The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-22
SECRETS OF The MAGICIAN
Means Employed BY Modern Wizards to Produce AS
founding Effects.

are dropped the false floor is lifted to
the top and the lady thus passes out
Of sight, the top of the palanquin be-
ing cunningly painted so as to. give
the appearance of lightness, whereas, in
reality, it is high enough to contain
the lady's body, the performer in Slis
case being usually of slight physique
and disposing of her person so as to
occupy as little space as possible.
People have often been myStified by
the spirit cabinet, from which per-
former disappears to reappear else
where. Sometimes two cabinets are en-
ployed, a Turkish lady in one and a
Turkish caliph in the other The two
cabinets are suspended in mid air, and
the actors change places, or occasion
ally the lady who has just disappeared
from cabinet appears at the front
door of the theatre and makes her way
through the audience to the stage. The
cabinets are usually double, and the
performers do not change places at all,
remaining concealed within the cabi
nets, while the lady who comes from
the door is a double, both in counte-
nance and dress, of the one who just
vanished on the stage. The apparent
miracle of the appearing and disap-
pearing lady is equally simple. A ta-
BILE is brought upon the stage and the
audience think they see all four legs
Of the table and the stage beyond. They
see nothing of the kind, but instead a
couple of mirrors, arranged at such an
angle as to reflect the surroundings
and make the audience believe that
they see past the table instead of a
reflection of what is about it. The mir
rors form a screen, the table is placed
above trap in the stage, through
which the lady makes her appearance
on the table The disappearing lady
disappears through similar trap. The
chair in which she is seated has con-
cealed behind it a wire frame which,
when in position, projects above her
head like a hood. The lady takes her
seat in the chair, a cloth is thrown over
her, and supported by the wire hood,
cunningly manipulated by the operator.
The chair in which she is seated has a
sliding bottom, as soon as the cloth is
placed in position she slips down
through the trap below the stage. and
the operator, when removing the cloth,
throws back the wire frame behinu the
chair, and the disappearance is COM
plete. The trunk trick and the basket
trick are similar, both trunk and bas-
ket being provided with sliding or fold
ing doors which in one case conceal the
human being packed within, and in the
other permit him to escape.
The most narrowing spectacle pre-
scented by the professional magicians
is the decapitation trick, in which
mans head is apparently cut Off and
then again fastened upon his body.
The means by which it is accomplish
ed are as simple as those employed IN
the trunk and basket tricks. In the
decapitation trick. wherein the clown
suffers the loss of his head for some
imposition upon his companions, box
with q concealed confederate is used,
the unfortunate clown is laid fiat upon
the box and his eXecutioner with cold
blooded cruelty proceeds to hack OF
his head with a huge knife. At the
moment when the hacking begins the
victim lowers his head into a con-
ceaIed cavity in the box and fac
smile head of wax is passed UP by the
| confederate The eXecutioner, a
brother clown, exhibits the head to
the audience, playing variety of
comical tricks with it, finally places it
on the box near the feet of the victim;
then he calls the attention of the audi
ence to the lifelike appearance of the
head shows them that the eyes are in
motion, and. finally, places a lighted
cigarette between the lips, whereuDon
the decaDitated head emits Duffs of
smoke and otherwise manifests signs
of life The trick consists in the fact
that ct the moment when the execu-
toner clown is placing the decapitated
head on the box the clown within
pushes up his own head through the
aperture, while the wax head is passed
down into the box. It is reproduced
when the clown proposes to refit 1t
to the neck, and is again concealed
when the operation of rejoining is sup
posed TO be complete.
The use of mirrors in the perform
! nf oriR
sive, and some exceedingly remark
I able effects are reproduced by their
employment The mirror completely
deceives the audience, inducing the
people to believe that they see some
/ thing which they do not. Many of the
most startling effects produced upon
! the stage are merely optical illusions.
A person, for example, comes from the
audience and takes his stand in a
coffin on the stage, and while the audi
! ence is looking at him, he slowly van
ishes, and a skeleton appears in the
coffin. Meanwhile he, ignorant of his
! own disappearance, is still looking at
/ the audience and sees nothing of What
is visible to them. This striking illu-
sion is produced by a magic lantern
apparatus, a sheet of plate glass being
placed in front of the coffin at the
proper angle. Concealed from the
I
coffin containing a skeleton painted
white Each coffin is Illuminated with
! it's own set of Argand burners, and to
| obtain the proper effect of g dissolvlnS
view, one set of burners is gradually
| turned down as the other is turned up
I thus the man in the coffin slowly dis
/ appears from view, ard the reflection
| of the skeleton is substituted on the
glass. BY similar means, with the aid
| of mirrors, the three-headed woman
is shown, lady appearing seated in a
chair. while confederates concealed, all
! but their heads, are made by the aid
of mirrors to appear in such positions
that their heads seem to join hel
! shoulders on either side. The talking
head, the half woman and the horrify-
inc spectacle of She" consumed in
flames, are all produced BIZ the use OF
mirrors and other contrivances quite as
simple
The legerdemain by which flowers
handkerchief and other objects are
made to appear and disappear in I'M
expected places has often been ex-
planned, as also the apparatus by which
Aimee, the human fly, walks upon g
| board head downward, the suckers
fastened to her shoes affording suffi-
cient air pressure to support the weight
| of her body.
The familiar shadow pictures on the
wall in which amateur performers of
ten become skillful, have found their
way to the stage and are now a source
of income to more than one expert
enced manipulation of his digits. They
are all accomplished by means of the
fingers, aided by small objects, sucE