JANSEN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1400, 28 March 1912, Page 6

JANSEN.

A REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE,

Janseu, tho talented young American magician, was greeted with a eiov/dod liouso when lie made his bow for tho first time at the Opera House last night. The poncrmaneo throughout was a complete success, and gathered additional merit from tho expedition with which tho nn:norou.s items follow on. .lansen'* at!endants are neatly attired and alert, while ho himself appears in a bewildering serie.s of artistic costumes, which add (o the general impression of freshness given by the i'rofinent change of ecencry. }h.'-ides his more celebrated feats, Jans?n's nii:;er-play in front of a of while paper is very clever, ju his sleight-of-hand triek- he is e.xlrriuoly hard to follow with tne eye, much le>s with the brain, for ii cue begins to think of the last trick the next one is missed. The- fir«t part ends with nit illusive drama entitkd "Tho iJeath Chamber." A young girl, Helen George, is uudor sentence to bo electrocuted for the reieaso of her lover, who, hearing this, returns and forces tho gaoler into the chair, pulls tho curtains, and pushes forward the switch, lint when the curtains are pallid aside not the gaoler, but the girl, steps forth. Tho "JJcvil's Own Trick'' is so quickly executed that it takes some time to realise juf>t w'.iat; has happened. Jansen. in Mephistopheliau guise, outers an empty cabinet ior a moment, stretches a -lijet in front, and then pushes furth a living object covered with the *heet. tie reenters aud repeats the above three riims. Then the three objects throw aside the covering and disclose tho two assistants and—Jan.-en! But it is in the third part thot wo have Janseii in cxrelsis. One of his assistatiis is covered from head to foot with a sheet, and stood upon a platform, whi;:Ji is hoisted some live feet above the stage, in full view of tho audience. Suspended by another wire is a solid-looking box, which is swung opposite the draped fig- , ure. .Injispn then fires the magic pistol. The draped figure collapses, disclosing nought but air. The box is then lowered, and when opened discloses the assistant. Considering the circumstances that both the box and the platform on which tlio assistant first stood arc in full view of the audience all the time, this transposition seems rather occult and uncurthly, to say the lea^t. Wellington theatregoers have several times the closed-box trick, but never handled in such a mystifying way as by Jansen. He used a solid" mahogany box with double padlock and canvas covering. Into this he puts his assistant, who is first encumbered in a straight-jacket of the severest and most uncompromising kind. All those preparations are carried out under the supervision of a committoo of four volunteer scrutineers from the audience. The box for tho space of one minute is placed in a screen. Then the screen is removed—the assistant is out of tho box, and out of the straight-jacket too, the latter being found inside the otherwise empty box. Tho performance is concluded with Janscn's masterpiece, which he calls "Tlio Phantom Princess." The "Princess" is first hypnotised, and then laid, covered with a sheet, upon a high-standing table. A few passes in the air from Jansen, and, still in the same stretched posture, the princess rises slowly above the table, which is removed from under the body, which remains suspended in mid-air. A loop is then passed round tho Ixidy, and make.* a few 7noro pns.-e.>, as if willing (he lx'dy to descend—in fact, it would not be nmiss to sny that, most of the audience expected to see the body descend to the stage again. Imagine their surprise when, with a deft turn of the wrist, Jansen whisks away the sheet, which he throws into the almost before the audience have realised that the body has vanished—melted away. In this dramatic, and my>terious way the programme Altogether it is certainly one of the b?>t entertainment:* of its kind that has been staged here. Thero is no getting away from the fact that: Jansen is a master of his craft. The American vaudeville turns provide matter for genuine laughter between tho leading it?ms. Besides Jansen's mysterious illusions tho comic part of the programme was most refreshing. Mr. Nelson was vigorously, applauded at the couclusicn of his musical performance, and the eccentric juggler?, De Hollis and Volor-i, introduced some of the most laughable tricks, such as a Wellington audience does not: frequently have the opportunity of seeing. J onsen and his company will appear again to-iiiijlit.