Abstract
Stage magicians of the nineteenth century seized upon newest technologies, materials, and inventions, combining mechanization, romantic wonder, and techniques of the body. Rein argues that the disappearance of any means facilitating the illusions is an essential characteristic of stage conjuring. They are negated in favour of the created effect, which, in turn, is emphasized. Similar to several media theoreticians’ argument that media have a tendency to disappear behind the message they transmit, magicians’ media disappear behind the effect they create. This disappearance is the very basis of any grand illusion. As a media dispositif, the magician’s stage thus reflects its own media usage. By focusing on the iconic stage illusion “Vanishing Lady” this chapter analyses this central quality of conjuring with regard to other selected examples from its Golden Age.
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Notes
- 1.
Jim Steinmeyer assumes a Golgen Age from 1845 to 1936 (Steinmeyer 2005). For Mike Caveney and David Charvet it starts in the 1880s (Caveney 2009; Charvet 1997, 57). The latter is a US-centric perspective, which considers Harry Kellar’s and Alexander Herrmann’s careers in the United States as the beginning. It has to be remembered that periodizations are always problematic since they suggest singular events as beginning or starting points, and often fail to reflect earlier influences and processes. However, they are useful for the sake of communication. The one proposed by Steinmeyer seems more convincing since it takes into account the influence of the Egyptian Hall on Herrmann and Kellar as well as, in turn, the importance of the Théâtre Robert-Houdin for the Egyptian Hall.
- 2.
On the definition of an illusion in magicians’ terms see “illusion”, in Whaley (2007, 474–475).
- 3.
On magic as compensation see During (2002, 62–64).
- 4.
All of these examples are examined in length in my forthcoming doctoral dissertation.
- 5.
Hoffmann’s More Magic contains an exposé of “The Vanishing Lady” (Hoffmann 1890, 448–456).
- 6.
“Medien wirken wie Fensterscheiben: Sie werden ihrer Aufgabe um so besser gerecht, je durchsichtiger sie bleiben, je unauffälliger sie unterhalb der Schwelle unserer Aufmerksamkeit verharren. Nur im Rauschen, das aber ist in der Störung oder gar im Zusammenbrechen ihres reibungslosen Dienstes, bringt das Medium selbst sich in Erinnerung. Die unverzerrte Botschaft hingegen macht das Medium nahezu unsichtbar” (translation: KR).
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Rein, K. (2019). Vanishing Technology: Transparency of Media in Stage Magic. In: Wynants, N. (eds) Media Archaeology and Intermedial Performance. Avant-Gardes in Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99576-2_4
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