The San Francisco call., 1908-07-12

playing his skill with incandescents at
the Orpheum. where his models are
posing in classic groups of statuary. or
are holding themselves motionless in
bronze bas reliefs, or are pOSturing in
oil pictures.
The rapidity with which the act
moves, the groups arranged and the
scene exposed struck me as remarkable.
and that's how l came to meet Monsieur
Marcel. who inducted me into the mys
terieS which now are mysterious no
longer. Like any art" he said. lit is
very easy-when you know how it is
done"
TWO STAGES
He has two stages. Each is a semi
circle affair and they are set facing each
other as far apart as the little stages
are wide. Each is pivOted and swings
like door toward the curtain. which.
at the time we are speaking of. is down.
A group of statuary is posed on one OF
the little stages and ready for exhibition
1t is swung into position and the cur
tain is raised. While the audience is
looking at the living statuary. Marcel
is busy with his models on the other
little stage. which is out of sight of
the audience The curtain goes down.
the first miniature stage is swung on
its pivot back TO its first position, and
/ the other one. on which BY this time
/ the group has been placed, is swung
/ front to the curtain. And so they al
ternate the stages. one being exposed
and the other being dressed
So much for the mechanical part
THE LIGHTS
/ Immediately above the aperture
/ through which the audience looks upon
the movable stage is a long lightboard
/ with three rows each OF the primary
I nd Is
connected with a switchboard by which
any one or all of the lights may be
turned on. further feature OF the
( switch enables the operator to control
the quantity of light. from the merest
glimmer to bright glare.
That is my palette" said Marcel.
Wait and 1 will show you" group
of graces was being shown on the
stage. He turned on the blue and the
| red lights. and a soft purple shade
/ tinted his picture; then he added yell
/ low. and slaty gray toned the statues
/ TO a realistic color. as OF marble touched
by time. See he said. I'll show you
/ another. He switched on a glare from
4 the yellow and blue globes and touched
the red lights into tiny glow. The
statues cleaned in an olive green
| They told me they could not make
/ this switchboard" said Marcel but
1 knew better The electrical engineer
said to me. 1t is impossible Impossi-
/ bler 1 answered. That is very poor
French. You can do 1t. We viii do il
together And so we did. The result
4 is here and it cost me s1.500."
IS PAINTER
Marcel was a painter before he was
a vaudeville artist, though now" he
told me. Il only paint for my own
pleasure and to get models for my pie
I, lures. 'Evangeline.' for instance.
painted in Cleveland There ! saw the
field and the clump Of trees and got the
Impression which I have put into the
living picture that you see. Last week
went to Lands end There I got a
fine picture. I will show 1t to you.
1t will be a model for next season.
shall put some mermaids on those rocks
saw at Lands end.
The painting which Marcel showed
and which he said was to be repro
duced next season in his act Is a re-
j, markably beautiful view taken from
Lands end. Here I will put the mar