The World's Most Dangerous Magic was the title of two American television specials showcasing illusion and escapology acts, which were made for the NBC network. The first was originally broadcast on 27 April 1998 and the second, titled The World's Most Dangerous Magic 2, was initially aired on 2 May 1999. The shows were the brainchild of producer Gary Ouellet and were made by the Gary L Pudney Company. They featured a combination of famous performers and lesser-known magicians, each performing stunts or illusions that were claimed to involve the risk of death or serious injury. While some stunts clearly involved genuine life-threatening danger should anything have gone wrong, the risk of injury in others was open to question. In the first show, The Pendragons performed the illusion Impaled, which was described as a "balancing feat" in which Charlotte Pendragon risked fatal impalement should it go wrong. However this is a well known illusion in the general repertoire of stage magic in which the performer is not actually in danger of genuine impalement. The Pendragons' presentation of this illusion is nevertheless rated by many magicians as possibly the best ever version of the trick.
Tricks and performers
The World's Most Dangerous Magic
"Sixty Seconds to Live" - magician Robert Gallup performed an escape while suspended upside down from three burning ropes.
"Scorpion Production" - Robert Gallup.
"Viper Pit" - Melinda Saxe was shackled to the bottom of a glass tank which was then filled with snakes. She escaped using levitation.
"Sword Basket" - Charlotte Pendragon got into a wicker basket and her husband Jonathon thrust several burning spears through it. The voice-over stated that Charlotte had suffered burns during a previous attempt at the stunt.
"Wolf Trap" - Robert Gallup put his hand into a metal toothed animal trap.
"Table of Terror" - Mark Kalin performed the Table of Death trick.
"Impaled" - Jonathon Pendragon balanced his wife Charlotte on the point of a sword and she then appeared to be impaled by it.
Michael Grandinetti - escaped from between two walls of steel spikes which were lit on fire and set to spring inwards at over 50 mph
Dean Gunnarson-Gunnarson escaped suspended upside down hanging from a trapeze bar over a swamp of 130 hungry alligators in the Florida everglades covered in chicken meat and blood.
Tony Clark - Was chained to the side of a semi-truck filled with explosives and had to escape before a station wagon, which had no brakes, ran him over at 60 mph.
Gary Kurtz - Played a deadly game of roulette with four jars, three of which contained rabbits, and one of which contained a monocled cobra.
Margo - was shackled inside a coffin which was then filled with over 120 rats.
Music
Both specials were scored primarily using production music from the Atmosphere, Kosinus and Opus 1 libraries, and supplemented by material from Gary Ouellet's 'Designer Textures for Magicians'. The following tracks were used:
Main Titles: 'The Deep'
Anthony Reed: 'Midnight Sun' and 'Destructor', 'Menace'
Hoover Dam: 'Steel', 'Piano Steps', 'Brutal' and 'Anticipation', 'Dangerdrone' and 'Ghost Caverns'
The Pendragons: 'Out to Lunch', 'Haunted', 'Challenger', 'Dangerzone', 'Grungesurfin''
Melinda : 'Volcano March', 'Tribal Danger' and 'Threat Basic'
Mark Kalin: 'Death Toll', 'Savages' and 'Grunge Grove'
Michael Grandinetti: 'Dark Child', 'Seance' and 'O Sanctum et Beatissimum Virum'
Margo: 'Desolation', 'Night Killer' and 'Mystic Party'
Gary Kurtz: 'Traces of Fear', 'Volcano March', 'Piano Steps', 'Grunge Grove', 'Tribal Ghost' and 'Titanic Drone'
Robert Gallup: 'Money Train', 'New Order', 'Action Adventure', 'Horror Dawning' and 'Impending Doom' and 'Thunderdrums'
Steve Wyrick: 'The Haunting and 'Verminator'
Dean Gunnarson 'Gaitor Bait': 'No Survivor', 'Heroes' and 'Mechanogenesis', 'Mechanized Execution' and 'Chaos Control'.
