What the Original Images Represented

Despite their later reputation, these early tarot cards were not occult devices. Their imagery drew from a shared visual language familiar to Renaissance viewers: Christian virtues, classical allegory, courtly hierarchy, and reminders of mortality. The characters on the cards — emperors, popes, virtues such as Justice and Fortitude, and figures such as Death or the Fool — echoed themes found in sermons, pageants, poetry, and art.

Some details were intensely personal. Fair-haired figures likely reflected the Viscontis themselves, while lions, fountains, laurel wreaths, and fruit referenced specific military victories, marriages, and dynastic power. (For example, the lion depicted in the Fortitude card likely referenced a military defeat over Venice.) Some scholars have suggested that the trump sequence — the set of allegorical cards later known as the Major Arcana — functioned as a loose meditation on the rise and fall of worldly power. But if the cards hinted at life’s larger forces, they did so without a sense of instruction. They acknowledged fate, virtue, and fortune, but did not claim to explain them.

New Meanings Inspired by “Egyptomania”

Tarot spread gradually across Europe, reaching France by the 16th century, where the current name took hold (adapted from the Italian tarocchi). Over time, however, the cultural context that once made the symbolic imagery legible began to fade. By the late 18th century, tarot had become visually familiar but symbolically opaque, which also meant that it was ripe for reinterpretation.

That reinterpretation arrived during a period of intense intellectual ferment. France was in the grip of “Egyptomania,” a fascination with Egypt fueled by Napoleon’s campaigns there and a popular belief that ancient Egypt held some kind of key to universal wisdom. At the same time, traditional religious institutions were struggling to adapt to political and social upheaval, creating space for alternative spiritual systems.

Into this atmosphere stepped Antoine Court de Gébelin (1725-1784), a French scholar who declared that tarot was no mere card game but a fragment of ancient Egyptian wisdom long disguised for the sake of its own survival. The theory was entirely made-up, but it was nevertheless compelling. Tarot, once a Renaissance amusement, was reborn as an esoteric relic.

The Occult Revival

Court de Gébelin’s ideas found eager successors, especially in France. French occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette published one of the first tarot decks designed explicitly for divination in 1789, layering astrology, numerology, and invented Egyptian lore onto the cards. In the 19th century, occultists such as Éliphas Lévi and Gérard Encausse (known as Papus) linked tarot to hermeticism, astrology, and the kabbalah, embedding the cards within elaborate metaphysical belief systems.

Tarot was no longer a game for anyone to pick up. It was treated as powerful, even dangerous — a tool that required initiation and expertise. To misuse it, some warned, risked madness or ruin.

The Secret Society That Shaped Modern Tarot

The next major transformation occurred in England, under the influence of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Though the secret society never numbered more than a few hundred members, its impact on modern tarot was enormous. Golden Dawn practitioners mapped tarot’s 22 trump cards onto the kabbalistic Tree of Life, assigning each a specific spiritual pathway. These associations still underpin many contemporary interpretations.

Two Golden Dawn members proved especially influential: English occultists Aleister Crowley and Arthur Edward Waite. Crowley expanded tarot’s network of esoteric correspondences, while Waite made a more practical innovation. In 1909, Waite commissioned artist Pamela Colman Smith to illustrate a new deck in which even the numbered suit cards — previously simple arrangements of symbols — became narrative scenes. The result, now known as the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, transformed tarot reading by making it more story-driven. It remains the most widely used tarot deck in the world.

From Predicting the Future to Self-Reflection

With the rise of New Age culture in the late 20th century, tarot underwent yet another shift. While divination remained central, the emphasis moved from predicting the future to healing, self-development, and psychological insight. Influenced by Jungian ideas about archetypes, modern tarot users embraced the cards as mirrors of inner experience rather than fixed messages from beyond.

At the same time, tarot became radically accessible. Themed decks proliferated — pagan, astrological, pop-cultural, playful, and profound — and anyone with curiosity and a little time could learn to read them. What had once been a guarded esoteric system became a flexible, personal practice.

Tarot Decks Keep Changing

Seen across its long history, tarot has changed meanings many times, reshaping itself to fit the hands that hold it. It began as a game, was transformed into an esoteric symbol system, and now lives in countless forms at once. Each era reworked the cards to reflect its own concerns — be they power, fate, mysticism, or self-knowledge.

