Albert A. Hopkins

“ At one of the sides of the stage, out of sight of the spectator, there is a charge which is also ignited by electricity at the same time that the bomb is exploded. At the proper moment a man throws the shell and touches the button, the bomb bursts, and the spectators, hearing the loud report of the cannon at the same instant, imagine that the harmless paper bomb is the cause of the formidable explosion. ”

“ He leaves the stage and his place is taken by another, and then he understands the nature of the drama in which he has been an unconscious participator. He sees the other spectator seated alone at the table. Suddenly a spirit, perhaps of an old man, appears at the other side of the table, while a bottle and glass are seen upon the table. When exhorted to help himself to the liquid, the performing spectator’s idle gestures show that he certainly does not see the glass, through which his hand passes unobstructed. ”

“ This continuous horizon not only helps in the illusion, but it reaches so high up that borders are no longer needed. The horizon, like the canvas in a cyclorama, represents a uniformly illuminated surface, which gives the same impression as the sky. The horizon is carried by the rollers, and it may be painted so that at a moment’s notice the different aspects of the sky can be represented, from the deep blue of Italy to the mists and fogs of the North, and from the fleeciest clouds to a sky heavy with thunder. ”

“ A plate, a glass, a water bottle, and a candle shine in space with the light of glow-worms.
A sinister guest in the form of a skeleton sits opposite the place occupied by the near-sighted gentleman, who has disappeared, and whose eyeglasses alone have held their own before this ghastly apparition. Finally, to complete the illusion, hands are seen moving over the heads of the spectators, and those multiply, and then disappear, only to appear anew. ”

“ No matter how trivial your profession may be, if you are an artist in your particular line, you may be sure of an admiring audience. To-day you are a performer in the cafés; to-morrow you tread the boards of some minor theater, and the journals duly chronicle your début, sometimes with as much elaborateness as they would “write up” that of a new singer at the Grand Opera. Two of the greatest entertainers in Paris to-day are Yvette Guilbert, chanteuse eccentrique, and M. Félicien Trewey—fantaisiste, mimic, shadowgraphist, and juggler. ”

“ Trewey has made his hands so supple that he not only can form the most diverse figures upon a screen, but can also give them motion and life. The swan smoothing its plumage, the bird taking flight, the cat making its toilet, the tight-rope dancer, who, after saluting the public, rubs chalk on her feet before walking on the rope, are true wonders, and it is hard to believe that these perfectly accurate profiles are obtained solely by means of the shadow of the hands. ”

“ These doors are very useful, as they enable the artists to appear in response to encores, without raising the curtain, which means loss of time which is much needed in changing the scene. It is a wonderful sight to look through the little peep-hole in the door at the audience. Tier upon tier of splendidly clothed humanity rises up to the family circle at a dizzy height above. The whole is bright and gay, and is very different from the practical world behind the stage, where stand the stalwart stage hands ready for their duties ”

“ A person, therefore, sees his image reproduced indefinitely in groups of six until, the successive reflections attenuating the intensity of the images, the latter cease to be visible. Three or four persons massed in one of the angles present the illusion of a compact and mixed crowd standing upon a sidewalk and awaiting the passage of a procession. The hats waving in the air convert the peaceful waiting into an enthusiastic manifestation, which is so much the more surprising in that it is made by but half a dozen persons at the maximum. ”

“ All at once, a woman in the costume of an opera nymph rises from the sea without anything being visible to support her in space, in which she turns round and round, gracefully moving her legs and arms, now in one direction, and then in another. When the exhibition is at an end, she straightens out in the position of a swimmer about to make a dive, and plunges behind the curtain representing the ocean. ”

“ At private entertainments and clubs Herrmann was especially felicitous as a prestidigitateur. I will enumerate a few of his numberless sleight-of-hand tricks: He would place a wine glass, full to the brim with sparkling wine, to his lips, when suddenly, to his apparent surprise and consternation, the glass of wine would disappear from his hand and be reproduced immediately from some bystander’s coat-tail pocket. He would place a ring upon the finger of some person, and immediately the ring would vanish from sight. A silver dollar would change into a twenty-dollar gold piece. ”

“ People go to magical entertainments to be mystified by the pretended sorcery of the magician, and when they learn by what absurdly simple devices a person may be fooled, they look with indifference at the more ambitious illusions of the performer. Palmistry is the very foundation stone of prestidigitation. No magician, unless he confines himself to mechanical tricks, can do without it in a performance. ”

“ Robertson, at the end of the entertainment, generally concluded by saying: “I have shown you, citizens, every species of phantom, and there is but one more truly terrible specter—the fate which is reserved for us all.” In a moment a grinning skeleton stood in the center of the hall waving a scythe. All these wonders were perpetrated through the medium of a phantasmagoric lantern, which threw images upon smoke. This was a great improvement on the simple concave mirror which so terrified Cellini. The effect of this entertainment was electrical; all Paris went wild over it. ”

“ Robert-Houdin, in his memoirs, says, the excellence of an artist’s work must never flag, but continue to excite and stimulate public curiosity. Trewey realizes this to perfection. He has something unique and novel from week to week to present for the delectation of his audiences. He is the most tireless experimenter I have ever met on any stage, and gets up early and goes to bed late to think out new problems in the art amusante. ”

