Match the Magician Trivia Quiz

Answer: Harry Houdini

Born Erich Weisz in 1874 in Budapest, Houdini took his name from a magician's wife. (Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin appended his wife's surname to his stage name.) He made a name for himself first in vaudeville, but he also starred and produced movies! Some notable escapes include handcuffs designed by the London's "Daily Mirror", the milk can escape, the suspended straitjacket escape, and of course the Chinese water-torture cell.

During the 1920s, spiritualism became all the range in the USA, and Houdini used his knowledge of legerdemain and stage effects to expose fraudulent mediums who claimed to speak to the dead (he never found an honest spiritualist). He was the inspiration for magicians like the Amazing Randi, Penn and Teller, and Dorothy Dietrich to do likewise.

Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 -- not during his water-torture bit (the 1953 film with Tony Curtis notwithstanding) but from a ruptured appendix (which may or may not have been caused by a blow to the abdomen). After his death, he challenged anyone to contact him from beyond, and left a special code word with a friend. No medium could ever provide the secret word.

Answer: The Amazing Randi

Staring off his career as The Amazing Randi, Toronto-born James Randi made name for himself in 1956 for remaining submerged underwater longer than Houdini.

Soon Randi turned from performer to professional skeptic and debunker. In 1976 he co-founded the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, on which Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan have served. Some of Randi's targets have been Israeli illusionist and "psychic" Uri Geller and João de Deus (John of God), a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon. From 1979 to 1983, Randi successfully planted two fake psychics in a privately funded psychic research experiment known as Project Alpha. This hoax severely damaged the entire academic project of researching paranormal phenomena (which was his hope).

In 2013 Randi married his longtime companion Deyvi Peña, alias José Alvarez, who was nearly deported when his imposture was discovered. Back in 1988, Peña (Alvarez at the time) had helped Randi discredit psychics by pretending to be a spirit-channeler named Carlos, who developed a mass following only to admit on international TV that he was fraud. (A PBS documentary reveals, however, that Peña was not entirely comfortable with the project.)

Answer: David Copperfield

David Copperfield was born David Seth Kotkin in 1956. Copperfield won 21 Emmys for TV specials, and in 2006 'Forbes' declared him the most successful magician in the USA. In fact, his earnings of $55 million in 2003 made him the highest paid celebrity in the world. In 1982, he founded Project Magic, which uses prestidigitation as physical therapy to restore disabled patients' manual dexterity.

Copperfield's most famous trick was in 1983, when in one long take, he made the Statue of Liberty disappear. Copperfield raised a giant curtain around the statue for a few seconds, then lowered it and asked the audience to imagine life without liberty. A camera-equipped helicopter flying overhead showed only a circle of lights and no statue. As he made the Statue of Liberty reappear, he said, "our ancestors couldn't [enjoy rights and freedoms]; we can and our children will".

Answer: Doug Henning

Doug James Henning (1947-2000) was from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His "World Of Magic" specials on NBC in the USA repopularized magic in entertainment, especially as he reproduced Houdini's famous water-torture escape. In his distinctive long hair and mustache, he encouraged youthful wonder at magic. He made several sequels; his last, "World of Magic VII", featured Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner.

Henning retired from magic to devote himself to the study and promotion of Transcendantal Meditation (TM), under the tutelage of the Maharishi Yogi, the same tutor of the Beatles. In the 1990s he briefly had a political career as a Natural Law Party candidate. (Citizens of Commonwealth nations may stand for election in the UK.) The party supported funding research in and encouraging practice of TM to promote world peace.

Answer: Criss Angel

Criss Angel (b. 1967), best known for his mystic-punk costuming and his A&E series "Mindfreak", has performed startling illusions from walking on water, to floating between buildings, to walking up the side of the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. Like Doug Henning, he renewed interest in magic for a younger generation; in fact his national weekly magic show was the first in 40 years in the USA. Among his series and specials, Criss has appeared for more hours on primetime television than any magician preceding him.

