A photo of the burning-rope trick, though I don't believe it's Alan Alan himself. (Image by Magicusb.)

Alan Alan (born Alan Rabinowitz) is a retired British magician and escapologist who gained fame in the 1950s for stunts in which he had to escape being buried alive and being suspended and shackled from a burning rope far above the ground. (The latter trick is one he is credited with creating.) I don’t really like such things because they can always go wrong and life seems dangerous enough already. But Alan Alan carved a nice life for himself with such suspenseful acts. In 2006, he was honored by the Magic Circle. Go here to see him performing the burning rope trick in 1959.

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