So what happens, the secret is very simple? Dressing trick.

Magician's assistant

It's easy to recognize a magician's assistant -

By the smooth curve of her hand, pointing to elegant furniture,

For us to express our admiration;

Her charming smile makes us believe and

The force that could have cut her in half is extinguished.

Where did the magician find his assistant?

An amazing beauty (and we barely notice her!),

Who smiles next to him and is mysteriously silent?

We think: she knows everything; we think,

What's behind her white-toothed smile, in her head

Hidden knowledge of the dark magical kingdom,

Where the dove and the cowardly stuttering hare sit patiently waiting,

When the sorcerer returns them to the wool and feathers of reality.

In this land of disappearing wallets, endless colored scarves

And banknotes torn to shreds that grow together on their own,

Women sawn in half lie in a witch's trance,

They play with a marked deck of cards or just float in the air,

Because our desire to believe in them is stronger than gravity.

Charles Darling. “After meeting a magician's assistant at a friendly party”

The time when Vadim worked on his film “Love Circle” was happy for both of us. I got great pleasure from being together creative process and felt tremendous excitement when he helped me take the desired pose for a given episode - and also when I managed to exceed his expectations. I always preferred to be directed - they wouldn’t decide everything for me, but they would give me the basic instructions, and all I had to do was breathe life into the director’s ideas.

I spoke with such an accent that people took me for a Swede! Sometimes I covered myself French, I felt freer with him than with English. I began to speak slower, calmer, my voice became deeper and more expressive.

Annette, ex-wife Vadima was then in Morocco, and three-year-old Natalie lived with us. Mindful of the role Susan played in my life, I tried to be as serious as possible about the baby I had only recently met.

For Vadim, me, Natalie and her nanny, the apartment on Seguier Street was too small. Vadim did not have enough money for more spacious housing, so he turned to an old acquaintance, the pilot Paul-Louis Weyler, who arranged at the Ambassador de Hollande Hotel, one of his many properties, paradise for friends and artists, as well as for young beauties for whom he had a weakness. Weiler provided us with apartments in his hotel. This majestic architectural monument XVI century located in one of the oldest districts of Paris, in the Marais quarter, on Vieille du Temple. I was lucky enough to live there in those years when the area was not so chic and fashionable.

Ancient houses on a narrow ancient street with cobblestones stood tilted as if good friends were drawn to each other. The walls and vaulted ceilings of our rooms on the top floor were covered with 16th-century geographical maps. The bedroom window looked out onto the school for church choristers, and because of the slope of the buildings under the roof, it seemed to us that they were singing right in our bed. Roland Petit, director, settled on the second floor ballet troupe“Ballet of Paris”, with his wife, prima ballerina Rene Jeanmer. One of the rooms was constantly reserved for Charlie Chaplin - although I don’t remember ever seeing him there. We lived in this interesting establishment for several years and started a family.

Vadim wrote a lot about my complaints in subsequent years that he “turned me into a house slave,” as if this expressed my entire feminine essence. I am willing to admit that at that time I could speak out quite harshly, but it is unlikely that the subject of my indignation was the household. In fact, I have always enjoyed working around the house. It is important to me what environment I live in. Dirt and clutter prevent me from thinking clearly, and when we didn’t have money for a cleaner, I did everything myself to keep the house clean. In all the years of living with Vadim, it never occurred to me to ask him to take on some of the worries. I thought it was women's business, although I often went to the film studio and returned after dark, and while he worked at home - or fished - I was forced to work two jobs.

My non-resistance was explained both by our consciousness and upbringing, and by my belief that he would not abandon his selfless wife and good housewife - my mother thought exactly the same about my dad. This is what is happening: at home we see the manifestation of selfishness in the fundamental principles of democracy! Vadim was not at all harmful and did not want to burden me with unnecessary work. He's just okay did not notice. The mountains haven't been there for weeks washed dishes they didn't irritate him in the sink. Now I think maybe that’s what I was complaining about – his indifference.

It is much harder to write about other, much more serious problems. Vadim and his friends approached life in such a way that any manifestations of frugality or jealousy, as well as the desire to streamline their everyday life, were regarded as signs of bourgeoisism. God forbid! The word “bourgeois” has become as terrible a curse as “traitor” and “scoundrel.” There were years when bourgeois tendencies were attributed even to the French Communist Party.

I inherited 150 thousand dollars from my mother. A considerable amount for those times and a good safety net if you manage these funds wisely. Vadim could not understand why I was hesitant to give him a substantial part of my inheritance so that he could invite his friend and co-author to relax with us. At first I didn’t like this idea at all, which is what I said. Then I felt like a petty cheapskate. I gave him the money. Only years later I realized that Vadim is a passionate gambler, and I noticed that he prefers to make films and relax near racing tracks and casinos. I knew nothing about the painful addiction to gambling It’s just as difficult to fight as alcoholism, anorexia and bulimia. The lion's share of my mother's inheritance was lost in the casino.

