"Bill" wrote in message
...
One of David Copperfield's most impressive illusions was making the
Statue
of Liberty vanish. He raised a curtain in front of the crowd, made a very
poetic speech, dropped the curtain and the statue was gone, with just a
couple of helicopters circling overhead shining spotlights on the bare
base
of the monument.

Heavy sigh I don't suppose he could do this trick again. Everybody
would
be up in arms about the helicopters flying too close to the statue and
over
a crowd of people.

I suppose he could still make a Lear jet disappear.

--



I saw one of those 'Magician's Secrets Revealed' shows one time and they
showed how this illusion is performed. The object never actually
disappears
of course, its done by moving the camera to a different scene without the
TV
audience realizing it.

No, he had a special stage constructed that revolved very slowly and quietly
while the curtains were drawn. When they reopened the curtains the statue
appeared to be gone as the curtains themselves were obstructing the view. It
was well thought out with even the chairs being bolted into position to have
the audience at the perfect angle to pull off this illusion. It was also
very expensive :-)

Contrary to what the magician says, the people
present in the live audience are in on the joke and only pretend to be
amazed. Maybe he can make the TFRs disappear instead. He has apparently
already given the illusion to our government that their domestic security
policy over the last two years have made any difference other than to
annoy
everybody and waste the taxpayer's money.