Chapter M: E. James: ‘How to Decorate our Ceilings, Walls, and Floors.’ (48)

One of the most beautiful effects produced upon the stage is the change from day to night or from night to day. Of these the former is the more striking, and a description of it will serve to explain the principle of both. In order to produce the proper effect the back drop is made nearly double the height of the usual scenes. The upper half of it is painted to represent a sunset sky, and the lower half to represent moonlight. It is hung so that the upper half alone is visible. The scenery of the distance is then painted upon a separate piece, which is “profiled”; that is, the irregular line of the horizon made by trees, mountains, or houses, is sharply cut out with a circular saw. This piece is placed immediately in front of the sky drop. A few feet further in front is hung what is known as a cut gauze drop. This has sides and top of canvas painted as the case requires; while the centre is filled with fine gauze, which lends an aerial effect to the distance. Red “mediums” are employed to give a soft, sunset glow to the scene. At the proper moment, the back drop is very slowly and steadily hauled up, while the red “mediums” are slowly turned off and green ones turned on. The moon is made in the night half of the sky drop, and rises with it. When it rises above the distant horizon the green “mediums” are turned on to their full power and the green calcium light is brought into play. The effect of this change, when carefully managed, is always very beautiful, and is sure to draw forth applause from the audience.

Moonrise, in a scene where there is no change from daylight to darkness, is often produced with a muslin drop and a “moon box.” The muslin drop is painted to represent the sky, the clouds being painted on strips of canvas cut in the required shape and sewn on. The moon is made with a box on one side of which a circular hole is cut. Over this hole is pasted a piece of white muslin. A couple of wires serve to draw the moon upward. Of course the white illuminated circle shows plainly through the muslin sky, but disappears when passing behind the canvas clouds. By having another piece of muslin painted red and imperceptibly fading to white, placed at the back of the drop in the moon’s path, the orb of night can be made to appear red at the horizon and gradually change to pale yellow as it sails slowly upward. Floating clouds are easily imitated by hanging in front of the sky drop a gauze drop upon which are sewn muslin or canvas clouds, and moving the whole slowly.

An ocean of heaving waters is made in this way: Each bounding wave is cut out separately. The first row is set up with a distance of three or four feet between each billow; and the second row is set so as to show in the openings left by the first. Small boys furnish the motive power. The waves are rocked back and forth, not from side to side; and the effect is very good. The noise of water rolling upon a beach is well imitated in a simple manner. A box of light wood is lined with tin. By putting two or three ounces of bird-shot into this and causing it to roll around, the desired sound is produced.

Fire scenes are sometimes dangerous; but with proper care they may be rendered comparatively safe. That they are not so hazardous as is generally supposed by the uninitiated beholder may be learned from the following description:--One of the most familiar fire scenes is that which occurs in the “Streets of New York,” in which a three-story house burns down, the roof caving in, the shutters falling, and the walls breaking with a wonderful appearance of realism. The house is painted on three separate pieces, the top one of which is swung from the flies; this constitutes the roof. Upon the second is painted half the wall, and it is joined to the bottom piece in an irregular zigzag line. The simple dropping in succession of these pieces to the stage produces the falling of roof and wall. The fire itself is represented by chemical red fire and powdered lycopodium used separately, the former to give a red glow and the latter to represent flames. The shutters, which are to fall, are fastened to the scene with a preparation called “quick watch.” This is made of powder, alcohol, and a lamp wick. The window frames and sashes are made of sheet iron, covered with oakum soaked in alcohol or naphtha. These sashes and frames are not fastened to the canvas scene at all, but are placed a short distance behind it on platforms. The quickest possible touch of flame ignites the oakum, and, in a moment, the fire runs round the sash, and nothing apparently is left but the blackened and charred wood. Steam is used to represent the smoke that issues from the crannies in the walls of the burning building; and an occasional crash, followed by the ignition of a little powder to produce a sudden puff of smoke, gives the spectator the idea of a falling rafter. Behind the entire scene is placed a very large endless towel, upon which is painted a mass of flames. This is kept in constant upward motion, and, when viewed through an open window in the house, gives a good idea of the supposed furnace raging within.

_Selecting a Play._--The following excellent list of plays adapted for amateurs was published in the _Queen_ some years since.

