Lighter Than Air
Lighter Than Air
Suspended: To stop something from being active temporarily or permanently.
“Water. Earth. Fire. Air.” Those are the first words in Avatar: The Last Airbender
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are good, he has much to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world."
Air is defined by density. If an object is lighter than air, it will become buoyant and float like a helium-filled balloon 🎈 The less dense, the more buoyant the object. Magic happens when two elements come together. Acting in stealth, the air is unnoticed, but enchantment is seen when you mix water and air. Pour water into an empty bottle. The air floats to the top, riding in bubbles, and at its highest point, it pops, releasing the air back to the sky where it lives, surrounding us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, giving us vitality and life when we breathe. Back and forth, our breath goes, inhaling, exhaling like a soft ocean wave. With each exhale, essential carbon dioxide is released, mixing with the earth's elements and feeding trees. During photosynthesis, the trees return oxygen to the air, providing life support for living creatures. Add sunshine necessary for life support, and a complete symbiotic relationship between the four elements tells the story of life. Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth! 🎪 🎭 No magic show on earth can compete with this mystical reality presented by the Supreme Being. These elements are sacred because pieced together, they create a balanced and harmonious flow to life. Comprehending how these energies interact with each other and us is the first step to understanding magic.
Magicians often manipulate elements, like seen in The Pendragon’s Fire Basket illusion I discussed in last week's Substack (https://tinyurl.com/439ybpsc)to present amazing feats of magic seemingly defying natural laws. Air is an invisible dimension, an unseen world filled with gases, silent radio waves, rivers of wind a few hundred miles wide, and traveling two hundred miles an hour, gathering its strength from its interaction with Earth. The unseen world of the air carries a haunting imagination. When it interacts with humans, like with sound waves, it's miraculous, like the character Ang from Avatar, who magically controlled the air. Magicians since antiquity have performed feats of magic manipulating and challenging “air,” that space owned by the Creator of the elements.
A magician produces a glittering gold coin or playing card out of thin air and, in an instant, vanishes it into nothingness. Doves are created out of the air, ready for flight, and a ferocious tiger disappears mid-air with the whisk of the magician’s cloth. These are some illusions magicians perform when they manipulate the atmosphere, making the impossible appear and disappear and therefore inspiring the famous expression “right before your very eyes.” Most audiences are familiar with the airbending techniques of illusionists when they defy the principles of physics and float an object like a beautiful lady, a golden orb ball, making what would usually fall to the ground appear lighter than air. As one of The Pendragons, I performed several amazing levitations, like our famous 360 levitation created by Jonathan and one we first presented on a 1988 NBC TV Special called Disney's Magic in the Magic Kingdom and later on Thames TV's Best of Magic. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night's Dream also inspired our ethereal and extraordinary levitation in a fairy scene before the spectacular Castle at Euro Disney, renamed Paris Disney for a TV Special for Thames TV in the United Kingdom. My favorite was our sword suspension, which wasn't a levitation but was a suspension that played like a levitation. The sword was the thing that stopped me from falling to the ground. The sword, working in tandem with the magical powers of Jonathan, caused me to lay effortlessly suspended across the hilt of the sword, ready to float away if the sword was removed. I would slightly move my body in a wavelike movement, making me appear light like a feather resting on the sword but ready to float away, adding to the optics of the magic.
Jonathan and I performing The Broom Suspension on the Paul Daniel show for BBC TV in the United Kingdom
The first time I remember seeing what is classically called The Broom Suspension because magicians traditionally use a broom when performing it was featured on an I Love Lucy segment where she is dressed in a Mandarin-style costume performing the illusion with magician and actor Orson Welles, appearing as himself, Welles playing himself is to appear at Club Babalu. It asks Lucy to be in the show. Thinking she is doing Shakespeare, she's surprised when Orson’s act is a magic show where she performs the Broom Suspension—a delightful and hilarious enactment by one of the world's greatest comediennes and presented by Orson, an extraordinary magician in his own right. Another of my favorites is Paul Fidler, accomplished with his partner at the time, Maria, who, as I mentioned in my previous Substack (https://tinyurl.com/yaefc4bs), were role models for Jonathan and me when we began acquiring magic for our show. I like their broom suspension for many reasons. Mostly, it was a very effective trick, but it's also practical. It's easy to carry, and I hand-carried it on planes as a carry-on bag, which caused some fascinating conversations with airport security. I brought a photo of us performing it and contracts to prove it was a device used for levitation in a magic class. Jonathan would pull out his playing cards, performing some magic for security, and then we'd be on our way.
