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Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to
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Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear Paperback - 2004

by Jim Steinmeyer; Foreword by Teller

Now in paperback comes Steinmeyer's astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians.


From the publisher

Now in paperback comes Jim Steinmeyer's astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians. Lauded by today's finest magicians and critics, Hiding the Elephant is a cultural history of the efforts among legendary conjurers to make things materialize, levitate, and disappear. Steinmeyer unveils the secrets and life stories of the fascinating personalities behind optical marvels such as floating ghosts interacting with live actors, disembodied heads, and vanishing ladies. He demystifies Pepper's Ghost, Harry Kellar's Levitation of Princess Karnak, Charles Morritt's Disappearing Donkey, and Houdini's landmark vanishing of Jennie the elephant in 1918. The dramatic mix of science and history, with revealing diagrams, photographs and magicians' portraits by William Stout, provides a glimpse behind the curtain at the backstage story of magic.

First line

At the height of his career, during the longest continuous theatrical run of his lifetime, Harry Houdini boldly marched to the edge of the stage at the New York Hippodrome and propelled his voice across the footlights to an expectant crowd of 5200 people, announcing his newest headline-making innovation.

Details

  • Title Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear
  • Author Jim Steinmeyer; Foreword by Teller
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 362
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Da Capo Press, New York
  • Date 2004-09-15
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780786714018 / 0786714018
  • Weight 0.8 lbs (0.36 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.3 x 5.55 x 1.08 in (21.08 x 14.10 x 2.74 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Magicians, Magic - History
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2011381849
  • Dewey Decimal Code 793.8

About the author

Jim Steinmeyer has invented many of the famous illusions used by leading magicians from Ricky Jay to Siegfried & Roy. He created David Copperfield's vanish of the Statue of Liberty and has also designed magic for six Broadway shows and many other productions, including Mary Poppins, currently playing in London's West End. He is the author of Hiding the Elephant, the Los Angeles Times bestseller, which Teller hailed as "a radiant celebration of the genius, glamour, and gargantuan egos of stage magic." Steinmeyer has researched and rediscovered many great illusions of the past and has written numerous technical books on magic history and the techniques of magic. He lectures on these subjects and is a contributing editor to Magic magazine, the leading independent magazine for magicians. In addition, Steinmeyer has served as consultant and producer for magic television specials in the United States and Great Britain, and was a writer and producer for the A&E network's four-hour history of the art, The Story of Magic. For several years, he served as a consultant and concept designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, developing theme park attractions for The Walt Disney Company. Jim Steinmeyer lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Frankie Glass, an independent television producer.
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Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear
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Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear

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Hiding the Elephant : How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear

by Steinmeyer, Jim

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Hiding the Elephant : How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear

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