David Copperfield’s secret museum of magic open to all in his book

The antheral who has made the Statue of Liberty vanish and walked done the Great Wall of China, strives to question done time.

Living successful the infinitesimal won’t suffice for David Copperfield.

This is existent successful his signifier amusement astatine MGM Grand Theater, which employs black-and-white movie clips depicting Copperfield’s father, and a time-worn, handwritten missive written decades ago.

The illusionist’s zeal to span generations is celebrated connected an adjacent grander standard astatine his ain backstage depository of magic. He’s dubbed it the David Copperfield International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, but passersby won’t find an elaborate motion outside, oregon immoderate denotation astatine each of what lies wrong the 40,000-square-foot, one-time warehouse conscionable a fewer miles from his eponymous theatre wherever helium performs 15 shows a week.

This depository is thing that’s truly an astonishing place, but that I can’t stock with the wide nationalist due to the fact that of the secrets they’re progressive successful here.

David Copperfield

While the concealed depository has nary windows, it offers a sweeping presumption of the past of magic. And contempt its undeniable imaginable arsenic a ticketed attraction, the depository has ne'er been unfastened to the public.

But present Copperfield is offering the satellite its archetypal glimpse of the immense trove of supernatural artifacts successful his caller publication “David Copperfield’s History of Magic.” The 272-page hardbound measurement is appropriately released during Halloween week, the astir spellbinding clip of the year.

“This depository is thing that’s truly an astonishing place, but that I can’t stock with the wide nationalist due to the fact that of the secrets they’re progressive successful here,” Copperfield said successful a uncommon interrogation wrong the museum, clad successful jeans, a casual garment and zippered jacket, each successful signature black.

“We bash tours of the depository for scholars, for the press, for scientists, for filmmakers, for authors, they travel present and acquisition this 8 radical astatine a time,” helium said. “I wanted to stock with galore much people.”

Harry Houdini considered the Water Torture Cell 1 of his top inventions, and is displayed astatine David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

One of the consecutive jackets utilized by magician Harry Houdini connected show astatine David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

Secret passage

Entering the abstraction is simply a cinematic experience, and begins arsenic a replica of Copperfield’s household menswear store and a concealed transition into the undiscovered. A maze of rooms follows, each filled with cautiously curated stagings of tens of thousands of pieces of magic memorabilia, props, publications, costumes, posters and assorted ephemera.

Copperfield’s Houdini collection, the largest successful the world, features the legendary musician’s h2o torture chamber, metamorphosis trunk and straitjacket. The turban that Alexander employed to work minds, the sawing-in-half prop utilized by Dante, and a costume worn by “Queen of Magic” Adelaide Herrmann from the crook of the 19th century, are among the much than 200,000 artifacts Copperfield has collected implicit the years.

Photos and details of the acquisitions travel the book’s humanities look astatine 28 of the astir groundbreaking magicians — from a 16th-century magistrate who wrote the archetypal publication connected conjuring to a pistillate who caught bullets successful her teeth. Historians Richard Wiseman and David Britland, some of whom specialize successful the civilization of magic, collaborated connected the probe and co-authored the book. It’s an elegant scrapbook of sorts, 1 that combines Copperfield’s expertise and authorization astir the mean and his appreciation arsenic a instrumentality who inactive carries a childlike passionateness for the craft.

As Copperfield says, “The publication truly gives a large feeling of each these astonishing stories, astonishing lives of each these individuals.”

Copperfield points to the Adelaide Herrmann dress, displayed a fewer feet distant from our speech arsenic an example. “During her day, she took implicit for Alexander Herrmann, her husband, erstwhile helium passed away. She caught bullets successful midair, did escapes, did astonishing things and inspired different women to bash things that they had been told they weren’t allowed to do.”

Copperfield, the writer and performer, is the lone surviving magician depicted successful the book.

“There are each kinds of stories, not lone of the past, but of my contiguous successful here, talks astir things that I’m trying to propulsion the creation forward,” Copperfield said. “And truthful it’s not conscionable magic past of the past. It’s besides wherever it’s going.”

In his ain performances, Copperfield maps that direction.

“Most of my bandwidth is upon moving magic forward, inventing caller magic, you know, erstwhile you travel to my show, you’ll spot dinosaurs. There are nary dinosaurs successful the past of magic, you know, (but) possibly I’m a dinosaur,” Copperfield says, slipping successful a sly joke. “No, no. But I’m trying to truly bash things with dinosaurs. You know, doing things with clip question and spaceships and aliens, things that benignant of changed the connection of magic, truthful I don’t go a dinosaur.”

A gilded array utilized by French magician and illusionist Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin successful an enactment called “Pastrycook of Palais Royale." (Homer Anthony Liwag)

Howard Thurston, a magician who had the largest traveling magic amusement of his day, has a conception of the depository dedicated to him. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

Resources plentiful

Copperfield’s focused passionateness and fiscal resources person him uniquely positioned to presume the relation of magic’s top surviving collector and exhibitor. He is routinely listed by Forbes arsenic the wealthiest magician successful the world, earning $45 cardinal successful 2020 contempt a prolonged pandemic pause.

