CARTER THE GREAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 131, 24 August 1927, Page 15

CARTER THE GREAT

HIS MAJESTY’S TO-NIGHT “The art of the magician is an ageold one,” says “Carter the Great,” who will appear at His Majesty’s Theatre

for 10 days commencing this evening at 8 o’clock. “It was practised before the Pharaohs and there is every reason to believe that it had attained considerable vogue in the civilisation of the East long before Western man had emerged from his elementary barbarism.” “In one respect do ancient and modern magici

differ; it was the custom in the past to attempt to infuse into the minds of the audience the belief that supernatural agencies were at the root of the most puzzling manifestations; today, while the tricks and illusions are just as confusing and clever, no attempt is made to claim superhuman powers and the illusionist admits that deception is accountable for all the inexplicable things which are made to occur.” This is what Carter does! “Believe what you like,” he says, “but we possess no supernatural or preternatural powers.” In a sense he challenges the audience to solve the mysteries and apparent miracles which are enacted before their amazed eyes. Continuing on India Carter says: “Against all advice I played during my visit to Calcutta for six weeks in the native theatre called the ‘Kohinoor’ and in order that the Indian women should see my show and not be seen, built a ‘purdah’ by screening off a gallery for their exclusive use. “Purdah women are Hindus and are members of a seraglio, the master of which believes that if the faces of the members of his harem are looked upon by another man they are polluted; when walking out they are heavily veiled, so in order to make it possible for them to view my poor wonders, we built the above-mentioned ‘purdah' behind which they sat and could witness the show without my looking upon their faces.” Carter further added that after exhaustive inquiries into the methods of Indian jugglers, he had not found that he could learn anything new from them; in fact, one old East Indian mahatma informed him that at one time the East was the cradle iof knowledge, but now after witnessing Carter’s latter-day miracles declared that the West was teaching the East, which Carter considered a subtle compliment.”