Jealousy was as unacceptable as prudence. Why does sexual intercourse cause so much anxiety in women - is it just basic physiology? If one of the spouses (although, as a rule, the husband was meant) had sex on the side, this did not at all mean betrayal - “I love you.” you" Vadim endlessly discussed with his friends the topic of the sexual revolution of the sixties, which supposedly proved that people were finally beginning to admit the obvious - the moral principles of the middle class should be abolished for the sake of sexual freedom and civil marriage. By the way, we didn’t get married... that would have been too bourgeois! Perhaps, already at our first meeting, he sensed my pliability and vulnerability in the sexual sphere. Be that as it may, I caved in to him, and it seemed to me that I would keep him and be a good wife only if I showed myself as a standard of “anti-bourgeoisism” and gave a head start to anyone in terms of relaxedness, generosity and forgiveness.

Over time, Vadim began to return home less and less in the evenings. I was preparing dinner, but he didn’t show up. Often he didn’t even call. In such cases, I ate everything for two, then went for pastries and ice cream (not nearly as tasty and filling as American ice cream), gobbled it all up, vomited and, terribly angry, fell exhausted on the bed. Sometimes he would come in the middle of the night drunk and fall into bed. Sometimes he wasn't there until the morning. I swallowed the insult - along with a serving of ice cream - and never argued with him about his behavior. I didn't want to seem bourgeois. And I didn’t think that I deserved better.

Then one night he brought a beautiful red-haired woman and put her in our bed next to me. She turned out to be an expensive prostitute from the brothel of the famous Madame Claude. I didn’t even think to object. I followed his lead and got involved in team game with the willingness and professionalism of the actress that she was. He wants it - he will get it, in at its best.

There could have been three or more of us. At times I even acted as an instigator. I became so proficient in the art of suppressing my feelings and dismembering my personality that I finally convinced myself that I was enjoying myself.

This way I could bring something human into our relationship, and this served as an antidote to reification. I asked her to tell me about herself, tried to delve into her story and understand why she agreed to share a bed with us (I never asked myself such questions!), and if she was a prostitute, why did she choose such a one? life path. Many of these women, I was horrified to learn, had been victims of abuse and violence, which led them to believe that they had nothing to offer other than sex. However, among them there were many smart people who could easily have made a different career. My role as call girl Bree Daniel in Klute, for which I won an Oscar, was largely based on my impressions of those many hours of conversations. Many of these women have since died from drug overdoses or committed suicide. Few married big businessmen, some married aristocrats. One, who became my friend, recently admitted that Vadim was jealous of her and once said: “Do you think Jane understands something - not at all, she’s stupid.” Vadim often felt the need to make me look like a fool - one would think that my intelligence was violating his personal space. I've always believed that a man likes it better if people think his wife is smart, unless he's not sure of his own intellectual level. Or doesn't really love her.

In the betrayal towards myself - in the fact that other women ended up in my bed against my desire, especially if need did not force them to do this - as well as in my problems with nutrition, I blamed only myself. I saw many women who, having neither money nor profession, were ready for any compromise in order to feed themselves, especially if they had children. Later, in 2001, I read the book “Saturday's Child” (Saturday's Child ) , the autobiography of the poet and feminist Robin Morgan, the leader of the modern feminist movement and the author of a feminist symbol, publisher of the trilogy “The Union of Sisters is Mighty,” “The Union of Sisters Around the World” and “The Union of Sisters is Eternal.” She writes about betrayal towards herself during her years of marriage. She talks about how “I bought into all the myths about sex that guys fed me - about Bloomsbury, sexual freedom and how you can’t be a puritan; that some things must be done against one’s will - the more often you do it, the more you like it; about an ideal quartet (two women, two men with all possible permutations). I never asked whose needs and interests these models were built for...

In order to survive this, trying to highlight and suppress the feeling of filth, I sort of structured my own consciousness.”

Before this I didn't intend to share with you personal experience. Many people already dislike me, I thought, there is no need to provide extra incriminating evidence to gossipers. But when I read Robin Morgan’s book and saw what kind of women had similar experiences and how boldly, without obscenity, it was described, I was encouraged. I realized that if it was important for other women and girls to read about my adventures, I had to be honest, like Robin, about how far I had come, where I ended up, and what it meant to me.

I got Robyn's email address from my friend Gloria Steinem and wrote to her about the impact her candor had had on me. “How could it happen that a woman who was strong and independent under other circumstances was capable of such a thing?” – I asked. “You can’t imagine how many ‘strong and otherwise independent women’ were capable of this,” she replied.

People know me as a strong and independent person. Then why, in the most intimate sphere, behind closed doors, did I voluntarily cheat on myself? Very simple: abstracting yourself from yourself due to low self-esteem ( I'm not good enough) or as a result of violence, the woman neglects your own desires and hears only the man. This requires structuring yourself, as Robin Morgan writes—disconnecting mind and heart, body and soul. Combine her silence with a man's sense of superiority and an inability - or unwillingness - to perceive his partner's timid signals, and you get all the prerequisites for female bitterness, and the woman will try to drown out her anger for the same reasons that she does not allow her sexual voice to break through.

