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Pendragons make jaw-dropping magic

Pendragons make jaw-dropping magic

Their simple wedding was drenched with a torrential downpour that left even the young bride soaked.

But after Charlotte and Jonathan were pronounced husband and wife, the groom produced a white dove, apparently out of thin air. It flew about the church and returned to his arm.

And the rain stopped.

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Decades later, the couple continues to thrill people with the magic they make. The Pendragons bring their astonishing act to the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle tomorrow night.

“There's one they do that makes even a magician's jaw drop,” said Myron St. John, a magician and promoter of the show. It's when Charlotte climbs into a clear-glass box that Jonathan saws in half, then puts back together. “I don't know how he does that,” said St. John.

A favorite illusion of Charlotte Pendragon awed President Clinton years ago at historic Ford's Theatre. Jonathan gets inside a heavy bag and Charlotte locks him in a trunk. Standing on the trunk, she pulls a curtain, and in less than one second, Jonathan appears on the trunk and Charlotte is locked inside.

Burned, attacked by a tiger, half-frozen from an underwater escape, the Pendragons work hard to stay fit and creative.

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Charlotte does Pilates, free weights, and follows a special diet, she said in a telephone interview from their California home. Jonathan does weights, aerobics, and practices archery. He's developing a trick in which he shoots an arrow through a playing card.

Jonathan, a gymnast who did magic as a child, has done stunt and double-work in Hollywood.

Athleticism is essential to their act. When they met at the University of California, Irvine in the mid-1970s, Charlotte was on the swim team and Jonathan on the diving team. Four days later, they were engaged. Best friends, they have built on their synergy.

“Our relationship plays a huge amount in our performance,” she said, adding that they've both been badly injured.

She experienced third-degree burns on her back during an act in which she was inside a basket that Jonathan thrust torches into. “I finished the show and then went to the hospital,” she said.

They avoid dangerous acts on stage, but have done them for televised specials. For a 1996 program about Houdini, Charlotte did an underwater escape. Locked in chains, she jumped off a boat into Lake Mead. She had practiced in a pool, and had previously learned how to use yoga and meditation to escape from a straitjacket. A scuba diver and excellent swimmer, she said the worst part was leaping off the boat. “I'm afraid of heights.”

On a Reno stage in 1992, a caged tiger that was part of someone else's act grabbed Jonathan's left arm and chewed it. Doctors said he'd never regain full use of the arm, but he devised an adjustable brace and gradually extended his range of motion. He was performing again in 45 days.

Opening the show, which is in conjunction with a magician's convention, will be magicians Sean Bogunia, Stuart McDonald, and Jania Taylor.

The Pendragons perform at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. Tickets are $32 and $35 and available at 419-243-7000.

First Published March 21, 2003, 4:54 a.m.

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