The broom suspension has an exciting history, starting in France in the mid-1800s. Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, considered the father of modern magic, originally a clockmaker, transformed magic by taking it from the streets and festivals to legitimate theaters. In those days in Paris, the public marveled over the mysterious uses of ether, the fifth element often referred to by many cultures as the spirit element. (Interesting aside, when Einstein developed his formulas, he eliminated the element ether, making his equations work). Robert-Houdin took advantage of the popularity of ether by using it in the presentation of his Broom Suspension, which he’d invented. In his dialogue, he would tell audiences that if an individual breathed in the fumes from the ether, their body would become light as a balloon and float. It was a young magician named Erich Weisz, who, after reading Robert-Houdin’s biography in the 1890s, adopted the name Houdini, paying homage to the great pioneer of magic. Although a mentor initially, Houdini would ironically write a scathing book exposing Robert-Houdin as a fraudster, inferring Indian fakirs developed and created the Broom Suspension illusion Robert-Houdin took credit for inventing. By the time The Pendragons began performing our show in the 1970s, a century had gone by since the time of Robert-Houdin, and thousands of magicians had performed it worldwide. Our interest in the illusion came from our need to add a sound levitation or floating to our repertoire. We had our Fire Basket, which acted as a penetration illusion, and our Metamorphosis, a fantastic transformation, so a sound levitation or floating effect would balance out our show.
We visited the shop of a magician and builder named Kirk Kirkham, who bragged about having another magic builder’s old phone number of prominent magic builder Owens Magic Supreme, so callers mistook his shop for Owens, redirecting interested buyers to his shop, including us. I hadn't been to this type of shop. It was located in an enormous warehouse filled with magic from small card tricks to mostly large illusions. We looked around, and Kirk was pleasant, showing us several large illusions, including a cage, which, when we tried it out, inspired us to purchase it to change a parrot into me. We bought it, and Jonathan redesigned it. We used it to produce me from fire as a prelude to our Fire Basket illusion, appropriately naming it the Fire Cage. But what we were both excited about that day in the shop was seeing a Broom Suspension illusion, which Kirk encouraged me to try out. The next minute, I was hanging in the air between two broomsticks, feeling a lot like Lucille Ball but without the smile on my face, replaced with a grimace because of the discomfort. I was in amazement, wondering how Lucille Ball and other great women accomplished this illusion with that design. One of the brooms was removed, and Kirk lifted my body to a more comfortable position. When finished, I was happy to leave it behind, but I continued to love the trick despite the cumbersome illusion and encouraged Jonathan to design something better. My wish came true, and at my command, Jonathan stepped out of a Genii bottle to develop the best Broom Suspension ever invented. One that revolutionized the effect and was challenging to do, so only a handful of magicians attempted to perform it.
Our Broom Suspension was a streamlined version and a feat of engineering that allowed me to wear a midriff and bikini bottom as a costume while performing the illusion. It was easy to set up, allowing me to change into my costume quickly. We did this by happy chance when we stumbled upon a couple who, every Wednesday night, would sit in the front row of The Palace of Mystery showroom at the Magic Castle in Hollywood during the 8:30 show. Sam and Doris Fehrenz, a jewel couple in their 60s, approached us knowing we had parrots for advice regarding their newest addition, a talkative African Grey who cursed and made naughty sounds. 🤭 A week later, we arrived at their stunning mid-century home on a hill in Sun Valley overlooking parts of LA. I still remember walking into their home the first time. Across the room, opposite the front entrance door, existed a glass wall with a vista that went on forever. Several feet in front of the enormous display of windows were see-through barriers to hold their birds. It was a win-win situation for the Fehrenzes and the parrots. The macaws were beautiful with their gorgeous primary colors as you looked out over the city below, and the parrots were safe but exposed to the nature of the incredible outdoors. It was a fantastic living room filled with mid-century modern furniture made of leather and metal. We chit-chatted about magic and the birds, and our attention focused on their African Grey, who lived in his place in a grand cage in the middle of the room. It was like watching a comedy act as the African Grey showed off his talking skills by burping and other body sounds. Then he’d make the sound of ice from the ice maker land in the bottom of a glass, followed by the pop of a beer can opening, followed by another burp. Sam and Doris had bought him from a young couple who got high and taught him these sounds, thinking it humorous. So Sam told the story of the couple, suggesting to them that if they wanted to see something funny, blow some cannabis smoke in his little face. Of course, Sam and Doris were the most unlikely couple to be pot smokers, causing me to laugh just at that thought. Once in a while, he'd drop the F-bomb, but for the most part, he was a good bird. The Fehrenzes were asking for ways to improve his habits and speech. I assured them that over time, their African gray would learn new sounds and replace the old ones with the fresher new ones. Six months later, the bird spoke more like Sam and Doris but never stopped making the sound of ice and occasionally burped.
