David Blaine

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**David Blaine**
Born:	April 4, 1973 Brooklyn, New York
Occupation:	Illusionist, stunt performer

David Blaine (born David Blaine White on April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA) is an American illusionist and stunt performer. He made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. His father was Spanish-Puerto Rican and his mother, Patrice White, was of Jewish and Russian origin.

1 Magic career, Stunt Artist
2 Criticism
3 Personal life
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Magic career, Stunt Artist

[edit] Street magic

Blaine began his career by bringing street magic to the public, performing card tricks and illusions such as levitation or bringing dead flies back to life. He used a small camera crew to record his act live in front of everyday people providing the basis for his television specials, David Blaine: Street Magic, David Blaine: Magic Man, and David Blaine: Mystifier. His first television special, David Blaine: Street Magic influenced the way magic is performed and portrayed on television. With its strong focus on spectators' reactions and showmanship, Blaine entertained unsuspecting pedestrians without the use of the typical magic props used by other magicians.

[edit] Premature Burial

Beginning on April 5, 1999, Blaine spent seven days buried inside a glass coffin at the bottom of an open pit in front of a New York City building provided to him by Donald Trump. Water was poured in, filling the hole, before an acrylic glass top was placed over it as a cover. The surrounding area was covered in dirt. Passers by could watch him 24 hours a day. He emerged on April 12 on schedule. In a homemade video, a shadow on top of the coffin forms a cross, which Blaine comments on in his book.

[edit] Frozen in Time

On Monday, November 27, 2000, Blaine began a stunt called "Frozen in Time," which was covered on a TV special. Blaine stood in a closet of ice located in Times Square, New York. A tube provided him with air and water while his urine was removed with another tube. He was encased in the box of ice for 61 hours, 40 minutes, and 15 seconds before being removed ^[1]. The ice was on a stand, with space between the ground, and the ice was transparent, to prove he was inside the ice the whole time. He was taken to the hospital immediately after being removed because doctors feared he was going into shock.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Vertigo

Blaine's next stunt was called "Vertigo." He was to have started training for this particular stunt in Los Angeles, California, and was scheduled to board an American Airlines flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles on September 11, 2001.^{[citation needed]} Due to the terrorist attacks during the day and a nationwide shutdown of airports, Blaine was forced to delay his training.^{[citation needed]} On Monday 22 May 2002, Blaine performed the stunt in Bryant Park, New York City, where a crane lifted him onto a 90 ft (27 m) high and 22 in (56 cm) wide pillar. He remained on the pillar for exactly 34 hours and 23 minutes without food, water or anything to lean on. With his legs weak from standing atop the pillar for so long, he ended the feat by jumping down onto a landing platform made of a 12 foot (3.7 m) high pile of cardboard boxes. ^[2]

[edit] Mysterious Stranger

On October 29, 2002, Random House published David Blaine's Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic. Part autobiography, part history of magic, and part armchair treasure hunt, the book also includes instructions on how to perform card tricks and illusions.

The treasure hunt, Blaine's $100,000 Challenge, was devised by game designer Cliff Johnson, creator of The Fool's Errand, and solved by Sherri Skanes on March 20, 2004, 16 months after the book's publication.

[edit] Above the Below

David Blaine suspended in front of City Hall, London (October 3, 2003)

On September 5, 2003, Blaine began his 44-day endurance stunt sealed inside a transparent Plexiglas case suspended 30 feet (9 m) in the air over Potters Fields Park on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The case, measuring 3ft by 3ft by 7ft (0.9 x 0.9 x 2.1 m), had a webcam installed so that viewers could observe his progress.^{[citation needed]} Blaine went all 44-days without any food whatsoever. He worked diligently to gain weight before the stunt was to take place, but unfortunately, did not gain as much weight as was planned. Blaine continued with the stunt anyways.

The stunt became the subject of much press and media attention, due to many people going to the site to watch and engage with Blaine. For example, Page 3 girls and glamour models from various men's magazines flashed him. It received attention from the media when eggs that had been thrown from the crowd were cleared from the box, as he wasn't meant to communicate with anyone. British documentary makers Richard Gordon and Lauren Hannon reported in their documentary Below the Above that five people lived below Blaine to show their support for what he was doing.^{[citation needed]}

Blaine emerged on schedule on October 19, murmuring "I love you all!" and was quickly hospitalized. He appeared gaunt and he claimed to have lost 54 pounds (24.5 kg) during his fast.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Drowned Alive

David Blaine at Lincoln Center, sharing a moment with a fan as spectators look on (2 May 2006).

