roman battles were won through the art of illusions such as the Trojan horse.
The Trojan horse was thought to be a gift for a king but within the wooden horse carried a small army. A man by the name of Reginald Scot published a book which discredited, the name of his book was called “The Discoveries of Witchcraft” it was published in 1584. In his book he claimed that witches possessed no spiritual power rather their spells and powers were merely preformed through illusions. Reginald’s book is often thought to be one of the first books that addressed the issue of magic as witchcraft.
The earliest record that we have of theatricals magic performances is in the year 1756 to 1781. The first magician to have performed is man by the name of Jacob Philadelphia although he operated under the guise of a scientist. In 1805 a clock marker opened up Paris’s first magic theatre, his illusions involved mechanical atonements which seemed to move all by themselves.
Following the success of Paris’s magic theatre British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cookie opened their own theatre to perform magic tricks in, the name of their theatre was called the Egyptian Hall it was located in London’s Piccadilly. The definitive look of a magician was set by Alexander Hermann in 1884. Magicians of those days usually grown their hair out and wore a black hat and matching tailor coat.
One of the great perhaps the greatest magicians of all time was Harry Houdini. Houdini was famous for his elaborate near death escapes. It was these very near death escapes which eventually claimed his life when he failed to escape from being submerged in a tank of water bound in a strait jacket. Magicians of the twentieth century and up specialize in the following techniques:
- Production – this occurs when we magician perform such tricks as pulling a rabbit from a hat, generating cards from thin air and performing other something from nothing illusions.
- Vanishing – this technique is self-explanatory, this is when magician make an object disappear in plain sight
- Transformation & Restoration – this is the act of teleporting one object from one place to another. Sometimes magicians use themselves. Restoration is when a magician destroys an object and repairs it on the spot.
There you have it a brief history of stage magic, if you are seeking to learn more about different forms of magic and magic practices there are multiple resources which can help you available online.