I see there was a previous thread on the Piddingtons:
http://ift.tt/1bqKGTH
Thought I'd add this as it was entertaining..... I've been listening to the NPR-produced "Radiolab" show which is occasionally rather uneven but usually fun.
Last night I listened to this week's episode titled The Black Box:
http://www.radiolab.org
Which covered both the development of anesthetic, and the Piddington's act. They had on the grandson of these folks, and he related a history of the couple, some recorded clips of their act, and how popular they were.
They went into some detail about all the "theories" that were floated about how they were accomplishing the thing....In one stunt they even put Mrs. Piddington in an airplane so she couldn't possibly be getting any information from her people. (this was in the 40s...)
The grandson had been unable to get grandma to reveal the secret, she indicating it was more fun if it remained a mystery. She's now suffering from dementia, and likely couldn't tell it if she wanted to.
So.... They called Penn Gillette. Penn said, "sure, I know how they did it.... We do a version in our act."
But he warned....."All magic secrets are ugly. When you hear how it was done, it's gonna ruin your day. Do you really want to know?"
Well, they did, of course, but for the listeners who want to get past the mystery, you have to jump through hoops.
They give a URL in the segment, and if you go to it you can click on the Black Box and also the skull & crossbones and listen to the rest of the interview with Gillette.....
A fun interview. And it's ugly.
http://ift.tt/1bqKGTH
Thought I'd add this as it was entertaining..... I've been listening to the NPR-produced "Radiolab" show which is occasionally rather uneven but usually fun.
Last night I listened to this week's episode titled The Black Box:
http://www.radiolab.org
Which covered both the development of anesthetic, and the Piddington's act. They had on the grandson of these folks, and he related a history of the couple, some recorded clips of their act, and how popular they were.
They went into some detail about all the "theories" that were floated about how they were accomplishing the thing....In one stunt they even put Mrs. Piddington in an airplane so she couldn't possibly be getting any information from her people. (this was in the 40s...)
The grandson had been unable to get grandma to reveal the secret, she indicating it was more fun if it remained a mystery. She's now suffering from dementia, and likely couldn't tell it if she wanted to.
So.... They called Penn Gillette. Penn said, "sure, I know how they did it.... We do a version in our act."
But he warned....."All magic secrets are ugly. When you hear how it was done, it's gonna ruin your day. Do you really want to know?"
Well, they did, of course, but for the listeners who want to get past the mystery, you have to jump through hoops.
They give a URL in the segment, and if you go to it you can click on the Black Box and also the skull & crossbones and listen to the rest of the interview with Gillette.....
A fun interview. And it's ugly.
via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1kLYRpe
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