IN 3 OR MORE ACTS. M. F. REMARKS.

Babes in the Wood 7 4
Don Cæsar de Bazan 9 2 Drama.
Game of Speculation 9 4
Heir at Law 10 3
Jealous Wife 12 5
John Bull 14 3
Ladies’ Battle 5 2 Robertson’s translation.
Love Chase 10 7
New Men and Old Acres 11 5
Palace of Truth 6 5
Plot and Passion 7 2 Drama.
Pygmalion and Galatea 5 4
Rivals 8 4 Five acts.
Society 11 5
Still Waters Run Deep 9 3 Can be acted in a drawing-room.

Most of the above are beyond the talent and stage resources of any but the strongest amateur companies.

IN 2 ACTS. M. F. REMARKS.

Bachelor of Arts 8 2 Good comedy.
Charles XII. 7 2 Very good dress piece.
Charles II. 4 2 Popular comedy and dress piece.
Court Cards 5 4
Follies of a Night 6 2
House and the Home 3 3
Jacobite 3 3
Liar 4 3
Little Treasure 5 3 Very pathetic.
My Heart’s Idol 7 3
Not a Bad Judge 9 2 Capital for amateurs.
Our Wife 7 2 Good dress piece.
Paul Pry 7 2
Secret Agent 8 3 The best dress piece for
amateurs.
Sweet Hearts 2 2
Time Tries All 6 2
Who Killed Cock Robin? 2 2
Wonderful Woman 6 3 Very popular.
Woodcock’s Little Game 4 3 Capital light comedy.

IN 1 ACT.

Area Belle 3 2
As Like as Two Peas 3 2 A little vulgar.
A.S.S. 3 2
B.B. 4 2
Bamboozling 6 3
Betsy Baker 2 2
Birthplace of Podgers 7 3
Boots at the Swan 4 4 Very sparkling.
Book the Third 2 1 French _Proverbe._
Box and Cox 2 1
Box and Cox Married 3 3
Brown and the Brahmins 4 7 Burlesque.
Comical Countess 3 1
Conjugal Lesson 1 1 A little vulgar.
Cool as a Cucumber 3 2
Cozy Couple 2 2
Creatures of Impulse 4 3 Burlesque.
Cup of Tea 4 1 French _Proverbe._
Cut off with a Shilling 2 1
Day After the Wedding 3 2
Dead Shot 5 2
Deaf as a Post 4 4
Dearest Mama 4 3
Delicate Ground 2 1 Light comedy.
Diamond Cut Diamond 7 1
Done on Both Sides 3 2 Acts well in a drawing-room.
Double Bedded Room 3 3
Doubtful Victory 3 2
Dumb Belle 3 2
Eclipsing the Sun 3 2
Eton Boy 3 2
Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady 6 2 Pretty dress piece.
Fitz Smyth 6 2 Funny.
Give a Dog a Bad Name 2 2
Grimshaw Bradshaw Bagshawe 4 2 Funny.
Happy Pair 1 1 Sparkling _Proverbe_.
He Lies Like Truth 5 2 Very funny.
He’s a Lunatic 3 2 Very amusing.
His Excellency 4 2
Household Fairy 1 1 _Proverbe._
Ici on Parle Français 3 4 Popular, but difficult.
Irish Tutor 4 2
John Dobbs 5 2 Capital for amateurs.
Lend me Five Shillings 5 2 Funny.
Little Toddlekins 3 8 Almost the best farce for
amateurs.
Loan of a Lover 4 2
Love and Rain 1 1 Pretty _Proverbe_.
Love Laughs at Locksmiths 6 6
Mad as a Hatter 5 2
Morning Call 1 1 _Proverbe._
Mummy 6 2
My Heart’s Idol 7 3
My Preserver 5 5
Nice Firm 8 2
Nice Quiet Day 5 3
Night at Notting Hill 3 2 Funny.
Nine Points of the Law 4 3
No. 1 round the Corner 2 0 Good two-character piece.
Only a Halfpenny 2 2 Funny.
Our Clerks 8 4
Pacha of Pimlico 6 2 Funny extravaganza.
Perfection 3 2 Easy and pretty little piece.
Phenomenon in a Smock Frock 4 2 Mathews’ piece.
Pipkin’s Rustic Retreat 5 3
Poor Pillicoddy 2 3 Very funny.
Pork Chops 3 1 Extravaganza.
Quiet Family 4 4
Raising the Wind 6 3 Capital old farce.
Regular Fix 6 4 Very good light comedy.
Retained for the Defence 5 1 Difficult.
Rifle, and How to Use it 4 3
Rough Diamond 4 2 Popular farce.
School for Coquettes 3 3
Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing 7 4 Pretty drama.
Slasher and Crasher 5 2
Slowtop’s Engagements 2 2 Light comedy.
Spectre Bridegroom 7 2 One of the most telling of
farces.
Spitalfields Weaver 4 1 Telling.
Taming a Tiger 3 0
Thumping Legacy 7 1 Very funny.
To Oblige Benson 3 2
To Parents and Guardians 17 3
To Paris and Back for £5 9 7 Funny, but a little vulgar.
Too Much for Good Nature 4 7
Trying it On 3 3 Very good indeed for a
drawing-room.
Turkish Bath 5 2
Turn Him Out 3 2
Tweedleton’s Tail Coat 4 2
Twice Killed 6 3
Two Bonnycastles 3 3
Two Flats and a Sharp 1 2 Pretty comedy.
Two in the Morning 2 0 Best farce for two males.
Uncle’s Will 2 1 Very sparkling.
Unwarrantable Intrusion 2 0
Under the Rose 2 2 Good.
Vandyke Brown 3 3 Good farce.
Whitebait at Greenwich 3 2 Popular, but difficult.
Who Speaks First? 3 2
Your Life’s in Danger 3 3

