Everyone loves a good trick, and we've been paying people to entertain us with them a long time. There's something understandable about wanting to believe in the supernatural, so when someone comes along apparently capable of tapping into impossible powers, we take note.
Here are 21 photos remembering vintage illusionists and magicians who wowed and amazed.
1
Doing a Trick
A dinner party in 1920.
2
Guy Bert
Performing in Paris, 1947.
3
Frederick Powell
Known as "the Dean of American Magicians," performing in 1907.
4
Japanese Magician Shokyokusai Tenkatsu
Playing Salome with the head of John the Baptist. 1915.
5
Paul LePaul
Moving cards in 1937.
6
Lizard King Jim Morrison
Showing off his magician skills in 1968.
7
Fred Keating
With a cage in 1932.
8
Indian magician Yusultini
With his wife Faeeza, performing levitation in 1962.
9
Robert 'Bob' Cunningham
The “Cunning The Jail Breaker” in 1907.
10
Teller
Working in renaissance festivals in the 1970s.
11
Chester Morris
With his vase trick in 1947.
12
The “Five Demons”
A group in Sydney, 1938.
13
Prof. Bollini, The Italian Magician
A print in 1879.
14
Fred Keating
With Maurice Chevalier in 1932.
15
Tourists
Photographing a snake charmer in India, 1959.
16
William Marriott and Stanisława Tomczyk
“The psychic medium Stanisława Tomczyk allegedly moving an object by psychokinesis. The magician William Marriott demonstrating how this could have been done with invisible thread.” 1910.
17
“My Uncle”
A magician in 1977.
18
Lewis Ganson
And his floating prop. 1950.
19
Horace Goldin
A magician in the 1930s.
20
Joseph Pinetti
An illustration of a trick from 1906.
21
Dai Vernon
Showing off a trick in 1950.
