THE next illusion whose secret I am going to reveal was called “Beau Brocade” and was so entitled by permission of the Baroness Orczy.
A box was brought on the stage. It was on legs so that it was raised from the ground and in bringing it in all sides were shown. It was wheeled round and the lid opened. The front was made to let down, so that every inch of the interior could be seen. A tray was taken out from the top and in this were six sheets of glass—one was slid in front of the box in grooves made for the purpose, one was put at each end, one at the back and another on the floor of the box; the remain- ing one was left in the tray, which was replaced and the box shut up.
There was then exhibited a large cloth which was proved to be whole by putting a strong light behind it. It was shown to be all in one piece. Then en- tered Beau Brocade, and I apparently hypnotised her. She fell into the arms of an assistant and he and another man laid her on the centre of the cloth, which had been spread on the floor. They now took hold of the four corners of the cloth and thus lifted the lady and brought her forward to the footlights, I now put my arms underneath her and the audience were allowed to see her face and, in fact, most of her body, before the cloth was finally wrapped round her, while she was in my arms. I carried her down to the audience in the midst of the stalls and asked a gentleman to make sure she was still there. In fact, I invited him to take hold of her. Just as he did so, she suddenly vanished, leaving nothing but the cloth, which I tossed back to the assistant on the stage. Then I shouted out, “Open the box,” and lo, the lady was disclosed within, tripped out and off amid great applause!
I am ashamed to say that once again I deceived the public. The lady found in the box was not the one that disappeared, but her twin sister. The box was a special one and the back of it lifted up, carrying with it the sheet of glass. Then there were two flaps that opened out at the back, leaving room for a triangular platform, which slid out for the lady to rest upon. In the first place, she was in the box while it was being wheeled round and round, while bringing it on. When the box had come to rest she quickly pushed the flaps out, also the sliding platform, and got on it in a kneeling position while the lid and front were opened. The moment they were replaced and the lid shut she got back into the box, letting the hin- der flap holding the glass go back into its right position.
While the lady, Beau Brocade, was being hypnotised, the lights were put out for a moment and strong lights directed upon the lady alone. This was for effect, but the audience did not
notice a couple of cords attached to the corners of a cloth underneath the cloth that had been laid down. By pulling on the cords from front to back, the two cloths were rolled up and rolled off underneath the back-cloth, leaving a replica of the original cloths laid down, so that when the lights went up, apparently nothing had been disturbed.
Lifting the lady from the floor in the cloth, the assistants took hold of the front corners first and lifted them up before the others. This gave an opportunity for two assistants under- neath to push up a trap, which was a board on centre pivots. The lady rolled off the board
into a sort of hammock beneath. At the same time the assistants took hold of the back cor- ners of the cloth which were attached to the front corners of the revolving trap. The cloth now contained a rubber figure replica of the lady, with a wax head, made in an exact coun- terpart of her own face, white wig and all complete. Beneath this figure was a ring of wood about the size of a jam jar and with a cover very similar to those used for actual jars, made
of rubber and tied on in the same way.
All this was firmly attached to the figure and was tested for any leakage of air. On my push- ing the cover in with my fingers, the whole thing became deflated and was shrivelled up be- neath the cloth, in which condition it was tossed back to the assistant, who hung it over his arms while attention was at once directed to the box.
To the layman it may seem that my assistants do more for these illusions than I do myself. He may also, I am afraid, be shocked by the simplicity of the methods employed. If so, I would ask him to remember that if the effects appear crude they are the outcome of much thought and organisation, and although they appear simple now, their evolution has been no simple task. I am merely acting the part of the magician.
I remember as a boy seeing Sir Henry Irving’s production of Faust, and being greatly im- pressed by his awesome Brocken scene and then, a few nights afterwards, being taken be- hind the scenes at the same theatre. I remember the awful shock of disillusion I got when I saw the labyrinth of canvas scenery and ropes, and the men in shirt-sleeves working lights. Still I hope that these exposures will shock the students of conjuring and goad them on to do something more wonderful themselves.
For my next problem I again used twins. In this case I saw the twins first and then thought of the most original effect that I had ever done.
I had a narrow cabinet made just big enough to hold one of the twins, who was dressed as a pageboy. He was fastened to a board by members of the audience. The board had wrought-iron shoulder-pieces and straps for his hands and feet, so that he was helpless to move. This was fixed to the back of the cabinet. Then I told a tale of a magician who made a dummy of his client’s enemy and, for a certain amount of money, so bewitched the doll that anything done to it would also happen to the enemy. Then I turned the doll upside down, and on the cabinet being opened the page was shown in a similar position. Thus gar- nished with a tale and helped by publicity gained by calling it “A Trick without a Title” and offering £50 for the best title, it was a great success. Incidentally, the £50 was won with the title of “The New Page.”