Rather than containing timeless secrets, tarot reveals something more human: the enduring impulse to find meaning in images, to tell stories, and to see our own lives reflected in symbolic form. In that sense, tarot has long been doing what it does best — inviting us to look, interpret, and imagine.

Variety Takes Off on Television

Television’s first variety show surfaced on NBC in May 1946, courtesy of Standard Brands, which had been a major sponsor of the format on radio. Hour Glass featured an ever-changing array of guest stars who introduced comedic sketches, musical acts, and commercials. But squabbling between the network and sponsor ultimately led to the show’s cancellation in February 1947.

NBC tried its hand at variety again in June 1948 by bringing the long-running radio program Texaco Star Theatre to television, and soon settled on Milton Berle as its permanent host. A well-traveled if moderately heralded veteran of vaudeville, radio, and movies, Berle found this weekly gig a perfect platform for his brand of outlandish physical comedy. Texaco Star Theatre quickly emerged as the top show on TV, to the point where restaurants and movie theaters reportedly closed while Berle commandeered the attention of would-be customers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday nights.

Twelve days after Texaco Star Theatre’s TV debut, Toast of the Town premiered on CBS with a markedly different host. Awkward and notorious for forgetting names, Ed Sullivan hardly looked the part of a man tasked with entertaining the masses. Yet from the very first episode, which featured the Toastettes dance troupe and the comedy duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, it was clear its host possessed a sharp eye for talent. The show was renamed in his honor in 1955, and Sullivan took care to balance the presentation of children’s fare with up-and-coming rock ’n’ roll acts such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles. The show served as a kingmaker of American tastes until going off the air in 1971.

The successes of Berle and Sullivan spurred an onslaught of TV variety shows, many of which carried their audiences from previous incarnations. Arthur Godfrey brought his competition program Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts from CBS Radio to TV in late 1948, and soon afterward premiered the more traditional variety show Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. The Red Skelton Show became another successful radio-to-TV hit beginning in 1951, with its star’s stable of comic characters such as Junior the Mean Widdle Kid proving just as engaging on camera.

Not every established star was able to make the leap to a weekly TV format, however. Comedian Joe E. Brown, who possessed face-distortion abilities to rival those of Berle, couldn’t keep The Buick Circus Hour afloat for more than a season in the early 1950s. And for all his accomplishments as a singer and actor, Frank Sinatra twice failed to gain significant traction with a variety show that decade.

New Talents in the Turbulent 1960s

While old entertainment standbys such as Dean Martin enjoyed success with their programs in the 1960s, variety shows experienced a lag until being jolted by a wave of new talent later in the decade.

Chief among these was The Carol Burnett Show, which boasted the comedic and musical talents of its titular star as well as a strong supporting cast. Known for its recurring characters and spoofs of popular movies, as well as the signature ear tug and Tarzan yell of its host, The Carol Burnett Show claimed a whopping 23 Emmy Awards over its run from 1967 to 1978.

Also debuting in 1967, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour featured the sibling-rivalry schtick of folk singers Tom and Dick Smothers. While the show included traditional variety elements such as musical production numbers, the co-hosts and their guests rankled CBS executives with their barely veiled drug references and criticism of the Vietnam War, until they were canceled at the end of the second season. Meanwhile, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, which premiered in January 1968, also poked fun at cultural mores and pushed the envelope with its risqué jokes, although it managed to hang on until 1973.

With the launch of The Flip Wilson Show in 1970, the variety format had its first successful Black host. Wilson excelled at character creation, particularly with the fan-favorite Geraldine Jones, and his show was the country’s second-most-watched program for two of its four seasons.

Music-Dominated Acts Herald the End of an Era

Musicians came to dominate variety shows in the 1970s, with Cher and Sonny Bono, Donny and Marie Osmond, and Tony Orlando and Dawn enjoying solid ratings as hosts. Other notable entries from the period include The Muppet Show, which featured the brilliant puppet work of Jim Henson and his crew from 1976 to 1981, and Saturday Night Live, which embarked on its endless run in 1975. 

