Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography

The “kinetograph,” which is the precursor of the apparatus for showing moving photographs, is of great interest. The kinetograph as first proposed consisted of a clever combinat...

Having described some of the illusions which are produced with the aid of elaborate outfits, we now come to the more simple tricks which are produced with smaller and less expen...

The Edison Kinetograph--Reynaud’s Optical Theater--Electric Tachyscope--Apparatus for Projecting Moving Pictures by the Demeny, Jenkins, Lumière, and Other Forms of Apparatus--T...

In the present chapter the subject of theater secrets will be taken up, and it will treat of traps, complicated stage settings, properties, and the means of obtaining elaborate...

The prestidigitateur has always been indebted more or less to the use of reflection from mirrors and plate glass as an important adjunct in conjuring. Many of the illusions in t...

We present an engraving of the electric drop scene of the Comédie Française, at Paris. The curtain is held by five ropes, _a_, which pass over pulleys, _o_, at the upper part, a...

The fascination which the general public finds in clever tricks and illusions is little to be wondered at, but it is a mistake to suppose that all the outfit which the modern ma...

The most sphinx-like problem ever presented to the public for solution was the “second-sight” mystery. As has been stated in the Introduction, the idea was an old one, having or...

It would be difficult to find anyone who would not like to go behind the curtain of a great opera house to see how realism is given to the performance, and, incidentally, to gai...

This is not a photographic diversion, but it is so interesting and so much of a historical curiosity that we reproduce it here. When first introduced, the silhouette attracted t...

The simple toy illustrated in the engraving has printed on the underside the rather high-sounding title, “X-Ray Machine. Wonder of the age!” But it is neither an X-ray machine n...

The present chapter deals with the various effects which are liable to be called for in almost any opera or other dramatic production. It should be remembered that the effects o...

Instantaneous photography has been of the greatest possible use to science, especially that branch of it which has been termed “chronophotography.” It is to the investigations o...

The ancients, especially the Greeks, were very fond of theatrical representations; but, as M. Magnin has remarked in his “_Origines du Théâtre Moderne_,” public representations...

The clever trick with billiard balls shown in Figs. 1 and 2 depends for its success on a truly scientific principle. A number of billiard balls are placed in a row against the c...

Burning is undoubtedly that kind of pain against which the human being most strongly revolts, and the fear of being burned is not confined to man alone, but exists also as an in...

Heron, in his “Pneumatics,” describes a large number of wonderful vessels that were used by the ancients, and, among them, one called the “dicaiometer” (a correct measure), whic...

“In Egypt there was a field whose ditches were full of pitch and liquid bitumen. Philosophers, who understood the forces of nature, constructed canals which connected places lik...

The present division of the work deals with interesting automata, curious toys, and miscellaneous tricks of an amusing nature. A very large number of devices and tricks of this...

The tricks in this chapter are no less interesting than those which have gone before, but are rather of a more miscellaneous nature. The first trick which we shall describe, is...

Paris is the home of the fantaisiste. These rare exotics flourish in the genial atmosphere of the great French capital, and cater to the most critical, as well as the most appre...

Ventriloquists may, according to their specialties, be divided into various categories. Some devote their talent to the imitation of the cries of animals, the songs of birds, th...

The juggler is obliged to give impetuses that vary infinitesimally. He must know the exact spot whither his ball will go, calculate the parabola that it will describe, and know...

The origin of the cyclorama is traced to the use of scenery by the Italians two or three hundred years ago. They arranged outside of their windows scenes painted on canvas that...

All works that treat of the history of the steam engine speak of the eolipile of Heron as the most ancient manifestation known of that power which to-day fills the world. But ve...

This is the title of an illustrated lecture which has been very popular in Berlin, and which was also produced in New York a few years ago. The lecture as used in the United Sta...

The love of show and the spectacular is inherent in human nature. Games and entertainments on a colossal scale have always appealed to the popular taste. An important factor in...

The nautical arena, or aquatic theater, was a few years ago one of the sensations of London and Paris. Spectacular entertainments in which water played a prominent part go back...

Trick with an Egg and a Handkerchief--The Cone of Flowers--The Magic Rosebush--“Magic Flowers”--The “Birth of Flowers”--Tricks with a Hat--A Cake Baked in a Hat--The Egg and Hat...

Traps--The Swan in “Lohengrin”--The Floating Rhine Daughters in “Rheingold”--The “Sun Robe”--The Ship on the Stage--Miscellaneous Stage Effects--The Destruction of the Temple of...

Puppet Shows among the Greeks--The Shrine of Bacchus--The First Automobile Vehicle--The Statue of Cybele--Marvelous Altars--The Machinery of the Temples--Sounding of Trumpets wh...

Lavater’s Apparatus for Taking Silhouettes--Photography upon a Black Ground--Spirit Photography--Artificial Mirage--Duplex Photography--Illusive Photography--Photographing a Cat...

The “Cabaret du Neant”--The Three-Headed Woman--“Amphitrite”-- “The Mystery of Dr. Lynn”--“Black Art”--The Talking Head--The Living Half-Woman--“She”--“The Queen of Flowers”--Th...

Behind the Scenes of an Opera House--The Ordinary Stage--The English Stage--The Stage Floor--The Cellars--The Flies--The Gridiron--Traps-Sliders--Bridges--The Metropolitan Opera...

An Electric Curtain--The Fan-Drop Curtain--An Elevator Theater Stage--Some Remarkable American Stage Inventions--A Revolving Stage--The “Asphaleia” Stage--A Theater with Two Aud...

An Optical Illusion--The Money Maker--Experiments in Centrifugal Force and Gravity--The Magic Rose--Electrical Toys--The Electric Race Course--Magnetic Oracle--The Dancers--An A...