Magic Moments in a Cynical Age

This in-depth article courtesy of Canada. com ....

"Now in his 50th year, he's been performing professionally since he was 12. One of the world's highest-paid entertainers, he has grossed more than $1 billion over the past decade. He's walked through the Great Wall of China, plunged over Niagara Falls, levitated across the Grand Canyon and "vanished" various enormous objects, most famously the Statue of Liberty.

But while Copperfield may have no peers as a stage magician, he's hardly the only person whose prestidigitation attracts a crowd. The International Brotherhood of Magicians now boasts nearly 15,000 members in more than 73 countries.

Along with Copperfield, magicians such as Penn and Teller and David Blaine earn handsome livings doing the seemingly impossible. Others toil anonymously but profitably at corporate gatherings and events. And still others conjure for tips in restaurants and other public spaces.

After languishing on the margins of popular entertainment for much of the 20th century, magic has settled firmly in the mainstream since the 1970s, when Canadian Doug Henning almost single-handedly revived the art.

The mystery is why? Why, in a cynical age, when we are bombarded by the real-world wonders that science and technology routinely churn out, do we pony up major coin to watch someone deceive us, albeit with panache?

The Amazing Kreskin, the celebrated mentalist, has an answer..."

Read it HERE..