The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-10-21
FOOLS THE PUBLIC
STAGE MAGICIAN EXPLAINS HOW
HIS WORK Is DONE.
AUDACITY QUITE NECESSARY
Albert Stromhof, Visiting in Butte,
Talks in an Interesting Man.
ner Regarding the Tricks
of His Trade.

81 butte is better city than thought
II was" remarked Albert Stromhof this
morning, talking with few friends in
the lobby of one of the hotels of Butte
some of the attractions at your thea
ters-of which you may well be proud
would do credit to the big Eastern cities.
I'm IN the magic business, you know,
ana am now on my way back to New
YORK after long vacation on the coast.
Naturally l dropped in at the Grand last
evening to see the Japanese magicians
now holding the boards there, and let me
tell you they are all right.
While no branch of the magician's
art is more fascinating than the ex-
ploitation of illustrations, the lack of de.
velopment of principles has operated
against what may be termed the
spectacular side of magic.
The method of working some of the
best known offerings has made patent
the means by which a score of lesser ex-
perments are accomplished, and the
chief charm of a trick to an audience is
to find out how it is done
New Things This Season.
This season there will be shown a
couple that are new in application and
which have not yet been brought before
an audience. OF these the more import
ant l call 'kaston, the name being taken
from the Hebrew word for box
Properly speaking. it is a series of three
tricks forming single illusion.
The stage, as the curtain rises, shows
the center occupied by trestle rising
some two feet from the floor. upon which
a.e supported two boxes, one behind the
other.
ITO the right is cabinet, which is
merely framework some six feet high,
the front, back and sides of which are
composed of light curtains. These at
first are thrown back upon the solid top
Like the Cabinet.
ITO the left of the boxes is a pagoda
four feet high, provided with doors on
all four sides. Like the cabinet, one may
look through in any direction, but in
place of fiat top, the roof of the pagoda
is curved.
This is suspended by heavy cable
several feet from the floor and is
anchored to the stage by guy ropes fast
>ned to each corner.
After my Introductory speech, | take
the first box and remove it from the
trestle to the stage. The box is three feet
long with a height and width of two
feet.
It is constructed Of light material, and
is 50 arranged that by christening hooks
in the corners it may be laid fiat. TO
prove that there is no concealed mechan-
ism. lift the box on the palm of my
hand.
THE box is then fastened together and
is 1epia ced on the trestle while the other
is lifted off.
~: '"The emptiness of the second recep-
.tacle beng similarly demonstrated, re-
fasten the sides together and place it
within the first box, the outer dimensions
of the second being just the inside meas
urements Of the first.
'"The cover of the larger box is replaced
and almost Immediately the two covers
are thrown up, and young woman rises
from the double box.
Trick Appears Difficult.
'She is then blindfolded and taken to
dropped about her, only the front cloth
remaining up. While she stands there
the doorsof the pagoda are closed.
pole being used to prove to the audience
that there is no manipulation of traps.
Then the curtain of the cabinet is
closed in front and at the word of COM
mand the woman is found in the pagoda
while the cabinet is empty.
The trick appears to be a difficult ons,
but the mechanism IS simple when the
principles are understood. Each box is
provided with a. vampire trap. The
larger box has one in the rear while the
smaller is trapped both front ami bot
tom.
vampire trap is one opening exactly
like a double door. The surface of the
box is three feet by two. The trap is six
inches smaller and in two parts.
These wings are swung on spring
hinges and close immediat ely. The
springs are further useful in preventing
the wings of the trap from flying open
when the boxes are exhibited.
1.-The wings are joined so exactly that
from the audience not even a scratch
is visible upon the surface of the box.
while even closer examination Woull
puzzle the uninitiated.
How the Trick Is Done.
when the curtain goes up. the young
woman is in the smaller box and re-
mains there while the larger one is be-
ing shown. When the latter is replaced
on the treste it is set snugly against
the one in the rear, the two traps facing
each other.
The vampire in the larger box opens
inward, while in the smaller the trap
opens out into the other box, enabling |
the occupant to shift her position to the
one just examined
when the second is placed inside the |
first, the vampire in the bottom of the |
smaller box opens upward, and the box
is simply placed over the woman. When
she steps out of the box the trap closes