Copperfield Loses Stage Hand
Dec. 19 2008, Published 2:27 p.m. ET
An assistant of master magician David Copperfield was rushed to the hospital after a stunt went wrong at a routine performance this Wednesday.
During the Las Vegas show, An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion, a stagehand's arm apparently got caught in the propellers while Copperfield was completing his "fan illusion," an act where Copperfield moves through a fan and becomes smoke.
"Just prior to David himself walking through the fan, the assistant was accidentally pulled into the vortex of the moving fan blades, causing injury to his arm and face," a rep commented.
"This is a trick David has done over 3,000 times," exec producer Chris Kenner says. "This was a freak accident." The show, of course, did not go on.
The assistant, Brandon, required reconstructive surgery to his arm and face.
"He is recovering," Kenner says. "People are always saying that it's magic and it isn't dangerous. This goes to show you that it is."
And apparently even Mr. Copperfield was magically in the hospital room when Brandon woke from the operation.
No further shows have been postponed. Copperfield will not alter the trick.
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