Other videos – James Randi and Steve Novella

Online magic performance Description: The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin (1896). Robert Houdin was a French magician and illusionist. He doesn’t appear in this early experiment, but his name is loaned to one of the first illusions on film provided by Georges Melies. Melies himself said that this was the first film in which he used stop motion – a process in which illusions could be performed by stopping his camera, rearranging the set, and then starting the camera again, to give the illusion that items and people have either appeared or disappeared. In this film, an elegantly dressed woman sits in a chair while the magician drapes her with a shroud. The magician removes the shroud and the woman has disappeared. He makes a few gestures and voila! He returns – a skeleton??? Oh the horror!. So he brings the shroud back into the act, covers the skeleton, and the entire woman and her clothes are recovered. Wherever the woman went, the clothes MUST follow! After all this is literally the Victorian era even though it is France. The magician was played by Georges Melies himself, and the woman was played by Jehanne d’Alcy. D’alcy appeared in numerous Melies films over the years, having left the theater to devote herself to film acting, one of the first actors to do this. The two got married, but oddly not until 1925 when D’Alcy was 60 and Melies was 64. They were married until his death in 1938. Also listed this in the social media magic category, as i guess this would be the first social media magic film.

Online magic performance Description: Robert Houdin’s Antonio Diavolo In the video he states- no electronic systems. Same as it was 140 years ago. Audience actually interacts with an awww when he does the leg hold on the bar. Just shows you people want to believe.

Online magic performance Description: David Devant, performing magic with trick photography, pulling bunnies out of a hat. Born David Wighton in Holloway, London. He was an English magician, shadowgraphist and film exhibitor. He was a member of the famous Maskelyne & Cook company and performed regularly at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London. In 1905 he became a partner with John Nevil Maskelyne. Devant introduced the theatrograph into the show, acquiring one of the first projectors ever made out of his own pocket. David Devant was the author of several manuals on conjuring, including Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic with John Nevil Maskelyne (1911).David Devant was an inventor and performer whose stature as a stage entertainer had himself billed three times for Royal Command Performances. The wit of his patter marked a departure from the pseudo scientific angle taken by many of his earlier predecssors. His humour can still delight by reading the stage lines he includes in the book he wrote with partner John Neville Maskelyne, Our Magic. The Magic Circle in London has used his name for their magic theater. Even though they kicked David out of Circle twice! Both times for articles from his books were published in magazines of the day which they considered exposure. The more controversial ousting was following publication of his book Secrets of Magic in 1936, when he was in the Putney Home for the Incurables. However he was let back again about a year later when the hierarchy agreed he should be readmitted. “David Devant, most British magicians agree, was the master performer of his time” according to Milbourne Christopher in his standard textbook on conjuring history, Panorama of Magic. Devant is remembered as the consummate exponent of entertaining magical theatre. He was the first President of both The British Magical Society and The Magic Circle. The Magic Circle celebrates Devant by using his name for their function room in the Headquarters in London. David lived 22 February 1868 – 13 October 1941. For more on his film connections.