Ovid’s Masterpiece: “The Metamorphoses”
In the summer of 1980, I remember when the legendary magician, Harry Blackstone Jr, performed his huge magic show at New York City’s Majestic Theatre. The magic show ran from May until August 1980.
I remember summer vacation in 1980. I was off from school. Hooray! And I remember watching the TV commercials everyday during that summer about Blackstone’s magic show. I still remember the magic tricks the commercial mentioned:
- Ladies transform into tigers.
- The floating magic light bulb.
- A lady sawed in half.
I was only around 10 years old at the time. Of all the tricks that Blackstone did so well, the one that captivated me so much was how he turned a lady into a tiger. At that time, for me, that magic trick was truly amazing! As a 10 year old, I always thought, though, what the transformation sequence would be like, since the cage was covered by a sheet. For the next 20 years, I pondered this.
I know the trick is fake now. But I used my imagination as a boy and a teen, and thought if this trick were real, what would the transformation sequence be like?
Then, when I saw the official playbill picture of the Blackstone Magic Show recently, there was gorgeous lady transforming into a tiger. Wow! What a transformation sequence! Just observe the picture below.
!
See how the lady is transforming into a tiger? Now just imagine a lady like Kim Kardashian, Charlize Theron, Keira Knightley, Salma Hayek, Daisy Duke, or Jennifer Lopez turning into a tiger like this? If the transformation sequence was like the picture, did this mean the lady transformed starting at the “tail-end” and then up towards the head? If so, I guess the lady’s buttocks and tail bone would transform first (into a tiger’s tail), and then her head last!
Then I knew why the sheet covered the cage: the transformation sequence, based on the picture in the playbill, was pornographic.
It is also why I feel that the greatest long poem ever written for me was Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Ovid, the author of The Metamorphoses, would be captivated by the Blackstone magic trick as depicted in the artist’s rendering in this official playbill! I guess that is also why the Roman Emperor banished Ovid into exile and banned his masterpiece work. It was considered pornographic at the time, with graphic transformation sequences of men and women turning into animals or other objects.
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Nice interesting article. When I look at that picture, I keep wondering that big huge butt muscles like that of Kim Kardashian, Serena Williams, or J Lo would take alot of magic power to transform into tiger tail muscles! As an Asian woman, I have a big butt too and I would not like to transform in a sequence like in the picture. That looks like it would feel like an eeewky wierd muscle cramp on my butt!
Very enjoyable read. Thank you. Ovid indeed used lots of symbols.
Unique interesting essay! Turn into a tiger butt first? I am a big butt blonde and a Hooters waitress. I love tigers, but I don’t want that yuky wierd muscle cramp feeling either if the trick was real! I am sure glad it is nothing more than a fantasy painting.
I especially like the idea of sawing some people in half, while I myself am transforming into
Yours Truly,
the One & Only
Troll of Triond