The assistant then steps into the box, which Copperfield then folds back into a 12-inch cube. The two embrace briefly, to the tempo of the music, and she then steps up onto the table. The larger box is white.Ĭopperfield moves across to the female assistant, takes her hand and lifts her to her feet. Copperfield removes each of the swords from the box with a flourish and mounts them on a nearby rack, before unfolding the box to its expanded state. Behind him, a female assistant clothed in red is seen, sitting on the stage floor. The lighting is slowly restored to reveal Copperfield, in silhouette, holding one of the Samurai swords. A musical soundtrack of Peter Gabriel's " Mercy Street" plays. The lights are extinguished, leaving the stage in darkness. It is penetrated by three Samurai swords - "side to side, front to back, and even from top to bottom." A male assistant mounts a mirror at the back of the table, and Copperfield explains that this enables the audience to "see the box from around the sides and from the back at all times."Ĭopperfield asks the audience to watch very carefully "because we're going to do this very slowly." Ĭopperfield displays a red box, around 12 inches square, on a thin table. The choreography, background music and presentational patter used in this version have all since been widely copied by other performers. The assistant emerges from the box, now dressed in a different outfit and wearing a mask.ĭavid Copperfield introduced a number of presentational changes to Origami in 1989, devised by his choreographer, co-director and on-stage assistant Joanie Spina. As he does so, he begins to unfold the box, and recites the rest of the poem: He now tells the audience that the Japanese believe that whatever can be folded can also be unfolded. Henning jokes that, the next time they travel, he will take his assistant as carry-on luggage. He now rotates the table, showing the back for the first time. Henning now takes the ivory skewers and wooden pole and inserts them back into the box, cross ways, length ways, and vertically. The female assistant has disappeared from the table and it seems impossible that she can be inside the 12-inch box. Henning points out that she barely fits inside the larger box and then proceeds to fold the box down into its original smaller size. To demonstrate, a female assistant wearing a turquoise costume appears on stage and climbs into the box. He further explains that the box holds just as much when it is folded down small as when it is opened up large. Henning tells the audience that the Origami Box is so named because it "unfolds, like an Origami work of art." He proceeds to unfold the box into a larger orange and black box. The ivory skewers and wooden pole are now removed from the box and placed against the mirror. Henning explains that the purpose of the mirror is to allow the audience to see the routine from the back. He explains that the box is held together by two ivory skewers and a wooden pole.Īt this point, a male assistant appears on stage carrying a large mirror, which is mounted at the rear of the table and reflects the back of the box. In the original presentation, Henning displays a small box, 12 inches square and decorated with Japanese-style prints, on top of a thin table. At that time, designer Jim Steinmeyer was employed as a magic consultant by Henning. Origami was first performed by Canadian magician Doug Henning in 1986. Jim Steinmeyer (2011) Doug Henning version But I try to remind myself that imitation, even poor imitation, is the sincerest form of flattery. And it hasn't stopped magicians from performing it when they never really understood it. This hasn't prevented some magicians from building, selling and performing embarrassing and inferior versions of it. For the record, there are no "plans" for the illusion I've always licensed it through specific associates and the illusion is protected by US patent. Of course, at that time, I had no understanding how popular or how imitated this illusion would become. In 1986, the wonderful Doug Henning, my former boss, introduced the Origami illusion, which means that it's been twenty-five years since that debut.
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