Gesturing Hypnotically to Make Real the World. Mandrake the Magician and Jean Eug ne Robert-Houdin

Abstract

After Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1805-1871) all following stage magicians borrowed his aspect, elegance, and gesture. Even his name became iconic, as the most famous and very talented Hungarian illusionist Erik Weisz (1874-1926) paid homage to his famous predecessor, adopting the pseudonym of Harry Houdini. Also, the comics illusionist, Mandrake the Magician, has the elegance, detachment, and manners of Robert-Houdini. The success of the comic character was large in the United States, and all over the world, featuring the same skills of the in the flesh stage wizards. Mandrake the Magician was a mental superhero without physical powers who can have extraordinary adventures fighting evil with the force of his mind. In a media discourse, the illusionism of Mandrake the Magician is as real as that of Bobert-Houdin when stopped the revolt of Marabouts in Algeria, and even when he was in a theater to perform his famous ethereal suspension. The comic stories of the elegant American magician were credible within the media discourse but also because in the real world something similar did happen.