David Copperfield, arguably the most successful magician in the world this side of The Gothic Castle, may be dealing with his toughest audience ever right now: furious Manhattan neighbors.
According to the Post, Copperfield's penthouse swimming pool in his East 57th Street apartment spontaneously burst and flooded his apartment, as well as apartments as far as 30 stories below his. Copperfield was at Las Vegas, where he performs nightly at the MGM Grand Hotel, when the incident happened at his 57th floor apartment at 117 E 57th Street.
"The pump malfunctioned, and the entire pool drained through David’s apartment and apartments below, right to the basement. Walls and floors were completely soaked," Copperfield's lawyer, Ted Blumberg, confirmed to Page Six. His wallpaper and carpeting were destroyed, but it seems some more sacred items survived the flood:
"David was terrified, because he has these rare, vintage Coney Island machines, which are priceless, irreplaceable antiques, including a fortune teller, strength testers, an electric shock machine and shooting galleries. But for some unknown reason — or stroke of luck — these machines were spared by the water. There’s a magic trick called ‘The Bullet Catch,’ where the illusionist catches the bullet in his teeth, and David thinks he really dodged a bullet here.”
As for whether he's worried about facing the angry neighbors when he gets home, Blumberg added, "The insurance company has been notified. This is New York City, so nothing would surprise us." It's a good thing Copperfield has a magical private island resort in the Bahamas to fall back on if things go sour here.
But hey, if he could make the Statue of Liberty disappear while wearing an aluminum pleather jacket of some sort, he could get out of any jam.