However, the format was clearly running on fumes by the time Pink Lady and Jeff, which starred a pair of non-English-speaking Japanese pop stars, went on and off the air in 1980. The long-running Hee Haw, which first introduced a country flavor to the genre back in 1969, continued airing original shows until 1992, while The Statler Brothers also enjoyed success among the country set on the Nashville Network through most of the 1990s. Otherwise, few variety shows managed to make a dent in the public consciousness across the final years of the 20th century.

The format’s demise is often blamed on the rise of cable television and the accompanying fragmentation of audiences: About 23% of American households received basic cable TV service in 1980, a number that jumped to 60% by the end of the decade. However, it’s clear that changing tastes have also dictated viewing preferences, as 21st-century audiences have tuned in to traditional networks to watch reality TV competitions such as America’s Got Talent, which features the disparate singing, dancing, and athletic performances that would have been welcomed on The Ed Sullivan Show, though without the competition element

Variety shows continue to find their fans in international markets, and multitalented artists including Maya Rudolph and Neil Patrick Harris have attempted to revive them with limited success in recent years. And while SNL shares some elements with traditional variety shows, it is mostly focused on sketch comedy. Otherwise, variety has largely been relegated to old video clips and other forums of nostalgia, waiting for the day when the curtain rises again and this once-celebrated form of entertainment is called back into the spotlight.

Husker Du?

Hūsker Dū? (from a Danish phrase meaning “Do you remember?”) was introduced to U.S. households in the 1950s by the Pressman Toy Corporation. Although there were other memory-matching games already on the market, this one came with a playful marketing hook that promoted it as a game “in which the child can outwit the adult.” Based on classic memory-matching games that had circulated in Europe, it challenged players to find and recall the location of hidden illustrated pairs.

Instead of simple face-down cards, though, the game used a rotating wheel with pictures concealed beneath sliding pegs, so every spin created a new layout. The game’s odd-sounding name stuck in popular memory, too, resurfacing decades later when the Minnesota punk band Hüsker Dü adopted it in 1979, adding umlauts in the style of heavy metal bands such as Motörhead and Blue Öyster Cult. According to lore, the band members couldn’t remember the French lyrics to a Talking Heads song and started throwing out every foreign-language phrase they did know — including the name of a game at least one of them had played as a child. 

Cat’s Cradle

Also known as Jack in the Pulpit or fan sheng in China, cat’s cradle wasn’t born in the boomer era, but it did thrive then. Similar string-figure games date back centuries, with versions found across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, often used to tell stories or pass on traditions. These games were introduced to the United States through books and magazines that taught children how to create the figures. By the mid-20th century, instructions were widely available, and the game’s simple materials made it accessible to everyone.

Using a 4-foot piece of string or yarn, children created and passed intricate designs such as “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Cup and Saucer,” and “Spider’s Web,” challenging each other to try ever-more-complicated patterns. While primarily played in pairs, the game could also be practiced alone, promoting problem-solving, patience, and hand-eye coordination. 

Cat’s cradle left its mark on literary pop culture, too — Kurt Vonnegut used it as the title of his 1963 novel satirizing topics including science, technology, and religion in a postmodern world. The name symbolized humanity’s need to learn, improve, and make order out of chaos.

Mille Bornes

Mille Bornes was created in France in 1954 by Edmond Dujardin, a driving instructor who wanted to simulate the excitement and strategy of a road race. The title, meaning “a thousand milestones,” referred to the distance markers on French roads, and the objective was to be the first player to complete the race using a special deck of 110 colorful cards. These cards depicted hazards including flat tires, accidents, and stop signs, as well as remedies, distances, and speed boosts. The game’s clever blend of luck and strategy, including the famous “coup fourré” counterplay, made each hand suspenseful and satisfying.

Recognizing its potential appeal to American audiences, Parker Brothers brought Mille Bornes to the United States in 1962, and it soon became a staple of family game nights. The bilingual cards and whimsical artwork set it apart from typical American-made games, and its mix of strategy and chance won over both children and adults as players raced to reach the finish line at 1,000 miles (1,000 kilometers in the French version).

