Illusion as an Art - The Greatest Illusionists Ever

Fans and onlookers have regaled in the masterful art of illusion for centuries. Also known as magic, sleight of hand, trickery, legerdemain, and prestidigitation, the art of illusion is doing one thing while making it look like doing another. The idea is to make the crowd believe that a particular action has taken place. Examples that most people understand and have seen are:

the beautiful assistant being sawed in half or thirds
the performer pouring milk into a top hat and yet, when the hat is turned upside down, nothing pours out
a coin disappearing from the hand of the performer, and ending up behind someone else's ear, usually someone in the audience
a body levitating off a table, usually the assistant or the performer
a knife or sword pushed down the performer's throat

Illusionists are called a variety of names including magician, escape artist, escapologist, prestidigitator and wizard. Unfortunately, through the ages, they have also been known by the terms sorcerer, voodooist, witch, warlock, occultist and other terms that are now classified as generally derogatory to the profession. Of course, we also now know that many of these feats are pure illusion, devised for entertainment value, and are not real by any means.

Circuses, carnivals and traveling performances have always had magicians in their shows. The audiences loved to see their special feats and couldn't wait for the magicians and their fancily-clad assistants to appear. Individuals from the audience might even be allowed to participate which would be even more exciting for the crowd. But, as specific magicians become famous, they wanted to be known for themselves and began self-promoting by doing shows of their own and setting up performances venue to venue. Because of this exposure, magicians became legends and there are several people who readily come to mind when thinking about the greatest illusionists the world has ever known.

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin is not necessarily known to today's public as a great magician, but according to history, he is considered the Father of Modern Magic. He made magic more acceptable and appealing to the upper class when he chose to perform for private parties, instead of in the streets or at fairs like other magicians. His skill as a watchmaker proved advantageous to his act when he remarkably used electromagnetism to keep items in place.

Harry Houdini

Without doubt, Harry Houdini is the undisputed champion of magicians. Even today, he is still revered and considered the greatest magician of all times. His specialty was escaping, despite the fact that his earliest most successful feat was swallowing a bunch of needles and thread and then, bringing them back up again. As a real hit, this trick remained part of his act throughout his whole career. But, when he decided to try out a new act letting the audience provide handcuffs from which he extracted himself, he went on to become the legend he is today.

Eventually, his acts became more and more dangerous with Houdini chained and handcuffed in water, tied up in a strait jacket hanging upside down, and placed in a container all tied up then thrown into the river. He was famous for walking through a brick wall, escaping from a milk can, and surviving being buried alive, all of which were staples of his shows.

Howard Thurston

Howard Thurston billed himself as "Thurston, World's Famous Magician". Performing around the same time as Houdini, he was actually more famous then, and he had the largest traveling entourage of the magic acts of his time. His specialty involved the use of playing cards and being able to choose the exact same cards the audience members chose.

David Copperfield

Moving forward to today, if you ask children about their favorite magician, they are most likely to respond with David Copperfield. His feats have earned him eleven Guinness Book Record titles, over twenty-one Emmy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He also holds the honor of being the youngest person, at age twelve, to be admitted to the Society of American Magicians, an organization of which Houdini served as president, also receiving a distinction of having served the longest at nine years.

Copperfield, who has a wide base of television fans, as well as huge sold-out audiences for his regular performances, is known for the Disappearance of the Statue of Liberty, Walking Through the Great Wall of China, escaping sure death over Niagara Falls when he unlocked and removed the chains in which he was shackled, and incredibly, living through a burning ring of fire upside down and completely restrained in a strait jacket. He is so popular that his ticket sales far exceeded greats like Michael Jackson and Elvis.

Lance Burton

Sleight of hand expert, Lance Burton, is best known and loved by Nevadans who consistently voted him "Best Magician" for eleven years. As a fourteen-year fixture at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas, the theater in which he performed was named after him. Ending his show in 2010, Burton has performed as a magician to live audiences since 1977 when he won his first prize. The year 1980 was important as he earned the Gold Medal for Excellence. He is called the most traditional of all magicians, and has won the Academy of Magical Arts prestigious award, "Magician of the Year", appeared on The Tonight Show several times, and wowed audiences with the use of ten-million dollars of gold in one his most famous tricks celebrating his tenth anniversary at the resort hotel.

Other illusionists who have proved hugely popular in more recent times are:

Doug Henning who passed away in 2000, is said to have revived modern magic shows, and was the impetus for many of today's performers
Penn and Teller, who have been performing magic together since the late 1970s, have a unique show that relies on story telling through mime and comedy, sometimes considered adult material due to the gory nature of the events
David Blaine who, in 2006, spent a week in a human fishbowl within public view outside Lincoln Center in Manhattan, trying to break the world record for holding one's breath, and Siegfried and Roy, the most successful of Las Vegas acts, and known for their stunning magic shows including wild animals such as the majestic white tiger, white lion, and the Asian elephant, made their formal Farewell Appearance in 2010.

Despite the fact that we know magic to be illusion, we still must concede that precision art and exacting skills are involved in the tricks. The very fact that these famous illusionists have put their lives on the line by submersing their bodies in water, sand and fire is a testament to their incredulous stamina and expertise.

As a huge fan of illustionists and magic in general I read a lot about it. Regularly you come across some sites with incorrect or inaccurate information, and that's why I tried to give you a short list of the better sources on the web. Enjoy reading!