Vadim was the first man I fell in love with, and despite all the difficulties - and partly thanks to them - I fell in love so much that for a long time my indignation only quietly bubbled somewhere in the background. I liked the diversity of his nature; I looked at the world through the many prisms of his kaleidoscope. He helped me discover my sexuality (and at the same time understand the feelings of other women), gave me a feeling of confidence (“since he loves me, everything will be fine”) and pulled me out of my father’s shadow. Now I am a person. I had a “real man”, I ran his household, was a kind stepmother to his daughter and son Christian, whom Catherine Deneuve let live with us. Vadim's friends seemed to like me. And why wouldn’t they like me? I never whined, rarely grumbled, I worked and earned money, served whiskey in the evening, and breakfast in the morning if they stayed with us, and they knew that I was participating in Vadim’s sexual excesses. I remember one day, as I was taking away empty glasses to refill them, I heard: “Jane is great, she’s not like other women - she’s our person.” I literally purred with pleasure, just like when I was a child when they asked me whether I was a boy or a girl.

Unlike the magician's assistant, the heroine of the poetic epigraph to this chapter, my acting self had no idea where to look for the real and that there was another way of being, a “secret kingdom” of the embodied self, authentic and whole, into which I could be turned . I left him a long time ago. I urgently needed such ignorance in order to maintain our connection with Vadim. As if with a wave of his magic wand, I turned into the perfect wife sixties era. I didn't need his money, so there were no economic reasons for it. It was the fear of destroying our relationship, since it was in them that I existed. If you had asked me who I was in those years, I would have had to seriously rack my brains. But as film critic Philip Lopate once wrote, “Where authenticity is uncertain, acting becomes the floating anchor.” And I knew how to play! I passed off as reality what was not there, grief as joy, I hoped that sooner or later everything would work out for me - this is how I found myself. But I wasn’t tossed around by the waves.

I told Vadim many times about my experiences, but he did not understand what I was talking about, although in his own way he tried to give me confidence. He could only praise my appearance, and with that everything was quite good - it would seem that nothing more was needed. But I probably needed to become more assertive and critical, pay more attention to myself, and Vadim, like him - later, when I left him and became more... myself - he said in some interview, in his women loved the “softness”. In those years, I was ready to be smeared into mush, since he wanted softness.

I once made a list of my main shortcomings - self-confidence, tight-fistedness and excessive criticality came first. I then decided that many years of playing at being a generous and magnanimous person could make me like that. I remembered a philosophy class at Vassar College and the words of Aristotle: “By pretending justice, we become just; by pretending temperance, we become temperate; by pretending courage, we become courageous.” It always seemed to me that behavior affects character, which is partly why I was so worried when I was offered the roles of young fools like my heroines from the films “ Incredible story” and “Every Wednesday.” If you behave day after day as a limited being, then you yourself will turn into a limited person and eventually lose the ability to think deeper.

In terms of relaxation, Vadim was fine. He loved nature and knew how to have a good time in nature, and I cut coupons from it. He loved the sea and coastal areas. We went not only to glamorous Saint-Tropez, but also to Brittany with its rugged coastline in northern France, and in Arcachon on the southern Atlantic coast. We all, together with Natalie, Christian and Natalie Sr. (daughter of Helen, Vadim's sister), loaded onto the boat and had a picnic somewhere on the sand dunes that rose at low tide. Natalie Sr., who was almost ten years older than Natalie Jr., often spent her holidays with us.

Natalie Jr. showed a wonderful combination of features from her Danish mother and her father of Franco-Slavic origin - the same unusual eye shape, dark hair and long legs. She was a difficult, stubborn child. Her moods were constantly changing, she kept her soul shut, and I never understood what she really felt - only her love for her father was obvious. She and I were always arguing about homework and brushing our teeth, and I'm afraid she thought I was a bitch. However, forty years have passed and she is still part of my family.

Vadim and I often went to Saint-Tropez in the winter, and at this time of year I liked it there the most. We stayed at the Hotel Tahiti, a small, modest establishment with a restaurant on the right hand of Pampelonne beach, a famous summer nudist rookery (I preferred winter for this reason). I liked the Mistrals, the Mediterranean storms that bent palm trees and high waves the beach was flooded. Vadim and I sat by the fireplace, played chess and admired the rampant nature.

After the sea, Vadim loved the mountains most of all. He was an excellent skier, and we often spent Christmas at ski resorts in the French Alps - in Megeve or Chamonix. But just as I preferred Saint-Tropez in winter, I liked Chamonix in summer. Natalie and I always drove by car from Paris to the mountains, singing along the way French songs and playing different games. We usually rented a mountain house in Argentiere, a small town near Chamonix, in the Mont Blanc valley.

The weather was sunny, the air was clean and invigorating, flowers were beginning to bloom. The valley was framed on both sides by magnificent mountain peaks, with Mont Blanc towering proudly to the south. From time to time the valley was shaken by the echo of a terrible roar - it was an avalanche of melted snow falling from the tops. One night I saw the play of the northern lights in the sky, and sometimes, if Sun rays fell at right angles, one could see faint bluish reflections of the glaciers. I walked for a long time along the ridges, watched the hellebore buds open, and thought that I had never been so happy - almost to the point of breaking my heart. That spring I realized that I was born to live in the mountains. I didn’t climb higher than 14 thousand feet above sea level, but even there, where the air is so thin and the vegetation on the soil is soft, like a sponge, I felt great.

