Top Canadian Magicians and the Tricks that Made Them Famous
From Doug Henning to Mahdi Gilbert, Canadians are famous around the world for their magic acts.
By Devon Murphy
Whether you believe in magic or not, there’s nothing quite like seeing a trick performed just right. Even though we know that magicians employ techniques of persuasion and manipulation, there is the delight in seeing something impossible that keeps us coming back.
The Nature of Things explores how magic is a unique tool for gaining new insights into human cognition and neurobiology in the new documentary, The Science of Magic. Here are some tricks that made some of Canada’s magicians successful — even if they’ll never tell us how they did it.
Mahdi Gilbert
Born without hands or feet, Toronto’s Mahdi Gilbert had to start from scratch when it came to magic. Because all the magic books he read were for performers who had hands, the crafty illusionist came up with entirely original routines only he knows the trick too, which makes the manipulations all the more enticing and exciting to watch.
One of those routines — a play on an oil and water card trick, where mixed red and black cards seemingly organize themselves into separate red and black piles — got him a spot on the television program Penn & Teller: Fool Us. On the show, he did indeed fool the magician hosts with his hands-free sleight of hand and went on to perform as their opening act in Las Vegas.
Dai Vernon
Ottawa-born Dai Vernon lived until age 98 and spent most of his long life fooling everyone around him. A magician’s magician, his close-up magic and card trick techniques even managed to fool the great Harry Houdini, who asked Vernon to perform a card trick over and over, in an attempt figure it out — to no avail. Vernon wasted no time calling himself “The Man Who Fooled Houdini.”
Aside from the famous aforementioned Symphony of Rings routine, Vernon is credited with the modern cups and balls routine, where balls vanish and reappear under a series of moving containers. His mastery of and improvement upon many classic illusions is what earned him the nickname “The Professor.”
Doug Henning
Likely Canada’s most famous magician, Winnipeg’s Doug Henning had a storied career around the world. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, “his shows led to a general resurgence of interest in magic,” said magic magazine editor Phil Willmarth. He even got a Canada Council for the Arts grant to study magic. Many contend that it was Henning&rsquo's carefree spirit that drew audiences in. The yogi and transcendental meditation practitioner, with shaggy hair and bright, rainbow clothing, was a world away from the stoic, formally-dressed illusionists of yore.
A student of Houdini’s, Henning co-wrote a biography on history’s greatest illusionist, as well as putting his routines into practice. One of his more impressive Houdini recreations was “Metamorphosis,” a speedy and awe-inspiring trick where he and a handcuffed assistant locked in trunk swap spots by the count of three. Henning died in 2000 at age 52 of liver cancer and was written up in the New York Times’ notable obituary section.
