Goldston Will. Secrets of Famous Illusionists

London: John Long Ltd, 1971. — 285 p.O ghosts of great magicians should rise up to reproach Will Goldston for unveiling their mysteries. He has striven to pay homage to their genius, to the skill with which they conceived their illusions, the showmanship which made them celebrated, and able always to command our admiration, our wonder, and delight. He has drawn aside the curtain to show the brilliant ingenuity behind illusions which in their time have thrilled thousands. He has told of the drama in the private lives of some of these world figures, of the men as they were in shadow and light. The story of Chung Ling Soo, the illusionist who met his death on the stage of a London music-hall in the view of thousands, is, for example, a little classic of its kind. Will Goldston tells in these pages for the first time the whole truth about the affair, explaining in detail the secret of the rifle used in Chung Ling Soo’s bullet-catching illusion, which caused the great magician’s death. He dissipates, too, some earlier legends concerning the tragic end of Lafayette, the famous magician, who died in a theatre fire in Edinburgh ; he talks intimately about the Maskelyne family, of Devant, Horace Goldin, and himself. Along the path of Goldston’s story come Carl Hertz, with his birdcage trick, de Kolta, with his“ Vanishing Lady,” J. N. , Maskelyne with Psycho, his automaton, and a group of j lesser but none the less fascinating personalities of world magic. He tells of fraudulent mediums and their methods, l and of ghosts, real and spurious ; he tells many tales out ^ of school, but none is malicious.