On May 1, 2006, Blaine was submerged in an 2.4 metres (8 feet) diameter, water-filled sphere (isotonic saline, 0.9% salt) in front of the Lincoln Center in New York for a planned seven days and seven nights, using tubes for air and nutrition. He concluded this event by attempting to hold his breath underwater to break the world record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. Blaine also tried to free himself from handcuffs and chains put on him upon coming out after the week in the sphere.^[3] He seemed to have trouble escaping from the last of the handcuffs. Blaine failed in his attempt, holding his breath for 7 minutes and 8 seconds before showing signs of distress and being pulled up by the support divers.^[4] Blaine did claim to have succeeded in setting a record for being fully submerged in water for more than seven days straight (177 hours). Blaine underwent multiple short hospital visits after the stunt ended and has entered an agreement with doctors from Yale University to monitor him in order to study the human physiological reaction to prolonged submersion. ^[5] During the stunt, doctors witnessed skin breakdown at the hands and feet and liver failure.

In an interview on the Howard Stern Show on Sirius satellite radio, Blaine spoke of the week-long fasting he did before the "drowning alive" stunt, to avoid having to be concerned with defecation. For urine, he wore an external, condom-style catheter.

His attempt to break the breath holding record was somewhat controversial due to his breathing pressurized air from a regulator. Breath holding athletes typically breathe above water, at atmospheric pressure, before submerging for their record breaking attempts. Therefore Blaine may have had a physiological advantage due to higher oxygen saturation of the blood.

[edit] Revolution

On November 19, 2006, Blaine announced his next stunt. He told reporters that he would be suspended 50 feet^[6] in the air while strapped by shackles inside a giant gyroscope. His goal was to escape from his shackles after the gyroscope had been spinning for 16 hours. The gyroscope was constantly spinning at a rate of eight revolutions per minute while hanging above an empty lot in Manhattan near Times Square.

The stunt began November 21, 2006, with Blaine declaring, "This one's exciting for me. This one's a fun one." After spinning in shackles in the gyroscope for two days, Blaine emerged with a crash only a half hour after being allowed to try. ^[7]

As a result of his success, Blaine led 100 children selected by The Salvation Army on a shopping spree at Target, after each child received a $500 gift certificate from the retailer. Blaine said the stunt was particularly important since The Salvation Army had provided him with clothing while he was growing up. "This challenge is close to my heart," Blaine said.

[edit] Criticism

Blaine has been the subject of criticism from unknown magicians. Some of his colleagues even go so far as to question his status as a magician per se. Much of this criticism stems from Blaine's practice of performing unconventional illusions that more accurately fall under the category of stunts. Houdini received similar criticism during his day.

Blaine's efforts to surround his personal life with an air of mystery have led to interpretations of him as an eccentric and somewhat flamboyant personality.

For his part, Blaine seems to welcome much of this criticism, often engaging in provocative stunts and performances.

[edit] Personal life

He has dated Fiona Apple, Madonna, Josie Maran, and Lonneke Engel. ^[8]
He attended Passaic Valley High School in Little Falls, New Jersey.^{[citation needed]} Blaine graduated in 1991.

[edit] Trivia

During his appearance in Last Call with Carson Daly, he pretended to pull his heart out and fainted. The segment was staged but NBC almost cancelled the illusion. It was told that the audience was completely shocked and some members ran away crying or screaming.^[9]
He has Primo Levi's concentration camp number, 174517, tattooed on his left forearm.^[10]
He has a full reproduction tattoo of Salvador Dalí's "Christ of St. John of the Cross" on his back^{[citation needed]}.
He was caricatured as an evil cult leader in the "Super Best Friends" episode of South Park. The episode loosely compared him and his followers with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, with a few references that may have been further attacks on The Church of Scientology.
He is regularly mocked and referred to as a "git wizard" (and, after his Drowned Alive stunt, a "moist git") on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show.

[edit] References

Mysterious Stranger, Blaine's autobiography published by Vilard Books and Channel 4 books. ISBN 0-7522-1989-8.
BBC news pages on Blaine's time in London - 1 2 3
Korbonits M., Blaine D., Elia M., Powell-Tuck J., "Refeeding David Blaine: studies after a 44-day fast", New England Journal of Medicine 2005;353:2306-7. PMID 16306536.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

David Blaine

Parody

David Blaine Street Magic: YouTube Edition!

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