Word: magics
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...with a glandular condition. The film's plot--a vaguely confusing story about gun-running--is mildly compelling and tangentially political. This is the confrontation between the matured Bogie and the teen-aged Lauren Bacall. She's just as tough-assed as he is, and the combination is pure magic...
Even more popular than the effects is the vast array of magic literature. Some dozen magazines promise knowledge that only the ancients possessed. Perhaps the least savory is Chaos, a Canadian publication devoted to blue magic-a handkerchief under its direction can easily be folded into the shape of female genitalia. The most conscientious is the brilliantly edited monthly the Pallbearers Review. Despite its name, the Review is a shrewd, technical publication that separates the amateurs from the prose. Editor Karl Fulves has no patience with those who boast of occult powers, and specializes in explaining the mechanics...
...better known: Will Rogers, who had a trick secreted in a pocket when his body was lifted from a plane crash; the late literary critic Edmund Wilson, who fooled his dinner guests with effects; Gary Grant, who likes to perform as the Great Carini at meetings at the Magic Castle...
Currently, the biggest name in the business is also the newest: Doug Henning. Dressed like a counterculture urchin, the possessor of a small voice and a stature that makes a pencil appear mesomorphic, Henning has proved that the magic boom is bankable-his show grosses some $60,000 per week. At 17, too young to perform in the nightclubs of his native Winnipeg, he flew to Barbados, where he acquired a motorcycle and a sign: MAGICIAN. HAVE RABBIT, WILL TRAVEL. He roamed the island, picking up work as he went. Seven years later, after earning a degree in psychology...
...polished as Henning is, The Magic Show's success lies not with the star but with ourselves. In an epoch of uncertainty, people need a fraud they can believe in. Magic, with its cheerful promise of mountebankery, offers a kind of low comic relief. An audience that is fooled invariably laughs, delighted that its attention has been misdirected. To Magician-Historian Robert Lund, it is "a rebellion against science." To James Randi, it is "a sign that our society is still healthy. When people stop being enthralled by a magician who can make a lady vanish, it will mean...