The Secrets Behind Historic Magic Tricks

The Trick:

Handcuff acts were a popular genre for magicians and escape artists during vaudeville theater. This was where Harry Houdini first rose to prominence as the "Handcuff King," an escape artist who could not be held by any pair of cuffs.

The magician would be handcuffed and then escape from their bonds in front of the audience. Often this act would be part of a touring show, and the local police or a locksmith who was particularly proud of their design would provide the handcuffs.

How It's Done:

Just as there are many types of locks, there are many ways to escape them. The most common way is that the magician has a key. 

Houdini had a "remarkable knowledge of locks and locking devices." He collected and studied locks all of his life and remembered how each type worked and could be opened. Houdini studied the handcuffs of police and locksmiths of the towns he was about to visit. Any particularly unique keys he would ask to see first and pocket, replacing them with a similar-looking key until after the trick.

During the trick, Houdini would conceal the keys in secret pockets or a bag strapped to his leg. Later, he built a belt that contained keys and tools for the cuffs, which ran on tiny ball bearings that revolved by pressure from his arm. 

The Trick:

Harry Houdini was a gifted magician who specialized in escape tricks. One of the most memorable was the underwater box escape. Houdini was handcuffed and climbed into a wooden crate that was then nailed, trussed, and chained shut. It was hoisted by a crane into New York's East River and sank. A few minutes later, Houdini would emerge, free of his bonds, at the water's surface.

How It's Done:

The crate was specially designed for this trick. It had small holes in it that allowed Houdini to easily breathe while he waited for the box to be nailed. The holes would also help the crate sink. The crate appeared to be held together by nails, but one of the sides of the square crate had two fake nail heads. That part of the crate was held shut by a hinge on the inside. Once Houdini was inside the crate and it was being lifted by the crane, he would take off the handcuffs (he kept hidden keys). After the crate hit the water and sank sufficiently, he would simply kick open the crate at the hidden hinge and swim to the surface.

The Trick:

On a live CBS special in 1983, David Copperfield did the impossible and made the Statue of Liberty disappear. The live audience, television crew, and stage are all on a large platform viewing the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Also on the platform, framing the statue, are two scaffolds decorated in lights. Copperfield raised a curtain between the scaffolds to hide the statue and gave a short soliloquy on cherishing freedom. Then the curtain dropped, the lights flashed, and the Statue of Liberty was gone.

How It's Done:

The platform rotated. The vibrations of its movement were masked by loud music being pumped through speakers while Copperfield spoke over the noise.

When the curtain dropped, the platform had moved so the statue was blocked from view by one of the scaffolds. Its lights were turned on so bright that no one could see the statue behind them.

The Trick: 

This particular levitation trick was popularized by magician Harry Kellar in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Variations exist, but the gist involves an assistant who lies across a board that is supported by two chairs and covered with a sheet. The assistant is then "mesmerized" and the chairs are removed, but the assistant remains floating. While they float, the magician passes a hoop over them to prove there are no wires.

How It's Done:

The board is attached to a metal rod that runs behind the magician. The rod is hidden from the audience's view by the magician's legs and attached to the board in an "S" shape that allows the hoop to pass through and be freed. In some instances of the trick, the rod can be moved up and down by buttons hidden in the platform and operated by the magician's feet.

The Trick:

The bullet catch trick is thought to have been performed as far back as the 16th century. Numerous street magicians performed versions of the trick throughout the 18th century, many claiming to have invented it. The trick is still performed to this day.

Many versions exist, but the basic mechanics are that a bullet, sometimes marked by an audience volunteer, is loaded into a gun by a magician. An assistant or another magician aims the gun at the magician from a distance and fires. Sometimes there is an object, such as a pane of glass between them, that breaks. The magician reveals they caught the bullet in their teeth.

How It's Done:

The most common method is to load the gun with blanks so an explosion occurs but nothing leaves the barrel. The magician palms the bullet and places it in their mouth out of the audience's view. Any prop in the way, like a glass pane, is broken with a squib or electric charge.

So the arm fires, nothing leaves the barrel, glass shatters, and the magician reveals the bullet in their mouth. The trick has also been performed with "wax" bullets that can shatter glass but melt before they reach the performer.

Early versions with muzzle-loaded barrels employed a magnetic bullet that could be dropped down the barrel of the gun. Then, when a stick was pushed down to load it, the bullet was retrieved as well. Another common early method was to palm the marked bullet, then fire a real bullet, but aim to miss. 

All of these methods have their own inherent danger, as no trick using a firearm can be 100% safe. Several performers have perished attempting this trick, including Chung Ling Soo in an incident on stage. Harry Houdini famously refused to perform the trick due to its danger.

The Trick:

The Zig-Zag illusion was first performed in the mid-1960s by magician Robert Harbin. In the illusion, an assistant steps into an upright cabinet, with their face, hands, and a foot visible through openings in the front. The magician inserts metal blades horizontally in the cabinet's midsection, dividing it into thirds.

The magician then slides the cabinet's midsection apart from the top and bottom thirds, so it looks as though the assistant's midsection has been pulled away from the rest of them. A small door on the cabinet's midsection can be opened to see the assistant's body inside.

At the end, the assistant's midsection is slid back into place, the two blades removed, and they step out of the cabinet in one piece.

How It's Done:

This is the rare trick where the assistant is responsible for the heavy lifting. 

The box is larger than it appears because the black strips down the sides make it appear narrow. That black space is actually usable. The assistant still fits in the rearranged box, though it's a very tight fit. The blade is inserted on the right side and looks like it takes up more space than it does, with the handle and protruding box space taking up most of the blade.

The trick relies on a flexible assistant and items being presented to appear as different sizes than they actually are.