David Blaine: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 15:56, 3 September 2006
David Blaine (born David Blaine White on April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA) is an American magician and stunt performer. He made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He was the first to introduce this brand of magic to the public. His father was Spanish-Puerto Rican and his mother, Patrice White, was Jewish of Russian descent.
Magic career
Overview
Blaine began his career with street magic, performing card tricks and illusions such as levitation or bringing dead flies back to life. He started doing magic at a very young age, encouraged by his mother every step of the way. His mother later died due to ovarian cancer. Later in life he used a small camera crew to record his act live in front of everyday people. This act provided the basis for his television specials, David Blaine: Street Magic, David Blaine: Magic Man, and David Blaine: Mystifier.
Blaine is recognised as one of the world's most famous magicians and has created the very popular genre of magic which is focused on the genuine reactions of the spectator.
He later turned his attention to feats of endurance; these included being buried alive for seven days, spending 62 hours encased in ice, standing on a tiny, 22 inch (56 cm) wide platform at the top of a 90 foot (27 m) high pole for 35 hours, living in a transparent box for 44 days without food, and living underwater for 7 days.
Blaine's unique contribution to magic is his charismatic ability to bring people together and his use of video and television to reach the MTV Generation in a decade where magicians were out of touch with younger audiences.
Premature Burial
Beginning on April 5, 1999, Blaine spent seven days buried inside a glass coffin at the bottom of an open pit in front of a New York City building provided to him by Donald Trump. Passersby could watch him 24 hours a day. He was reportedly fed only 44 tablespoons of water each day. He emerged on April 12 on schedule.
"There were Christian standing next to Muslim cabdrivers who were next to Black kids. Businessmen in designer suits stood beside heavily pierced street kids. It was really fun and made me incredibly happy," recalls Blaine in his book Mysterious Stranger. "I saw something truly incredible. I saw every race, every age-group, and every religion gathered together smiling, and that made everything worth it. I saw magic!"
Frozen in Time
On Monday, November 27, 2000, Blaine began a stunt called "Frozen in Time," which was covered on a TV special. Blaine stood in a closet of ice located in Times Square, New York. The ice was sculpted to fit his body, with little room to move. A tube provided him with air and water while his urine was removed with another tube. He was encased in ice for 61 hours, 40 minutes, and 15 seconds before being removed. The block of ice was on a stand, with space between the ground, and the ice was transparent, to prove he was inside the ice the whole time. He was taken to the hospital immediately after being removed because doctors feared he was going into shock. He said that he could not walk normally for a month after the stunt.
Vertigo
On Monday 22 March 2002, Blaine began a stunt he named "Vertigo." A crane lifted Blaine onto a 90 foot (27 m) high pillar in Bryant Park, New York City. He claimed to have been scheduled to start training for this particular stunt on September 11th, 2001, by flying on American Airlines from Kennedy airport at noon to Los Angeles. As Blaine lived in New York City, he delayed his training. He remained on the pillar, which was 22 inches (56 cm) wide, for exactly 34 hours and 23 minutes without food, water or anything to lean on. Blaine appeared to be without safety harnesses and had no safety nets underneath him for almost the duration of the stunt. He ended the feat by jumping down onto a landing platform made of a 12 foot (3.7 m) high pile of cardboard boxes. He suffered a minor concussion on the way down after hitting his head on the boxes, but he fully recovered from the injury. [1]
Mysterious Stranger
On October 29 2002, Random House published David Blaine's Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic. Part autobiography, part history of magic, and part armchair treasure hunt, the book also includes instructions on how to perform card tricks and illusions.
The treasure hunt, Blaine's $100,000 Challenge, was devised by game designer Cliff Johnson, creator of The Fool's Errand, and solved by Sherri Skanes on March 20 2004, 16 months after the book's publication.
 | The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
Above the Below
On September 5, 2003, Blaine began his 44-day endurance stunt sealed inside a transparent Plexiglas case suspended 30 feet (9 m) in the air over Potters Fields Park on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The case, measuring 7ft by 7ft by 3ft (2.1 x 2.1 x 0.9 m), had a webcam installed so that viewers could observe his progress. During this period the magician reportedly received no food but only water, a feat of endurance inspired by "A Hunger Artist" by Kafka.[2] It was often asked if he did receive food and water at night because most do not understand his will power.
As with his New York City stunts, the vast majority of London visitors were generally supportive, seeking little more than a wave from the magician. [3] However, the stunt became the subject of much press and media attention, due to a raucous minority who were mischievous or outright hostile to Blaine's presence.
