David Blaine

CWhite

Elite Member
Jul 22, 2016
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Ok, so I'm rewatching for like the hundredth time this first special I believe "Street Magic"...
When he is doing the "bite quarter" montage at about the 15 minute mark. He does it to this girl really dirty, her fingers covered in silver paint.
At about the 22 minute mark, he does a mind reading effect, where he guesses a girls number she thought of as 37. She is clean cut, almost like a university student.
Both girls are the same person! Same moles on her face, look at the bottom teeth.
Now, I'm not bashing David Blaine at all. I love his work. However other magicians are bashed for using stooges. I believe I just saw one.
If anyone has the time to review the show, let me know if you think it's the same girl, just a different "role"..
 
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Oct 23, 2019
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Ok, so I'm rewatching for like the hundredth time this first special I believe "Street Magic"...
When he is doing the "bite quarter" montage at about the 15 minute mark. He does it to this girl really dirty, her fingers covered in silver paint.
At about the 22 minute mark, he does a mind reading effect, where he guesses a girls number she thought of as 37. She is clean cut, almost like a university student.
Both girls are the same person! Same moles on her face, look at the bottom teeth.
Now, I'm not bashing David Blaine at all. I love his work. However other magicians are bashed for using stooges. I believe I just saw one.
If anyone has the time to review the show, let me know if you think it's the same girl, just a different "role"..
Blaine is a showman, not a magician. Someone is using him to be the face of whatever he is doing. Everyone of us on this forum can do everything he does and more. Think of it like this:
There is a movie called the escape artist from 1982 which stars Griffon O'Neal...While Griffon himself is not a magician, the consultant for that movie was, and obviously taught him certain performances and effects, (Hollywood did the rest).

Blaine is exactly like that.

When anyone such as Blaine shows up on TV out of nowhere. You have to ask where did they come from? Take for example Joel Osteen (The Preacher) he just showed up on TV out of nowhere I asked a couple of pastor's where he came from and no one knows.

People like that show up on TV first then build their portfolio after they're already on TV. But there seems to be no actual record of them really ever existing before that.

I personally consider what he does to be parlor tricks. The only reason he gets that type of a reaction is he's an adult. You can find plenty of videos of kids doing more or less those same exact tricks and the reaction is totally different.

Whenever anyone asks me what I think of him I reply "He's a clown".
 

ID4

Aug 20, 2010
482
228
Now, I'm not bashing David Blaine at all. I love his work. However other magicians are bashed for using stooges.

David Blaine did use stooges in the Street Magic special but not in the way you’re thinking.

If anyone has the time to review the show, let me know if you think it's the same girl, just a different "role"..

It’s not the same ”woman”. They do have similar features though.
 

Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
2,966
1,101
Utah
Blaine is a showman, not a magician. Someone is using him to be the face of whatever he is doing. Everyone of us on this forum can do everything he does and more. Think of it like this:
There is a movie called the escape artist from 1982 which stars Griffon O'Neal...While Griffon himself is not a magician, the consultant for that movie was, and obviously taught him certain performances and effects, (Hollywood did the rest).

Blaine is exactly like that.

When anyone such as Blaine shows up on TV out of nowhere. You have to ask where did they come from? Take for example Joel Osteen (The Preacher) he just showed up on TV out of nowhere I asked a couple of pastor's where he came from and no one knows.

People like that show up on TV first then build their portfolio after they're already on TV. But there seems to be no actual record of them really ever existing before that.

I personally consider what he does to be parlor tricks. The only reason he gets that type of a reaction is he's an adult. You can find plenty of videos of kids doing more or less those same exact tricks and the reaction is totally different.

Whenever anyone asks me what I think of him I reply "He's a clown".

I disagree with virtually everything said here. If you can't see the value of what David Blaine has done in magic I don't think we'll see eye to eye on many things. Oh well, that's beside the point.

Here didn't have to use a stooge for either of these tricks and that might be why people, to my knowledge, have never made a big deal out of it. I bet it's more of a coincidence thing. They were dining in one area and she happened to be there on two separate days.

Oh, and Blaine has been accused of using stooges. The tooth trick he did, and his levitation were both controversial in the magic community.
 
I have to respectfully state that I could not disagree more about the negative comments regarding David Blaine. He is one of the finest and most talented close-up and stage / theatrical Magician's that the world has ever seen. There are some clips of him floating around, recent ones even, where he gets surrounded randomly by 40-60 people, like at UCLA or somewhere like that... And gets asked to do some magic.

First, the man is so incredibly kind and such a genuine lover of magic, that he almost NEVER says no to requests from fans for just about anything. So these clips show impromptu card magic that I have to say, its some of the most impressive material I have ever seen. I am able to figure out most, if not all of it, but that is not the point. The man's sleight of hand, misdirection, memorized deck work, presentation, charm, ingenuity and overall talent all explain why he is the legendary superstar that he is.

I will admit, I am not a big fan of things like staying underwater for long periods, or in ice, or some of the other endurance type effects he has done on television in the past. I love close up magic and mentalism. And David Blaine is a master.
 
Mar 22, 2019
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13
When anyone such as Blaine shows up on TV out of nowhere. You have to ask where did they come from? Take for example Joel Osteen (The Preacher) he just showed up on TV out of nowhere I asked a couple of pastor's where he came from and no one knows.

Whenever anyone asks me what I think of him I reply "He's a clown".

Joel Osteen preaches at his fathers church. His father was the pastor for many, many years. Joel Osteen was at first his fathers cameraman. His father then asked him to preach. He didn't want to. But he eventually did. And now we are here.

His son is also slowly starting to preach at his church as well...so, there's that.

Not sure what preachers you spoke to :) And I don't even follow Osteen. It's known all over how he got where he is now.

Sorry for the OT little write up.
 
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timsilva

Elite Member
Nov 18, 2007
404
43
California
timsilva.com
If it were the same girl, wouldn't it be possible that she was where he happened to be while performing for the special twice? He was hustling and out-and-about for a months shooting those specials. I've ran into the same people/groups that I did magic for in the past weeks/months many times. Maybe she saw him and asked for another trick? Just a thought ;)
 
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Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
2,966
1,101
Utah
If it were the same girl, wouldn't it be possible that she was where he happened to be while performing for the special twice? He was hustling and out-and-about for a months shooting those specials. I've ran into the same people/groups that I did magic for in the past weeks/months many times. Maybe she saw him and asked for another trick? Just a thought ;)

Yeah, that's what I think happened. At the P3 theater they actually keep a list of non magicians who enjoy magic because they make good audiences for the Penguin videos. When you find someone who reacts well, it's not unheard of to return to them later.
 
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Justin.Morris

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2007
2,793
888
Canada
www.morrismagic.ca
I noticed these things as well way back when watching it. It is very possible that the filmed the same trick for different people and edited the bits together to get the best angles for home viewers, while trying to maintain the flow of the effect. He may have even had people stand in to get some missed angles and shots. I'm pretty sure that's what happening.
In his book, the pictures (I assume pictures taken from the video) reveal that he did use stand ins to get the levitation shot. However, the people you see reacting are NOT stooges - those are the real reactions from his levitation. But there is a shot of him in the air with stand ins wearing similar - yet slightly different clothing. It is apparent by the wardrobe that they were trying to make it look like the same people that had reacted so they could get the other shot.
I think this is fairly different than using a stooge to give you a fake reaction. The reactions were real, but some of the artistic shots were staged I believe.
 
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