First catch your actors, then choose your play. In other words, fit your available square men into a square piece, and do not try and pare them down to the exigencies of a round one. As a rule dramatic talent and ambition is more common among the emotional than among the sterner sex. Women, too, adapt themselves more easily to any part. Also, their range of parts is narrower. It is easier to make people laugh than to cry, and they also prefer being amused to being harrowed. Of course low comedy is just as difficult as a higher line, but a feeble imitation passes muster better than in the serious parts. Englishmen are less averse to playing the fool in a fool’s part than risking an exhibition of deeper feeling. It is easy, therefore, to group your lesser lights round the central low comedy man, reflecting his genial glow, more or less, according to their several abilities, and to graft upon the whole a farce. A farce need not be vulgar. A farce, too, like charity, covers a multitude of sins in the way of dress, properties, or scenery. Almost any incongruity of the former is allowable, and any makeshift or hitch in the latter can be carried off by a ready wit. But supposing comic talent to be altogether absent in your company, you will probably find the “old man” element predominating. The younger, better looking, and more stalwart the individual the more convinced he will be that his strong point is the impersonation of old men. Yet old men’s parts are difficult. The very make up in anything but the broadest farce is a work of art in itself, and the gait, the tone of voice, the laugh, the down sitting, and the up-rising must never be lost sight of for a moment. Usually, too, the old man character is an adjunct rather than the central figure in a piece, and does not bear upon his shoulders the burden and heat of the day. Yet in skilful hands it is capable of unlimited expansion, and with weaker vessels can, at worst, but sink to the level of low comedy.

Of all the parts most difficult to fill that of the lover is the worst. Like good tenors, there are not enough stage lovers brought into the world. Englishmen are so shy, so afraid of making themselves ridiculous by exhibiting sentiment and emotion. They are not given to making love particularly prettily in real life, much less upon the boards. The result in amateur circles is generally a stick. All the same, the lover is an absolute necessity in most plays, and must be procured somehow or other.

A judicious weighing of the strong points of each member of your company, and a nice balancing of their weak ones, must decide you finally in the choice of the piece to be acted. Take into consideration which characters have much to do together, and whether the weaker one can be pulled through by the stronger. The performance is sure to hang fire if a pair of feeble knees have the stage all to themselves for long, making each other and the audience nervous. On the other hand, if your company is much of a muchness, choose a “level” piece in which the parts are fairly equally divided. If the opposite is the case, give your best actors the strong parts, and subordinate the others to them.

