David Devant (22 February 1868 – 13 October 1941) was an English magician, shadowgraphist and film exhibitor. His name is sometimes incorrectly spelt with a trailing 'e'. He was born David Wighton in Holloway, London.[1] He is regarded by magicians as the consumate exponent of suave and witty presentation of stage illusion.
Magic career
Devant was a member of the famous Maskelyne & Cook company and performed regularly at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London. In 1905 he became a partner with John Nevil Maskelyne. He was succeeded by Oswald Williams. Devant is revered by magicians as an inventor and performer whose stature led to him being invited three times to participate in Royal Command Performances. He was droll, engaging and a master of grand illusion and platform magic. The wit of his patter marked a departure from the pseudo scientific style of earlier conjurors. This humour can still delight, as evidenced by stage lines he includes in the treatise he wrote with John Nevil Maskelyne, Our Magic. It has been claimed that Queen Alexandra laughed aloud during Devant's "A Boy, a Hat and Some Eggs" routine at the first of his command performances, where an assistant from the audience was given the (losing) task of keeping track of a bewildering number of eggs plucked from thin air by the magician.
Among Devant's signature routines was his "Magic Kettle", which produced, on demand, any alcohlic beverage called for by the audience, and "The Moth and the Flame", an instantaneous vanish of a winged assistant. Critics of Devant claim many of the items in his repertoire were elaborated sketches in which the magical element was insufficient to justify the staging. In its day, however, Devant's magic was the talk of London. He was already a top-of-the-bill music hall star when he began sharing the stage with John Neville Maskelyne in 1893. In 1904, the two moved to St George's Hall, and their official business and professional partnership was established soon afterwards. It was to prosper for ten years.
Maskelyne and Devant's House of Magic became famous all over the world, and was the showcase for the premier magicians of the day, including Paul Valadon, Charles Bertram and Bautier de Kolta. In "My Magic Life", Devant says that their theatre was "the veritable headquarters of the conjurer's art".
Milbourne Christopher in his textbook on conjuring history, Panorama of Magic, says that: "David Devant, most British magicians agree, was the master performer of his time". Devant was a fixture in British entertainment and it was he who was selected to represent "the world of wizardry" at King George V's command performance at the Palace Theatre in London on 1 July 1912. Devant made headlines not long after when an escaped mental patient cornered him in London and insisted that the conjurer pull coins from the air as he had been seen to do on stage. Devant did so until attendants arrived from the hospital to take the disturbed spectator away.
Devant introduced the theatrograph into the Egyptian Hall show, acquiring one of the first projectors ever made out of his own pocket. The theatrograph was invented by Robert Paul.
Devant was still at the peak of his profession when his health began to fail during the war years, until the consequences of "paralysis agitans," as he identifies it in his autobiography, forced him to retire in 1920.
Legacy
Devant is remembered as the consumate exponent of entertaining magical theatre. The elite Magic Circle in London commemorated him by using his name for their magic theatre. His words about his own priorities in magic have often been quoted to budding young magicians - when confronted by a boastful magician who claimed he knew hundreds of tricks, Devant gently replied that he knew only a few dozen, but he was able to perform them very well.
Devant was the author of several manuals on conjuring, including Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic with Nevil Maskelyne.
He lived in Hampstead, London, where a blue plaque commemorating his residence was affixed to the house in 2003.
The indie band David Devant & His Spirit Wife are named after him.
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