Levitation: Physics And Psychology In The Service Of Deception - Softcover

Ottaviani, Jim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0978803701 ISBN 13: 9780978803704

Publisher: G.T. Labs, 2007

Synopsis

Levitation tells the story of the most dazzling gravity-defying illusion ever performed on stage, and features a cast of characters that seems almost too good to be true: John Neville Maskelyne, the very proper scientist-magician and the trick's inventor; Harry Kellar, the brash American who fails to buy the illusion, so steals it instead; Howard Thurston, the handsome and charismatic performer who inherits the act from Kellar; and Guy Jarrett, the rough-and-tumble engineer who perfects the levitation and guides us through the unfolding drama. But true it is — you'll never look at magic, or the mysteries of science — the same way again.

About this title

About the Author

About the storytellers: All of Jim Ottaviani's books have been nominated for multiple awards, including Eisners & ALA Popular Paperback of the Year, and they also receive critical praise in publications ranging from The Comics Journal to Physics World to Entertainment Weekly to Discover Magazine, and get national broadcast attention in outlets such as NPR's Morning Edition and the CBS Morning Show. Janine Johnston began her comics career over 10 years ago as an artist for Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. She went on to adapt and paint for the Elfquest series "Blood of Ten Chiefs" and currently works as a painter, muralist, and on numerous projects in both the comics and gaming industry.

Reviews

This nonfiction graphic novel gives the history of three early 20th-century magicians and the invention of the standard levitation trick. It's claimed that Entranced Fakir, or The Levitation of the Princess of Karnak came from India, but in reality it was stolen from European magician John Neville Maskelyne by American Harry Kellar, who took it back to the States. Years later, it was passed on to Howard Thurston, who had the voice and bearing of a preacher with the manner of a carnival barker. (Kellar notes that the two professions are not so different.) The art is lively with nice Georgian and Jazz Age touches, especially in face shots that resemble old, hypnotic-eyed daguerreotypes of mesmerists in frock coats. It's all good fun, but the story never finds its heart, only touching on the obsessive control the great traveling magicians must have had, and their life on the road. The hard economics they faced comes through splendidly, however. To perform, they had to look like gentlemen. To survive, they had to act like cutthroat rogues. The story contains two revelations: one is the diagram explaining the trick. The other is the revelation that even when audience members are quietly shown how it works, they don't tell.(July)
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In an empty theater, 1920s premier magician Howard Thurston flips playing cards into the auditorium while rehearsing a line of patter. Behind him, three men open packing crates. They're led by Guy Jarrett, who sets up Thurston's most famous trick, the levitation of comely "Princess Karnac," and whose opinion of Thurston emerges as, after the magician splits, he tells the two stagehands the illusion's history. Thurston bought it from Harry Kellar, who "stole" it from its inventor (actually, Kellar figured it out and improved it). Jarrett thinks Thurston's a dope because he lets audience members inspect the act on stage. That close up, they see the wires. But then, get this: Thurston tells them they're now part of the act, so don't blow it and they don't! Ottaviani's expositional procedure is the same as in Wire Mothers (2007) but no less effective, and Johnston's artwork is considerably suaver than Dylan Meconis' in Wire Mothers. The two short books on what Ottaviani calls "the science of the unscientific" come as a set (9780966010695) as well as individually. Olson, Ray

Edition details

• Publisher: G.T. Labs
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0978803701
• ISBN 13: 9780978803704
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Johnston Janine
• Number of pages: 72