Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The figure of the harlequin, as the reader will perceive by the annexed illustration, was attached by means of two rods to a revolving bar fixed from side to side of the box, and so near the front that it was concealed from the eyes of the audience. When the harlequin was out of the box, the rods connecting it with the bar were hidden by the drapery of the figure. The first string worked the opening and shutting of the lid of the box. The second string, passing under a pulley immediately beneath the bar, passed over the shoulders of the figure, and by a sharp movement turned the bar and jerked the figure--which was reversed when in the box--out on to the table, the figure, of course, maintaining a standing posture, and being held up by means of the rods attached to the revolving bar. The shoulders were made to revolve on the two rods, so that the jerking motion would be easily produced. The third string passed through the body, and was attached to the legs, and produced a motion to imitate the stretching of the legs, known as the “splits.” Another string closed the legs and simultaneously turned the head right and left. Another string lifted the legs and imitated the movements of a dance. Another string turned the figure back again into the box. In the corner of the box was a bellows, through the medium of which, and by means of a tube passing through the arm, and ending in the mouth, the concealed person, by manipulating the nine pistons which worked the bellows, was enabled to produce the effects of smoking and whistling.