The World's Most Dangerous Magic was the title of two American television specials showcasing

illusion An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people. Illusions may o ...

and

escapology Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and ot ...

acts, which were made for the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

network. The first was originally broadcast on 27 April 1998 and the second, titled ''The World's Most Dangerous Magic 2'', was initially aired on 2 May 1999. The shows were the brainchild of producer

Gary Ouellet Gary Ouellet (January 9, 1945 – June 8, 2002) was a French-Canadian television producer and magician who lived and worked in the United States. He may be best known as the driving force behind a number of network television specials that helped ...

and were made by the Gary L Pudney Company. They featured a combination of famous performers and lesser-known magicians, each performing stunts or illusions that were claimed to involve the risk of death or serious injury. While some stunts clearly involved genuine life-threatening danger should anything have gone wrong, the risk of injury in others was open to question. In the first show,

The Pendragons Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon were a husband-and-wife team of American illusionists who called their work "physical grand illusion". They are widely known due to numerous national and international television appearances. Performing partnersh ...

performed the illusion '' Impaled'', which was described as a "balancing feat" in which Charlotte Pendragon risked fatal impalement should it go wrong. However this is a well known illusion in the general repertoire of stage magic in which the performer is not actually in danger of genuine impalement (although if performed clumsily or with poor quality apparatus there is some risk of back injury to the assistant). The Pendragons' presentation of this illusion is nevertheless rated by many magicians as possibly the best ever version of the trick.

Tricks and performers

The World's Most Dangerous Magic

* "Sixty Seconds to Live" - magician

Robert Gallup The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

performed an escape while suspended upside down from three burning ropes. * "Scorpion Production" - Robert Gallup. * "Viper Pit" -

Melinda Saxe Melinda is a feminine given name. Etymology The modern name ''Melinda'' is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melissa (μέλισσα) meaning ...

was shackled to the bottom of a glass tank which was then filled with snakes. She escaped using levitation. * "Sword Basket" - Charlotte Pendragon got into a wicker basket and her husband Jonathon thrust several burning spears through it. The voice-over stated that Charlotte had suffered burns during a previous attempt at the stunt. * "Wolf Trap" - Robert Gallup put his hand into a metal toothed

animal trap Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

. * "Table of Terror" - Mark Kalin performed the Table of Death trick. * "Impaled" - Jonathon Pendragon balanced his wife Charlotte on the point of a sword and she then appeared to be impaled by it. * "Jagged Edge" - Gary Kurtz played a form of Russian roulette using knives. * "Death at Hoover Dam" - Escape artist

Dean Gunnarson Dean Gunnarson (born 27 January 1964) is a Canadian escapologist (escape artist). He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He is noted for a series of large scale spectacular stunts done for television. Gunnarson has ap ...

freed himself from a straitjacket while suspended upside down 726 feet above the ground from the Hoover Dam.

The World's Most Dangerous Magic II

Michael Grandinetti Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

- escaped from between two walls of steel spikes which were lit on fire and set to spring inwards at over 50 mph *

-Gunnarson escaped suspended upside down hanging from a trapeze bar over a swamp of 130 hungry alligators in the Florida everglades covered in chicken meat and blood. *

Steve Wyrick Steve Wyrick (born May 12, 1970) is an American magician from Garland, Texas. Wyrick is best known for performing as a headliner in Las Vegas, Nevada for more than 15 years, having starred at Planet Hollywood Resort/Casino, Aladdin Casino, Sahara ...

- Walked through the spinning blades of a jet turbine engine. * Tony Clark - Was chained to the side of a semi-truck filled with explosives and had to escape before a station wagon, which had no brakes, ran him over at 60 mph. * Anthony Reed - performed a version of the

Aquarian Illusion Metamorphosis is the name of a stage illusion invented by John Nevil Maskelyne, but most often associated with famous escape artist Harry Houdini and performed to some renown (for speed) by The Pendragons, among others. It is also known amongst mag ...

. * Gary Kurtz - Played a deadly game of roulette with four jars, three of which contained rabbits, and one of which contained a monocled cobra. *

Margo *** People * Margo (actress) (1917–1985), Mexican-American actress and dancer * Margo (magician), American magic performer and actress * Margo (singer), Irish singer * Margo (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name P ...

- was shackled inside a coffin which was then filled with over 120 rats.

Music

Both specials were scored primarily using

production music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Background ...

from the Atmosphere, Kosinus and Opus 1 libraries, and supplemented by material from Gary Ouellet's 'Designer Textures for Magicians'. The following tracks were used: * Main Titles: 'The Deep'
Atmosphere music
* Anthony Reed: 'Midnight Sun' and 'Destructor'
Kosinus
, 'Menace'

* Hoover Dam: 'Steel', 'Piano Steps', 'Brutal' and 'Anticipation'
Atmosphere music
, 'Dangerdrone' and 'Ghost Caverns'

* The Pendragons: 'Out to Lunch', 'Haunted'
Atmosphere music
, 'Challenger', 'Dangerzone', 'Grungesurfin'
Match music
* Melinda (Snakes): 'Volcano March', 'Tribal Danger' and 'Threat Basic'
Atmosphere music
* Mark Kalin: 'Death Toll', 'Savages'
Atmosphere music
and 'Grunge Grove'
Kosinus music
* Michael Grandinetti: 'Dark Child', 'Seance'
Opus 1
and 'O Sanctum et Beatissimum Virum' (Anno Domini, 1997) * Margo: 'Desolation', 'Night Killer' and 'Mystic Party'
Kosinus music
* Gary Kurtz: 'Traces of Fear', 'Volcano March', 'Piano Steps'
Atmosphere music
, 'Grunge Grove'
Kosinus music
, 'Tribal Ghost'
Opus 1
and 'Titanic Drone'
Moments Music
* Robert Gallup: 'Money Train', 'New Order', 'Action Adventure', 'Horror Dawning'
Atmosphere music
and 'Impending Doom' and 'Thunderdrums'

* Steve Wyrick: 'The Haunting
Opus 1
and 'Verminator'
Kosinus music
* Dean Gunnarson 'Gaitor Bait': 'No Survivor', 'Heroes'
Kosinus music
and 'Mechanogenesis', 'Mechanized Execution' and 'Chaos Control'
Opus 1
.

References

External links