Pinochle

Pinochle, a trick-taking game that evolved from European favorites such as bezique and cinq-cents, arrived in the U.S. in the late 19th century and was popular with German immigrants at the time. The name “pinochle” likely derived from the German word binokel, meaning “eyeglasses” or “two eyes,” a nod to a specific scoring combination. Played with a 48-card deck (two copies of nines through aces for all four suits), the game combined melding — creating point-scoring card combinations — with strategic trick-taking. A single hand could last 30 to 45 minutes, and long sessions often stretched across multiple rounds.

A true multigenerational game, pinochle gained popularity during the Great Depression and hit its peak in the 1940s as children learned from parents and grandparents, who often kept notebooks of scores or tracked long-term “winning streaks.” More than just strategy, it was the shared rituals — debating moves, celebrating clever plays, teasing over mistakes — that made pinochle a bridge between generations, connecting family members across ages and experiences.

Clacker Balls

Clacker Balls, marketed as Clackers, Ker-Bangers, or Click Clacks, stormed American playgrounds in the late 1960s. The toys were inspired by older momentum-based designs, including boleadoras, a kind of weapon used by Argentinian gauchos (cowboys) that was made from wood or metal. The toy version featured two hard acrylic balls on a string, swung to collide with a sharp clack-clack-clack. Simple in concept but tricky in execution, the challenge was to keep the rhythm without tangling — or shattering — the balls.

By the early 1970s, hundreds of toymakers had sold millions of Clackers worldwide. However, the acrylic balls could break apart on impact and cause injuries, leading to school bans and removal from U.S. and Canadian markets. Safer versions appeared decades later, marketed under names such as Newton’s Yo-Yo and Klicka, but the original craze remains an iconic example of hands-on, skill-driven play from the baby boomer era.

The Peak

By the late 1950s, drive-in theaters were booming. At the trend’s peak, more than 4,000 locations dotted the country, mostly in rural and suburban areas where land was plentiful. The Johnny All-Weather Drive-In in Copiague, New York, was one of the most elaborate. When it opened in 1957, it had room for 2,500 cars, a full-service restaurant, a playground, and even a shuttle train to ferry moviegoers from their cars to the amenities. Other drive-ins, including the 99W in Oregon (opened in 1953) or the Bengies in Maryland (opened in 1956), became beloved local institutions that are still operating even today. 

Drive-ins weren’t just movie theaters — they became all-out destinations. Some added mini-golf, pony rides, and swing sets right underneath the massive screens, enticing kids to play until showtime at dusk. Of course, these outdoor theaters also played a starring role in the burgeoning teenage and youth culture. For many, the drive-in was where they went on their first date, shared a first kiss, or congregated with friends, the movie sometimes secondary to the memories being made under the stars. 

The Fall

In the 1970s, though, business started slowing down. The oil crisis caused Americans to drive less, while the proliferation of color TV sets and VCRs brought movies into the living room. And importantly, the huge plots of land beneath the drive-in screens eventually became more valuable than the drive-in businesses themselves. A theater needed 10 to 15 acres of open space, often in growing suburbs where developers were eager to build shopping malls or more homes. The screens slowly started going dark.

Even so, the drive-in never fully disappeared. A few hundred theaters held on, many family-run and fiercely beloved. Today, fewer than 300 drive-ins remain in operation across the U.S. While that may be a fraction of the number of drive-ins at its midcentury peak, the institution nonetheless survives thanks to nostalgia, community support, and a shared memory of an earlier time.

Shōgun (2024-present)

Based on James Clavell’s 1975 bestselling novel, Shōgun immerses viewers in feudal Japan, following the journey of an English sailor who becomes involved in the court of a powerful daimyo (feudal lord). Starring Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga and Cosmo Jarvis as the stranded Englishman, John Blackthorne, this fresh adaptation revisits the classic story that first inspired the 1980 miniseries of the same name. 

Originally intended as a single-season limited series, Shōgun became a runaway success, setting a record as the most-awarded single season in Emmy history with 18 wins. It also made history as the first Japanese-language series to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. Thanks to its overwhelming popularity, the series has been renewed for two additional seasons, expanding its epic tale beyond its initial scope.

