The sun., 1900-12-25
Oysters by the quart at Beckett's
Restaurant, Seventh and Shipley streets.
READY MADE INTERRUPTIONS.
An Effective Trick nt Times Employ
ed In Thaafric RuxInasa

An Effective Trick nt Times Employ
ed In Theatrical Business.
"That dodge of ready made interrup.
tions isn't confined to politics." said a
theatrical manager. at has been used
ON the stage with great success. Old man
Blitz, the conjurer-T mean the Blit2
whose right name was Schwartzmann-
used to carry around fellow whose sole
duty was to expose his tricks. The
scheme proved hit and was really one
Of the foundations of Blitz's fame and
fortune.
"The way he worked 1t was quite in.
genious. AT about the middle Of his pro-
gramme he would undertake to shift a
cannon ball from one silk hat to another.
The hats were placed at opposite ends of
long table, and while the trick was in
progress the interrupter, who was seated
In the audience in the role of spectator.
would suddenly raise shout of Lift the
cloth" Blitz would stop in apparent con
fusion. and after wordy alteration,
during which the other would insist on
his point, he would snatch up the cover
angriiy and disclose boy in the act OF
passing a cannon ball through trap in
the table top. Now. are you satisfied p
he would exclaim. letting the cloth drop
again. You ought to have sense enough
to know that every trick has its mechnn-
ism.'
up TO that point 1t seemed to be a
clear victory for the interrupter, and the
audience would generally howl in de-
rision. AT that Blitz would pretend to
get furious. III do that trick, anyhow,
just to spite you!' he would exclaim,
and, taking couple of glass vases, he
would place the hats on top, thus raising
them clear of the table. Then he would
lift the cloth, and, 10 and behold, the boy
had vanished into thin air! With the
cover still elevated and held in place by
pins, the feat Of shifting the ball would
be triumphantly performed, and, needless
to say, the spectators would shout them
selves black in the face. The trick was
nothing but piece of clever palming,
and the disappearance Of the bogus con-
federate was effected by a simple ar
rangement Of inclined mirrors. But, all
the same, it was very effective piece
OF work and never failed to make a
profound impression on the audience.
Blitz had a dozen variations of the in
terruption scheme, some much better
than the one have described, and, while
thcy Wouiu pe u lrlue 100 OBVIOUS Tor
the up to date theater goer of the pres
ent, they never missed fire in the unso-
phisticated early days.
Fake Interruptions in sleight of
hand or conjuring performance have the
double advantage Of giving eclat to the
trick and intimidating any real skeptcs
In the house who might otherwise prove
troublesome. After q man hears some
other fellow get badly worsted in an
encounter with the magician he will hesi-
tate to put in On oar himself, no matter
how certain he may be that he sees
through the illusion. In his younger
days Hermann used ready made inter-
ruptions to some slight extent, but after
ward discarded them as being too dam
gerous. As far as he ever went was to
get an usher to call out, He's got it up
his sleeve! or Look under that box!'
OF course, the article in question would
not be there, and Hermann would get
a round Of applause, while the usher re-
tired, apparently crestfallen. New Or
leans Times-Democrat