WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Who Does the Real Magic: Magicians, or Assistants? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.600 Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.520 brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic episode from 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:13.440 our archives. I love stage magic and sleight of hand 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.640 precisely because I know that it's fake, but that doesn't 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.360 always mean that I know how it's done. It creates 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.880 a space of curiosity for me. In this episode, we 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.439 go behind the scenes of stage magic to talk about 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:31.440 the relationship of magicians to their assistance. Hey brain Stuff, 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:35.720 Lauren Vogebam Here. In magic industry, lingo magicians, assistants are 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.159 called box jumpers because to the audience, that's all the 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:43.199 lovely assistant appears to do. She's there to distract the audience. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.159 You know, look pretty, smile big, and wave her hands around, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.080 then pop out from the padlocked box precisely when the 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.880 magician says tada. But magic insiders know the real story. 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:56.480 When the trunk lid closes, the sheet is raised, or 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.000 the saw is lowered into the box, it's often the 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.560 assistant who does the real magic of the illusion, releasing 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.080 the latch on the false bottom and cramming herself into 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.839 a two foot space while executing her third costume change 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.080 of the evening, all before the guy in the top hat, 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:14.800 says Tada. Although magic is undeniably a male dominated profession 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.160 if you only look at the name on the marquis, 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.040 those who know the most about the stagecraft behind the 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.640 magician assistant relationship say that the industry isn't as sexist 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.880 as it might appear. Blair Baron, who co produced the 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.320 two thousand eight documentary Women in Boxes about the Unsung 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.120 Magician's Assistant, explains that onstage, both the magician and the 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.360 assistant are playing roles, roles that artfully play off of 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:42.080 the audience's gendered expectations. Baron says the biggest misconception is 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:46.000 that the magician's assistants are marginalized, objectified bimbos, if you will, 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:50.040 who are deferring to some guy, when actually, in my experience, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:52.600 they are the brains behind a lot of the illusions. 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.720 Baron would know. She married into one of the royal 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.440 families of magic. Her husband, Dante Larson, is the son 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.080 of ire and Bill Larson Jr. Two of the co 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.280 founders of The Magic Castle in Hollywood, the world's pre 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.480 eminent magic club, and Irene, who passed away in twenty sixteen, 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.880 was herself an accomplished magician's assistant in her day, Baron 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.960 says that Irene and her generation of assistants doubled as 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.200 the business brands of the operation, keeping track of finances 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:24.000 and booking appearances. And although they played integral roles in 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.520 both the planning and execution of allusions, these old school 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.440 assistants never wanted to steal the spotlight from the magician 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.919 off in their husband by billing themselves as equal partners. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.280 Modern magicians assistants see their roles a little differently. Hannah 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.080 Lynn Wagster is half of the South Carolina based duo 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.680 The Wagster's Magic and Illusion, who perform a weekly show 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:48.200 at the Carolina Opry Theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.919 Hannah is still primarily the one who gets locked in 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.760 the boxes, but says that she and her husband Brandon 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.920 are very much equal partners on and off the stage. 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.320 Hannah considers herself a magician, not just an assistant, and 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.040 does a few solo tricks in the act. She also 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.359 runs the show backstage, giving technical and lighting cues to 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.480 stage managers and making sure the next illusion is lined 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.679 up and squared away. But Hannah admits that at the 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.240 end of the day. Her primary role on stage is 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.360 quote to make sure the magician looks good, which often 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.720 means contorting herself into tight spaces or dangling from high 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.079 wires without giving the audience a clue about how incredibly 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.280 difficult it all is or how many bruises, scrapes and 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.760 sprained ankles she's endured along the way. And despite her 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.800 husband's efforts to give Hannah equal billing and equal credit 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.400 on stage, the audience often can't see behind the traditional 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:44.120 magician assistant divide. Hannah says after shows, folks always want 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.200 to talk to Brandon and congratulate him on his magic. 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.520 They'll literally push me aside. We also spoke with Dean Carnegie, 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.680 a veteran stage magician and the magic historian behind the 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.480 blog The Magic Detective. He explains that the first magician's 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.160 assistants were the product of new school of magic that 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.000 emerged in the mid nineteenth century called the Illusionists. In 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.360 the eighteen fifties, pioneering French conjurors Jean Eugene Robert Houdin, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:13.000 the inspiration for Houdini's stage name, and Boutier de Culta, 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:17.000 created startling illusions that involved the levitation or disappearance of 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:21.240 a second person and assistant. Carnegie says Robert Houdine's first 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.240 assistant was his young son, but as more illusionists entered 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:29.040 the game, the assistants were invariably female. Women. It turned out, 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.400 were much more effective victims in the minds of the audience. 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.720 When a woman was in peril, it raised the emotional steaks, 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.320 and that still seems to be true, says Baron. She said, 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:41.920 they've tried to reverse it and have the female be 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:43.960 the magician in the alpha role and the man be 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.440 the assistant, and it doesn't work. No one cares. Magic 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.760 trends come and go, and for the moment, the bigger 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.480 names and magic are focusing on close up card tricks 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.600 and mind reading, which don't require assistance, or at least 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.560 not visible ones. But there are plenty of acts like 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.800 the Way Ugsters, who still wow with set piece illusions 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:07.360 executed with precision choreography. Baron, who now runs the Los 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.760 Angeles Drama Club, a Shakespeare program for kids, reminds us 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.600 that what the audience sees on stage is itself a 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.320 play within a play. She said, the assistants are winking 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.760 at you. It's all very tongue in cheek because it's 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:29.839 trickery and illusion. Today's episode is based on the article 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.440 is the Lovely Assistant the Real Magician on hous to 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.320 works dot com written by Dave Roose. Brain Stuff is 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.760 production of by Heart Radio in partnership with houseworks dot 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.159 com and it's produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey. Out 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.919 four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.560 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:46.280 favorite shows.