Levitation : Physics and Psychology in the Service of Deception

(W) Janine Johnson, Jim Ottaviani (A/CA) Janine Johnson. by Jim Ottaviani & Janine Johnson Hypnotic gestures, fancy clothes, and lovely assistants ? these things may make the magician, but science makes the magic. This is the true story of the most dazzling illusion ever performed on stage, featuring a cast of characters almost too good to be true. The Scientist: John Neville Maskelyne, the oh-so-proper magician and the trick's creator. The American: Harry Kellar couldn't buy Maskelyne's illusion, so he found a more devious way to get it. The Inventor: Guy Jarrett, the rough-and-tumble engineer who perfected the "Levi". The Heir: Howard Thurston, the charismatic performer who inherited the Levi from Kellar? and then ruined it!