HOW CONJURING TRICKS LEAK OUT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 308, 24 December 1908, Page 3

HOW CONJURING TRICKS LEAK OUT

..... •'];hf."'jj( os £ - p£.,.coDJuri)ra "knows 'only"'too" weiyiint ]ie. must, not J rega('d'ri.s''jwHoramnco; of, nny..trick.as Until' ,ca,n., possibly,-go ■■wrong"w'itli' it luii?„.g9»ii. J \VTOiy. J..,Uufortunately'for "conjurers it* js seldom possible'to" discover- ;thc'"liniii ) s 'of...a ..trick's '"tiuss'cdaess"' at ''rehearsaj's, -with-the"reVult'-tHafoiie •in-'t'lm audielice'-getra- hint a's'to now .its.-dfrncame-'the secret is'out," ■• One- -would-think'that- '•every" conjurer .would, yiiard- against the "falling'o'f "a piece, of drapery behind which his t'ricjc«y was'-beiiig \vorkVd,' but "it was owiifg to..the .-deeiden'tal- fulling o'f a" small curtain during the"performa'hce of the DAveiiuoit • .Brothers- that-'- Mr -Mrtskc-b-)l!i oii.taiiied .just-the clue-he wanted to,.the, working of.tlieir seance, an'd'in'a very..short .time -the • famous -illusionist, then, quite.a y-oo.ng-man,-was'i(Ule' to' do by trickery all that the Dafmipbrt" .Brothers claimed.tp,,do by spiritualism. ." ?, n , J.l lo ..W ue .way ...one. would ..think: that a, conjurci; who„w,as using- curtainprepared pieces of..paper, on. the-stage-*9 l ' lt L*' ak ' u ciire.that those pieces ot paper, were..not.,placed, in. a- draught which might blow them off the stage. Nevertheless, it was" entirely owing to a draught on the stage that conjurers of to-day are now able "to grow those fine crops of colored paper flowers 'in empty paper cones.' ■ The trick: was inveutfid .by .a. -'famous coirjuireT, iiiofw. dead, Buatier de Kolta, and for a loiig lime conjurers -were .mystified-try"it. They.guessed, of course,-that■the'flwjrs were made to pack flat ami to gwhito - ' a.v.erjt.siuaJl. space, biit- they irid not Understand how-tho nowers-wereihade to expand....Que night,.when De'Kolta was..performing the trick, a-draught'on the. .stage tilted one- of- the flowers : into : the..orchestra, and very soon-afterwards this, pretty trick was known to-every-one in the conjuring The trick is. now to be bought in any conjuring shop, and it is usually one of the favoritc,,,itv.ma,..i!i, the. programme of the -amateur, conjurer.- -■••

Another. famous trick invented/"by De Kolta and .given, away by other conjurers was that, of .."The -Vanishing Lady." If, the inventor could have presented other conjurers from-jperforming the, trick.the.secret.would prouably still be unknown to the" general public*, but,' unfortunately, clumsy conjurors obtained* an inkling as to how it was done, and in a very short time after it-was first performed in England, ladies were' vanishing, with more It less success, all over the country. At £ffnes the. ■trick' was pcnioi'mefl so badly that the lady refused to vanish according to contrast, and so "gSve the "show away.", De Kolta, the inventor of the trick, was so', annoyed by llie way in which other conjurers copied his 'idea thatJjefore he died he left directions that ]§s apparatus was to be destroyed. His. wish was obeyed, with the result that the actual secret of the best tricky, " : The Expanding Die," remains unknown to, this day. In this trick De Kolta brought forward a small "hand bag and took from it a die about Oin. square. He placed this.on a table, with a very thin top. The die slowly grew larger and larger, and the. climax was reached when a lady stepped out of it. , ,

Conjurers' worst enemies, in,-.the matter of the keeping of secrets, are. their rival conjurers. . The average conjurer is well aware that he cannot prevent a rival from guessing pretty correctly as to how any one. ofiliis tricks is performed, and a conjurer who has found out half a secret has no scruples 'in completing it to the beat of his ability and so making use of it. The conjurqr who does not know the whole of the; business. probably lets the public into the important part of the secret sooner or later, and so spoils the trick. Wpien a conjurer wants to find out a secret he goes to the performance over and-oyer again, and very few tricks ai"> proof against such inspection. Even a beginner can soon'lbid out a secret if he sees a trick performed several times, especially if lje is at liberty to occupy' the exact position in the hall or room from which, ho knows the view he wants is to be obtained. There are certain places, in every, hall or room which a conjurer mentally labels "dangerous'; lm knows that if anything sbould go wrong with a trick the fault will I>j plain to people occupying those placs. Many instances have occurred of conjurers attempting to bribe stage hands and the assistants of their rivals to disclose conjuring secrets. Conjurers ba.o nlso sull'eved from the performances of certain artistes who amuse their audi dice by deliberately 'showing hpw.tricks, are performed... The tricks' may |ie quite unimportant trifles, 4 but the know ledge, of oae, secret may' lead an Inquiring young amateur to discover a more important trick which lias cost its inventor much Minn, work, and money.