The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-20
MUCH DEPENDS ON COSTUME.
Feculiaritles in Dress Which Are Of Great
Aid to the Cop;ur

Feccliaritles in Dress Which Are Of Great
Aid to the Conjurer.
The old-fashioned coniurer was art
full enough to appear in some fancy
costume which enable him to conceal
anything, from frying pan down to
hve-shilling. piece. But the modern
public is too wide awake to stand that
sort of thing, and, nowadays, up-to-
date artists must appear in the conven-
tional evening dress of civiliz2 ion
Fortunately, the swallow-tail coat is so
cut as to lend considera BILE assistance to
one who has to hastily produce or con-
ceal any article he may want at the
moment. and, taking advantage Of this,
the conjurer provides himself with
from nine to dozen extra pockets.
The tails of the coat themselves con-
tain four little pockets, the left-hand
flap of the breast coat contains a large
pocket, used for what is known as
loading" large objects, and SUCH con-
jurers as still perform with live ami
mails ian extremely cruel practice, by
the way conceal them here. Some con
lurers have small, invisible pockets
on their sleeve. in which coins can be
made to disappear in most tragic man.
ner. Attached to the front of the waist
coat is piece Of elastic. which passes
round the body and comes out OF lit
tie hole in the side of the waistcoat at
the back. At the end OF this elastic
there is small tin cylinder. conical at
one end, in which the magician can put
handkerchief or, If made a little
larger, bird. The conjurer holds
handkerchief before your eyes, appears
to be rolling it up, while all the time
he is ramming it into the cylinder, lets
IT go, makes few passes with his
hands, and You find that the handker-
chief has disappeared.
The vanishing bird trick. which kills
a great number of canaries. is per-
formed by means of accessories in
which the costume plays part. The
bird cage itself is made to collapse
into a cigar-shaped tube. The cen
ter OF the cigar-shape is naturally
fstter than the ends, and, if the bird
is fortunate, it is secreted there,
and may come out of the ordeal alive.
Should, however, the bird get at either
end, it is crushed to death, or, should
the legs get through the bars, they are
almost certain to be broken. What
happens is this: This bird cage is rapid
iy hooked TO the end of piece of whip
cord. which passes up the sleeve and
across the body of the performer, and
then down the other sleeve where it is
tied to the wrist 1t will thus be seen
that the cord is eonsidera bly, shorter
than will be required to stretch from
each end of the arms if they are ex-
tended. The cage. being in the per-
formers hand, is rapidly compressed
and made to assume it's cigar-shapet'
form. and is dragged up the arm at
lightning speed by the simple process
Of extending the two arms. This very
simple trick has puzzled millions
of people. 1t is performed so rapidly
that even if you closely watch the
conjurer it is doubtful if YOU will know
what he is doing. Every conjurer has
his clothes made according to his own
design, and the task Of making the suit
is by no means an easy one. The clothes
have to be frequently seen during the
process of making and tried on many
times before they are complete.
There are two popular notions IN the
public brain. One is that everything
which disappears goes up a conjurer's
sleeve, and another. that every con-
jurer has confederate. As a matter
of fact, coniurers need not resort to
clumsy lodges of any kind If con
federate Were required it would be
quite easy to delude any ordinary spec
tator into doing the work of one, and
in this case he would be confederate
without knowing ii. The principle of
deeeiving the audience before they
expect il is the secret of many tricks.
The larger conjuring tricks known as
illusions are almost always produced by
the aid OF mirrors. or what is known as
black magic"-that is to say, black
velvet. Everyone understands that if
mirrors are arranged at certain angles
they can be made to deceive the public
vision in most remarka BILE manner
When you come to know anything bout
it. conjuring is. Of course. a ridiculouslv
simple thing. Nevertheless. there are
few great conjurerS and not many who
good master. and with about three
years experience. any person might be-
come good con !urer but to become a
Houdin, Bertram. Nerbeck or HART
is net to be done in "A lifetime unless
one is born to it.-London Answers.