Evening star., 1922-11-04

Yt-NE we were the guests of
honor of the Society of Ameri-
can Magicians. which numbers
I. thousand members, including
al! the amateur and professional con-
jurors 1t struck ME that it would
b. very amusing if / could mystify
;he mystiiiers, so l asked If l also
might be permitted to do one out of
the many performances which were
to follow the dinner. 1t seemed a
bold request to make in such com
pany. but | was pretty sure of my
ground, though it would have been
awkward had / failed to make good.
| explained with becoming gravity,
when my turn came to speak, that
there was nothing occult in what |
would show-that it was psychic only
as all human products are ultimately
psychic, and that if it was prefer
natural 1t was only in the sense that
it was not nature as we now could
observe it. I added that such results
depended upon Il mixture OF mag
ination on one side and power OF
naturalization upon the other, and
| remarked that II the originals were
shown instead OF the presentment a
very serious danger would threaten
the company. Having thus worked
up fitting atmosphere and glamour.
| had the whole select audience. men
and women. on tiptces of eXpecta-
tion. Now to explain my plan.
Mr.. Watterson Rothracker of Chit
cago was iilming my Lost World.
and an artist of remarkable powers.
Mr.. OBrien. had for two years been
busy making studies of the prehis-
toric beasts who play a part in that
work, though how he got them i
cannot even now reveal. These
studies were in New York, SO that
Wainwright, colleague of Mr..
Rothackers, I had only to set up the
cinema apparatus in the banquet
room. A dead and eerie silence fell
as the company saw these horrible
creatures. clawing and biting and
fondling in the prImeval slime. One
saw their jaws champing and their
terrible eyes cleaning. l am sure
that no one who was there will ever
forget it. OF course, I refused to
| left them all, as I had intended,
utterly mystified. Nothing could
have been more completely success
full.
Praise for Houdini.
Apart from my effort 1t was a Won
derful evening, and especially MIR.
Houdini gave perfectly amazing
performance, in which. having been
packed into a bag. and the bag into
!. trunk, corded up and locked. he was
out again after only d few seconds
,:oncealment In tent, while in his
place his wife was found, equally
bound, bagged and boxed. with my
him before tied his hands behind
him. Houdini is the greatest con-
Juror in the world and this is his
greatest trick. l may add that Hou-
dini is not one of those shallow men
who imagine they can explain away
spiritual phenomena as parlor tricks,
hut that he retains an open-and ever.
| think, more receptive-mlnd TO-
ward mysteries which are beyond his
art. He understands that to get truth
in the matter you have not to sit as
Il Sanhedrin of Judgment. like the
circle OF conjurors in London. since
spiritual truth does not come as a
culprit to a bar. but you must rather
conditions and 40 go forth making
most progress when on your knees.
The next day there was, as might
be expected, a fine to-do in the New
York press. The Times, which was
well represented, was particularly
fafr and graphic in it's description. L
am tempted to quote the article In
full:
DINOSAURS cAvoRT IN FILM
FOR DOYLE.
"Spiritist Mystifies World-Famed Ma
gicians With Pictures of
Prehistoric Beasts
Keeps Origin a Secret.
Monsters of Other Ages Shown,
Some Fighting, Some at Play.
in Their Native Jungles.
Motion pictures of extinct monsters
at play and in battle were shown by
sir Arthur Conan Doyle last night at
the dinner OF the Society of American
Magicians at the Hotel McAlpin.
Monsters Of several million years
ago. mostly of the dinosaur species.
made love and killed each other in Sir
Arthurs pictures Prehistoric bruteS
that resembled rhinoceroses magni-
fed many times, equipped with enor-
nous horns that pointed forward like
those OF the unicorn, drove dinosaurs
away from feasts on one another. Ono
monster. like a horned toad of monu-
mental proportions. presented an I'M
penetrable surface OF armor plate to
attacking reptiles and moved along
in safety.
Were They Fakesf
whether these pictures were in
tended by the famous author and
champion Of spiritlsm as a joke on
the magicians, or as q genuine pic
ture like his photographs of fairies.
was not revealed. Sir Arthur said
they were psychic" and also that
they were imaginative" and an
nounced in . frm tone. before they
we're shown, that he would submit to
no questions on the subject OF their
origin.
His monsters Of the ancient world
or of the new world which he has dis
covered In the ether were extraor-
dinarily lifelike. II fakes. they were
masterpieces. Hitherto. tho famous
visitor has not been inclined to play
author of THE Lost World" a novel
in which a British scientist discovers
In South America q plateau which has
survived through geologic time and
10 still stocked with monsters which
roamed the earth millions Of years
before man developed from the lower
forms or was created.
The motion pictures were pre-
sented without titles or comment Of
any kind. and the audience was left
strictly to its own conclusions as to
whether the sober-faced Englishman
was making merry with them or was
lifting the veil from mysteries pene-
trated only by those of his school
who knew tho secret OF filming elves
and ectoplasm and other things un-
known to most minds.
"Sir Conan Doyle, who was intro
duced by Harry Houdini. president Of
INIT" "T""T/ l