Watch on Hulu

John Adams (2008)

Starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney and based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, this HBO miniseries provides an insightful look at the founding of the United States through the political career and personal life of John Adams. Filmed in colonial-era locations including Williamsburg, Virginia, John Adams explores the founding father’s role in drafting the Declaration of Independence, his presidency, and his complex alliance with Thomas Jefferson. The series won 13 Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Miniseries, and earned critical acclaim for its performances, particularly Giamatti’s portrayal of Adams.

Watch on Max

Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)

Set in post-World War I Birmingham, England, Peaky Blinders is a stylish and gritty crime drama that follows the rise of the Shelby crime family. Led by the cunning and ambitious Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), the gang expands its influence while navigating political intrigue, rival gangs, and personal betrayals. The series blends fiction with history, incorporating real-life figures including Winston Churchill and Oswald Mosley.

With an atmospheric soundtrack featuring modern artists such as Nick Cave and Queens of the Stone Age, Peaky Blinders became a cultural phenomenon. The show earned multiple BAFTAs, including Best Drama Series, and Murphy received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Tommy. With appearances by Tom Hardy and Anya Taylor-Joy, the series cemented itself as one of the most compelling crime dramas of the decade.

Watch on Netflix

Downton Abbey (2010-2015)

Downton Abbey is a British period drama that chronicles the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in early-20th-century England. Created by Julian Fellowes, the series blends historical events with personal drama, capturing societal shifts with elegance and emotional depth. Starring Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, and Maggie Smith, it received widespread acclaim, winning multiple awards including a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries and a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries. The show’s success led to two film sequels: Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022), with a third film forthcoming.

Watch on Netflix

The Gilded Age (2022-present)

With a third season currently in production, The Gilded Age is another period series created by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame. Set in 1880s New York City, the series depicts the era’s societal clash between established aristocracy and emerging industrial wealth. Christine Baranski portrays widow Agnes Van Rhijn, a staunch defender of “old money” traditions; Cynthia Nixon plays Agnes’ unmarried sister, Ada Brooke, who is reliant on her sister’s charity; and Carrie Coon plays Bertha Russell, a determined socialite from a "new money" family striving to break into elite society. 

While the series centers on the lives of fictional characters, real historical figures such as Caroline Astor, Clara Barton, and T. Thomas Fortune also make appearances in the script, adding depth to the portrayal of the social and political dynamics of Gilded Age America.

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Band of Brothers (2001), The Pacific (2010), and Masters of the Air (2024)

Produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, these companion World War II miniseries follow soldiers from different fronts of the war. The trilogy began with Band of Brothers, based on Stephen E. Ambrose’s book of the same name; it follows Easy Company, a unit of the 101st Airborne Division, from their training up through D-Day and the war’s end. 

The Pacific, inspired by memoirs such as Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie and With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge, shifts the focus to the brutal island-hopping battles of the Pacific Theater and centers on three Marines. The latest installment, Masters of the Air, adapts Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, exploring the experiences of the 100th Bomb Group, known as the "Bloody Hundredth," as they endure high-risk aerial missions over Nazi-occupied Europe.

Watch on Netflix and Apple TV+

Rome (2005-2007)

Rome is a gripping historical drama that chronicles the turbulent fall of the Roman Republic. The story is seen through the eyes of two soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, portrayed by Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson, respectively, whose lives become entangled with key historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Cleopatra. Praised for its historical authenticity and rich storytelling, the series is also known for its lavish production, intricate political intrigue, and visceral battle sequences. Despite garnering critical acclaim, Rome lasted only two seasons due to its high production costs — the 10 episodes of the first season cost $100 million.

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Mad Men (2007-2015)

Mad Men isn’t a traditional historical drama, since its focus is on character-driven storytelling rather than major historical events, but its detailed re-creation of 1960s America captures the advertising world’s glamour and the decade’s shifting social norms. Created by Matthew Weiner, the series follows the enigmatic Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, and rising copywriter Peggy Olson, played by Elisabeth Moss. The show won 16 Emmys, including four consecutive wins for Outstanding Drama Series, and earned widespread praise for its nuanced portrayal of gender, race, and class in a rapidly evolving society.