The illusionist makes ample income look from Musha Cay, his 11 backstage Bahamian islands, wherever guests wage upward of six figures to visit. And he’s backmost to packing his 760-seat MGM Grand theatre 15 times a week.

Many of Copperfield’s contemporaries, naturally, see him magic’s preeminent figure.

“I think, simply, for better, helium is the civilization of magic,” Penn Jillette says. “I mean, I conscionable privation everything to upwind up successful his collection. He has taken his tremendous wealthiness and helium handled it truthful well. We’re very, precise fortunate to person idiosyncratic who’s doing specified a large occupation of curating each the magic history.”

That past invokes immoderate of Las Vegas’s favourite magic acts. Jillette, who has headlined with Teller successful Penn & Teller astatine the Rio since 2001, mentions “The Great Tomsoni,” Johnny Thompson, and his wife, Pam. Both person passed distant successful the past 3 years.

A recreated theatre wherever the magician Martinka performed sits wrong David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

“It’s 1 happening to spell to his depository and spot each the worldly that everyone drools over, you know, the, (Jean-Eugène) Robert-Houdin worldly and the Houdini stuff,” Jillette says. “I mean, that’s the worldly everybody gets truly excited about. But I’m much, overmuch much funny successful the information that he’s got Johnny and Pam’s stuff.”

Mac King, a Strip headliner dating to 2000 who is present astatine Excalibur, says Copperfield has earned his spot arsenic magic’s foremost chronicler.

“If anybody has the postulation and past to constitute astir magic, he’s the man,” King says. “It’s unbelievable what helium tin bring to the public. He’s got each the resources astatine his fingertips, and the fame that volition scope anybody too a magician to work astir it. Not galore radical volition work the past of magic by idiosyncratic they’ve ne'er heard of, but they volition with Copperfield arsenic the author.”

And the writer is inactive a pertinacious performer.

“He’s not conscionable a moving magician,” King says. “He’s doing much shows than anybody, and getting amended and better.”

Tannen's Magic Shop, the oldest operating magic store successful New York City, is simply a longtime favourite of David Copperfields, truthful helium recreated it successful its wholly wrong his idiosyncratic past museum. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

Tannen's Magic Shop items astatine David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

Lobbying Congress

Copperfield has worked distant from the stage, lobbying Congress 5 years agone to walk a solution that would admit magic arsenic a uncommon and invaluable creation signifier and nationalist treasure. The aforesaid designation has been afforded specified amusement genres arsenic jazz.

“Certainly, the Library of Congress has respected magic, and has tons of my things, and they precise nicely gave maine immoderate recognition. They person immoderate Houdini stuff, and they cognize it’s an important thing,” Copperfield says. “But to really get it successful penning from them would assistance young artists get grants for magic … I was doing it for that crushed much than thing else. And eventually, erstwhile things calm down, I anticipation they bash calm down successful the world, that that volition happen.”

Similar to his forerunners who brought magic to the masses, Copperfield is everlastingly wary of having his acts and concepts copped by different performers. In 2018, helium sued a German institution for gathering a replica of the spacecraft featured successful his show.

That institution had entered an statement with “an unnamed Las Vegas magician” to make a akin flying object. The justice issued a impermanent restraining bid that prohibited the institution from delivering “Flying Object 2 to the Las Vegas magician,” according to tribunal documents.

A tuxedo worn by American magician Channing Pollock. (Homer Anthony Liwag)

Of his amusement being “nicked,” Copperfield says, “It is, it is simply a lot, but I instrumentality but I large solace knowing if you look astatine the Houdini exhibition, I’ll amusement you 3 sheets and posters of radical bash the nonstop aforesaid thing. He had the nonstop aforesaid happening hap to him.”

He continues, “Things I’ve done successful the past person been copied. There’s a feline successful Spain, close now, doing my full show. He’s doing dinosaurs. He’s utilizing wristbands (a exertion utilized successful the MGM Grand production). He’s making it snow, and I utilized to marque it snow.

“People accidental it’s a large show.”

But Copperfield conscionable continues to grow his ideas.

“Fortunately, I’m fortunate capable to person the quality to make things,” helium says. “I’ve gone done galore antithetic transitions of things.”

Copperfield takes disconnected for the Bahamas erstwhile helium needs to absorption connected creativity and to enactment region betwixt himself and what is being performed elsewhere. In fact, helium conscionable returned to Las Vegas aft spending overmuch of the past week there, conscionable arsenic his publication was released.

“I took each my vigor and enactment it onto this edifice that I developed,” the famed magician says. “At the extremity of the day. I privation peace. I privation happiness. And luckily, I tin enactment connected caller things that volition hopefully determination the trade forward.”

John Katsilometes’ file runs regular successful the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast tin beryllium recovered astatine reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him astatine jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats connected Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 connected Instagram.