Magician David Copperfield has paid tribute to a pioneering illusionist from Leamington, UK ahead of the opening of a major exhibition according to the Leamington Observer
‘The Amazing Chang, the magic of Whittington-Wickes’, opens at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum this weekend, Saturday (October 17) and tells the story of the career of the Samuel Whittington-Wickes who lived in Leamington at the end of the 1800’s.
The exhibition has generated interest from illusionists and magicians worldwide, including Copperfield. The multi-millionaire American magician said:
Every age has its superstar illusionists. Chang was one of the greatest of his era.
The young Samuel ran away from home at the age of 12 to pursue a career in magic, but returned years later a successful, wealthy illusionist, with friends around the world, including no less than Charlie Chaplin. During his career he took a variety of stage names – Seekhett The Boy Magician, Cellsus The White Wizard, and finally in 1934, The Amazing Chang.
He was famous for his floating lady illusion, his escape from a sealed coffin, and a catching a bullet in his teeth.
Chang performed from New York to Paris, and also toured the UK many times, and during the 1930s and 40s he performed for a home town audience several times, in Leamington’s Jephson Gardens Pavilion, entertaining up to 15,000 people per show.
The exhibition will feature fascinating original props used in Chang’s stage shows as well as stunning backdrops and advertising material from an era when going to the theatre was a very common and popular form of entertainment. A number of the items have been lent by London magic shop, Davenports Magic, which has over the years also built up a large collection of items charting the history of magic.
The exhibition will be opened at noon by Chang’s son – Golden Globe nominated film director and screen writer David Wickes. There will be magic by David Taylor, a member of the Magic Circle and 2009 British Isles Close Up Magician of the Year, as well as a Chinese Lion Dance. The event is free.