Make up your mind from the beginning that some one is sure to consider him or herself ill-suited and ill-used. Women are greater sinners in this respect than men--more vain, more jealous. But if a piece, however small, is to “go,” each one must subordinate his own importance and his own part to the general effect. The cleverer the actor the more he will make of the smallest part. Nevertheless, the fact remains that private theatricals are productive of more quarrelling and bad blood than any other known form of social amusement. For this reason a stage manager, pure and simple, is absolutely essential. His word must be law and his rule of iron. He must give an eye to the general effect; he must order the sitting down and the getting up, and the crossing, and especially see that there is plenty of the former. He must see that when several characters are on the stage together they group well, do not get behind each other, and balance on the stage. At full rehearsals he should see that, if it is not practicable to rehearse on the stage itself, they take place on a square as large as the stage, and with each piece of furniture and property in its right place; also that the correct exits and entries are adhered to. This prevents amateurs feeling strange when they come to a final dress rehearsal on the stage itself. Any special little scenes between two characters can be gone over and over again privately.

Finally, having got your ingredients together, do not aim too high. The more plot, the more action in a piece, the easier it is to act. Beware of plays which read well, are full of smart dialogue--they require very finished acting.

A “dressed” or costume piece, though more trouble to get up, is more attractive than one of modern time. But when feasible, evening dress refines a modern play very much. Powder must be carefully put on, or after much heat and action, the performer assumes merely a grizzled aspect. In a dressed piece do not neglect the smallest details, and take care the female and male characters are dressed in the same period. In an outdoor scene, avoid an open parasol or umbrella as you would poison. It shades the face unless very dexterously manipulated. Let ladies look well to their “chaussure,” and the length, and especially the hang of the short skirts. These ought to be round, nothing looks so bad as a dab behind, showing the lining from the front.

“Making up” is a very delicate matter in a room where the audience is so near. It is generally overdone. Rouge is usually put on too low, it ought never to come below the cheek bone. Many people do not need to pencil their eyebrows at all, and a mere dab of black on the lower lid is better than a continuous line. When this latter is used, however, it is becoming to continue it a very little beyond the junction of the two lids towards the temples. For a bucolic part of either sex, a nice fat rosy cheek can be made by adding a little cotton wool judiciously rouged. Remember an “old man” does not want his eyes blacked at all.

Now, to touch on a few faults of amateurs.

Firstly, there is a tendency to play too much to the front of the stage. Do not be afraid of the stage; use it all. Do not come on and stand front face to the audience, addressing your remarks to them instead of to the character with whom you are conversing. Turn well away for your asides, or they sound ridiculous, and give the other a similar chance of making his. Remember, it is no crime to take a turn up the stage, with your back to the audience, and say a sentence, with your head well thrown back over your shoulder.

A second most important point is not to run your sentences together. Divide them well, giving each its particular character and its full value. Pause between them. Each word tells, and is put there for a purpose. And here let me beseech the amateur prompter to have some mercy on his victims, and not to hound them on, if they stop a moment, as if their lives depended on their getting the words out.

This brings me to a vital point, that of playing slowly enough. Amateurs can hardly do “business” of any kind--such, for instance, as writing a letter--too slowly.

Do not be ashamed of over-acting; it is better than under-acting a part. Learn your cues with your part, and insist on getting them correctly. Amateurs cannot take too much trouble.

One word as to elocution. Find out the pitch of your voice which carries best, and which is at the same time the most natural and the least exertion to you. You cannot fail then to be heard, always providing you remember not to drop your voice at the end of a sentence, and not to clip the final consonants of words.

A few practical hints, to close, as to stage and scenery. Do not attempt to put a piece with much action and several characters on to a small stage. The result is simply ridiculous. The stage _must_ be raised, but a foot or so is enough in any ordinary-sized drawing-room. If it is too high, the players’ heads appear too near the ceiling. If possible, keep the front row of audience at least five feet from the footlights. Take care these latter are not too strong, but have plenty of lamps fixed on the back of the front wings and over the curtain inside. For this reason wings, though more trouble to set up, are preferable to a box scene. They also obviate the necessity of practicable doors, which do not shut or open properly, and never look real. It looks better to cut off the corners of the stage at the back, or, at any rate, to make the side narrow towards the back. Any trouble devoted to details of furnishing and setting the stage is well repaid by the effect; but of course the size and quantity of furniture must be ruled by the size of the stage. In an evening room scene, take care the lamps or candles are in the centre of the stage. Outdoor scenes are very difficult to manage on a temporary stage. A back painted scene is necessary, and in a room painted scenes look so coarse.

