The chronicle=news., 1913-07-25

his act "Lsvistion.' aud u wss al
wonder. But 70 staple. like all the
b~s Illusions. 4 beautifully robed
wo0an entar~d The stsOs. rseiised o.
a couch. WAS apparently hypnOtixsd
and then slowly rose in the air In
lfu,, View Of everybody. Sxsumins
any posture the magician chose 10
fla her In.
Kellsr. now retired. MAS = very
clever p<rAoo. No stage ha1As we-s
lAliovs4 kshiad tbs scsAss dusiss his
act. soi ey~s ss~ns shifsrs: hs
drought his own ss~isianis. Ne hs1
Ian eaployer Of the Otis Elevator
IcomInby wuyk!uS 90 moLtbs eos
i,riviaG sn apparatus MSh, snorss ,-
take on the spAd-i, was = aarssl OF
lins-nuiiy. Forsy-five fine wires. a
sei'~s Of springs. u steel k~rnsss. u
set Of weights and ~ind!sss. all of
which could be packed In two sruaks,
me de up the trick.
An audience can see one or two
single wires.s Keiiar confessed to
me after had solved his illusion.
but they can't see 40 or 10 because
they blend In the background"
Which IL true. And that vas his
whole secret. Behind his couch vas
striped background In which the
wires blended perfectly. Hidden In
the soft cushiouIug OF the couch vas
u finely made steel harness 10 which
w~r~ fastened 10 slender wires.
These went up through the ceiling
from the 8 bar back OF the harness.
connecting with y windiAas behind
the scenes. BY which the subject was
raised and lowered NJ will. The y
bar IL always = prime necessity in
any deviation act because IL enables
the operator TO step behind the sub.
jccs or pass hoop completely around
the tody.
Now. II the harness was raised BY
the 80 wires the woman in II would
tip forward tas moment her body left
the couch. 10 there 10 = counierbsi-
ance rusnias beneath the stage by
Is more wires. which keeps the
whole thing 6oi iisontAi. The rest 10
easy. You can't see the wtra and
there 10 NO hole In the background
through which n steel bar might be
poked 10 support the beautiful lady.
Resuit- nystery!
ksllar had another illusion
which was splendid. He called II
The Blue Room" 1, was = huge
boz on the stage something like .
square room. In II the magician took
his place sfter . bit Of patter and the
iikht remark. Nov you're going to
ses yourself - you'll BE- In 80 years.
And riGEt In front Of you the ma.
s,cisn slowly surasA isto skeleton
l.Nssout the aid q . set:
How: Easiest thing In the world:
You weren't looking at Keilar nj all.
hut At his image In = very finely
made mirror placed diaxouaiiy across
the box. ss he stood in its side. real
ly out Of sight. As the mirror vas
slowly withdrawn the skeleton be-
hind II came Into view. blending ex-
actiy with the outlines Of the maEi-
clans figure on the silvered glass.
Presto. and he was out OF the box.
his old self again
II was merely = clever ruse OF re-
Election. Kellar carried . mirror 80
feet long to do that trick. No maKi-
clans do 10 now because they can't
afford II. Refraction. on the other
hand. Is the priuciple used in the
Illusion "Galatea. old but ever sood.
II depends ON the optical Law that
when liEht goes from one medium to
heavier one its line u broken. as
Eom air to water, or from air to
glass.
Houdini has fine trick with
q milk can. You are invited to ex-
anime 1t carefully. You see tha, 1t Is
good. stout one and that Il hasn't
false bottom. Six sturdy stap'es
fit on the cover and you are invited
to bring your own padlocks and keys.
Houdini gets inside and you lock him
In securely BY means OF the padlocks
and staples. keeping the keys. The
can is hidden for a moment behind a
screen-ah. there you are. Houdini
Ia out Of his tin prison and the can
is still locked up and you have the
keys.
This ought to be called joke. not
IA trick. He doesn't have to pick ev-
en- one lock. an art at which he ia an
adept. The explanation Is that
while you have locked the locks you
haven't locked the can There is a
tcollar fitting around the neck and