David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, walked through the Great Wall of
China, and floated over the Grand Canyon.
That's all dandy... but what has the illusionist been up to lately?
Here's a look at where he's been and what he's been doing for the last several years.
David Copperfield's name might not ring a bell for younger audiences, but he's most
definitely famous, even if his level of celebrity isn't quite what it was in his heyday.
"Do you believe in magic?
I'll have to convince you."
Of course, he still has some fire in him, to say the least.
While his television appearances are few and far between these days, he still makes quite
an impact on the industry, and his name will still pop up in the headlines from time to
time.
And, of course, he's still making magic.
Another way of putting that: Even though Copperfield might not have the highest profile these days,
he certainty hasn't...
disappeared.
"Well I happen to know that what you're going to make disappear is this Statue of LIberty
pencil sharpener."
And by the sound of it, his fortunes haven't dwindled, either… not by a long shot.
In 2019, he landed the top spot in Forbes' "Highest Paid Magicians" roundup, a position
he's impressively held for four straight years.
According to the publication, Copperfield brought in more than $60 million that year
alone.
To put that into perspective: Penn and Teller were second place on the list, and they earned
less than $30 million.
At the end of the day, only five acts made over $10 million, while Copperfield earned
almost as much as the other four acts combined.
It could be that his days of making the Statue of Liberty vanish are long behind him, but
Copperfield's earnings are nevertheless plenty impressive.
As Forbes noted in 2019, the magician's net worth is just less than $900 million.
That's nothing to sniff at, is it?
In the '80s and early '90s, David Copperfield really didn't have much in the way of competition.
After all, who could compete with this kind of performance?
"I started magic early.
Well, not that early.
The real reason I made this rattle appear is to tell you a story."
Easily the most familiar name in the wild world of magic, he dominated the airwaves
with his grand illusions and won legions of fans thanks to his unique approach to televised
hocus pocus.
But as the 1990s wore on, Copperfield's popularity seemed to be somewhat on the wane.
According to This Was Television, his two mid-90s television specials, Fires of Passion
and Unexplained Forces, were only middling successes, and that may be putting it kindly.
Shortly after those programs came and went, he not-so mysteriously disappeared from the
airwaves for a few years, at least as far as TV is concerned.
In 1997, Fox premiered Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed,
a show that drew huge ratings and lifted the crushed-velvet curtain on some of magic's
oldest tricks.
Of course, there was also the rise of stunty modern showmen like David Blaine.
In 2001, Copperfield returned to televised magic with his CBS special Tornado of Fire…
and his comeback really got off to a rocky start.
According to ABC News, the magician collapsed and was hospitalized during rehearsal for
what the website called "extreme exhaustion."
According to the Napa Valley Register,
"[A crew member was] thrown 10 feet in the air by the power of the man-made tornado [in
a trial run.]"
The actual show was much smoother than that, but it still wasn't particularly well-received
at the end of the day.
What a bummer.
For many years now, David Copperfield has been a popular Las Vegas headliner, running
one of the most successful shows in history at the MGM Grand.
Copperfield constantly revises the illusion to keep things fresh and exciting for returning
guests.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, this magic act elevates Copperfield's typical illusions
and includes a fair amount of sentimentality as well.
Since many of Copperfield's fans have been following his career for decades now, he makes
sure to incorporate lots of nostalgia into the show, which theoretically improves the
viewing experience for his most faithful followers.
David Copperfield is probably the world's greatest collector of mystifying artifacts
from other famed magicians and illusionists.
According to Forbes, Copperfield started his collection in 1991 with the $2.2 million purchase
of the Mulholland Library of Conjuring & the Allied Arts, which was then the largest Houdini
collection in the world.
"For any artist you have to understand the history of your art.
For me it's not just about magicians.
This represents what everybody can relate to."
Oh yeah, we can totally relate to this!
Of course, not everyone in the world of magic was thrilled with Copperfield's remarkable
purchase.
As one naysayer remarked, as per The New Yorker:
"David Copperfield buying the Mulholland Library is like an Elvis impersonator winding up with
Graceland."
In total, the prestigious collection consists of over 80,000 items, including posters, books,
memorabilia, and more.
Sadly, it's generally inaccessible to the public… but maybe that just adds to the
mystique?
Even in the familiar and controlled environment of the MGM Grand, David Copperfield can still
make mistakes.
One unfortunate event brought the magician back into the headlines in 2008, and for all
the wrong reasons.
According to Us Weekly, one of Copperfield's assistants was badly hurt during the show's
final trick and wound up being rushed to the hospital with serious injuries.
A fire department spokesperson told the magazine,
"It was reported that someone's arm was stuck in a fan prop."
