Talk:David Copperfield (illusionist)

Mother's birthplace

How can his mother be born in Israel if he was born in 1956 and Israel was only founded in 1948? Surely her birthplace was Jerusalem, British Palestinian Mandate? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.120.113.4 (talk) 04:21, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

I dunno. How does Wikipedia normally deal with this? - Wikidemon (talk) 05:51, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

WP customarily uses the current place names in such cases. The ArbCom cases dealt with such issues as Polish place names for towns in Prussia etc. People born in the various Italian states before Italy was created are referred to as having been born in Italy, and so on. If one looked at place names current at birth, Beethoven was born in the Electorate of Cologne (ruler was Elector of Cologne) grew up from 1794 to 1815 as having been born in France, and from 1815 on as having been born in Prussia. Most people today write that he was born in Germany, which did not exist until 1871, long after his death. Collect (talk) 10:20, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Jewish American Illusionist

Hi everyone. As before, let me first declare that I do work for Copperfield, so please consider what I am discussing here MAY be a possible COI, but I will try to be as unbiased as possible in what I want to express, as usual.

Ok, so I think that stressing Copperfield as a "Jewish American Illusionist" right in the opening sentence appears to really stress that he is of the Jewish religion, which I personaly don't understand why. I've looked at several prominent Jewish professionals in the entertainment industry, and they all say that they are American professionals, not Jewish American professionals.

Several examples: 1. Steven Spielberg - "...an American film director, screenwriter, film producer, video game designer and studio executive." 2. Mel Brooks - "...an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor, and producer." 3. Barbara Streisand - "...an American singer-songwriter, actress, film producer and director." 4. Jackie Mason - "...an American stand-up comedian." 5. Adam Sandler - "...an American actor, comedian, singer, screenwriter, musician, and film producer." 6. Even fellow illusionist David Blaine - "...an American illusionist and endurance artist."

All the above samples have opening intros that focus more on the individual's profession and not their religion, which I think is the right focus for celebrities. They are known for their skills and their works, not their religious affiliation. For this reason, I have removed "Jewish" from the opening sentence before the Table of Contents to read that David Copperfield is "...an American Illusionist." If anybody feels it is important to stress that he is a Jewish American Illusionist, please share your thoughts. Thank you. TheMagicOfDC (talk) 21:24, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Lots of discussion on BLP noticeboards on this sort of stuff. If the Jewishness is secondary, it ought not be placed in such a prominent position in the lede, to be sure. Collect (talk) 21:40, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Over 500 shows per year, really?

The source is "The Seoul Times", but I don't think it's possible. The article even says 550. It's more than the number of days in a year! Do they count every trick as a separate show? Antimirov (talk) 00:55, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

No. Some venues hold more than one show per day. Las Vegas, for example, has been known to have some performers stage shows twice or more on some nights. Cirque du Soleil runs 10 shows per week, for example. At the MGM Grand, Copperfield is listed as " 7:30 and 10 p.m. nightly; plus 4:30 p.m. Sat" which is 15 shows per week when he is there. Is 500 a year possible? Yep. Collect (talk) 23:23, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Editing the Opening Paragraph

Hello fellow editors. Again, I am a COI editor, with what I hope to be a proven track record of making neutral and factual posts with proper sourcing of information.

Just a heads up that I would like to make an edit to the opening paragraph of this article. I have always felt that the introductory paragraph for this article has been quite different from most other celebrity biographical articles I have seen on Wikipedia. A quick search for some well-known celebrities shows that those articles' introductory paragraph(s) is a summarization of what the celebrity is known for as well a quick highlight of his/her/their awards and achievements. Examples of such introductions can be seen on the articles for Barbara Streisand, Steven Speilberg, Mel Brooks, Justin Timberlake, Jack Nicholson, Rod Stewart and many others (too many to list). After seeing the content of those articles, I would like to edit the introductory paragraph of the David Copperfield article to be as follows:

David Copperfield (born David Seth Kotkin; September 16, 1956) is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist, and was described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield’s network specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards and won a total of 21 Emmys. Best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, Copperfield’s career of over 30 years has earned him 11 Guinness World Records, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a knighthood by the French government, and he was named a Living Legend by the US Library of Congress. Notable illusions created and performed by David Copperfield include vanishing the Statue of Liberty, walking through the Great Wall of China, escaping from a locked safe inside an imploding building, and flying through the air night after night in his Broadway show. Copperfield has sold over 40 million tickets and grossed over 3 billion dollars, which is more than any other solo entertainer in history, including Madonna, Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga. He currently performs over 500 shows a year, and spends his time off relaxing on his privately-owned chain of islands in the Bahamas - Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay.

Everything will be properly sourced within the edit (although the edits are just a summarization of other factual statements that have been already sourced on other areas of the article). Hopefully the tone in the edit remains neutral enough for the Wikipedia community guidelines. I'm open for discussion regarding any of the above. TheMagicOfDC (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:32, 30 August 2011 (UTC).

celebritynetworth.com

Is not a "reliable source" for a BLP as nearly as I can determine. Collect (talk) 21:13, 15 January 2012 (UTC)