In "Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles" (2014)
On the occasion of the exhibition that the Cinémathèque Française will dedicate to him in autumn 2025, why not delve into the fascinating subject of Orson Welles.
His film "Citizen Kane" is still considered by many film buffs as one of the greatest films of all time, if not the greatest.
But did you know that Orson Welles was also passionate about magic, thus joining the long list of magician filmmakers (Georges Méliès, Christian Fechner, etc.).
Orson Welles has always been fascinated by magic. He often appeared as a magician on screen, of course, both in cinema and on television, but also on stage, during vaudeville shows and even on stage in Las Vegas.
It was around the age of eleven that Orson Welles was introduced to prestidigitation by a prestigious teacher: Harry Houdini himself!
At the same time, Orson Welles began training as an actor and director in the most prestigious schools, having understood very early on that a "magician is an actor who plays the role of a magician" (Robert Houdin's famous maxim).
Throughout his life, this passion for playing, for faking, for illusion, as a revealer of truth, can be found.
He very quickly incorporated magic techniques, such as black light, into his theatrical adaptations, as he did for Faust, for example.
One could even say that he ended his career the way he started it: with sleight of hand.
As early as the 1930s, he incorporated magic into theater in an adaptation of Faust. Levitation and sleight of hand transformed the staging into a huge magic trick.
During World War II, he organized his own traveling magic show, the Mercury Wonder Show, which he presented to members of the American armed forces.
This show took place under a big top circus tent, with legendary actresses Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth as assistants.
In 1943, he opened a miniature circus in Hollywood, the Mercury Wonder Show, an illusionism show from which some excerpts can be found in the film Hollywood Parade, and which he presented on stage in France in 1944 for American troops, starring Marlene Dietrich in the "Wonder Girl" act.
He ended his film career with a fascinating autobiographical manifesto, "F for Fake," released in 1973, a kind of docu-fiction that is an immersion in total illusion. He thus signed his artistic testament.
This film is a true cinematic magic trick about imposture in art. For him, cinema was in fact just one means of expression among others, a generator of illusions like other media.
This is therefore one of the keys to his creations: illusion reminds us that everything is illusion, and that it is our duty to be aware of it to transcend it and escape from it.
Somewhat like Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
In Welles's work, the bridges between cinema and magic are therefore obvious.
Welles also presented himself as a theorist of magical art (specialized publications including the preface to Bruce Elliott's book Précis de Prestidigitation (Ed. Payot Paris, 1952). Abb Dickson, who was Welles's indispensable accomplice for more than ten years, notably on the Magic Show,
From 1976 until his death in 1985, he even filmed various prestidigitation tricks for a film project called The Magic Show. Some authors believe that Orson Welles's ability to think like a magician influenced all of his work.
In an October 1985 interview in Magic Manuscript magazine, he stated:
"My father loved magic and bought me some grand illusions when I was a kid. At the time, there was Thurston and all those great stage magicians. I started doing sleight of hand at 11 or 12. My first passion was making boxes (that's what Thurston did). I loved Houdini, but he wasn't an illusionist; he was a challenger. He challenged the audience. He didn't charm them. He created a kind of Olympic game and eventually won it... he was dynamic... he had a kind of disdain for illusionists."
Unpublished "Orson Welles Show" filmed in 1979.
Welles also performed magic tricks on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, on The Merv Griffin Show, in many television shows and films, including Casino Royale.
Finally, here is Welles's concise explanation of how fraudulent psychics read your thoughts using cold reading techniques. He is interviewed by David Frost (famous for Frost/Nixon).
"Almost everyone, I suppose, in their childhood, received a magic play box for Christmas. A few of these children never grew up – they became real magicians. I know this because I am one of them. What is magic? Well, for some it's a hobby, for others entertainment. For me, it's a way of life."
"For me, magic begins and ends with the figure of the magician who asks the audience, for a moment, to believe that the lady is floating in the air. In other words, to be eight years old for a moment." (Orson Welles).