Here is more disillusionment. While the assistant was steadying the cabinet, and as soon as the door was shut in front, he pushed on one side of the panel at the back and it turned round to enable us to get the other boy inside the cabinet upside down. He was duly taken out and unstrapped by the person who had strapped him up. Of course, the back of the cabinet was first shown when wheeled in, and when it was got into position in the centre of the stage, the revolving board was quickly turned, thus bringing the page to the back. There was a second board similar to that to which he was strapped, which was examined and fastened to the other page. This was done before the cabinet was brought in, and was fixed to the back of the cabinet by four tongues of metal, which went beneath the frame of the back panel of the cabinet.
“The Magic Mirror” was the title I gave to another big illusion, featuring a large mirror in which ghostly forms appeared to materialise and then disappear.
In the first place, I will tell you what actually happened and then reveal the secret.
A large mirror was standing in the centre of the stage, an attendant beside it, with two black cloaks over his arm. I asked a gentleman from the audience to come and assist me
with this experiment. By the way, one has to be prepared to meet all sorts of gentlemen when one invites a person upon the stage. Sometimes the person will turn out to be intoxi- cated, which is very awkward for a serious performance, but the showman must put up with this. If he turned a man back he would be looked upon with suspicion.
Now having got the man up, I asked him to don one of the cloaks, explaining that the rites he was about to witness required a cloak. I myself wore the other cloak. Now I took the man round the back of the mirror, and let him examine it. He expressed himself satisfied that it was an ordinary mirror. Then the lights were lowered slightly, and I asked the man to watch the mirror intently. A small red glow appeared in it, which gradually got bigger and bigger, until the figure of Mephistopheles could be seen in all his red glory. This was a most unearthly figure because it was semi-transparent. We could actually see our faces reflected in the mirror through the figure. After solemnly beckoning the man towards him, he gradually dematerialised. Again the man was taken round the mirror and again stood in front of it.
I then said: “You have seen your awful past, now I will give you a glimpse of the future.” Then the figure of a girl in full bridal array gradually appeared. The man, prompted by my- self, stepped forward to touch the figure. “No,” I interrupted, “that is for the future,” whereupon the figure disappeared gradually.
The man was then invited to put on the hood which was attached to his cloak. I did the same. These hoods were fitted with goggle-eyes, and once more he was led round the mir- ror. Once more we stood before it. This time I myself appeared in the mirror, shouting out: “Here am I, away and apart from
what you hold.” The figure the audience thought was me threw off his cloak and was found to be Mephistopheles. The now thor- oughly bewildered man was then led off the stage and the curtain de- scended with a glare of red lights and general applause.
Now for the secret. The back of the mirror was not as innocent as it looked. It appeared to be boarded over in the usual way and sup- ported by slats. In reality, it was di- vided down the centre and opened like two doors. The centre slat of wood overlapped the edge of one of these doors, which, for easy refer- ence, we will call the outer door. They were prevented from opening too far by pieces of velvet tacked on
the top edges of the doors and the back edge of the frame, containing the glass. Both doors were lined inside with black velvet, so that the persons to be materialised could be seen easily. He, or she, took a small stool in with them also covered with black, on which they stood during the demonstration.The procedure was this:
The person to be shown as the ghost passed in from the back of the stage and pulled the outer door open (this could only be done by pulling on a certain place). They then put the stool inside and got in themselves. Afterwards they pulled the inner door open, and took their place in the centre. They were invisible through the glass until it was illuminated in- side. This was done by tubular lamps fixed inside the frame of the glass and directed on to the back by shades. These lights were attached to a resistance so that they could be very gradually brought to brightness or faded away.
The greatest secret of all was that the glass was thinly coated with silver. A glass prepared like this will last for years, providing it is not scratched. There was also a passage from the back of the stage, through a table, which was a replica of the one we had used earlier in the performance. This table had looking-glass between its legs at right angles to the back cloth, so that it formed a tunnel towards the glass. Through this tunnel came the performers. The supposed goggles in the hoods attached to the cloaks were not all alike. In the pair put on by the member of the audience, the goggles were dummies, and he could not see through them, but a whisper that it was only for a moment reassured him, and he was led round the back. When Mephisto changed places with me, it was he who led the man out into the front for the dnouement.