[HN Gopher] Mr. Electrico, a sideshow magician who inspired Ray ...
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Mr. Electrico, a sideshow magician who inspired Ray Bradbury, then
vanished
Author : Caiero
Score : 69 points
Date : 2023-03-24 21:37 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
| scoot wrote:
| _If performers touch anything that's grounded, however, "that
| would be instant death."_
|
| Doesn't this put a lie to the suggestion by Bradbury that members
| of the audience, including him, were touched with a sword held by
| the performer?
| dmoy wrote:
| Not if the performer was using an insulated glove. Otherwise
| yes.
| morelisp wrote:
| A common magical technique is to perform the same effect in
| unrelated ways. There's no reason the sparks from the chair and
| the shocks from the sword have to be at all related.
| morelisp wrote:
| Don't fail to see Nyarlathotep if he comes to Providence. He is
| horrible--horrible beyond anything you can imagine--but
| wonderful. He haunts one for hours afterward. I am still
| shuddering at what he showed.
| teddyh wrote:
| (That's a quote from _Nyarlathotep_ , witten in 1920 by H. P.
| Lovecraft.)
| morelisp wrote:
| (Technically, it's a quote from the dream which inspired
| _Nyarlathotep_. Or a quote from Samuel Loveman which inspired
| _Nyarlathotep_ , if you're nasty.)
| [deleted]
| Overtonwindow wrote:
| _(A former tenured professor at Columbia College, Weller was
| dismissed in summer 2022 for violating the school's sexual
| harassment policies.)_
|
| Why was it important to include this in an article about Ray
| Bradbury? It added nothing to the article, and actually took the
| focus away from the subject. Terrible journalism.
| lallysingh wrote:
| They added the doubts to the timeline from Weller. Then
| probably had to add this parenthetical after - perhaps by the
| editor.
| MilnerRoute wrote:
| Reminds of a joke in the movie "Clue." The suspicious-looking
| widow is asked why her husband disappeared, and she says
| dismissively, "Well, that was his job. He was a magician."
|
| Fumbling, they say, "but he never reappeared!" And she says...
|
| "Well, he wasn't a very good magician."
| BigCryo wrote:
| Regarding the "live forever" command that the magician gave to
| the young Bradbury, Bradbury had a chance to sign up for
| cryonics, which is objectively the only way to get a chance to
| live forever, but he said that he could not face waking up in the
| future where he knew nobody, and that he cannot stand to leave
| his friends and neighborhood and neighbors of his current life..
| so maybe he had a chance to live forever by signing up for
| cryonics, but he decided against it
| jjulius wrote:
| "Immortality" is quite obviously not being used literally,
| rather in the sense that Bradbury has left such a mark that he
| will remain a part of society, via his work, long, long after
| he has died.
| UncleOxidant wrote:
| "Out looking for the camera crews Sell my soul for a second
| on the evening news... Immortality is what I'm buying, but
| I'd rather be immortal by not dying." Steve Taylor
| towhom wrote:
| [dead]
| at_a_remove wrote:
| You might notice that this whole Mr. Electro schtick is the core
| of the Stephen King novel _Revival_ , with an ending that was
| quite unlike his usual; King has always had a huge yen for all
| things Bradbury.
| DennisP wrote:
| I just read his new _Fairy Tale_ and it also has some
| significant Bradbury tribute.
| m3047 wrote:
| Fond memories of the club where I was well enough known and
| respected as to be allowed to bring a violet wand into the
| premises and turn it on: human chains, human beer sign, other
| sideshowesque scenes.
| acomjean wrote:
| DIY electric chair magic fun.
|
| Don't try this at home
|
| https://youtu.be/sIbropvPzTM
| danielodievich wrote:
| I got a chance to see Dr. Megavolt perform at Burning Man 20 some
| years ago. There was an earth mover machine with flamethrower, a
| band in electric cage, and gogo dancers in various skimpy
| outfits, all engaging in a battle with the good doctor. It was
| incredibly epic. What I recall was the most immediately
| noticeable was the strong smell of ozone, all that lightning mad
| it feel like a thunderstorm. They did have to run the generators
| all day long to charge up the batteries for 15 show....
| teh_klev wrote:
| The Boston Museum of Science has a pretty good (well it was in
| 2002 when I visited) high voltage exhibit called the "Theater
| of Electricity"[0].
|
| Perhaps not as exotic as the Burning Man performances, it was
| pretty exciting stuff even for me in my mid-30's. Well worth a
| visit.
|
| [0]: https://www.mos.org/live-presentations/lightning
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(page generated 2023-03-25 23:01 UTC)