The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston Versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards
400The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston Versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards
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Overview
“There is no greater expert on the history of stage magicians than Jim Steinmeyer. His deep knowledge of the subject, combined with a remarkable mastery of magical know-how, makes this book a smart, fantastic read. I can't recommend it enough!”
—Neil Patrick Harris
“Steinmeyer produces an engaging full-length biography of the man Orson Welles called ‘the master’…Steinmeyer recovers, from the shadows of his greatest rival, a figure whose grandiose productions were an American institution for almost 30 years.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Magician and author Jim Steinmeyer rescues a forgotten American icon from Houdini’s shadow.”
—AARP: The Magazine
“Thurston may have been forgotten, but The Last Greatest Magician In The World ably resurrects his legend and his awe-inspiring magic.”
—The Onion A.V. Club
"An erudite, challenging text full of difficult questions"
—Kirkus Reviews
Here is the seminal biography of the magician's magician, Howard Thurston, a man who surpassed Houdini in the eyes of showmen and fans and set the standard fro how stage magic is performed today.
Everyone knows Houdini-but who was Thurston? In this rich, vivid biography of the "greatest magician in the world," celebrated historian of stage magic Jim Steinmeyer captures the career and controversies of the wonder-worker extraordinaire, Howard Thurston.
The public's fickleness over magicians has left Thurston all but forgotten today. Yet Steinmeyer shows how his story is one of the most remarkable in show business. During his life, from 1869 to 1936, Thurston successfully navigated the most dramatic changes in entertainment-from street performances to sideshows to wagon tours through America's still-Wild West to stage magic amid the glitter of grand theaters. Thurston became one of America's most renowned vaudeville stars, boldly performing an act with just a handful of playing cards, and then had the foresight to leave vaudeville, expanding his show into an extravaganza with more than forty tons of apparatus and costumes. His touring production was an American institution for nearly thirty years, and Thurston earned a brand name equal to Ziegfeld or Ringling Brothers.
Steinmeyer explores the stage and psychological rivalry between Thurston and Houdini during the first decades of the twentieth century-a contest that Thurston won. He won with a bigger show, a more successful reputation, and the title of America's greatest magician. In The Last Greatest Magician in the World, Thurston's magic show is revealed as the one that animates our collective memories.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780399160035 |
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Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 08/30/2012 |
Pages: | 400 |
Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction: "I Wouldn't Deceive You …" 1
1 "A Bit of Fun" 7
2 "Creation" 20
3 "The Moth and the Flame" 35
4 "The Mystic Follies" 49
5 "Disintegration of a Person" 64
6 "The Appointment" 76
7 "The Magician's Assistant" 88
8 "Original Card Passes" 102
9 "The Reversed Girl" 116
10 "A Street Scene from the Orient" 132
11 "The Levitation of Princess Karnac" 147
12 "Magicians Past and Present" 162
13 "Do the Spirits Return?" 176
14 "The Piercing Arrow" 191
15 "Birds of the Air" 208
16 "The Girl and the Rabbit" 224
17 "Sawing a Woman in Half" 238
18 "Fire and Water" 252
19 "Chundra, Who is Buried Alive" 266
20 "Miss Jane Thurston (She Takes After Her Dad)" 280
21 "Shadow People" 294
22 "Seeing Through a Woman" 310
23 "Finale: the Triple Mystery" 323
24 "The Flight of Time" 337
Acknowledgments and Sources 345
Index 371
What People are Saying About This
“There is no greater expert on the history of stage magicians than Jim Steinmeyer. His deep knowledge of the subject, combined with a remarkable mastery of magical know-how, makes this book a smart, fantastic read. I can't recommend it enough!”
—Neil Patrick Harris
“Steinmeyer produces an engaging full-length biography of the man Orson Welles called ‘the master’…Steinmeyer recovers, from the shadows of his greatest rival, a figure whose grandiose productions were an American institution for almost 30 years.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Few historians of magic are as qualified as Jim Steinmeyer to bring Howard Thurston back onstage. The Last Greatest Magician in the World vividly conjures up Thurston's troubled life and great illusions."
—The Wall Street Journal
“Magician and author Jim Steinmeyer rescues a forgotten American icon from Houdini’s shadow.”
—AARP: The Magazine
“Thurston may have been forgotten, but The Last Greatest Magician In The World ably resurrects his legend and his awe-inspiring magic.”
—The Onion A.V. Club
"An erudite, challenging text full of difficult questions"
—Kirkus Reviews
"Jim Steinmeyer knows the outside-in world of magic from the inside; he is a celebrated 'invisible man' - inventor, designer and creative brain behind many of the great stage magicians of the last quarter-century... Steinmeyer writes about events a century ago as vividly as if he had been there; and in a sense, he has been... No author has ever better conveyed the way the love of conjuring consumes a magician's life with magic's joys, terrors and longings."
—Teller (of Penn and Teller), The New York Times Book Review
"Steinmeyer's combination of enthusiasm and erudition is a joy."
—Neil Gaiman