Any carpenter can run up a temporary stage in a drawing room, from a slight sketch, in a day, without doing any damage to the walls. The curtain ought to be rehearsed as much as the play, till it goes up and down or pulls aside without a hitch. (E. E. C.)

=Tricks and Illusions.=--Much amusement may be derived from the practice of conjuring tricks and illusions, and such entertainments are not without an educational value, as they excite curiosity and develop a desire in young minds to acquire knowledge, and induce an exercise of the reasoning faculties in endeavouring to learn how they are performed.

_Sleight of Hand._--The following notes on sleight of hand tricks are taken from a chapter in _A Curious Company_, by that entertaining writer, Max Adeler.

“Before beginning to explain the _modus operandi_ of the impromptu illusionist, let me just tabulate eight golden rules, which you must always bear in mind if you hope for anything like success.

“1. Never look at your hands, unless to attract attention to one of them.

“2. Cultivate the art of chattering freely, with as much original wit as you can invent, or plagiarise without fear of detection.

“3. Never tell a lie that you cannot stick to, and illustrate if necessary. You can always ward off an explanation for a few instants whilst you remove the chances of discovery, and you will find as you get on that you can boldly do the most outrageously transparent things _coram populo_, without being found out or observed.

“4. Your hands must always work _together_, never be easy with one hand and constrained with the other; unless you can by no other means distract the attention of some horribly sharp person from one hand, when an awkward movement of the other will often divert his undesired watchfulness.

“5. Cultivate the art of scoring off rude people, who ask awkward questions. If any one _thinks_ he has discovered ‘the way it’s done’ (but not the right way), _let_ him think so, and swagger his astuteness, and his desire to slip through to New Zealand will be all the greater when you prove him wrong. _Sæpe interereunt aliis meditantes necem._ If you are really found out beyond recovery, don’t try to carry it off; throw yourself at _once_ on the generosity of the discoverer or discoverers, and ask him or her not to expose you; remember you are only an amateur, and not getting your living.

“6. _Never_ go on an instant after you detect the least signs among the audience of ‘having had enough of it.’

“7. When doing anything quite harmless, make a great _unostentatious_ parade of your innocence; your audience will be all the more ready to take you on trust when you are taking them in.

“8. Never perform a trick in public which you have not amply rehearsed in private.

“Your dress will of course, as a rule, be the ordinary evening dress, and unless you have a great reputation as a prestidigitateur, no alteration is required. However, a little pocket an inch deep, contrived in and hidden by the seam of the trousers just where the tips of the fingers fall when the hand is naturally lowered to the side is a great convenience for getting rid of small articles when palmed, or for producing them suddenly by the same means. Otherwise, the natural movement of getting at one’s handkerchief, &c., will answer the same purpose, if neatly and unostentatiously done. It is as well to turn up the coat-sleeves, for though they are _never_ used in legerdemain, it is impossible to disabuse people of the notion that they are.

“These maxims (which are, after all, the chief art to be acquired by the amateur conjuror) having been digested, let us turn to the considerations of the principles and practice of the science of legerdemain. These may be summed up thus: Every conjuring trick or illusion, not involving the use of a stage, apparatus, and accomplices, is performed in, and has for its foundation one of three proceedings; these are, (1) The Palm, (2) The Pass, (3) The Slip, and the motive power of the trio is the same, and is expressed in one word, viz. ‘cheek.’

“1. _Palming_, is the art of holding in one hand any article (coin, card, &c.) unknown and unseen by the spectators, or of retaining in one hand anything which, by the ‘pass’ has apparently left it.

“2. _Passing_, is the art of so palming any article that it is _apparently_ transferred to some other receptacle, or altering the position of the cards in a pack unseen by the audience.

“3. _Slipping_, is the art of moving, altering the position of, or getting possession of any _single_ card without being detected, and,

“4. _Cheek_ is--[3].

