Magic in History...The Magic
Man...
Despite their unrelenting belief in the divinity of their ruling Kings, the
ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom, beginning 4,000 B.C., were practical minded.
Included among the Egyptian practical arts was Magic, designed to achieve practical
effects where science and rational technique could not Master. Master technicians
and slave labor built their pyramids. Not Magic.
In subsequent civilizations Magic
continued to be sought and employed to attain goals that otherwise seemed beyond the reach
of science and practical men. Magic has been perceived as a true supernatural art
that sometimes has taken the form of Sorcery or Wizardry. And so by agreement of
Kings and everyone the Magic Man is recognized expert with credentials in Magic Arts.
In the times of King Arthur, the
fabled repute of wizards in human form was further enhanced by the legend of Merlin the
Magician and his control over the Knights of the Roundtable.
The Golden Era of Modern Magic
began in mid-18th Century. With the aid of technological advancements in travel and
communication in 1900, the organized Masters of Wizardry expanded their converts by
exporting their Magic Shows personally to far off cities and nations where their
astounding illusions were acclaimed.
The puzzling illusions of the
Indian Rope Trick or Walking Across Hot Coals, traditional to wizards of the Far East,
seemed outdated compared to the incredible feats of the Wizards of the West. These
Master Magicians of Modern Times bore such titles as: Herman The Great: The
Houdini Brothers and the Great Howard Thurston. For decades in the U.S. and abroad
the Modern Masters of Magic mystified vast audiences fascinated by visions and occurrences
beyond science and rational explanations. Voluntary stage convicts escaped from
escape-proof steel cells. Ladies isolated in mid-air inexplicably vanished and
reappeared at ground level. Birds materialized from empty containers.
Elephants became invisible. Playing cards called out at random by audience members
floated upward from card decks. Local law officials used their own leg and hand
irons to shackle death defying escape artists securely in water torture cells.
Others were hurled into rivers from towering bridges and returned alive. A Hindu
"Princess" was eerily levitated above stage horizon at her Master's
command. Foolhardy wizard assistants permitted their methodical burial alive in air
tight coffins buried in water or under ground for prolonged periods beyond human endurance
yet returned from the dead like Lazarus.
Despite more advances in
technology, the feats of Modern Master Magicians were awesome in defying scientific
explanation or detection. In more recent times the Mecca of Master Magicians of
world class recognition and skill is a stone rendezvous in Los Angeles, California, known
to all practitioners and followers of Magic Arts as The Magic
Castle.
Only the finest of the Masters are
permitted to appear on the inner sanctum stages before a select membership of invited
guests. It was perhaps inevitable that the rulers of The Magic Castle
beckoned the Magic Man, Barry Valentine,
to enter their ranks. How had such an honor of magical peers come to the Magic Man? The Magic Man himself
has described this world class endorsement as a "strange twist of fate and
fortune." Valentine had previously achieved an
envious notoriety in stage trickery and sleight of-hand in a successful tour of numerous
cities, corporate festivities, ship cruises, pro-celebrity sports events, and private
resorts.
The suave expertise of the Magic Man with the cryptic eyes and jocular exchanges had won him
the approval of sophisticated audiences at such entertainment centers as Las Vegas, Los
Angeles, and Palm Springs. Son of a composer-singer young Valentine
was not stranger to entertainment when he launched his career as Magician at age nine.
Along the Road to Magic, Valentine experienced
momentary diversion as a test car racer, equestrian, sleuth and U. S. Air Force member.
But he was always gripped in the Passion of his True Calling: being the Magic Man.
There can be no other Destiny for the Magic Man Barry Valentine, a dedicated Worker of Stage Miracles that flaunt
the limitations of science and logic.
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Updated:
04/03/2008 |