While I continued to get to know Doris, Jonathan and Sam were deep in thought. I learned Sam was an engineer and owned a tool and die shop, and he made everything. I was mesmerized to hear he and Doris build their estate, performing most of the physical labor. Besides their main house, they also had an outer house that wrapped around the front of their house, providing them with an enclosed courtyard with a gated entrance to one side. I learned that day that Sam made everything, including Doris’ jewelry, her sewing machine, and their organ. He would visit yard sales, and swap meets, looking for odds and ends to build things. If it were missing a part or, say, a screw or a bolt, he would cobble one at the shop. He was an exceptional award winning photographer, which I proudly own a piece of his work.
Sam known as Sun Valley Sam was a brilliant engineer, and with Jonathan, they put their heads together redesigning Robert-Houdin’s Broom Suspension. The mechanics of the new design were genius and operated on a new system, allowing for a minimalist approach to the illusion. Not cumbersome, our’s was a streamlined effect. Later, we replaced our witch's broom. We opted for a sword because it fit our Arthurian legend style. Although we made our performances of this illusion seem easy, it was the most difficult to perform. For Jonathan, setting me up and lifting my body was challenging, but he did so effortlessly. For my part, I required much strength and balance, which I did with a relaxed body and serene face. So our version of this old classic dating back to Robert-Houdin was rarely copied, plus it was difficult to make, discouraging magicians from our model. Despite its difficulty level, it remained one of my favorite illusions to perform, even though my hip has been displaced from its constant performance over the years.
Our Broom Suspension, aka Sword Suspension, was well-liked by audiences. It was a suspenseful performance because audiences feared my falling from the sword. My relaxed, effortless performance style, showing me defying physics by gracefully suspended air, a contrast to the anxiety the audience felt caused by my presentation. For Jonathan’s part, he was the magician whose powers the audience depended upon to keep me from falling. But I did a few times, ending up bruised and embarrassed. The most famous time was when we were on a cruise ship in Alaska, hitting the high seas, causing me to fly off the sword into the lap of two musicians playing in the orchestra behind us. I have an old VHS video of the incident somewhere around, and I hope I can find it and post it again after I digitally convert it. Mostly, it was a reliable illusion and very dependable.
The Pendragon‘s Broom Suspension and using a sword can be seen starting about 45 minutes into this performance of Spellbound
My most memorable performance of the Suspension was during our first evening illusion show called Spellbound, featuring large-scale magic, including the use of wild cats by our Co-star Carlton Beck. With all the spectacular illusions and dance numbers, producer Dick Foster exclaimed, “The Broom Suspension is the highlight of the show, breathtaking,” a comment he reluctantly said because of his significant financial investment in what he thought were the more eye-catching illusions. Spellbound played in Media, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia in 1983. The elaborate stage at the Encore Dinner Theater featured a runway, allowing our performance to be seen 360° by a scrutinizing audience. We performed it intimately in their immediate presence, prompting a friend of mine when visiting a performance of it recently on a video to recall a quote from impressionist photographer Bodhi Smith, “Imagine if you could dance with a tree, floating over the water on a mystic dance floor shared only by you and your tree in alchemy, all amidst a warm morning mist wrapping itself around your legs, up to your belly, as your impression surrounds you in dance within your own mirrored reflection, you and your dancing tree...how cool would that be? Totally mystifying” Although I didn't dance in the air with a tree, I embraced Foster’s idea that watching our presentation takes your breath away. The very air you breathe is enclosed quintessence to the other elements. Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
A few quotes about Sam Fhrenz from two of my magic peers, Dan Birch and James Dimmare
“Sam made a number of things for me, including my current (huge) candle flame, a poodle levitation, a lady levitation (Aga?) and I think a few other things.
I remember a few great moments with Sam. Meetings with him regarding an illusion, then being invited to eat dinner with him and Doris afterwards. And, of course, the conversation often steered towards the great things about you and Johnathan…. I recall him telling me about getting run over by his vehicle at his gate, apparently having gotten out of it, but it was still in gear and bit him pretty bad on his leg…
And, of course….Sam loved….really loved Wednesday evenings, at the Castle. He and Doris would sit in the exact same seats every Wednesday, front row, and enjoy the show. I think that was something that really made him tick…to watch an effect that he built, come to life on stage! Dan Birch
“I believe he was and was a very high-end successful engineer .ex navy bad ass as well . I used to love that cute little mid-century modern house on the hill.He was an avid photographer.won awards for his pics. He would go to swap meets with his wheel barrel and find shop equipment and odds and ends that didn't work. Half the time the person didn't know what they had. A screw was missing. Wires crossed. His famous line was. "I'll give 2 dollars for that" if he found a piece of machinery that no one wanted but he could use it but it was missing a real important part he refused to pay for it he'd make it in his shop.” James Dimmare
Your writing envelopes the ethers of Yesteryear’s; taking me to that hilltop house and looking out into forever. Just breathe. What a fantastic story.
Another fascinating post! You certainly got your workout with those three illusions back to back. Fabulous job, as always!!!