Grand illusions The story of magic

This series from the Discovery Channel highlights the historical, fantastic, weird, and tragic sides of magic through profiles of its personalities, from the 19th-century Herrmann brothers to today's Las Vegas superstars Seigfried and Roy. The Father of Modern Magic was Frenchman Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin, the first magician to approach magic as an art form. A watchmaker by trade, Robert-Houdin combined his mechanical expertise with a fantastic sense of showmanship to become the first world-recognized, iconic magician. The deadly bullet catch illusion has taken the lives of more magicians than any other act. In Death by Magic, a particularly dramatic episode, magicians and historians discuss the dangerous illusion and other tricks that have led to fatalities during performance. Thanks to television and theatrical opportunities that include Broadway, in the last half of the 20th century magicians have attained "superstar" status. The Greats of Modern Magic profiles the late Doug Henning from the start of his career in the 1970s until his early retirement in 1986 and the new interest in the art that he cultivated. Also profiled are Penn & Teller and Seigfried and Roy, whose operatic shows feature magic at its glitziest. The narrative is somewhat lacking in critical analysis and at times is filled with repetitious praise, but this episode is one of the most entertaining, with much live-action footage. Unarguably the greatest escape artist of all time, Eric Weisz, a.k.a. Harry Houdini, is the subject of a two-part episode covering his life from birth in Budapest, Hungary, through the devastating death of his mother in 1939 to his dalliance with spiritualism and his failure as a movie actor and eventual return, at age 51, to magic and escape artistry. Both episodes feature commentary by Houdini biographer Ken Silverman. This double episode is one of the more cohesive programs here; it adds an intelligent, historical dimension to the reasons for Houdini's remarkable success. Grotesque and at times plain disgusting, Weird Magic profiles magicians who stick bizarre objects in every orifice and go for "shock" value rather than wonder or amazement. Though Weird Magic explains how most of these tricks are accomplished, it doesn't adequately delve into what motivates these entertainers. Tracing the roots of almost any of today's magic acts inevitably leads back to Compars and Alexander Herrmann, two brothers who defined the "look" of a magician as well as stock tricks, e.g., the bullet catch, card scaling, and levitation. The Herrmanns's biographer, James Hamilton, chronicles their rise to international stardom and their eventual demise, upon Alexander's death. Except for Weird Magic, this series is recommended for public libraries.-Janet Sassi, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.