David Copperfield has made a career of sawing people into pieces, defying death through escapes and dematerializing large objects. He’s made a Learjet disappear, rendered the Statue of Liberty invisible and caused a 45-ton Orient Express train car to vanish. Copperfield would like to make poverty, hunger and danger vanish for the sake of the world’s children, but for now he’ll settle for the moon.
It usually takes Copperfield and his team two years to develop an illusion. Causing a manmade lunar eclipse has been nearly three decades in the making. In a 1997 interview with USA Today, he identified three ultimate illusions he wanted to perform: straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa; putting a woman’s face—think former flame supermodel Claudia Schiffer—on Mount Rushmore; and making the moon disappear.
Pisa tourism officials might have had a problem with the first option and his relationship with Schiffer came to an end, but the moon continues to orbit around Earth. While details of how Copperfield intends to pull off a celestial body illusion are scarce. the moon will be full Feb. 24, the date of the Lantern Festival for the Lunar New Year.
It’s also the Year of the Dragon, the most revered animal in the Chinese zodiac known for power, positivity and the ability to pull off creative ideas. Copperfield’s own birth date places him in the realm of the clever, mischievous Monkey. An interest in ventriloquism led young David Kotkin to magic, which helped him develop confidence. He adopted a stage moniker drawn from Dickens by the time he was a marquee name on the Chicago theater circuit, which led to network TV specials and mainstream fame.
Copperfield was merely the most famous illusionist in the world by 1983, when he made a Learjet disappear from the stage of the MGM Grand. From there, his illusions became grand events the whole world watched. In April of that year, 20 witnesses assembled on Liberty Island to see his biggest trick yet: A curtain high enough to block the audience’s view of Lady Liberty was raised, then lowered to reveal spotlights beaming through the space where the statue formerly stood.
He made her appear again, of course, but from then on, Copperfield’s next illusions had to top previous ones, whether he was walking through the Great Wall of China or making a train car disappear. As rising stars David Blaine and Criss Angel began making their marks on TV, Copperfield settled for being the biggest headliner on the Strip, curating his International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts and developing his 11-island chain in the Bahamas.
The only string left untied is that moon illusion. He needed a good reason to revisit the idea and the right collaborator for inspiration. Copperfield found both in Save the Children. As more details come to light, he’ll be directing attention toward the 100-year-old organization and creating opportunities for proceeds that raise the quality of life for children in crisis. His compassion is no illusion.
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