Watch on AMC+

Derry Girls (2018-2022)

Created by Lisa McGee, Derry Girls is an Irish coming-of-age comedy that blends sharp humor with the historical backdrop of the Troubles, the decades-long conflict between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland. The series follows Erin, her eccentric friends, and her English cousin as they navigate teenage life in the Northern Ireland town of Derry in the 1990s, balancing school, family, and mischief amid political unrest. While primarily a comedy, it offers a poignant perspective on a turbulent era, capturing both the absurdity and warmth of adolescence in extraordinary times.

Watch on Netflix

Call the Midwife (2012-present)

Call the Midwife is a long-running BBC drama that follows midwives in London’s East End from the 1950s onward, blending real medical and social history into its compelling storylines. Created by Heidi Thomas and based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the series explores the challenges of childbirth, poverty, and evolving health care in postwar Britain while tackling issues such as immigration, women’s rights, and public health crises. The show has been praised for its compassionate storytelling and strong ensemble cast, including Jenny Agutter and Helen George.

Watch on Netflix

Victoria (2016-2019)

Novelist, screenwriter, and producer Daisy Goodwin is the visionary behind Victoria, a lush three-season period drama that brings to life the early reign of Queen Victoria, chronicling her personal and political struggles. Starring Jenna Coleman in a critically acclaimed performance, the series is based on historical events and the queen’s own diaries, offering an intimate look at the monarch’s rise to the throne, her marriage to Prince Albert, and the challenges of ruling a rapidly changing empire.

Watch on Amazon Prime

Pedestrianism

While spectators fill up stadiums today to watch their favorite professional hockey or basketball team play, people once flocked to arenas for an entirely different sport: pedestrianism. Yup, competitive walking. 

This unusual form of entertainment developed an avid following of folks who would come to see their favorite professional walkers compete. One of the most celebrated competitors of all time was Robert Barclay Allardice, who was nicknamed the “Great Pedestrian” for walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 successive hours. Another famous walker, Edward Payson Weston, was known for his signature wobble, while competitor Daniel O’Leary was famous for pumping his arms while clutching corn cobs to absorb the sweat. Women participated as well, thanks in no small part to competitor Anne Fitzgibbons, who helped popularize the sport with women in the United States. Fitzgibbons became the first woman on record to walk 100 miles in less than 24 hours.

Pedestrianism really took off in the U.S. in the 1870s, in part because people were migrating to big cities and seeking out new activities to enjoy in their free time. Spectators flocked to see pros walk for six days at a time, covering hundreds of miles in total, with the person who covered the most ground over six days being named the winner. Competitions were held in large arenas that offered food vendors, live bands, and even wagering to add to the fun. 

Arguably the biggest event in the history of the sport came on September 21, 1879, when 13 of the best and brightest competitive walkers gathered at the original Madison Square Garden in New York City in front of 10,000 raucous onlookers. However, interest in pedestrianism began to wane toward the end of the 19th century, giving way to the rise of more popular sports such as baseball.

Headless Portraits

Victorian England saw a heightened interest in all things macabre, so much so that it became popular to take “headless” portraits in the late 19th century. These images often depicted a headless torso holding their noggin in hand, an impressive feat given the lack of modern photo-editing software.

Photographer Samuel Kay Balbirnie was among the best in the business, advertising his services in the newspaper as: “Headless Photographs - Ladies and Gentlemen taken showing their heads floating in the air or in their laps.” To achieve this illusion, the subject would pose as multiple images were captured depicting the body and head making various gestures and expressions. The photographer would then take those images and cut out a head from one and paste it on another, resulting in one or several headless photos that appeared to be captured in one take. 

Seaweed Scrapbooking

While pressing and scrapbooking flowers has long been a popular pastime, for a brief moment in the 19th century there was a fascination with using seaweed instead. The trend was particularly popular among women, who often weren’t afforded the opportunity to travel the world collecting specimens of flora and fauna, but could collect seaweed from the local beach. It was also a social activity: People would head to the shore, pick up seaweed, and return home to scrapbook. It was such a popular pastime that it’s believed Queen Victoria herself was an avid seaweed scrapbooker when she was young, though her rumored collection has been lost to the annals of time.