“ There is one trick that always tends to confirm the spectator’s illusion, and that is this: in the little prefatory speech that the ventriloquist makes, he gives out that he is a foreigner, and does not speak the language of his audience well; in fact, he expresses himself with difficulty and with a strong accent. His dummies, on the contrary, answer in very good French or English, as the case may be; and when the auditors hear them, they are led to believe that ventriloquism counts for nothing in their answers or conversation. ”

“ The leather cylinder rises and falls by means of a lever secured to the top. Siegfried goes bravely to work. Going to the forge, he heaps coals upon the open hearth, and gradually fans the fire; it rises and rises until there is a roaring blaze. The light shines fitfully upon Siegfried and upon the walls of the cave. At each stroke of the bellows handle the fire rises higher and higher. Siegfried places a crucible in the midst of the fire, and in it puts the pieces of the broken sword. ”

“ Two rows of Argand burners illuminate his figure, which is then wrapped in a white sheet. Now, as the spectators watch him, he gradually dissolves or fades away and in his place appears a skeleton in the coffin. Again, at the word of command the skeleton in its turn slowly disappears, and the draped figure of the spectator appears again. The illusion is perfect to the outer audience; the one in the coffin sees absolutely nothing out of the common. ”

“ In order to take from a hat a large quantity of paper in ribbons, and then doves, and even a duck or a rabbit, there is no need of special apparatus nor of a great amount of dexterity, and still less of the revolving bobbin or of the mysterious machine whose existence is generally believed in by the spectators when they see the paper falling regularly from the hat, and turning gracefully of itself as the water from a new sort of fountain would do. ”

“ Upon the firing of a pistol the occupant of the table is ignited, and smoke and flame bursting from the screen indicate that the work of destruction is going on within. When the fire is burned out the screen is lifted, and nothing remains upon the table but a few smouldering embers and a pile of bones surmounted by a skull. Close observation does not reveal any way of escape for the young woman. It is, however, obvious that the magician cannot afford to sacrifice such a subject every evening, and the spectators are forced to conclude that the whole affair is a very clever trick. ”

“ There is hardly any illusion on the stage which is seen as often as the moonlight effect, and there is nothing which can be as well counterfeited on the stage as moonlight scenery. The artist usually begins his task by painting a moonlight scene; by daylight such a scene is ghastly, being painted in cold grays and greens, in which Prussian blue and burnt umber play an important part, and the lights are put in with white, slightly tinged with emerald green. The strong moonlight of the foreground is produced by a calcium light thrown through a green glass. ”

“ The professor, by means of any of the pantomimic gestures, pretends to hypnotize her, after which dramatic scene, he goes among the audience, asking here and there what the spectators would like the lady marvel to do. Having spoken to some twelve or twenty persons, he solemnly enjoins the strictest silence. With serious mien he advances toward the medium, without going on the stage, and motions or waves his right hand in a downward movement in front of her. She slowly rises and goes through [200] each desired performance, finally returning to her chair and allowing herself to be dehypnotized. ”

“ Shriveled old women were burned at the stake for the crime of witchcraft, monks in their gloomy cells wrestled with Satan and the powers of darkness, and grimy alchemists toiled day and night over the red fires of their furnaces, seeking in vain for the talismanic philosopher’s stone and wondrous elixir of life. With the aid of the concave mirror, magicians of the period were able to produce very fair ghost illusions to gull a susceptible public. ”

“ The fascination which the general public finds in clever tricks and illusions is little to be wondered at, but it is a mistake to suppose that all the outfit which the modern magician needs is a few paper roses, a pack of cards, some coins, and a wand. The fact of the matter is, that usually the most entertaining tricks are those which are produced at considerable expense in the way of apparatus and stage fittings. It is for this very reason that the secret of the illusion is always so closely guarded by the prestidigitateur. ”

“ The latter is rendered still darker by the brilliant cords of the shelf, a metallic chain and a dagger suspended beneath it, as well as a white handkerchief which seems to have been dropped upon the stage by accident. At least six powerful gas burners or electric lights with reflectors are turned towards the spectators, so that it will be seen that the latter are in a manner dazzled by everything that strikes the eye in the foreground, and that beyond this they see absolutely nothing but a black background. ”

“ The people of New York City have the reputation of being the most tireless theater-goers in all America; a statement which is verified by the ever-increasing number of large and well-filled places of amusement. Of late years the growth of the popularity of the style of entertainments which are classed under the name of “vaudeville” has called into existence a special type of theater, which, in addition to the regulation stage and auditorium, includes special halls of entertainment, with lounging-rooms, cafés, etc., and, for use in the hot summer months, the inevitable roof garden. ”

“ Holes in the drop allow the light from an arc light to imitate the stars. The surface of the moon is painted on canvas supported on hinged props having spread feet. A stiff rod joins the hinges and forms the horizon. A footlight is placed within this tent-like cover to illuminate it. The drop curtain carrying the sun box is raised by a windlass, and as the sun rises, accompanied by the stars, the footlight is turned up. In passing behind the earth, the sun imparts a crimson view to the earth’s atmosphere, which the footlight transfers to the moon until the extinction of the solar disk. ”