Magic: February 2008 Archives
I only leaned in the window of the charity shop on the high street this afternoon to get a better look at the hardback copy of "Houdini on Magic". When I went in to enquire about the magic book in the window, the lady behind the counter asked "Which one? I'd like to sell them all as a set. They're somebody's life's work."
I had no idea what she was talking about, so I asked how many she had, and then she showed me. My eyes were suddenly too big for their sockets. She sold the lot to me for £20. A lot of the books are stand-alone magic tricks, published by the performing artists themselves, but there are a couple of proper books in there too. Here's what I hauled home this afternoon in a spare duty free bag:
- The Big Book of Magic by Patrick Page
- On Magic by Harry Houdini
- Open Sesame by Lewis and Tyler
- 150 Comedy Props by Patrick Page
- 100 Classic Houdini Tricks You Can Do by Dunniger
- Oriental Conjuring and Magic by Will Ayling
- Another Book by Karrell Fox
- The Great Illusionists by Edwin A Dawes
- Magic Around the Wizard's Table by Jan Torell
- The Art of Ventriloquism by George Tollerton
- Hot Heat "Fascination" by Eddie Joseph
- Handbook of Horror by Charles W. Cameron
- Vis-Ability by Val Andrews
- How To Pick Pockets by Eddie Joseph
- Flash Paper Tips by Stuart Robson and Ralph W Read
- The Professor's Nightmare by Patrick Page
- Hypnotism by Hugh Miller
- Annemann's Club Act of Magic Jinx Programme No 1
- Club 71 - Spring 1990
- Club 71 - Christmas 1990
- Club 71 - Mayday 1991
- The Theory and Practice of Hypnotism by William J Ousby
- Fire Magic by Clettis V Musson
- Card Magic by Manipulation by Lewis Ganson
- Tricks and Stunts with a Rubber Dove by Ian Adair
- The Osman Thumb Tie by Cliff Osman
- The Hindu Thread Trick by Lewis Ganson
- The Floating Bill by Michael Ammar
- Spooky Stunts with Luminous Paint
- Spook-Show-Stoppers by Val Andrews
- How To Get More Applause by Ken de Courcy
- The Bu$ine$$ of Restuarant Magic by 'Amusionist' Al The Only
- Club Gags by David Charles
- How To Make Flashes, Bangs and Puffs of Smoke by Micky Hades
- The Sorcar Collection: Nine Effects by the Great Socar of India
- Hat Loading Methods - A "Supreme Magic" Publication
- The Great Masoni Presents Showmanship Out Of the Hat
- Zombie: The Floating Ball by Lewis Ganson
- Zombie Fire Climax by Dicky Dean
- Phoa Yan Tiong's Cut & Restored Silk
- Miracle Shell-Coin Routines by Roy Baker
- Close-Up Comedy by Val Andrews
- Indian Cups and Balls by PK Ilango
- Close-Up Floating Bulb - A "Supreme Magic" Publication
- The Real Secret of the Electric Chairs - A "Supreme Magic" Publication
- Comedy 'Pro-File'! by David Hemingway
- Mere Dee-Tales by Leslie Dee
Although it might seem gimmicky at the outset, virtually delivering his speech saved about 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide - what it would have taken had Prince Charles and his staff actually flown to the summit.
What's deliciously interesting (to me, anyway) about this is the method they used to deliver the speech: using a stage-magic method from the 19th century known as the Pepper's Ghost Illusion. Below is a modern-day example:
Credit for the illusion was popularly given to Professor John Henry Pepper, a 'performing' chemist at the Royal Polytechnic on Regent Street. However, it was purchased for some £500 from Henry Dircks, who had originally named the illusion as the "Dircksian Phantasmagoria". Dircks had no small amount of trouble selling his idea to theatres, as adopting his method of bringing ghosts to the stage involved the laborious reconstruction of the theatre around the illusion mechanisms. Projected images of the ghostly actors would need to be produced from below the stage:
The effect his illusion would produce was astounding, and bringing ghosts to the stage in manners more supernatural would be highly sought after. Alas, as summarised by Jim Steinmeyer in "Hiding the Elephant":
"Dircks was surprised to see producers assigning little value to his astonishing spectral wonders, calculating them on a balance sheet as calmly as one would account for a new set of costumes. After all, the producers reasoned, Shakespeare had done pretty well without the Dircksian Phantasmagoria. Did Banquo's ghost really necessitate rebuilding their theatres? Dircks's invention was greeted with cursory interest and quickly ignored."
Not having any success selling his invention, in 1862 Dircks took it to the Royal Polytechnic, where it was purchased by Professor Pepper. Pepper originally utilised the illusion on Christmas Eve in a performance of Charles Dickens' "The Haunted Man". And although Pepper had intended to use the play as a technical demonstration and a lead-in to a subsequent explanation of the ghostly illusion, it turned out he had a hit on his hands. Later, he would license it out to other theatres and music halls and the name of the illusion would be mis-credited by the press, despite Pepper's efforts to have Dircks's name included.
It also turns out that the Prince of Wales of that era, Prince Albert, was introduced to the illusion first-hand by being invited into the contraption that would make him appear as a ghost to others.
These days, the most famous place you can witness the Pepper's Ghost illusion is in the Haunted Mansion ride at the Disney theme parks - just look for the ghostly ballroom. Professor John Henry Pepper also authored "The Boy's Playbook of Science", available freely from The Internet Archive, which details more optical illusions that Professor Pepper pleasurably performed at the Polytechnic.
