Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
750
Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
593
CHAPTER
XVII.
STAGE
TRICKS.
The
present
Chapter
will
be
devoted
to
such
tricks
as
by
reason
of
the
cumbrousness
or
costliness
of
the
apparatus
required
for
them,
are,
as
a
rule,
exhibited
only
upon
the
public
stage.
The
stage
performer
may,
if
he
pleases,
avail
himself
of
the
aid
of
mechanical
tables,
electrical
appliances,
etc.,
which
enable
him
to
execute
a
class
of
tricks
which
are
beyond
the
scope
of
an
ordinary
drawing-room
performance,
though
the
wealthy
amateur
will
find
no
difficulty
in
converting
his
own
drawing-room
into
a
quasi-stage,
and
qualifying
it
for
the
presentation
of
the
most
elaborate
illusions.
The
leading
items
of
apparatus
in
stage
magic
are
mechanical
tables.
These
are
of
various
kinds,
many
being
specially
designed
to
assist
in
the
performance
of
some
one
particular
trick.
Putting
aside
these,
which
will
be
separately
noticed,
stage
tables
may
be
broadly
divided
into
three
classes--trap
tables,
piston
tables,
and
electrical
tables.
In
practice,
these
classes
are
somewhat
intermingled,
for
it
is
rather
the
rule
than
the
exception
for
a
stage
table
to
be
fitted
with
both
traps
and
pistons,
while
either
or
both
of
these
may
be
found
in
conjunction
with
electrical
appliances.
Trap
tables
are
such
as
are
provided
with
one
or
more
“traps,”
their
object
being,
at
the
will
of
the
operator,
to
cause
the
disappearance
of
a
given
article
into
the
interior
of
the
table,
or
sometimes
to
produce
or
apparently
change
an
article.
The
traps
most
generally
used
may
be
described
as
follows:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