Newspapers reported that eggs, lemons, sausages, water bottles, beer cans, paint-filled balloons and golf balls had all been thrown at the box; a hamburger was flown round the box by radio-controlled model helicopter; one man was arrested for climbing the scaffolding supporting Blaine's box and attempting to cut the power and water supply to the box; and the magician was treated to numerous displays of bare bottoms and breasts. However, British documentary makers Richard Gordon and Lauren Hannon told a very different story in their feature length documentary "Below the Above" in which five extraordinary people had life changing experiences whilst sleeping below Blaine's box. Featuring a homeless teenager who for the first time found a family through David Blaine, two magicians whom Blaine challenged to sleep below him, the homeless suit-wearing author who created a giant chess board to play with Blaine, and a hippie who tried to keep the peace below the box; "Below the Above" is a remarkable and touching documentation of Blaine's stunt. While this low budget documentary told one version of the story, British media chose to only report the negative.
"You've picked the wrong town to be hung in, Mr Blaine," wrote The Sunday Times. "What is clear from the start is that Londoners are not taking Blaine quite as seriously as he takes himself. ... Really, it makes you proud to be British."
A gaunt Blaine emerged on schedule on October 19, murmuring "I love you all!" and was quickly hospitalized. A subsequent letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, co-written by Blaine, described his nutritional recovery, revealing similar symptoms often exhibited by the malnourished who are being reintroduced to liquid and solid foods. The letter reported that Blaine had lost 54 pounds (24.5 kg) during his fast.
Drowned Alive
On May 1, 2006, Blaine was submerged in an 2.4 metres (8 feet) diameter, water-filled sphere (isotonic saline, 0.9% salt) in front of the Lincoln Center in New York for a planned seven days and seven nights, using tubes for air and nutrition. During his time in the sphere, he attracted large crowds and many visits by celebrities including Chris Rock, Kelly Ripa, Dustin Hoffman and Courteney Cox. He concluded this event by attempting to hold his breath underwater to break the world record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. In a change to the original stunt plans, while attempting to break this record, Blaine also tried to free himself from handcuffs and chains put on him upon coming out after the week in the sphere.[4] Blaine apparently held his breath for 7 minutes and 8 seconds before showing signs of unconsciousness and being pulled up by the support divers, thus failing in his attempt.
Blaine did nonetheless claim to succeed in setting a record (as yet unrecognized by any record-keeping institution) for being fully submerged in water for more than seven days straight (177 hours).
It is expected that Blaine will suffer medical problems as a result of his stunt.[5] Blaine has undergone multiple short hospital visits after the stunt ended and has entered an agreement with doctors from Yale University to monitor him in order to study the human physiological reaction to prolonged submersion. [6] During the stunt, doctors witnessed skin breakdown at the hands and feet and liver failure.
In an interview on the Howard Stern Show on Sirius satellite radio, Blaine spoke of the week-long fasting he did before the "drowning alive" stunt, to prevent the need for solid waste issues. For urine, he wore an external, condom-style catheter.
Cancelled stunts
After Above the Below, Blaine told media that one of his stunts would be a "Dive of Death" from a helicopter hundreds of feet above a river.[7] The jump was scheduled for his 31st birthday on April 4, 2004, but on April 1, three days before the jump was to take place, his publicist announced that the stunt had been cancelled.[8]
Upcoming stunt
- David Blaine tells Larry King about his next stunt saying, "there will be no safety involved. It will be from point A to point B. Either you make it or you don't." King responds, "In other words you could die?", to which Blaine replied, "I'm not going to die because I'm going to prepare and train and be as serious as I can."[9]
His next challenge will be that he will dangle 135 feet from the Brooklyn Bridge.
Personal life
He has a brother named Michael who graduated from New York University on May 8, 2006.
He dated Madonna[10], Fiona Apple, and Josie Maran.
He attended Passaic Valley High School in Little Falls, New Jersey. Blaine graduated in 1991.
Trivia
- During his appearance in Last Call with Carson Daly, he "pulled" his heart out and fainted while using the phrase, "Twah...twah." The segment was staged but NBC almost cancelled the illusion. It was told that the audience was completely shocked and some members ran away crying or screaming.
- He had the concentration camp number of Primo Levi tattooed on his left forearm.
Notes
- ^ Vertigo. Magic Directory.
- ^ Magic is lost in Blaine’s bland stunt The Stanford Daily, Oct 7, 2003
- ^ Spectators have a change of heart Guardian Unlimited, Sep 21, 2003
- ^ Blaine Out For Record, Sky News, 2006-05-01
- ^ "Blaine to get medical treatment". BBC News. 2006-04-06. Retrieved May 6.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Cnn.com - David Blaine out of hospital
- ^ CNN Larry King Live transcript, CNN News, 2003-11-03
- ^ Blaine cancels dive of death stunt, ITN News, 2004-04-01
- ^ Blaine plans stunt without safety measures Digital Spy, May 16, 2006
- ^ [1] David Blaine & Madonna
References
- Mysterious Stranger, Blaine's autobiography published by Vilard Books and Channel 4 books. ISBN 0-7522-1989-8.
- BBC news pages on Blaine's time in London - 1 2 3
- Korbonits M., Blaine D., Elia M., Powell-Tuck J., "Refeeding David Blaine: studies after a 44-day fast", New England Journal of Medicine 2005;353:2306-7. PMID 16306536.