# Any idea on how David Blaine did this trick.....? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651 "2002-05-24T13:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/1 "2002-05-24T13:20:13Z")
On his show Vertigo, David Blaine did this pretty amazing trick and was wondering if anyone could figure out how me might do it. First, he steals the watch off a “lady on the street’s” wrist while holding on to her wrists and engaging her in misdirecting patter. Nothing more than pickpocketing (but impressive nonetheless). They actually clue the tv viewer in to the fact that he is gonna steal the watch so we can watch it happen. He then walks the lady over to a jewelry store next door and asks if she recognizes a watch that is sitting on a shelf in the case. She realizes that it’s her watch and looks down to see her bare wrist and is obviously amazed. Then he puts a piece of newspaper against the glass and seems to reach his hand through the window (And man if it didn’t look like his arm went though the window). The watch is gone from the mantle and in his hand. The illusion was one of his “street tricks” though I don’t know how much prior preparation there was. Obviously he had planned to be near a jewelry store. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/2 "2002-05-24T14:13:22Z")
Well… Whenever you can’t see the face of the person to/on whom the trick is being performed, assume that you are watching studio footage edited in after the ‘street’ bit was shot ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/3 "2002-05-24T14:19:55Z")
David Blaine’s street tricks are editted in the studio to present reactions and actual tricks that are so out of context after editting that you don’t know the spirit of the actual trick. His levitation bit will actually be shown as a editted levitation to wow the home audience (actual camera tricks and editting done to make it look like a levitation - less than a second, while he actually did a decent balducci levitation (illusion), and the reaction shown on TV might not even be from the levitation. keep that in mind… You might watch a ‘watch trick’ but it happened in a different sequence live…on the street…more like a cheap trick than a powerful magic act…but you wouldn’t get that impression after the film was cut up. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/4 "2002-05-24T14:33:09Z")
seems cheap. How did they “wow” the street audience then? I can’t imagine these people were in cahoots but… Aside: Mantegout, cool spoiler steganography. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/5 "2002-05-24T14:42:10Z")
It was a great trick and this is just a WAG but I think that after he took the watch he slipped it to a confederate who placed it in the phony jewelry store window while Blaine finished the card trick. There must have been something special about the jewelry store window that Blaine used the newspaper to conceal. I love his tricks but it seems like his special are ten minutes of magic and thirty minutes of him walking around while ominous music plays. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/6 "2002-05-24T14:43:21Z")
The spoiler tag is just a board feature **KidCharlemagne** (much as I’d _like_ to take the credit for it). ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/7 "2002-05-24T15:08:44Z")
They usually cut to the people’s reaction, ever notice that? Im sure the way he did it is that there was someone in the store wearing his same clothes reaching for the watch. This is hidden behind the newspaper & wall of the store. If you need real specifics, ask around in alt.magic.secrets ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/8 "2002-05-24T15:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KidCharlemagne \* > \*\*seems cheap. How did they “wow” the street audience then? \*\* People gow ‘wow’ over the dumbest tricks…and when the camera men shoot tons of film, they find someone really excited for like a half-second and - boom - there is a keeper. For example…I saw him respond to a girl’s request for him to do "that levitation thing’, it was a request that took 3 seconds, then, for about .25 seconds, they show him levitating, but not the Balducci, but some doctored footage of it, then for about .25 seconds, you see a close up of a girl mystified covering her mouth…and in less than 15 seconds overall, you think this guy levitated right off the ground and blew this girls mind. I’ve seen Blaine ridicule cold reading, then do a cold reading and leave people stunned. It’s his audacity that makes him so good. Copperfield acted magical, but Blaine gets audacious with stuff, and it puts him on a whole new level. Plus, he doesn’t remind you of some geeky kid who locked himself in his room his whole life to learn some slight-of-hand. But that’s another story… ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/9 "2002-05-25T01:54:04Z")
First approximation is that if you see the magician on TV, the trick isn’t what you would see live. Magicians lie; that’s their job. For ten dollars I could give a very impressive reaction look… ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/10 "2002-05-25T07:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Well… > > Whenever you can’t see the face of the person to/on whom the trick is being performed, assume that you are watching studio footage edited in after the ‘street’ bit was shot \*\* i think how **mangetout** made those words disappear is better magic 🙂 mange, even if u didn’t create the effect you did enlighten us. i didn’t know this tag existed. now i’m gonna post in Cafe Society just so that i can use it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kbutcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@kbutcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbutcher)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/11 "2002-05-25T07:59:23Z")
After watching that show for 5 minutes I became convinced that everyone you see on camera was in cahoots with Mr. Blaine. I haven’t watched the show too often, but the bit I watched, when he “levitated” we only saw his feet, not his whole body. how convenient. To me it seemed he could easily have had his freinds lifting him by his arms or whatnot, just anything above the level the camera could see. I can see why his TV show could wow the same audience that believes John Edwards can read minds, but for me the entertainment value was zero. Just my 2 cents. ---
**Author:** ![kbutcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@kbutcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbutcher)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/12 "2002-05-25T08:01:47Z")
I’m sorry. I guess John Edwards talks to the dead. not reads minds. same difference as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/13 "2002-05-25T08:03:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kbutcher \* > \*\*Just my 2 cents. \*\* just a thought: if i collect all the 2 cents dropped at the SDMB i’d be a millionaire soon 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/14 "2002-05-25T08:08:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kbutcher \* > \*\*Just my 2 cents. \*\* just a thought: if i collect all the 2 cents dropped at the SDMB i’d be a millionaire soon 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kbutcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@kbutcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbutcher)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-on-how-david-blaine-did-this-trick/110651/15 "2002-05-25T08:14:39Z")
that or the chicago reader would have the money they need to upgrade the servers…