During one of these trips, Vadim went to Rome without me to see little Christian. Only later, from his book “Bardot, Deneuve, Fonda,” I learned that he spent a stormy night with Catherine Deneuve and decided that “[with her] everything would still work out, [our] romance with him was just a dream and that Christian must grow up with loving friend friend’s parents.” After many years it didn't bother me, but it's amazing how I could be so naive as to take his promises seriously.

Although I had no experience caring for babies, that spring, when Vadim brought his child to our chalet, I was happy to take care of him. Vadim was a skilled dad and easily dealt with bottles and diapers. I remember me, Natalie and Christian bathing together in the bathtub, which was too small for the three of us. I didn't feel like a full-fledged foster mother, but I liked working with children and leading family life. In those days, Susan often visited me in memories.

If you're a famous movie actress and want to survive in Hollywood, there are certain things you shouldn't do. You can’t just go away, live in an attic with a French director and say that you won’t come back unless absolutely necessary. But I have never lived by careerist rules. For better or worse, I didn't see myself as a movie star who was making it big in the world. career ladder. I wasn't invested in my own fame. It seemed to me that fame came to me by chance, and if it went away just as accidentally, I wouldn’t die. I liked my job, I liked this lifestyle, I liked to get used to different roles and sometimes take something from my heroines. Plus, I liked my financial independence. But my professional choice always depended on my personal, and later on my political life.

At the end of spring I was offered main role in the film “Cat Ballou” together with Lee Marvin. This meant returning to Hollywood, but Vadim advised me to agree and said that he would come to see me whenever he could. I don’t remember why, but I was bound by a contract with the Columbia Pictures film studio, where this film was supposed to be filmed, and thus could fulfill part of my obligations under the contract. The script was a little strange, good or bad - I didn’t understand. I don't think Lee Marvin understood either. I remember once at a rehearsal he told me in a whisper that they hired us only because “according to the contract, we didn’t cost them much.”

The film “Kat Ballou” did not require a large budget. In my opinion, we never did second takes, unless the camera broke. The producers kept us working extra hours until Lee Marvin pulled me aside one morning.

“Jane,” he said, “we play the main roles in this film.” Do you know who suffers the most from the fact that we allow producers to ride on us and cannot stand up for ourselves? Film crew. These guys don't have the authority to say, screw it, we're working too hard. You need to show some character, girl. Learn to say “no” when they try to stop you on the court.

I will never forget Lee Marvin, who taught me so much important lesson. At least in your own professional in life I have learned to say “no”.

I must admit, I realized that we had a hit only when I saw the final edit of the tape. The classic sequence with Lee's horse leaning cross-legged against the barn and the scene in which Lee tries to shoot through the side of the barn were filmed without me. I couldn't imagine director Elliot Silverstein putting together a sort of Greek choir with two troubadours, Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye. This was my first hit, although this film did not owe its success to me. By the way, I remembered Nat King Cole from the parties my parents threw in post-war years, and he remained just as kind and charming.

While “Cat Ballou” and immediately after it “The Pursuit” were filming, Vadim, Natalie, and I rented a house in Malibu Colony, right on the beach. Vadim, like my father, is an avid fisherman, often catching perch and even halibut for our dinner from the shore. No one would dare eat fish from Santa Monica Bay these days, unless they caught one at all, which is unlikely. Our beautiful and cozy home belonged to Merle Oberon. We paid $200 a month in rent, and I remember being amazed at the price of $500. What do they imagine about themselves?! Now such a house is rented for 10, or even more, thousand dollars a month. In those years, ordinary people, local residents, could afford to live next to millionaires. Those rich people who bought houses there - often their second homes - were considered avant-garde bohemians.

We often had friends over - Marlon Brando, Brooke Hayward with Dennis Hopper, her new husband, my brother and his wife Susan, Yvette Mimieux with her lover, a young French director, Mia Farrow, a friend of Frank Sinatra, Julie Newmar, Viva, one of the “superstars” ” Andy Warhol, Sally Kellerman, Jack Nicholson. On Sundays, Larry Hagman dressed up in a gorilla suit and marched along the beach at the head of a gaggle of like-minded people holding placards.

There was a special atmosphere in our house - d"esinvolte, as the French would say, with friendly meetings, delicious food and interesting conversations that always attracted me, although I myself was embarrassed to start a conversation. I learned to create this very atmosphere, run the household and arrange the house so that everyone would be comfortable. We were always happy to have guests; everyone who traveled from France to Los Angeles stayed with us. Dad in one interview said about those times: “She loves to go for a walk, not like me... Look how she organized life at home in Malibu. Some come, others leave, and so on all day long, the doors are always open, and Jane manages it all perfectly, so that everyone has a good time...”

I was proud of his review.

Dad was dating Shirley Adams, a very sweet, cheerful and enthusiastic woman a little older than me, who was destined to become his last wife. They rented a house on the coast right next to us. Natalie went to school in the same area, spoke English, like I do French, quite fluently, and we got along quite well happy family. Dad became close to Vadim through fishing, and in general could not resist his charm.