“Coin Sleights.--Palming.--1. Place a penny or florin across the middle joints of the second and third fingers of either hand, as at _a_, Fig. 99, reproduced from illustrations by Miss Dora Noyes; on slightly bending the hand in an easy and natural manner, the coin will be clipped, as at _b_, by the fleshy part of the other two joints, and the hand may be turned over, and in fact placed in any position, so long as the back of the hand is presented to the audience. This is a useful palm on an emergency, as when people suspect that the coin is in the palm of the hand it may be shown empty, the top joints of the fingers hiding the coin thus held.

“2. Place the coin between the joint of the thumb and the hand, and on slightly bending the thumb the coin will be held flat. This is most useful for changing, described further on, but as an ordinary concealment of a coin it is too dangerous except for small coins which the thumb is large enough to hide.

“3. The principal palm (from which the manipulation derives its name) is as follows: Place the coin so that one edge just touches the highest of the three marked lines that cross the palm of the hand, rather towards the thumb. On slightly bending the hand the coin will be retained; you will find it difficult at first, but practice will show you the exact spot, where the difficulty is reduced to a minimum. If you take the coin flatwise between the thumb, the tips of the second and third fingers, by naturally closing the fingers over and clasping them tight in the palm of the hand, the coin will be brought into the exact position, so that if you pick up a coin, by a sudden outward sweep you can cover this movement, and on recovering the hand the coin will be palmed and the hand apparently empty.

“Other means of holding a coin _en cache_ will naturally present themselves when these have been thoroughly mastered.

“Passing.--1. Take the coin edgeways, between the thumb and the tips of the second and third fingers of the right hand, having the palm of the hand upwards, therefore the backs of the fingers presented to the audience, as at _c_. Approach the left hand to the right, with back of the hand upwards, and as soon as the left hand hides the tips of the fingers of the right hand, loosen the thumb so as to drop the coin on to the second and third fingers, as at _d_. Immediately close the left hand as if taking the coin out of the right hand and raise it up; meanwhile bend the fingers of the right hand so as to effect palm No. 1, and lower it steadily to the side _or_ holding the coin as in palm No. 1, and hidden by the bend of the little finger raise the right hand to the mouth and cough slightly before lowering it, this shows the audience (apparently) that the right hand is empty. Meanwhile you play about with the left hand, in which the audience thinks is the coin, and when you have diverted their attention and disposed of the coin you can imitate the motion with the left hand of throwing the (imaginary) coin into the air or rubbing it away to nothing, or any other fanciful way of (apparently) disposing of it, or if you have safely got rid of the coin, suddenly rub your hands together and gradually display the two hands both empty. This is one of the most effective and easy passes.

“2. Lay the coin on the left hand, approach the right to it, take the coin between the fingers and thumb of the right, carry the right hand smartly back, performing palm No. 3. Holding the left hand open jerk the right hand close to it, really holding the penny in the right palm, but apparently throwing it into the left; as you do it shut the fingers of the left hand smartly over the palm so as to produce a slap which people think is the slap of the coin falling into the hand, hold up the left hand so that people look at it, and lower the right with the coin palmed (No. 3); if any one is suspicious shift the coin to palm No. 1, and apparently show the hand empty in some artful manner. Then do what you like with the imaginary coin in the left hand.

“3. To pass several coins, let them all be (if possible) of the same size and hold them tight in the palm of the right hand, then perform pass No. 2, in exactly the same manner as with a single coin, except that instead of holding them in the palm they fall with a clink into the bend of the fingers where they must at once be secured by the thumb beyond fear of further rattle. The chink thus produced, the audience thinks is produced by the coins falling into the other hand, which being immediately closed apparently holds the coins. It is a ticklish trick to perform well, owing to the necessarily constrained position of the right hand, but when got well into control is very effective indeed.

“There are many other palms and passes, but with these all sleight-of-hand tricks may be done, and out of them the amateur can invent a quantity of simple little impromptu experiments.

“Card Sleights.--These are far more extensive than coin tricks, for the cards in themselves are in a way apparatus, the active principles of which are, as with coin, the palm, the pass, and cheek, to which are added last, but not least, the slip and the turnover. You must constantly ‘Ruffle’ the cards, i.e. holding the pack in one hand draw the fingers or thumb of the other across the edges at one end so as to rattle them all together. It conceals any manipulation which may have startled the audience, and should therefore be done in a quick or _degagé_ manner after every sleight or whenever needed, and as the audience do not understand it, they think that this movement is the actual operation by which the wonders are performed.

