Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic episode from our archives. I love stage magic and sleight of hand precisely because I know that it's fake, but that doesn't always mean that I know how it's done. It creates a space of curiosity for me. In this episode, we go behind the scenes of stage magic to talk about the relationship of magicians to their assistance. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren Vogebam Here. In magic industry, lingo magicians, assistants are called box jumpers because to the audience, that's all the lovely assistant appears to do. She's there to distract the audience. You know, look pretty, smile big, and wave her hands around, then pop out from the padlocked box precisely when the magician says tada. But magic insiders know the real story.
When the trunk lid closes, the sheet is raised, or the saw is lowered into the box, it's often the assistant who does the real magic of the illusion, releasing the latch on the false bottom and cramming herself into a two foot space while executing her third costume change of the evening, all before the guy in the top hat,
says Tada. Although magic is undeniably a male dominated profession if you only look at the name on the marquis, those who know the most about the stagecraft behind the magician assistant relationship say that the industry isn't as sexist as it might appear. Blair Baron, who co produced the two thousand eight documentary Women in Boxes about the Unsung Magician's Assistant, explains that onstage, both the magician and the assistant are playing roles, roles that artfully play off of
the audience's gendered expectations. Baron says the biggest misconception is that the magician's assistants are marginalized, objectified bimbos, if you will, who are deferring to some guy, when actually, in my experience, they are the brains behind a lot of the illusions. Baron would know. She married into one of the royal
families of magic. Her husband, Dante Larson, is the son of ire and Bill Larson Jr. Two of the co founders of The Magic Castle in Hollywood, the world's pre eminent magic club, and Irene, who passed away in twenty sixteen, was herself an accomplished magician's assistant in her day, Baron says that Irene and her generation of assistants doubled as the business brands of the operation, keeping track of finances
and booking appearances. And although they played integral roles in both the planning and execution of allusions, these old school assistants never wanted to steal the spotlight from the magician off in their husband by billing themselves as equal partners.
Modern magicians assistants see their roles a little differently. Hannah Lynn Wagster is half of the South Carolina based duo The Wagster's Magic and Illusion, who perform a weekly show at the Carolina Opry Theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Hannah is still primarily the one who gets locked in the boxes, but says that she and her husband Brandon are very much equal partners on and off the stage. Hannah considers herself a magician, not just an assistant, and
does a few solo tricks in the act. She also runs the show backstage, giving technical and lighting cues to stage managers and making sure the next illusion is lined up and squared away. But Hannah admits that at the end of the day. Her primary role on stage is quote to make sure the magician looks good, which often means contorting herself into tight spaces or dangling from high wires without giving the audience a clue about how incredibly difficult it all is or how many bruises, scrapes and
sprained ankles she's endured along the way. And despite her husband's efforts to give Hannah equal billing and equal credit on stage, the audience often can't see behind the traditional magician assistant divide. Hannah says after shows, folks always want to talk to Brandon and congratulate him on his magic. They'll literally push me aside. We also spoke with Dean Carnegie, a veteran stage magician and the magic historian behind the
blog The Magic Detective. He explains that the first magician's assistants were the product of new school of magic that emerged in the mid nineteenth century called the Illusionists. In the eighteen fifties, pioneering French conjurors Jean Eugene Robert Houdin, the inspiration for Houdini's stage name, and Boutier de Culta, created startling illusions that involved the levitation or disappearance of
a second person and assistant. Carnegie says Robert Houdine's first assistant was his young son, but as more illusionists entered the game, the assistants were invariably female. Women. It turned out, were much more effective victims in the minds of the audience. When a woman was in peril, it raised the emotional steaks, and that still seems to be true, says Baron. She said, they've tried to reverse it and have the female be the magician in the alpha role and the man be
the assistant, and it doesn't work. No one cares. Magic trends come and go, and for the moment, the bigger names and magic are focusing on close up card tricks and mind reading, which don't require assistance, or at least not visible ones. But there are plenty of acts like the Way Ugsters, who still wow with set piece illusions
executed with precision choreography. Baron, who now runs the Los Angeles Drama Club, a Shakespeare program for kids, reminds us that what the audience sees on stage is itself a play within a play. She said, the assistants are winking at you. It's all very tongue in cheek because it's trickery and illusion. Today's episode is based on the article is the Lovely Assistant the Real Magician on hous to
works dot com written by Dave Roose. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with houseworks dot com and it's produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey. Out four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.