Sam Spiegel, one of the best Hollywood producers, offered me a role in the film “The Chase” based on the novel by Horton Foote, the screenplay for which was written by Lillian Hellman. It was to be directed by Arthur Penn, with Marlon Brando, Angie Dickinson, E. G. Marshall, Robert Duvall and recent debutant Robert Redford cast in the lead roles, with a script by my husband. Not a bad company, isn't it? But then I didn’t yet know that no star-studded team guarantees a film high box office receipts. Despite a warm reception in Europe, it was a flop in the US. My playing certainly didn't contribute to success. It turned out something like “Barbarella” in a Texas town. Perhaps now I was playing second fiddle in a star ensemble, where, as one of my friends said, there was a rating, in retaliation for all those years of loser that I had experienced.

In the summer of 1965, two extremely important events occurred for me. Oddly enough, both are at parties.

While “The Pursuit” was being filmed, I had a lot of free time, and I decided to celebrate Independence Day in a big way on the beach. I've never thrown a party in Hollywood before, but as usual, I gave it my all. I asked my brother to choose a musical group, who, unlike me, was well versed in modern music. Without hesitating for a minute, he suggested “Birds” ( The Byrds). The group consisted of David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, and was always followed from concert to concert by a cohort of fans. Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine" performed by the Birds recently became a hit. Peter's instinct was right; his choice was perfect. We set up a dance floor with a giant tent right on the beach. I invited the old Hollywood guard, and Peter, in order to organize the dances in the best possible way, sent letters to the musicians.

Dad set up a roasting pan with a spit and spent the evening spinning and basting the pig with sauce, basking in the glory that his extraordinary cooking skills. In my opinion, this is great progress for such a shy person.

This party, which was dubbed the “reception of the decade,” was talked about for a long time as the first experience of combining Hollywood traditions with the new counterculture. I remember one episode: at the snack table, a barefoot hippie girl pulled out her breast and began to feed the child, and George Cukor stood behind her. He clearly saw this for the first time and didn’t know how to react - either stare at her, or pretend not to notice anything. Next to him, Danny Kaye seemed not averse to being in the child's shoes himself. Darryl Zanuck, a fine connoisseur female beauty, almost had a blow. And on the dance floor there was music and fun from Sam Spiegel, Jack Lemmon, Paul Newman, Tuesday Weld, writer and diplomat Romain Gary with Jean Seberg, his wife, Peggy Lipton, Lauren Bacall, William Wyler, Gene Kelly, Sidney Poitier, Jules and Doris Stein , Brooke Hayward, Terry Southern and a team of loyal Birds fans. At dawn we rolled up the tents, Vadim hugged me and said: “Well done, Fonda. Did a great job.”

I managed it.

That same summer, I was invited to a fundraiser in support of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC), which was staged in the house of Arthur Penn by himself and Marlon Brando. This was my first time participating in such a case; Many important issues were put on the agenda. Two members of the Committee spoke about their organization's struggle in Mississippi to get blacks on the voter rolls. The Voting Rights Act had already been passed, but due to the fierce opposition to it from Southern racial segregationists, any attempt to include the name of a person with dark skin entering the voter list was turning into a dangerous matter. The speakers drew a bright picture– secret meetings at night, baiting with dogs, using fire hoses, beatings and shooting. They talked about why the Committee chose a peaceful form of protest, and about the courage of black residents of the South who decided to cooperate with this organization. Many blacks and whites alike died.

But it wasn’t the activists’ story that struck me SNCC about the life of the Committee. I was struck by the calm concentration of these people who lived not only own interests. I won’t say that I was tormented by remorse, but I seemed to be on the sidelines—something like how Ralph Waldo Emerson must have felt when he visited Henry Thoreau, who was serving a sentence in prison for refusing to pay taxes to a government that approved of slavery.

“Henry,” Emerson asked, “what are you doing here?”

- And what are you doing there, Ralph? - Thoreau retorted.

What was I doing there?

The grain fell into the ground. They asked us for money. Until now, no one has ever asked me to support any ideology. I gave everything I could and also became a volunteer. local group SNCC– wrote letters, collected funds. I worked tirelessly. I was extremely naive, I didn’t really know how to do anything, but that evening I learned an important lesson: you should not underestimate the potential that can be hidden under the appearance of a big-haired blonde with false eyelashes. Perhaps all you need to do is ask her for something.

Then I attended another charity event. I only remember that Vanessa Redgrave was also there, and after the report she raised her hand to ask a question, but, unlike the others, she stood up and turned to the audience, immediately marking her space. I will never forget the feeling of deep admiration that overwhelmed me - this woman knows exactly where to go!

Immediately after The Chase came Every Wednesday, the first of three with Jason Robards as my co-star. Vadim was preparing in Paris for our next film, but he found his own niche and became almost one of the most active rebels of the new generation. It's a funny contrast - I had just finished working in a completely decent film, Every Wednesday, and he was starring in Wild Angels, a low-budget Roger Corman film. I listened, mouth agape, as he described the scene of his biker gang speeding into a church and having an orgy in the pews. I, definitely an outsider in this area, looked at the new American counter culture through the eyes of Peter. Usually these evenings ended with him picking up a guitar and us singing Everly Brothers songs together.

