Wonder and entertainment
Illusion, sleight of hand and the pleasure of being fooled.
Wonder and entertainment is the aim of the stage magician: to astonish an audience who knows it is being fooled. Conjuring, illusion, mentalism and street magic belong here, from the cups and balls of ancient Rome to Robert-Houdin, Houdini, Harry Kellar, P. C. Sorcar of India, Siegfried and Roy, and David Copperfield. This page covers the art, its history and its ethics, and does not reveal how any trick is done.
The art of the honest lie
A magician promises a trick and delivers astonishment. The pleasure comes from the gap between what is seen and what is known. Performers speak of misdirection, timing, patter and showmanship. Magicians also keep an informal rule not to expose methods, so that audiences can keep the pleasure and the craft keeps its livelihood. This is the most open part of the subject, in which no one is asked to believe.
Where it is performed
Magic has always had a street and a stage. In India, P. C. Sorcar Sr. (1913 to 1971) toured the world and became a national name. In China and Japan, conjuring was part of variety theatre and a distinct craft. In the Arab world and the Ottoman empire, performers worked in coffee houses and fairs. In the West, the music hall, the television special and the Las Vegas show carried the art into mass entertainment.
Who is welcome
For much of its history, the profession was dominated by men, with women as assistants, though performers such as Adelaide Herrmann broke the pattern. Racial stereotypes shaped acts: Western performers played Chinese or Indian magicians in costume, and Chung Ling Soo's disguise was a famous case. Today, magicians from many countries and women performers are widely visible. Magicians from Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Nigeria now work on global stages and in festivals, and a few have become well known beyond their borders.
Entertainers against fraud
Houdini and James Randi spent years exposing mediums and faith healers who claimed real powers, arguing that honest conjurers protect the public. Scholars of the mind use magic to study attention, memory and belief. The boundary matters: claiming genuine supernatural power for a trick and charging for it is fraud, not entertainment. As the code puts it, the trick can be admired and enjoyed without the secret being known, and children and adults alike keep that pleasure.
Wonder and entertainment on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇺🇸 United States and 1 morePunxsutawney Phil
A groundhog who serves as the central figure in an annual American weather prediction festival.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇺🇸 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
🇺🇸 United StatesHoward Thurston
A stage magician who built the largest traveling magic show in historyIllusion · 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
🇨🇦 Canada and 1 moreInternational Brotherhood of Magicians
A global organization for professional and amateur magicians founded in 1922.Illusion · 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 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 2 moreSéance
A gathering to communicate with spirits, ranging from religious services to stage performances.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Living
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreHarry Kellar
An American illusionist known for large-scale stage magic and mechanical tricks.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesPenn & Teller
A long-running American magic duo known for comedy acts and skeptical advocacyIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇮🇳 IndiaStreet magic
Public performance of illusions for passersby, from traditional busking to impromptu guerrilla tricksIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreCups and balls
A classic stage illusion where objects vanish and reappear under inverted coversIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇺🇸 United StatesSawing a lady in half (sample)
A famous stage effect, described without its method.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Performed
🇨🇦 CanadaSpoon bending
A magic trick and paranormal claim involving the deformation of metal cutleryBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesBed of nails
A wooden platform studded with nails used in magic acts and physics demonstrationsIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Performed
🇺🇸 United StatesDavid Copperfield's laser illusion
A stage trick where a magician appears to be sliced by a beam of light and reassembled.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesHot foil trick
A stage illusion where foil heats and burns in a volunteer's handIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreMagic
A performance art using natural means to create the appearance of impossible featsIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇺🇸 United StatesPolka-dot paint
A stage magic trick and a real paint product that creates dotted patternsSubstance · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaBalzac Billy
A groundhog-costumed mascot that forecasts the weather on Groundhog Day in Alberta.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreOrigami (magic trick)
A stage illusion where a person vanishes into and reappears from a folding paper boxIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Performed
🇺🇸 United StatesHail Satan
A Satanic exclamation used as ritual greeting, rebel cry, and pop-culture punchlineBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Living
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreZombie walk
A public gathering where people dress as zombies to walk through city streets for entertainment or charityIllusion · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Street magic: Hieronymus Bosch and workshop / Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch / After H, Public domain, source
- Spoon bending: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bed of nails: Herbert Ponting, Public domain, source
- Society of American Magicians: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Séance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Penn & Teller: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CC BY 2.0, source
- Punxsutawney Phil: Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0, source
- Zombie walk: tangi bertin, CC BY 2.0, source
- Harry Kellar: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Chung Ling Soo: AndyScott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hail Satan: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, source
- Howard Thurston: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Davenport brothers: Unknown author, Public domain, source