It's a Kind of Magic Trivia Quiz

Answer: A dove pan

A dove pan is a pan with a lid where the lid has a liner in it. Typically, the magician puts something in the pan (burning oil, for instance), then slams the lid down on it extinguishing the flames. The lid's liner pops off, and looks like the bottom of the pan, while inside the liner was the dove, waiting to appear!

Answer: The Statue of Liberty

Thirty-plus years have passed since performing this feat of illusion without David Copperfield publishing how he accomplished it. In order to validate what he was doing to the viewing audience, he broadcast the show live, while also including a small audience in situ. He hid the statue with a gigantic curtain, and when it dropped, no more Lady Liberty! He even had a radar machine show it there before and not there after, and helicopters flying overhead!

'The Straight Dope' website has an answer, though. An excerpt:

"Copperfield had a setup of two towers on a stage, supporting an arch to hold the huge curtain that would be used to conceal the statue. The TV cameras and the live audience only saw the monument through the arch. When the curtains closed, David waxed poetic while the stage was ... slowly ... and imperceptibly ... turned. When the curtains opened, the statue was hidden behind one of the towers, and the audience was looking out to sea. Voila! The Statue of Liberty has disappeared!"

Answer: A sponge captures the water and an ice cube is pre-placed, ready to fall out.

It is not an overly difficult trick, but the magician must ensure that the inside of the cup is not seen, and that the ice cube does not rattle around before the trick is performed. Also, the sponge must be sufficiently large to capture the amount of water poured into the cup, and not fall out when the cup is overturned (it can be taped to the inside of the cup, if needed).

Answer: Sawing a woman in half

The first time the illusion of sawing a woman in half was seen, historically, is a matter of discussion. Nineteenth-century magician Jean Robert-Houdin wrote in his memoirs of a magician named Torrini who performed the trick in front of Pope Pius VII in 1809, but there is no other substantiation supporting that claim (like the record of a magician named Torrini).

Horace Goldin, in an effort to maintain the secrecy of his rendition of the illusion, patented the format that many people would recognize, using a box with the woman's head and feet showing, and using metal plates to insert into the box at the cut (to hide the insides of the box). In the end, his patenting efforts only served to detail (in the legal document) how the trick was performed, rather than maintain its secrecy.

Answer: Transposition

There are various methods for accomplishing the teleportation and transposition effect, but I think that my favourite (fictional) depiction of a teleportation was in the 2013 movie "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" wherein Steve Carell (Burt Wonderstone) manages to move his entire audience from the theatre to an outdoor stage location. If you haven't seen the movie, I won't give away how he accomplished it.

Answer: Handcuffs

Houdini gained real fame for the first time on a tour of Europe as Harry Handcuff Houdini. He would challenge various police forces to lock him in handcuffs, which he would then escape. In 1904 he performed a similar escape in front of thousands with a specially-made pair of handcuffs (commissioned by "The Daily Mirror").

It was not long before Houdini's repertoire got more daring and dangerous, including being buried alive, hung in chains from skyscrapers, or in a straightjacket submerged under water.

Answer: Levitation

In the past, levitation was synonymous with demon possession or witchcraft (just watch "The Exorcist"), but more recently has become a well-known stand-by of magician acts. David Copperfield has produced many television specials, and fifteen of them included levitation. In one instance, he even levitated over the Grand Canyon!

Answer: True

Needles through balloons or swords through people... it's all the same thing. The illusion of one solid object seemingly penetrating another without any adverse affect is always a crowd favourite. Watching the beautiful magician (or the magician's assistant) enter a box that is then stabbed through with multiple swords is always amazing.

Answer: Prediction

There are many, many variations of prediction magic, and a quick search on the Internet will give you some step-by-step instructions on how to do some of them. My personal favourite is 'The Killer Prediction', which uses a deck of cards, a piece of paper, and an envelope. All you need to do is write down the name of a card on the paper, and seal it in the envelope. Have your spectator deal cards from the top of the deck until they choose to stop. Then, pick up your envelope and place it on top of the remaining deck of cards. Ask your spectator to open the envelope, read the paper, and then flip the top card of the deck... they will be the same.

How do you do it? Easy... just have the card whose name you wrote down conveniently underneath the envelope (out of sight). When you pick up the envelope from the table to place it on top of the deck, you also pick up the card underneath it, which now becomes the top card of the deck.

Answer: Keep their methods a secret

While the revelation of magic trick methods is not a crime, it is frowned upon by those in the profession. Often, professional magicians' organizations require their members to take an oath to never reveal their secrets to non-magicians. An example (taken from the Wikipedia page on Exposure) of such an oath is as follows:

"As a magician I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, unless that one swears to uphold the Magician's Oath in turn. I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic."