The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-02-01
READY MADE INTERRUPTIONS.
An Effective Trick ut Times Emr1oy.
ed In Theatrical Business.

Gu IN Ahe8IEISaI
'That dodge OF ready made Interrupt
tons isn't confined to politics." said
theatrical manager. 1T has been used
on the stage with great success. Old man
Bltz, the conjrer-I mean the Blitz
whose right name was Schwartzmann--
used to carry around fellow whose sole
duty was to expose his tricks. The
scheme proved a hit and was really one
of the foundations Of Blitz's fame and
fortune.
"The way he worked it was quite in
genious. At about the middle of his pro-
gramme he would undertake to shift q
cannon bail from one silk hat to another.
The hats We're placed at opposite ends Of
a long table. and while the trick was in
progress the interrupter. who was seated
in the audience in the role of a spectator,
would suddenly raise n shout of Lift the
CLOTH. Biitz would stop in apparent con-
fusion, and after a worly alteration,
during which the other would insist ON
his point. he would snatch up the cover
angrily and disclose a boy in the act of
passing a cannon ball through trap in
the table top. Now. are y0u satisfied?
he would e%ciain, letting the cloth drop
again. You ought to have sense enough
to know that every trick has lis mechan-
ISM
Up to that point it seemed to be a
clear victory for the intCrrup;cr, and the
audience would generally howl in de-
rison. At that Biitz would pretend to
get furious. I'll do that trick, anyhow,
just to spite your 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
rangyment of inclined mirrors. But, all
the same, it was very effective piece
Of work and never failed to make
profound impression on the audience.
Biitz had a dozen variations of the in
terrupton scheme, some much better
than the one | have described. and, while
they would be a trite too obvious for
the up to date thcater goer of tie pres
ent. they never missed fire in the unso-
phisticated early days.
Fake interruptions IN StelSht OF
hand or conjuring performance have the
double advantage of giving eclat to ths
trick and intim.GatiDg any real skeptics
in the house who might otherwise prove
troublesome. After a man hears some
other fellow get badly worsted in an
encounter with the magician he will hest
tate to put in an 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 dan
gerous. AS far Us be ever went was TO
get an usher to call out, He's got it up
his sleever 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 crestfalen. "-New Or
leans Times-Democ.at.