Magician David Copperfield arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California February 28, 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
David Copperfield had a number of live TV specials in the ’80s, but none more famous than the night he made the Statue of Liberty disappear.
Copperfield stood in front of a live audience with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. A large opaque screen appeared between two giant pillars. When the screen fell, the Statue of Liberty vanished. Then the screen went back up, and when it fell again, the statue was back.
While David Copperfield was already “on the map” as a magician, this trick vaulted him to the next level.
He’d become the top magician of a generation, as well as the highest-earning magician of all time . . . and the highest-earning solo performer in history. Even in 2015, “Forbes” had him listed as the 20th highest-earning celebrity in the world.
The trick itself, however, has been roundly exposed on the Internet.
When you read one of the explanations (essentially, the platform rotated very slightly to shield the Statue of Liberty behind one of the pillars), it sounds so simple . . . but pulling it off was, no doubt, far more difficult than it might seem.
That being said, after reading the explanation, it does make you believe you could make the Statue of Liberty disappear too.