Three years later, in 1969, my dad, Vadim, and I arranged a home viewing of the yet-to-be-released film “Easy Rider,” in which Peter played. Dad didn't know how to feel about it, but the fact that his son was one of the scriptwriters and producer gave him respect. I really liked certain moments - for example, where Jack Nicholson smokes marijuana by the campfire or traveling across America on motorcycles. In the way they drove around with kilograms of cocaine in their trunks and went crazy in the cemetery on LSD, I saw unheard-of, daring courage. But I thought to myself that for a wide audience this was all too rude and alien. And Vadim saw in this film a decisive breakthrough, which should have caused an immediate response in cinematography and become a classic.

The need to attract assistants arises among magicians as the quantitative and qualitative growth of their shows, despite the fact that novice illusionists with a small set of tricks, and, as a result, a small amount of equipment, are usually limited to their own resources.

Assistants, despite their seemingly secondary role, are full-fledged and important participants in creating illusions, and in some tricks, for example, Zigzag Girl, they are simply the main ones. Their work usually involves the following main responsibilities:

• Preparing props, including charging equipment and moving it in a timely manner, both on and off stage.
• Participation in the direct demonstration of illusions, including manipulation of the body, both while next to the magician on stage and in the hall among the audience.
• Distracting the audience's attention from the magician.
• Creating an aesthetic background in the work of a magician.

Becoming an assistant's role

From the very beginning of the art of illusion, both boys and girls acted as assistants. However, for a long time, particularly during the Victorian era, voluminous clothing discouraged women from participating in performances, which sometimes required long periods of time in confined spaces. The situation changed dramatically in the 20th century. The First World War led to rapid changes in social sphere. Numbers that shock the public have become much more in demand. Changes in morals led to a change in fashion in the direction of minimalism, as a result of which pretty slender girls began to dominate as assistants, and their image of being in danger turned into a trend of illusionistic entertainment: 277–295.

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Few people know that, despite the magic that illusionists bring to everyday life, many of them are actually great skeptics and question everything “paranormal”. For example, popular magicians Raymond Teller and Penn Jillette in their program smashed to smithereens dubious theories about the end of the world and the omnipotence of psychics.

Nevertheless, brilliant stunts performed by professionals still fascinate audiences to this day.

In this article website decided to lift the veil of secrecy and reveal the secrets of some famous tricks so that the next time you watch a dangerous trick, you can be calm about the lives of its performers. And you can easily repeat one trick yourself, using props that you definitely have at home.

Trick with turning one person into another

The magician climbs into the bag, which is tightly tied by his assistant. It is then placed in a chest and locked. The assistant stands on the chest, raises the screen, and when she lowers it, the magician appears before the viewer. He then unlocks the chest and unties the bag, revealing the assistant, often in a different costume for added effect.

What's the secret: The magician's bag has a way out, usually a zipper that can be opened from the inside. The assistant stands with her feet on the edges of the chest, but the top panel is easily opens. When the girl lifts the screen, the magician quickly jumps out of the box, grabs the screen, and the assistant, on the contrary, jumps inside. While the magician opens the lock of the chest, the girl climbs into the bag and takes off her outer suit, revealing another underneath. The faster and more harmoniously actions, the more spectacular the performance becomes.

Throwing knives at people

At first glance, this trick seems very dangerous. But the person attached to the target is in no danger.

Secret in that the magician does not let go of the knives, but with a deft movement hides them in a secret pocket of his suit. There is an assistant behind the target, who, using a special mechanism, shoots knives with reverse side targets. All the work is very coordinated and fast, so it seems to us that the knife is digging into the target and not coming out of it.

Stretching

The girl is placed in a large box with sections for the head, hands and feet. The magician moves her head, arms and legs, demonstrating an unprecedented stretch that the human body is not capable of.

In fact, when the magician opens and closes the front and back doors, proving that the box is empty, two more assistants cleverly hide between the doors. They sneak inside the box through the back doors, each sticking an arm and a leg into their respective compartments. So that the viewer does not notice the substitution, all the girls get the same manicure. The assistants spread their arms and legs to the sides, and the girl, whose head the viewer sees, stands on a stool or lies down.

Turning water into ice

A magician pours water into a glass. But then a piece of ice falls out of the glass instead of water. There is, of course, no violation of the laws of physics.

An ordinary sponge is hidden inside which absorbs water and ice in advance placed into a glass. You can repeat this trick at home, but remember that the “magic” glass should not be transparent.

The disappearance of pigeons

The wizard places one or more pigeons in a box. But when he lifts the lid again, the birds are gone.

Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with them, it's just in the roof secret compartment, it is very small and inconspicuous, but the birds easily fit there.

Burial alive

This trick is performed in open areas. The magician is placed in a box and truly buried in the ground, but after a few seconds he gets out of this dangerous trap. Not everyone decides to take such a risk, but if performed correctly, the magician will not suffer.

The box has a secret door, through which the artist moves into a pre-prepared underground room. It has a supply of oxygen and light. With the help of special retractable shelves, the magician finds himself very shallow in the hole, holds his breath while the last clods of earth are thrown in, and quickly gets out.

