UK: US MAGICIAN DAVID BLAINE SPENDS HIS 4TH WEEK IN HIS GLASS BOX OUTSIDE TOWER BRIDGE AND HIS GIRLFRIEND MANON VON GERKAN SHOWS HER SUPPORT

Record ID: 834595

  • Title: UK: US MAGICIAN DAVID BLAINE SPENDS HIS 4TH WEEK IN HIS GLASS BOX OUTSIDE TOWER BRIDGE AND HIS GIRLFRIEND MANON VON GERKAN SHOWS HER SUPPORT
  • Date: 1st October 2003
  • Summary: (L!3) LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 1, 2003) (REUTERS) DAVID BLAINE'S GIRLFRIEND MANON VON GERKAN LOOKING UP AT DAVID MAKING SIGNS WITH HER HANDS PAN TO BLAINE IN BOX CLOSE-UPS OF BLAINE LOOKING DOWN AT VAN GERKAN CLOSE-UP OF VON GERKAN LOOKING UP CLOSE-UP OF BLAINE WAVING AT HER WIDE VIEW OF BLAINE IN BOX AND TOWER BRIDGE VIEW FROM INTERNET CAMERA OF BLAINE SITTING IN GLASS BOX (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANON VON GERKAN, TALKING ABOUT WHAT SHE DOES DURING THE DAY, SAYING "Well in the mornings I make sure he sees me, I say my good morning, and just like have a familiar face, you know be there for him, make sure there's a contact. Then there's fans, every single day, they're here really early in the morning, they communicate with him, and sometimes say he wants someone address or throws down a signature once in a while for someone, asks me to take a picture, stuff like that, be the intermediate between the fans and him." VAN GERKAN TALKING TO FANS/ THEY ASK HOW HE URINATES/ SHE EXPLAINS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANON VON GERKAN, SAYING "I guess it's the first time in my life that I put my own life on hold, sort of. I took two jobs, one in Germany, one in New York, which were just in the first three weeks where I knew he would be fine health-wise, now I told my agency, I'm not going to take any more assignments, I don't want to travel, I wouldn't be comfortable, I mean even just travelling around London, I haven't really, the last three, four weeks that I've been here now I have barely left the compound at all, I'm here 24-hours." VON GERKAN WALKING AROUND / LOOKING UP PEOPLE WAVING AT BLAINE BLAINE WAVING BACK MANON KNEELING DOWN TO TAKE PHOTO OF MOTHER AND DAUGHTER / MOTHER WEARING T-SHIRT WITH PICTURE OF BLAINE ON IT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER, SAYING "I love him to death, I think he's amazing." CLOSE-UP OF MOTHER'S T-SHIRT WIDE VIEW OF PEOPLE MILLING ABOUT SITE (SOUNDBITE) (German) MANON VON GERKAN, TELLING HOW SHE AND DAVID MET, SAYING "(We met) in the lift, in the jewellery district in New York, in the 47th Street that's where I produce all my jewellery. It was on a Jewish holiday where everything was closed, but I had to go there to pick something up and there he was, standing opposite me in the lift. And he asked' what are you doing here?'. And I thought, well I'm here for my business, 'what are YOU doing here?' and I didn't really know him that well. Well and then we started talking, became friends, and then we started going out." BLAINE IN BOX (SOUNDBITE) (German) MANON VON GERKAN, SAYING: "I do worry about him. Not so much in the first three weeks, but it's still weird to see him like that in the box and I can't communicate properly and from a medical point of view I 'm beginning to worry now to be honest. Next week should still be ok but the last two weeks I think will be tough, yes." VARIOUS OF BLAINE IN BOX / PEOPLE LOOKING UP AT HIM AND WAVING WIDE OF BLAINE IN BOX
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA26R2L99KT84IX37P848FTGPOX
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: As U.S. magician David Blaine approaches the fourth week in his glass box outside London's Tower Bridge, his German girlfriend, Manon von Gerkan spoke exclusively to Reuters Television about putting her job as a model and her jewellery business on hold.
    This is how Manon von Gerkan, David Blaine's German girlfriend, has to communicate with the U.S. magician, suspended in a glass box by London's Tower Bridge. Ever since Blaine entered the box on September 5, his communication with the outside world has been next to zero.
    It's down to sign language, if David and Manon want to communicate these days. Not only has the stunt, which is set to last 44 days, put Blaine's life on hold, his girlfriend has had her life turned upside down as well The German model who owns her own jewellery business in New York lives in a trailer on the site where Blaine is suspended, with her daily activities focused around him.
    "Well in the mornings I make sure he sees me, I say my good morning, and just like have a familiar face, you know be there for him, make sure there's a contact. Then there's fans, every single day, they're here really early in the morning, they communicate with him, and sometimes say he wants someone address or throws down a signature once in a while for someone, asks me to take a picture, stuff like that, be the intermediate between the fans and him," von Gerkan explains.
    Crowds of fans and the occasional celebrity have come to see Blaine, wave at him, make sure he really is in the box and that this stunt is not some sort of illusionist trick. The British public is divided over their support for Blaine. Some die-hard fans acknowledge Blaine's attempt to starve himself for 44 days with only water, others have responded by throwing eggs and golfballs - there have even been arrests.
    Von Gerkan all of a sudden finds herself in the spotlight of media attention and has virtually put her own activities on hold to be on site making sure all is well with Blaine.
    "I guess it's the first time in my life that I put my own life on hold, sort of. I took two jobs, one in Germany, one in New York, which were just in the first three weeks where I knew he would be fine health-wise, now I told my agency, I'm not going to take any more assignments, I don't want to travel, I wouldn't be comfortable, I mean even just travelling around London, I haven't really, the last three, four weeks that I've been here now I have barely left the compound at all, I'm here 24 hours."
    David's urine continues to be checked every day to monitor his health and as the weeks draw nearer to the end of this stunt, doctors say he has shown first signs of starvation. Looking drawn, but still alert, Blaine spends his days, sleeping and writing about this new experience in a journal. Von Gerkan, says she was supportive of him right from the beginning and recalls how the two of them met a little over a year ago.
    "(We met) in the lift, in the jewellery district in New York, in the 47th Street - that's where I produce all my jewellery. It was on a Jewish holiday where everything was closed, but I had to go there to pick something up and there he was, standing opposite me in the lift. And he asked' what are you doing here?'. And I thought, well I'm here for my business, 'what are YOU doing here?', and I didn't really know him that well. Well and then we started talking, became friends, and then we started going out."
    As Blaine's stunt enters its fourth week, things are expected to get tough for Blaine - form a medical point of view, his body will start to feed on his muscle tissue and it's now that those closest to him will have to be extra alert.
    "I do worry about him. Not so much in the first three weeks, but it's still weird to see him like that in the box and I can't communicate properly and from a medical point of view I 'm beginning to worry now to be honest. Next week should still be ok but the last two weeks I think will be tough, yes."
    Blaine is scheduled to exit the box on the 44th day -- October 19.

    (quirky)
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