Arizona republican., 1913-11-03

Howard ThurstOn, who tours the
 country every year with the magic show MT Mccormick has been
 building effects for meIodramas for
 many years. Some time ago he real
 ized that he had reached the end of his rope, so far as effects of races and such like were concerned. and
 he called to his aid Howard Thurs
 ton. He realized the necessity of in
 troducing into the work of the effect
 a certain amount Of illusion.
 When we first formed partner ship" said MT. Mccormick, "our aim
 was to show a tiny object or objects
 in the distance gradually increase them in size, and finally bring them upon the stage as in life. This we call perspective in notion It had never been attempted on the stage.
 Races always took place from one | side of the stage to the other and the chief object was moving scenery. { The objects, of course, remained the same size and all the audience got was the effect of motion We want ed to combine action and increasing size of dimension, and we have done 1 it very successfully with our train effect in The Honeymoon Express
 Both MT. Thurston and myself are lstfll at work on the same idea and we are confident that in time to come we will be able to work such an eff feet in broad daylight, because il- fusion plays a very important part in producing the engine and automobile. In other words, we fell that we can take objects and people off the stage by utilizing a road or walk on the scenery Imagine the value of such an invention. The william, for ex- ample might jump into his auto mobile and turn up a mountains pass, while the audience could watch the machine grow smaller and smaller as it disappeared into space. Our next perspective effect will be a | sailing vessel, which we are going 1 to show on the water and then grad i ually bring into the harbor under full | sail. Here again We will use lights | and be aided by semi darkness, l which will heighten the effect"
 It all seems so simple when you | see the mechanism from behind the | scenes. But from the other side of | the footlights a gasp of astonish- ment and a burst of applause greets ! one, this most remarkable of all | stage effects.
 The house is in complete darkness; on the stage are seen dim ranges of | mountains, their crests tinged with | the glow of night. Suddenly there | appears high on the mountain a | swiftly moving light. It is the head light of the engine. In a moment 1 you see trailing behind it's freight of | lighted coaches.
 At first they seem diminutive, l crawling along the curved tracks, ! for an instant as they | rush through a tunnel or are lost | through a towering hill. And as you | watch it growing larger, as it descends from the right to the left, another faint light pierces the dark ness; it is the searchlight of the au- tomobile that curves downward in a different path, rushing to meet the train at the intersection of the road [ and the track at Rouen.
 Both lights grow gradually bright CT; the glowing coaches stand out more distinctly, and far off there is heard the faint wall of the en- zines whistle. Nearer and near they come, the automobile descending at the left the train at the right. The chug chug of the engine is heard distantly, and then the exhaust; the bell breaks the nights still ness. Then far of on a level with the stage, way off down the track, the glaring headlight approaches ra- pidly Closer it comes, with a great shriek of the whistle, until it is al- most on top of the audience. At the same time the auto huns forward
 The lights go up, and the audi
 
 apparent coach behind it, puffing and steaming to a standstiIl while par alleled with it the automobile comes to a stop. sending up clouds of dust as the brakes are set.-Washington Herald.