Illusion

This episode of Illusion is a special presentation of Birth of a Con Man, Part 1. The story first appeared on Pretend Radio, hosted by Javier Leiva. Learn more at pretendradio.org.

Gina Tonic is a drag performer in New York City. We had a wide ranging discussion covering the history of drag, creating the illusion of gender, and drag as a performing art.

In the 18th century, a Roman professor of mathematics demonstrated the latest scientific discoveries with dazzling demonstrations. There was just one problem: he was really performing magic tricks.

In 1892, in a small Parisian theater at the back of a wax museum, inventor Charles-Emil Reynaud presented his "Luminous Pantomimes" and introduced the world to a new art form: the animated cartoon.

Cassie Chadwick was a career criminal who conned her way into high society and spent money like she was a Carnegie...which she claimed she was. What happened next was a $20 million swindle that collapsed a bank.

In a remote New York farm town in the nineteenth century, two sisters claimed they could speak with the dead. But what started out as a childish prank ended with the accidental creation of a new religion.

Kayla Drescher has been performing magic since the age of seven, and first performed onstage in her second grade talent show. She is now a professional magician in Los Angeles. She performed a delightful illusion in season 4 of Penn & Teller: Fool Us on the CW.

Ghosts have appeared in drama for at least 2,500 years, with many innovations in stagecraft to make them appear more believable -- and spooky. In 1862, Professor John Henry Pepper perfected a new technique that ushered in a new age of special effects.

London was shocked when Chung Ling Soo, "the marvelous Chinese conjurer," died onstage in a magic trick gone wrong in 1918. Perhaps even more shocking was the truth about who he really was.

Magician Dai Vernon chased down gamblers and cardsharps to learn their techniques. So when he heard about a man who could perform a once-thought impossible card sleight, he set out on a quest through the seedy underworld of Kansas City to find him.