Each page of these seaweed scrapbooks featured colorful and unusually shaped seaweed surrounded by ornate borders, resulting in amateur works of art. But achieving the results didn’t come easy, as mounting, drying, and pressing each piece of seaweed required considerable patience and skill. The hobby provided an artistic escape and allowed scrapbookers to freely express themselves. This can be seen in the work of Margaret Gatty, a renowned seaweed scrapbooker who published a two-volume handbook titled British Sea-Weeds in 1863 and 1872. 

Staged Sea Battles

The ancient Romans found fun in watching unusual and indeed dangerous activities. In addition to gladiator battles, they enjoyed a spectacle called naumachia, or mock naval battles. These events drew thousands of spectators to amphitheaters, artificial lakes, and colosseums throughout the Roman Empire, which were flooded with water in order to stage conflicts at sea. Thousands of competitors participated on each side as both oarsmen and attackers, resulting in an entertaining, destructive, and often fatal spectacle.

The earliest recorded naumachia was held in 46 CE under Julius Caesar, and it featured 6,000 people competing atop an artificial basin in Rome’s Campus Martius — a large open area in ancient Rome used for military exhibitions and public gatherings. Forty-four years later, Emperor Augustus held an even grander spectacle with 1,000 additional combatants. But the audience didn’t come to the shows just to watch the action; the poet Ovid noted that naumachia were popular events for raucous revelry such as drinking alcohol and fornication. 

While the ancient Romans stopped holding naumachia by around 250 CE, there was a brief revival in 19th-century England at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre, which was flooded in order to recreate these ancient events for modern audiences.

Incubated Baby Fairs

Incubated baby fairs were dual-purpose exhibitions that not only entertained the masses but also played a pivotal role in providing care for premature babies. The concept originated at the Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin in 1896, where Martin Couney — then working as an apprentice under obstetrician Pierre Budin — debuted these innovative machines that could help premature newborns survive infancy. At the time, many people in the medical community viewed premature children as weak and unfit to reach adulthood, but Couney was an early advocate for their well-being. He brought the exhibition to the U.S. in the early 1900s, but needed a way to fund it, and opted to charge admission.

Couney set up an incubated baby fair along the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York, and another in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On display were 5-foot-tall glass-and-steel incubators housing the infants, who were cared for by a team of doctors and nurses. Many parents willingly brought their children to be displayed in these machines, as there weren’t any dedicated premature hospital units at that time. 

The exhibition was received with positive acclaim in the U.S., as people came to see these unusually small babies in the flesh. Spectators ponied up 25 cents (almost $10 today) to enter the exhibit, which helped cover the daily operating cost of roughly $15. It was essentially a quid pro quo situation — babies received essential care while attendees received a form of entertainment, however strange by today’s standards. That said, some elements of the exhibition were simply for show, such as babies being dressed in oversized outfits cinched at the waist to accentuate their tiny size. Couney continued to oversee these events, which remained popular boardwalk attractions until he shut them down in 1943, as hospitals began to debut dedicated incubator wards of their own.

Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat

The origins of this iconic trick are also murky. One theory points to a Swiss magician in the late 1800s named Louis Apollinaire Christien Emmanuel Comte, known as the “King’s Conjurer.” He performed magic in the courts of three kings of France: Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. The rabbit trick was also popularized by Scottish magician John Henry Anderson, who performed the illusion in theatrical spectacles in the 19th century.

The trick is simple in concept, but requires tremendous skill nonetheless, especially when working with an unpredictable live animal. The simplest way to perform the illusion is with a top hat and table, both of which contain a secret hidden compartment that the magician can reach through. A rabbit is hidden inside a container and placed underneath the table, behind a tablecloth, before the act begins.

To perform the trick, the magician simply places the top hat on the table with the open side facing upward, reaches through both secret compartments, and “magically” pulls out his hand holding a live rabbit.

Performers who are more talented with sleight of hand can also complete this without a gimmicked (altered) top hat or surface. This allows the audience to inspect the hat beforehand to make sure it’s authentic. Magicians performing the trick this way will  secretly hide a rabbit on their person, either in their pocket or up their sleeve. Then in the blink of an eye, they tip the hat toward themselves, slide the rabbit in, and pull it out for all to see.

