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Format is 33 inches by 11 inches, folded so that there are six 11 inch by 11 inch panels with text on five panels and graphics on six panels. This program has some wear and soiling. Signed by David Copperfield on the front panel which has a large black and white head and shoulder image and the show's title "The Magic of David Copperfield" across the bottom quarter of the panel. The interior three panels present the Show, substantial text on David Copperfield, and presents the cast/crew of seven plus Webster the Duck. There is another full panel black and white image of David Copperfield gazing upward. The final panel presents a list of illusions from which the touring program will select from based on time and space limitations. Among the illusions listed are: Crystal Smoke Chamber, Seeing Through a Woman, David's Dancing Hankerchief, Duck-o-Matic, How to Tear Up A Parking Ticker, The Levitating Ferrari, Orange Lemon Egg and Canary, Escape from Alcatraz, Come Fly With Me, and The Black Tower of Mystery. The signature on this program has been compared with numerous examples available for inspection on the internet and is consistent and believed to be authentic. This appears to be a rare surviving program from David Copperfield's 1986 tour, made even rarer because it was signed by him. David Seth Kotkin (born September 16, 1956), known professionally as David Copperfield, is an American magician, described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's television specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards, winning 21. Best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, his career of over 40 years has earned him 11 Guinness World Records, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a knighthood by the French government. He has been named a Living Legend by the US Library of Congress. As of 2006, he has sold 33 million tickets and grossed over US$4 billion, more than any other solo entertainer in history by a large margin. In 2015, Forbes listed his earnings at $63 million for the previous 12 months and ranked him the 20th highest-earning celebrity in the world. When not performing, he manages his chain of 11 resort islands in the Bahamas, which he calls Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay. At 18, Copperfield enrolled at New York City's Jesuit-based Fordham University, but three weeks into his freshman year he left to play the lead role in the musical The Magic Man in Chicago. It was then he adopted the stage name David Copperfield, taken from the famous Charles Dickens novel, because he liked its sound. He sang, danced and created most of the original illusions used in the show. The Magic Man became the longest-running musical in Chicago history. At age 19, he created and headlined for several months the first "Magic of David Copperfield" show at the Pagoda Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the help of sound and lighting designer Willy Martin. Copperfield's career in television began in earnest when he was discovered by Joseph Cates, a producer of Broadway shows and television specials. Cates produced a magic special in 1977 for ABC called The Magic of ABC, hosted by Copperfield, as well as several The Magic of David Copperfield specials on CBS between 1978 and 2001. There have been 18 Copperfield TV specials and 2 documentaries between September 7, 1977, and April 3, 2001. In 1996, in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, David Ives, and Eiko Ishioka, Copperfield's Broadway show Dreams & Nightmares broke box office records in New York at the Martin Beck Theatre. Reviewer Greg Evans described the sold-out show in Variety magazine: "With a likable, self-effacing demeanor that rarely comes across in his TV specials, Copperfield leads the audience through nearly two hours of truly mind-boggling illusions. He disappears and reappears, gets cut in half, makes audience members vanish and others levitate. Copperfield climaxes his show with a flying routine, seven years in the makin.
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