While some people in the audience evidently thought the whole thing was a joke or at least
a part of the show, one eyewitness quickly realized the seriousness of the situation,
telling Us Weekly:
"One of the assistants dropped to the floor.
The curtain came down partially.
Blood was everywhere, and the other assistants dragged the victim back.
Then the curtain closed all the way."
A show representative told Us Weekly exactly what happened:
"During an illusion where David attempts to walk through the rotating blades of a 12-foot
high industrial fan, the fan and its platform were being rotated by one of David's illusion
technicians.
Just prior to David himself walking through the fan, [the assistant] was accidentally
pulled into the vortex of the moving fan blades, causing injury to his arm and face."
Ultimately, the assistant suffered multiple breaks in his arm and several lacerations
to his face.
Regarding his act, Copperfield admitted that
"There is danger, you take educated risks.
You have backup plans, but things do go wrong."
When David Copperfield isn't breaking records for his long-running stage show or his lifetime
earnings, he's setting records for property purchases.
He already owns a chain of islands in the Bahamas and a four-story penthouse in Manhattan
complete with an indoor pool, which subsequently burst and flooded the building in 2015.
All this lavishness evidently wasn't enough for him.
The magician set his sights on buying another piece of land in Las Vegas, which makes sense
considering it's where he works his magic for the better part of the year.
Of course, a showman like Copperfield certainly wouldn't settle for your regular namby-pamby
mansion.
Instead, he landed the highest-priced property in the history of the city.
That's right: In 2016, he scooped up a new home in Las Vegas for a whopping $17.55 million.
What did that get him?
Well, according to Forbes,
"Offering 31,000 square feet of living space, the steel-and-concrete construction sits on
1.58 acres and contains a total of eight bedrooms and nine baths.
The 18,600-square-foot main residence features a wine cellar, a movie theater, a full-service
spa, three antique arcade exhibit rooms, a golf simulator, and a nightclub with a bar
and dance floor."
Just 30 minutes from the MGM Grand, Copperfield's record-setting mansion also has an infinity
pool, tropical landscaping, and a 6,000-square foot garage.
Hey, it sounds pretty cozy, doesn't it?
Like so many illusionists, David Copperfield often involves audience members in his tricks,
but this penchant for audience participation landed him in a rather sticky situation.
Some former audience members made some really rather damning allegations about Copperfield's
famous "Lucky 13" illusion, which he'd been performing religiously for 17 years.
In 2013, British tourist Gavin Cox claimed he fell and badly injured himself as he was
being ushered backstage during the trick.
According to USA Today,
"Cox testified that he suffered brain and other injuries in a fall while stagehands
urged him and others to run during an illusion that appeared to make as many as 13 audience
volunteers disappear onstage and reappear moments later, waving flashlights in the back
of the theater."
Cox and his lawyer held Copperfield liable for the injuries and over $400,000 in medical
bills.
The man also pointed a finger at the MGM Grand and a construction company, which reportedly
left some dust on the ground where Cox happened to slip.
As USA Today reports,
"[The jury ultimately found Copperfield] negligent but not financially responsible."
Meanwhile, Copperfield's legal team was unsuccessful in closing off the courtroom to the media,
so the magician was forced to reveal how he does the trick to the whole damn world, thus
spoiling it forever.
Consider our world shattered.
"During the illusion, participants are placed in a cage hovering above the stage, and covered
by a curtain.
Then they exit and are guided through a series of passageways…"
Sure, David Copperfield makes magic and mayhem look like a piece of cake... but to hear him
say it, his tantalizing tricks can take quite a bit of time to perfect.
In 2012, he confessed to Vanity Fair,
"Each five-minute piece you now see in my show takes two years from idea to execution.
That is why when someone else steals my creations it is very painful to deal with."
Yes, apparently Copperfield needs to stay vigilant in order to ensure the tricks of
his particular trade are kept safe and sound.
And when a theft does take place, it can be quite the challenge to prove it.
As he told Vanity Fair,
"I have actually only ever won one case of legal protection for my illusions, and that
was in Paris, where a guy stole my flying illusion."
Along those same lines, he told Wired in 2013,
"French law protects artists much better than U.S. law.
The lawsuit prevented [the other magician] from performing [the trick] again without
compensating me."
In 2018, Copperfield's company successfully sued a German company for illegally replicating
a trick from the magician's show "Live the Impossible".
Well, that'll make you think twice the next time you try making the Statue of Liberty
disappear.
"And tonight, we're on Liberty Island.
People come to this island by boat and I've made the trip quite frequently during this
past year, getting ready for tonight."
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