Needle through skin

It may seem that the magician endures pain for the sake of a spectacular trick, but in reality everything, as always, is simpler.

The magician pierces the skin with a needle, and the layer makeup made from rubber cement. The blood that usually appears is also fake; it is pumped into a hollow needle and pours out of small holes.

Swallowing a sword

This spectacular number depends entirely on the performing artist.

The trick is that the sword must pass So so as not to hurt internal organs. The pharynx and esophagus must form a straight line, and for this the fakir needs to train long and hard, especially if he plans to perform with really sharp swords.

“Time is our most valuable resource,” we hear from everyone around us. How many daily routine activities can you save time on if you get used to doing them in a split second? For example, washing, cooking or changing clothes.

What woman would refuse such an ability to change outfits in a split second? This, by the way, is quite real and now we will find out how.

Dressing up trick

One of the most striking performances on the circus stage, along with sawing a man, freeing himself from chains, and taking a rabbit out of a hat, is room with quick change of clothes.

This type of trick is called transformation- it's practically separate genre, which relates to tricks and illusion.

Magician with assistant bright light lamps and spotlights, various special lighting effects, and a cheerful accompaniment perform one that amazes the audience, young and old.

How does the dress-up trick work?

• Everything happens under rhythmic dance with the stilted movements of the assistant, during which she changes her outfits.
• To do this, the magician raises a screen or a special decorated folding cylinder over it or covers it with a huge amount glitter, foil or confetti - all these actions create an atmosphere of magic.
• The curtain does not hold over her for very long, just one or two seconds, and she transforms into dresses of all colors of the rainbow with such success and speed that one can only envy.

It can also change its appearance. In this case, they do it in turns. When the assistant changes clothes, the magician performs magical movements, when he - she supports the props and supervises the whole situation, and everything happens to an amazing dance. For both her and him, the methods of dressing are identical.

Amazing dress up tricks look in the video. See below exposure!

Exposure to the studio!

One of the types of transformation from Sudarchikov brothers, it implies the presence of hooks and lines inserted into clothing sets. This method is more complex and is not used often.

There are two versions:

• in the first, the clothing remains on the performer of the trick, but is inaccessible to the viewer's eye;
• in the second, the garment is thrown under a screen or cylinder, so they are not released completely.

In any case, this requires careful preparation and probably the lion's share of skill.

Another method, which is the most common, is secret Velcro on clothes. It is sewn specially to order, Velcro is attached to the shoulders, and quick-release hooks or buttons can also be sewn on.

For example, a magician lifts a screen, and an assistant changing clothes instantly unfastens the Velcro on her shoulders so that top part the blouse fell into two halves and hung at the bottom full skirt a different color or she sheds her outfit. The buttons visible on the suit are fake. Almost ninety percent of the seams are made with Velcro

There is also this option: The assistant changes her long red dress to a short green one. She can play up to ten outfits if the hem is reversed long dress green, resulting in a long red dress becoming a short green dress due to the raised hem.

This option is vulnerable, as a large layer of clothing may become noticeable. If you look closely at some assistants, their upper body looks more massive than their lower body. After the assistant has taken off her last outfit, her body takes on natural shape and the heaviness from her upper body disappears.

Watch the video to reveal the transformation trick:

So what happens, the secret is very simple?

Multi-layering– the main postulate is that suits made of very thin fabric are worn layer by layer.

Clothing is specially sewn using special Velcro, hooks and buttons.

One dress can hide the second under the wrong side.

Application possible "ripping off" clothes with hooks strung on invisible fishing lines.

Dresses and costumes do not disappear without a trace; they remain on the magicians in an invisible way (for example, see point 2) or remain on the floor, covered with props on top.

In everyday life, such clothes are not available to everyone, but with great desire they are quite feasible for individual tailoring. Stage costume This kind of pleasure is expensive and costs about a thousand dollars. However, secrets must remain secrets.

Showing this type of show - mastery of the quick dressing trick requires careful elaboration of small details so that the most observant of the spectators does not smell the trick, as well as the dexterity and artistry of the performers, and a large amount of confetti.

It is worth mentioning the diligent and numerous rehearsals. If you want to expose the magicians, then look closely at the smallest details. At close range, these Velcro and hooks hidden at a distance are clearly visible, which is not very good for ordinary people who dream of saving time on changing clothes.

If you type “magicians” into Google, most of the results only say that there are very few girls among magicians. Most often, they get to play the role of sexy assistants, whose only task is to distract the viewer’s attention with their appearance. But still, real magicians exist, and what more!

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Classmates

15. Maria Gara, The Snake Babe

With a nickname like "Baby Snake", it's no surprise that Maria Gara's interests are limited to three topics: snakes, sex and magic. Although her magic shows have been criticized for being overly sexual, she believes that the purpose of magic is entertainment, and adult entertainment is perfectly acceptable in magic as long as the audience knows what they're getting into from the start. The girl appeared on the Jerry Springer show and runs a website dedicated mainly to her modeling career, but magic and snake charming are also present there.