Linking Rings

In this trick, a magician manages to link multiple metal rings together, despite each individual ring being seemingly impenetrable. Some claim that the trick originated in ancient China, though those claims lack hard evidence. Among the earliest confirmed performers of the trick are an 18th-century French magician known as Philippe, as well as a Chinese magician named Ching Ling Foo who toured America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This trick is usually done with four rings, three of which are gimmicked. One ring is your standard metal ring, one has a small gap that’s imperceptible to the audience, and the remaining two rings are actually pre-interlocked.

Using a series of quick sleight of hand motions, the magician takes all four rings in their hand and counts them out in front of the audience, making sure to obscure the fact that any are gimmicked or already linked together. Then they take one of the loose rings and tap it against the interlocked rings several times. In a quick motion, they drop one of the interlocked rings so that it hangs, making it appear like they just linked those two rings together.

Next, they take the ring with the hidden gap in it and forcefully link it with the two rings that were already interlocked, thus linking three rings together.

Lastly, they take the normal ring and tap it against the ring with a gap in it before locking those rings together in one quick and fluid motion. At that point, all of the rings are locked together.

Cups and Balls

Many formative musicians considered the cups and balls trick to be one of the most basic yet essential components of any magic routine. In his book Modern Magic, Professor Hoffman (the pseudonym of English author Angelo John Lewis) called the trick “the groundwork of all legerdemain,” a word referring to the act of skillfully using one’s hands. 

Essentially, this illusion makes it appear as if balls are “magically” passing through solid cups onto the table. The trick requires three cups and four balls; three balls are visible to the audience and one remains hidden the entire time. It doesn’t matter what kind of cups or balls are used, though sleek metal cups and colorful balls are often preferred by professional magicians for their visual appeal. 

The magician begins the trick by placing three balls on the table, equally spaced apart, as well as a stack of all three cups with the open ends facing upward. What the audience doesn’t know is that the secret fourth ball is hidden between the top and middle cups.

The performer then takes the cups and places one behind each ball. They place the first cup behind the leftmost ball, then the middle cup — which contains the hidden ball — behind the middle ball. When doing this, the magician brings the open end toward their torso and keeps it hidden so that the audience doesn’t see that there’s a ball inside. Finally, they place the last cup behind the rightmost ball.

Once the cups are placed, they take one of the balls atop the middle cup (which has a secret ball underneath) and stack the other cups on top. They snap their fingers, lift the cups, and reveal the hidden ball as if it had passed through the cup.

They then repeat this exact process another time to reveal two balls underneath, and a final time to reveal three balls underneath. All the while, a single ball always stays hidden within the stack of cups.

Metamorphosis

Harry Houdini achieved global popularity thanks in no small part to one of the most popular tricks in his routine, Metamorphosis, which he performed with his wife Bess. However, the trick was actually created by English magician John Nevil Maskelyne, who built a special trunk in the mid-1800s to perform it. The trick involves a magician placing their restrained assistant inside the box and then standing on top of the box. Two other assistants then pull up a cloth to obscure the box, and the magician and assistant magically swap places. But how is it done?

First, a solid wooden crate is wheeled out on stage, and the magician bangs on all of the sides to show the audience it’s real and durable. The magician presents their assistant, asks the assistant to climb inside a large bag, and securely ties the bag at the top.

The bagged assistant is then placed inside the crate and the lid is placed on top. The entire box is finally secured with ropes or chains with the assistant inside.

While this happens, the assistant secretly opens a hidden zipper at the bottom end of the bag, allowing them to escape inside the box. They then pull on the rope through a secret hole in the bottom of the box, which makes the visible rope taut and makes it appear as if the box is securely fastened, even though there’s actually quite a bit of slack on the rope.

As the magician climbs atop the crate, a curtain is raised up by other assistants to shield the entire scene. While the curtain is raised, the magician climbs off the box, the lid is slid open, the freed assistant climbs out, the magician climbs in, and the lid is once again placed on top of the box.

With the two having swapped places, the curtain is dropped as the assistant dances about the stage, distracting the audience. While this happens, the magician zips themselves into the bag in the box, which is then opened by the two other assistants. They untie the bag, revealing the magician inside.