Criss Angel has worked with James Randi in debunking paranormal claims. On his own, Angel once baited "psychic" superstar Uri Geller and paranormalist Jim Calahan to tell him the contents of two envelopes, for $1M, on the NBC program "Phenomenon" (which aired on Halloween 2007). Callahan and Criss got into a physical altercation, but ultimately no one took up the challenge.

Answer: Penn & Teller

Penn Jillette (b. 1948) and Raymond Teller (b. 1955) began working together at at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 1975. They have been performing at the Rio in Las Vegas since 2001. Penn & Teller are almost as famous for their atheism and their libertarian (radical individualist) politics as for their magic, and rather like the Amazing Randi and Dorothy Dietrich they have publicly challenged paranormal and myriad other claims (from Feng Shui to weight-loss programs). In 2005 they received the Richard Dawkins Award, which honors those who promote awareness of atheism.

In 2011 they began a British-American TV series called "Fool Us", in which four magicians or mentalists each night try to perform an act that Penn & Teller can't guess how it's done. "Foolers" get a trophy and the opportunity to perform in the pair's Las Vegas show. Less than a quarter of the acts are successful in fooling the seasoned illusionists, who at the end of each episode perform a trick of their own. In the USA, at any rate, it has been a ratings smash.

Answer: Siegfried & Roy

Both magicians were German emigres. Roy Horn was born in 1944 in Nordenham, Lower Saxony. The founder of the Bremen Zoo was a friend of the family, and so he was exposed to exotic animals at an early age. Siegfried Fischbacher (b. 1939 in Rosenheim) was working as a magician on a cruise ship when he met Roy.

In 2003, during their act at the Mirage, a white tiger named Mantecore appeared to bite Roy in the neck. Roy later contended that he'd had a stroke on stage, and Mantecore had tried to carry his keeper to safety, but accidentally punctured his artery. Mirage closed the show. Mantecore was happily not destroyed but died of natural causes in 2014. Siegfried & Roy made a farewell performance with Mantecore in 2010, then retired from show business to run a menagerie at Mirage.

Answer: The Great Blackstone

The last of the elegant magicians to dress in tails, white tie, and top hat in America, The Great Blackstone remained silent onstage as he performed illusions like sawing a woman in half and vanishing a birdcage. A stage magician, he toured the Midwest and spent his final years performing at the Magic Castle (where his daughter-in-law, Gay Blackstone, later served as president).

The famous "Blackstone Floating Light Bulb" illusion was designed and built by none other than Thomas Edison. After Blackstone's death in 1965, his son (Harry Blackstone, Jr.) donated the actual light bulb to the Smithsonian, but the illusion was licensed to Dutch magician Hans Klok and American illusionist Darren Romeo, a student of Siegfried & Roy. (Only one other trick worldwide has such a licensing agreement.)

Answer: Harry Blackstone, Jr.

Harry Blackstone, Jr. (1934-1997), largely eschewing the costuming and illusions of his father, Harry Blackstone, Sr. (The Great Blackstone), made his own name on U.S. television, on talk shows and a PBS special introduced by the Muppets. He was also a regular on the PBS program "Square One", where he used magic to teach mathematics.

He also toured the USA coast-to-coast and even performed on Broadway. Blackstone's magic kits, which ranged from beginner to advanced, were best-sellers. He designed special effects for Alice Cooper and Earth, Wind, and Fire, not to mention Michael Jackson on his Magical Mystery Tour.

Answer: Dorothy Dietrich

Dorothy Dietrich is perhaps the foremost woman illusionist in the world, and a pioneer for women in magic. A leading dove worker early in her career, she attempted routines few other women had dared, including Houdini's suspended straitjacket escape (additionally setting the rope on fire) and the Bullet Catch, which she first performed in 1998. (And nearly three decades later she remained the *only* lady performer to catch a bullet in her mouth.) She subverted other traditional illusions, for example, by sawing men rather than women in half.

The 2006 Columbia Encyclopedia counted Dietrich among the "eight most noted magicians of the late 20th century". Until Dietrich, women could not be full members of The Society of American Magicians and the Magic Circle (of London). Like Houdini and the Amazing Randi, she exposed those who would take advantage of the bereaved and claim to speak with the dead.