The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-27
TRICKS WITH THE KALEIDOSCOPE.
Effects Produced by Reversing the
FiIm and VARYING the Motion.


Film and Varying the Motion.
An odd experiment with the kaleidoscope
took place not long ago in Boston. The
subject was a man eating dinner, and the
film, prepared especially for the occasion,
was of unusual length, so that the whole
performance could be recorded. The man
entered the room and. seating himself at
table, proceeded to cut up the food. The
motion of the fork from the plate to his
lips was carefully recorded until the last
morsel of food had vanished. Then he
arose and walked out of the room, leaving
nothing on the table but bare dishes. The
series of pictures was then reversed. 1t
showed the man entering the room back
ward. He sat down at the table at which
there was nothing but bare dishes and
proceeded to extract food from his lips
until he had filled the potato dish with
potatoes and gradually put STEAK to-
gether on the platter before him. Then
he camiy backed out OF the room, and the
waiter aid likewise with the meal that the
man had apparently created.
Exhibitors of the clnematograph and
biograph, and all the other graphs" and
scopes" of the same family are missing a
Joint mere in New York which, if prop
erly brought out, would prove to be an
interesting part of the performance. The
principle OF these machines affords scope
for great deal OF novelty, especially
when the ribbon or long film is reversed
and made to run backward, or when the
pictures are produced at varying speeds.
In the case OF the photograph little
amusement is afforded by reversing the
cylinder, as the result is onglomeration
of disconnected syllables, but with the
kaleidoscope. variety of speeds, from very
fast to very slow, will give interesting re-
suits. Take, for example, the picture of
Niagara Falls, where the foam is seen to
rise from the water as it falls into the pool
below. Here the water would ascend and
run back smoothly over the brink and dis
appear in the distance-a bewilde ring
effect.
Still another novelty might be prod uced
with the picture Of the Empire State Elk
press. which is seen to approach and pass
at the rate OF nearly sixty miles an hour.
1t probably never ran backward as fast as
that, but it could be made to do so Oh
canvas. The last car would appear first
in the picture, and finally the engine, the
whole train vanishing mile or 80 down
the track, where, in the true picture, it
first canle into view. In like manner
the sound money parade might be turned
into farce, Tor here the men would be
seen actually walking backward.
The biograph, cinematograph and other
machines OF that nature merely show
klnetoscope pictures enlarged by means
OF stereopticon lens. All the pictures
shown in the theaters are of moving OBJ
jects taken while the machine itself is at
rest, but double effect may be produced
by having the machine move, too. A
| good example of this double effect could
be made by placing the machine on the
| front of q Broadway cable-car and making
| a trip Of several blocks down Broadway ;
| or, better still, by taking the curves Ut
Fourteenth st. This picture thrown on a
screen in darkened theater while some
one shouted Hold FAST would make a
scene familiar to every New Yorker as
the view, looking through the front win
dow OF the car. would be naturally de-
| picted. 1t IS probable that cinemato-
graph and biograph operators have re.
Trained from these amusing exhibitions,
as the effect would not be readily under
stood and some time would be required to
explain the reason for it.-New York Sun.