Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-04-26
Greek Tricks Unveiled.
The Startling Miracles of Talented
Magicians-De k0Ita's In
yention.


Houdir. the father of all modern magic,
lived in Paris half century ago. Per
haps no one could com pare with him in
celebrity, excepting the original Herr
mann, who died at Calls bad couple OF
years ago, and from whom the Herr
mann who 81 present perambUtates
America took his name and learned what
he knows. The present Hermann was
snowu as Neuman, and was an assistant
20 his greater prototype. He wss always
remarkable for one think, and that Is HIS
very great GeXterity il sleight-of- hand
tricks. Today there Is UoooGy that can
compare with him in this line OF WORK,
what is known IS palming. IL fact any
thing that eau be done with the hands
acne, excepting a deaf mute who travels
through the cheap per museums. Snd who Is
said to have even far greater ability "a
this line, but without ibe gift of express
ing himself.
Hermann, however, Las never been su
inventor. He finds tricks ready made
for him abroad. and buys their secret
As result he Is com PEELED 70 travel
arosnd with vast parsphernalla that
the old msgicans would have looked up
on With contempt. In fact, the tendency
of modern magic has been the elaboration
of the cumbersome, and Hermann needs
a whole roomful of furniture to carry out
one OF his illusions.
The brightest mind in magic ct the
present day is a krestidigitateur named
De kolta. He holds forth in Paris, and
being almost d gentleman of leisure, only
appears abou- three nights WEI K. He
has made all the most lmportsnt of mod
ern inventions in msgic. The one that
/, ba
! liue of nvtntion was the flying bird cage,
which is now so familiar that it can be
| bought in magic stores for few dollars,
| but 1t made great sensation At the time
! Kellar was the first to buy il from D.
KoIta, and took the trick to Australia,
where he mace some 100000 out of L.
He only paid $500.
Two or three seasons ago in NV York
the vanishing lady was accepted as very
| remarkable novelty. This was also an
| invention of De kolta's. During the past
year another OF his Inventions - the
! Cocoon-has been given IN New York,
! both by kellar ara BY Hermann.
But the Que that Is now most familiar
and surprising, De Kolta first brought ont
two years ago. We have seen it with
| Herman under the name of Black Art,
| and With Kellar under the name of ORR
| entail OccuItism. The trick Is precisely
! the same with the N both, and is merely
! an illusion OF blackness. The whoes age
| Is 6raped in the hlackest OF black; the
magician, be it Keilar or Hermann, Is
| com pleteiy robed i'll white so that he
stands oct clearly in the gloom surround
| ing him. Then he orders various objects
| to appear, cup, sword, table,
| chair.
These things seem to suddenly start
| into being, and yet the de 9ice is of the
sim plest. The objects in question are
concealed behind black cloth until the
order tor them to appear is suddenly
| given. The cloth ooucealipg them is
dropped, and they seem to have come out
| of chaos. In the the same manner
! Mrs. Hermann or Mrs. Kellar stands on
| the stage dfaped in white, but holding up
| q black Goth between herself aud the
| audience. At the word of the magician she
| drops the cloth and stands revealed. 10
| tne uninitattd the trick Is most puZZllng.
1t is the same way that the head detacheo
| from the trunk appears to be carried
| around the stage. The illusion is that the
| trunk Is clothed III black, and, standing
| against the blackuess of the scene, cannot
| be distinguished; the head being white,
| alone appears. This Is perhaps the
cleverest of all De Kolta's Inventions.
| OF mechanical tricks Maskeiyne of
! London and Kellar are the most noted in
| veutors, Pey emo. or the hand that taps on
| glass table at the magicians command,
| is an invention of KeiIar, and is simply
| piece of very delicate and intricate
machinery. 1t is very similar to the Clio
| of Maskelyne, and both have II family
resemblance to Kellar's chest board,
originally Invented BY Maskelyne. Ma
eicIans generally give the palm to KelIar
| for all tricks of q mathematical kind. he
has a marvelously quick mind in this
respect, aud the most abstruse problems
he can solve in few seconds -apparently,
of course, allowing it to be done by some
! mechanical figure.
/ Whether all this comes within the exact
domain of magic does not so much mat
ter as thai such tricks are now accepted
| IN magical enter tainments and vastly
more enjoyed than the Old pistol, card
| and rabbit tricks to which some magi-
| clans still adhere-tricks that uecessitate
the use of a confederate, and which are,
therefore. OF little account and at even
which locals laugh.
The future of magic is hard to fOretell.
| Eve, thing in the sleight of-Iana way
| has become famillac, and outside of De
| KOita there is no inventor of anything
new. The result Is that recent presId-
| igitateurs, such as Hermann, are com
| PEELED to add to their own some sort of
variety entertainment TO fill out the even
ing. Even Kellar mad to go back to the
| old Indian basket trick for novelty.
The magician, too, nowadays must
| travel around with twenty or thirty trunks
| full of material and a carload of scenery,
and what is worse still, as popular magic
and parlor magic grows in favor, the
wonder that used to be express ed in pro-
| fessional magic grows less year by year,
| to that point that it looks very much as
if before ioDk they would ali be RELOCATED
TO the dime museums or adopt some other
| line of business. Hermann has been
wise enough to foresee this aud is going
| into several outside speculatioDs during
| the coming year.