Stage magic and illusion

The art of the conjurer: sleight of hand, the great illusions and the history of the stage.

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Stage magic is the art of the conjurer: sleight of hand, the great illusions, mentalism and the long history of the magic show. It differs from every other form here in one way. The audience knows it is a trick and agrees to be fooled, and the best performers are honest about that. This guide describes famous effects and the history of the art, and does not explain how any trick is done.

A short history

Jugglers and conjurers are recorded in ancient Egypt, Rome and China, and in medieval fairs. Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) is one early English book of conjuring, written partly to argue that witchcraft was a delusion. Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin made the modern stage show in Paris in the 1840s, Harry Houdini made escape an event, and the Las Vegas era turned illusions into spectacle. Skill, rehearsal and honest labour sit behind every effect, and a good performer can spend years on a single move.

Around the world

India has the street magicians and the old rope-and-basket stories of the jadu-wallah. China has a long tradition of acrobatic and conjuring theatre, and William Robinson, an American, took the stage name Chung Ling Soo and played a Chinese conjurer. Japan has tejina, the Edo-period art of sleight, and the Arab world has its own storytellers and street entertainers. Women performers faced fewer chances in the early stage trade and were often cast as assistants.

Honest deception

Magicians follow an informal code: do not expose methods to the public, do not repeat a trick to the same audience, and do not claim supernatural power. The code separates entertainment from fraud. Houdini and later James Randi spent years exposing mediums and faith healers who claimed real powers, believing that doing so protected the public. Ethical debates continue about the use of animals on stage, risky stunts and the borrowing of other cultures' costumes, and some famous acts have ended in accident or death, as with the bullet-catch trick that killed Chung Ling Soo in 1918.

Scholars and the brain

Researchers working with magicians study attention, memory and belief, and have shown how misdirection and cognitive illusions shape what people see. Stage magic has also been borrowed by fraudsters, notably in spiritualist seances of the nineteenth century, which is why performers and sceptics have long worked together. Performance, then, is the one form here where belief is not required of anyone, and that is why it can sit beside the rest of the guide without claiming to prove or disprove any of it.

Illusion on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreFire eating A performance art of extinguishing flames in the mouthIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Performed 🇮🇹 Italy and 3 moreJoseph Pinetti An eighteenth-century magician who brought illusion to the theatre and pioneered stage advertising.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaIndian rope trick A legendary stage illusion involving a levitating rope and a disappearing boy assistantIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇫🇷 France and 5 moreJean Eugène Robert-HoudinJean-Eugène Robert-Houdin A French clockmaker who elevated stage magic into a refined theatrical art.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 2 morePhantasmagoria A horror theatre using magic lanterns to project frightening images in the darkIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomEgyptian Hall A London exhibition hall known for magic shows and Egyptian-style architecture, demolished in 1905.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreDavenport brothers A pair of American stage magicians who performed spirit cabinet illusions in the late nineteenth century.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇫🇷 France and 5 moreBuatier De Kolta A French stage magician known for mechanical illusions and the vanishing chair.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇧🇪 BelgiumServais Le Roy A Belgian magician who designed classic illusions and performed in a famous trio act.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreChing Ling Foo金陵福 (Jīn Língfú) A Chinese stage magician who toured the United States and Europe in the late nineteenth centuryIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomIsaac Fawkes An English conjurer who moved magic from the fairground to fashionable London society.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreHarry Kellar An American illusionist known for large-scale stage magic and mechanical tricks.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇫🇷 France and 3 moreAlexander Herrmann A 19th-century magician known for sleight of hand and card throwingIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesHoward Thurston A stage magician who built the largest traveling magic show in historyIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomJohn Nevil Maskelyne A Victorian magician who exposed fraud and invented the pay toiletIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreChung Ling Soo程連蘇 An American stage magician who performed as a Chinese man and died during a bullet catch illusion.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomDavid Devant English magician and early film exhibitor known for witty stage presentationIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMetamorphosis A stage illusion where a magician and assistant instantly swap places inside a locked container.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreShell game A street swindle using covered containers to hide a marker while taking betsIllusion · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Living

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreCard throwing The performance art of launching playing cards with speed and precision as stage magic.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇦🇺 Australia and 5 moreSword swallowing A dangerous stage skill where a performer guides a blade down the throat into the stomachIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇨🇦 Canada and 1 moreInternational Brotherhood of Magicians A global organization for professional and amateur magicians founded in 1922.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSawing a woman in half A stage illusion where an assistant appears to be cut into pieces inside a box or on a tableIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇺🇸 United StatesSociety of American Magicians A global professional group for magicians that preserves the art and ethics of stage illusionIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreHorace Goldin A stage magician known for his fast style and the sawing illusion.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesSawing a lady in half (sample) A famous stage effect, described without its method.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Performed

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Indian rope trick: Anonymous Unknown author, CC0, source
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin: Carcharoth (Commons), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Shell game: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Fire eating: Arvind Jain, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Card throwing: Felbify, CC BY 3.0, source
Sword swallowing: Jeff Kubina, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Phantasmagoria: Alphonse de Neuville or A. Jahandier, Public domain, source
Sawing a woman in half: Jasper Maskelyne, Public domain, source
Society of American Magicians: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
Egyptian Hall: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Davenport brothers: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Isaac Fawkes: William Hogarth, Public domain, source
Harry Kellar: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Alexander Herrmann: Photographer unidentified, Public domain, source
Howard Thurston: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
John Nevil Maskelyne: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Chung Ling Soo: AndyScott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
David Devant: Simon Edwards Esq, CC BY-SA 4.0, source