Metamorphosis trick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Metamorphosis is a stage illusion (magic trick) invented by John Nevil Maskelyne (who also invented the first typewriter to be produced in Great Britain), but most often associated with famous magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, and performed to some renown (for speed) by The Pendragons, among many others.
In the illusion, the magician is locked inside a large box or trunk, usually after being restrained with handcuffs, ropes, bags, etc. The magician's assistant (Houdini employed his wife Bess) stands upon the trunk and holds a curtain up to momentarily conceal her entire body. The curtain is immediately lowered, revealing that the magician is now standing atop the box, the magician and assistant having changed places instantaneously. When the box is opened, it is shown to contain the assistant, restrained as the magician had been.
Variations include the Aquarian Illusion performed by Mark Wilson, wherein a tank filled with water is used and a beautiful swimsuit-clad woman assistant is locked inside underwater, and Penn and Teller performing the illusion in an underwater theater with the woman assistant handcuffed & locked in a steel cage on the bottom. This adds an exciting element of danger and peril - The beautiful lady is trapped underwater, with no source of air. If anything goes wrong, she will drown!
The original method of this trick was exposed by the Masked Magician, Val Valentino, as part of Fox TV series called Breaking the Magicians' Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed. He was assisted by Michelle Berube. However, the method exposed (specifically the manner in which the trunk is opened) is not generally in use today.
[edit] Method
The Metamorphosis uses a device known as the substitution trunk, which has a secret panel that allows its occupant to sneak out. Having extricated himself from the sack in which he was tied, Houdini would climb out of the hidden door and crouch behind a curtain lifted by his wife. The two would quickly change places, Houdini appearing behind the curtain as Bess disappeared into the box. Bess would then emerge from the box and sack wearing a different costume.
In a variation on this method which is slightly more easily performed, the sack is in fact an open tube of hessian attached at one end around a hole in the back panel of the trunk. The magician steps into the tube (which appears to be a normal sack sitting inside the open trunk), and the sack is chained or otherwise sealed. By this point, the magician has slid out the tube and is hiding behind the rear of the trunk. The trick proceeds as normal from this point, with the assistant entering the trunk via the back rather than the hidden hatch.
The other David Copperfield Metamorphosis is done a little simpler. What he does is when the curtain goes up he is between the legs of the performer. So the performer can jump back while the person between the legs jumps up and pulls the curtain down.
