Ok... relax...
To start, the magician and his Lovely Assistant enter together. On stage there is a flat board that is clean and clear. The girl lies down on the board in a straight position.
The magician stands along with the board and starts his magic. After some time the girl starts rising in the air. When the magician points his finger downward, the girl also starts lowering in the air. It amazed the whole audience.
Sometimes, the magician will put a blanket over his assistant, then make her disappear.
Can sometimes overlap with Zero-G Spot and Love Floats.
Compare Saw a Woman in Half, another common routine done by the magician and his assistant, and Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat, for another stock magic trick.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- A gender-flipped version occurs in Superman, where magician Zatanna (in her evil days) discovers a power source that can make her invincible. One drawback is that this power is so raw that absorbing it directly is fatal. Zatanna manages to paralyze Superman, levitate his body overhead, then absorb the godlike power filtered through Superman's body.
Films — Live-Action
- In Oz the Great and Powerful, Oz makes May disappear and levitate in the start of the film.
- Casino Royale (1967) has Orson Welles levitate and vanish an assistant, played by Penny Riley.
- In Stardust Memories, Sandy mentions that he used to do magic when he was a kid, and Daisy asks him for a demonstration. Cue an Imagine Spot where Sandy makes Daisy float in mid-air.
- In Just You and Me, Kid (1979), Bill and his other retired magician friends hide Kate from some pursuing drug dealers by floating her high in the air, as a form of misdirection. When the dealers give up and leave...
Magicians: We will only let you down if you promise not to tell how the trick is done.
Kate: But how is it done?
Magicians: (all laugh)
Literature
- In Witches Abroad, the Fairy Godmother Lilith Weatherwax takes a hostage whilst fighting three other Witches. To get the undivided attention of her sister Esmerelda, she levitates Magrat Garlick, and moves her to the wrong side of a high battlement of Genua Castle. Then threatens to let go.
Live-Action TV
- On the Happy Days episode "The Magic Show" (S 6 E 14), The Fonz fills in for magician Randi the Great (playing himself). One of the tricks he performs is the floating lady, the version where he moves hoops around the assistant to "prove" there are no wires holding her up.
- Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed has the Masked Magician do this trick to female assistants many times, both with and without the blanket.
- Magician Lance Burton's levitation
in Lance Burton: The Legend Begins featuring him and his female assistant under the blanket. Overlaps with Zero-G Spot though. An alternate version can be seen here, starting from 10:38.
- Magician David Copperfield levitating Bernadette Peters with the blanket during the special The Magic of David Copperfield. In this version, Bernadette Peters sings disco.
- In The Adventures of Superman episode "The Magic Secret", it turns out Perry White can perform a more impressive version of the trick (the performer can do it anywhere and the woman magically becomes super-stiff). Jimmy's quest to find out the secret ends up with him, Lois, and Superman trapped in a pit with a Kryptonite ray keeping the Man of Steel from breaking them out. Luckily, Superman knows the same trick. He manages to use Lois as a brace to stop the encroaching walls long enough for Jimmy to redirect the ray.
- In a Sesame Street Muppet skit, Stage Magician The Amazing Mumford has Grover climb up on a pedestal. Mumford then recites magic words, removes the supporting pillar, and the platform remains in mid-air! After the magician leaves, Grover decides to do the same trick on one of his larger monster friends (while not knowing the secret), with disastrous results!
Western Animation
- The Big Garage: This is the first magic trick the Saw does to the Ruler in the tool segment of “You Better Believe It”. (No points for guessing what the second one is.)
- It's Magic, Charlie Brown: Snoopy levitates Lucy in the air during his magic act, and does the same to her once she insults him and his magic abilities.
- Bob's Burgers: In "Presto Tina-O", Jimmy Jr. asks Tina to be his magic assistant. She has an Imagine Spot that she is part of a floating woman trick and levitates to his face so they can kiss each other.
- In The Fox and the Crow cartoon The Magic Fluke, a stage magician is in the middle of levitating a lady when Crow steals the magician's wand right out of his hand, sending her crashing to the ground.
- The Raccoons: In "The Great Escape!", Bert's Imagine Spot of being a great stage magician includes him levitating Melissa.