Scarlett was a dancer and loved to perform long before she became the Princess of Magic. For a long time she performed in a theater in Las Vegas with a pretty decent family show, but then suddenly switched to an adult audience and changed the name of the show to “Scarlett and the Magical Seductresses.” Over time, her magic only became more overt. Scarlett – younger sister magician Melinda Sachs, so magic is in the girl’s blood.

Ning quit practicing magic at the end of 2014, but her beauty and the impact she had on the industry guaranteed her a place on this list. Even before Ning began performing as a duet with magician J C Sum, Magicseen magazine named her “The Most sexy girl in the world of magic." Ning's performance was sexy, but not typically feminine - she used samurai swords and fire in her bold and breathtaking show.

On her website, Lady Amila wrote that “without magic, her life would have been a mistake.” The mentalist and illusionist from Germany calls herself the "First Lady of Magic" and received an award for "Best Illusionist Performance." She started performing magic tricks back in early childhood and became one of the first female magicians performing around the world.

Mara Kazan, born Maartje van Olst, has always loved magic, so it's no surprise that she joined magician brother duo Oscar and Renzo to form the trio Magic Unlimited. The three of them mastered the magic skill so quickly that they became the youngest trio to perform in Las Vegas - they were still very young teenagers at the time. As a member of Magic Unlimited, Mara received many international awards from the Prince of Monaco, and the trio still continues to perform throughout Europe.

9. Connie Boyd

Connie Boyd is best known for her signature show, The Beauty of Magic, but she has also won numerous awards for her sophisticated and stylish stunts. Famous comedian and presenter Bob Saget, presenting Konia with the Best Cabaret Magician Award, called her “the premier magician of our time.” As a child, Connie trained at the National Ballet School in Canada, but an injury derailed her career as a dancer, and the girl turned to magic.

Many magicians team up and Sophie Evans also started her career with Kevin James in the duo Twisted Cabaret. However, her solo performance earned her much praise and twice earned her the "Magician of the Year" award from the International Brotherhood of Magicians. She taught magic to children on the BBC children's show The Magician's Apprentice. Sophie has also often performed for celebrities including Muhammad Ali and former president USA Jimmy Carter.

7. Megan Knowles-Bacon

Megan Knowles-Bacon has been involved in magic since she was a child, and she was always surprised that there were never girls in the hobby groups she joined. Although she often felt lonely, she continued to study the art of magic, and eventually became the first female official in the Magic Circle, Britain's elite community of magicians. She hopes that she new role in the "Magic Circle" will inspire girls around the world to take magic seriously.

6. Christy Toguchi

Magic is all about brilliance and performance, and Christy Toguchi understands this very well - it's not for nothing that she won the Outstanding Performance Award in Japan and Magician of the Century in Hong Kong. Christy's father and grandfather were also magicians, and her personal interests inspired her to pursue a bachelor's degree in dance at University of California San Diego. As an experienced circus performer, Christie combines all her skills to stage her magic dance and an incredible show.

Miss Katalin was born in Hungary, but by the age of 14 she was performing in Dubai, and a year later on board a cruise ship in Europe. In her native Hungary she was awarded the title of “Best Magician of the Year”, and in the USA she won the category “Cabaret Magician of the Year”. She also performed at the 53rd annual It's Magic show in Los Angeles, which brings together only the best magicians in the world. That year, Miss Catalin was the only woman invited to perform on the show.

4. Kristen Lambert

Kristen began her career as an ordinary magician's assistant. Having learned her craft from Criss Angel, Kristen created own show called "The Supernaturalists". She appeared with Angel on his show "BeLIEve" and is now performing her own show in Las Vegas. When not performing, Kristen spends her time doing various charities, talking to children in Asia about her love of magic, and teaching them the importance of critical thinking and goal setting.

3. Angela Fanowitz

Despite her beauty, Angela was very shy until she began studying magic. Then she became more relaxed and began modeling career. But unlike most models, she graduated with honors and began studying to become a doctor at Ohio University. Then she was invited to take part in the show “Phenomenon” and demonstrate her skills as a magician to Criss Angel, Uri Geller and others. She took second place - a great achievement considering she was the only girl among the participants. After the show ended, she returned to school and received her medical degree.

2. Kristen Gerhart

Magic leaves people with stars in their eyes, but for Kristen Gerhart this is not only a figure of speech - after all, she used to be a researcher at NASA and now works at astronomical observatory Mount Wilson in California. When she's not exploring space, Kristen hosts web shows about magic, including Exposé and her creation Bitchkraft. She combines her inquisitive nature with her love of magic as one of the judges on SyFy's Wizard Wars.

1. Alana

Alana began studying the art of magic at the age of 13, and years later she staged the performance “Magic: InStyle”. In this show, Alana uses her natural elegance and feminine charm and uses props such as diamonds, pearls and expensive shoes for illusions. The girl became especially famous for the “In Her Hands” trick, based on the illusion of having an extra pair of hands. Alana speaks several languages ​​fluently and, having performed in Spain, England, France and her native Germany, always performs the show in the language of the country in which she is located. In 2011, she became the first female winner of the German Grand Prix, thereby earning the title "German Magic Champion".

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