Comments on: For Hotel Charlotte, a final moment of boom times

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:04:57 +0000

Wow, agfinder and steve, thanks for destoying one of the few childhood delusions of magic left in my life. Next you will probably tell me that Santa Claus isn’t real.

By: agFinder

agFinder — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:40:08 +0000

I was at the site and there wasn’t anything magical about it at all. They delayed the implosion several times (I remember being there for about an hour after the first “countdown”). Once we saw Copperfield emerge from a door and run down a fire escape like he was being chased by a banshee … then do the same thing a few minutes later, like the director wanted a second take. It was only when the whole thing came on TV that I saw any of the “escape” drama. How hilarious to hear the narrator say that the timer had started and couldn’t be stopped after the number of times they’d announced over loudspeakers at the site that the count was on hold. I’ve never liked Copperfield at all after this.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:28:07 +0000

I was involved as an extra on the production. Here’s how it was done: In the hotel, Copperfield entered a large safe with a false back. As the door was sealed, the camera ran continuously, and it was taken away from the hotel site to a position overlooking a stage. Meanwhile, DC exited the safe and was driven over to the stage site (while out of view of the camera) and crawled under the stage. After the big kaboom and the dust settled, he emerged triumphant from under the stage. I guess the way it was presented on TV made it look far more impressive than it was in the production.

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:56:59 +0000

Cool story bro.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:51:45 +0000

I remember this like it was yesterday. I was 12 and watched it on TV. As I recall, after the building was imploded, he appeared from under a sheet that was laying flat across a large piece of steel. This gave the effect that he somehow materialized through the steel, far away from the imploded building. 24 years later, I still can’t explain it and can only say, wow, that was some magic.