“Palming.--This is done as follows: Hold the pack as at _d_, Fig. 99, in the left hand, and covering the pack lengthways with the right, so that the top joint of the fingers touches the top edge of the top card, slide the top card forward, and press down the tips of the fingers; the card will be thus pressed into the hand and lie curled up in it as in _e_, if thin small cards are used, a card (or even two or three) thus held will be completely hidden by the hand, and may be curled up tight without injury to the card. In this sleight, it is difficult to avoid a constrained position of the hand, but it is very useful as hereinafter described for changing cards.

“Passing.--This is the great stumbling-block of the amateur miracle-monger, and will require most practice, for when you begin it will seem impossible to do it _en cache_. Its object is to reverse the two halves of the pack (in fact, a sort of automatic _cut_; in fact the French term is ‘_sauter la coupe_,’ for by its means the demoralising effect of a cut may be avoided), and when properly practised and perfected it is done noiselessly, in a manner incomprehensible to the conjuror himself. Often, practising the pass before a looking-glass, I have wondered myself at my own performance, so completely does the automatic and sympathetic movement of the hands deceive the eye. The pack being divided into two halves, it is held in the left hand as at _f_, i.e. as seen from the front there is no division, but really whilst three fingers clasp it, it is divided (above or below any given card, or, as the case may be) by the little finger. Now cover the pack lengthways with the right hand, slip the first finger in also as at _g_, so that the upper half of the pack is held as it were in a hinge formed by the fingers of the left hand. Now seize the lower half between the thumb and fingers and the right hand, and press it sideways into the lower joint of the thumb as at _h_. Now by means of the fingers of the left hand raise the upper half hinge-wise, and with the fingers and thumb of the right, lift the lower half till it is just clear of the top half as at _i_, when on pressing down the thumb the lower half will be pressed over the top half as at _j_. The fingers may then be removed, and your purpose is accomplished; i.e. the top and bottom halves of the pack have changed places. As you acquire practice it will only be necessary to insert the little finger of the left hand, instead of two. It is well to lower the hands sharply as you perform this sleight, to cover the movement, which, however, by practice is reduced to a minimum. It is also well, if you feel that some one is suspicious, to ruffle the cards immediately afterwards to divert suspicion. This sleight requires much private rehearsal, but is the mainspring of a great many tricks, and its practice gives the hands a suppleness and sympathy not to be acquired in any other way.

“The _turnover_ is a sleight, practised when it is desired to present the backs of the cards whichever way the pack is presented. It is performed as follows: Beginning exactly as with the pass, except that when _i_ is reached instead of pressing the lower half over the top, the movement is continued to _k_, so that the two halves of the pack face one another, and now whether the top or bottom half be uppermost, the backs of the cards will be visible. You can now deal off cards from either half, and when you want to cease, and begin from the other, hold the cards as in _d_, but the thumb instead of being over the pack it is underneath as at _l_, so that the attention of the audience being diverted (by counting the cards already dealt, or otherwise) by an upward pressure of the thumb the pack is completely reversed, and the heretofore undermost card is now at the top. This is the principle of most tricks involving counting off cards.

“Slips.--These are the most useful and frequently required sleights practised by the amateur conjuror, and consist of the knack of drawing a card from the top, middle, or bottom of the pack, and placing it in any position in the pack which may be required by the trick.

“1. The pack being held in the ordinary manner in the left hand, with a chosen card on the top (either placed there by the chooser, or by the pass, or one of the subjoined slips), lift off the top half, raising it rather hingewise, so that the _top_ card being retained by the fingers of the left hand it is left on the top of the half retained in the left hand, as in _m_.

“2. The chosen card being on the top of the pack, being held as at _d_, and covered lengthwise by the right hand, by a sudden contraction of the fingers of the left hand, the top card is drawn off (under the right hand) as at _n_, with a ‘flip,’ caused by the bending of the card as it bends and straightens out at the bottom of the pack. The cards are immediately ‘ruffled’ to disguise the flip. In the same manner a card may be sprung from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the centre, in the latter case the pack being opened a little in the left hand, and the top half slightly raised by the thumb and fingers of the right hand. The elasticity of the card will cause it to spring, in the instant it finds an opening.

“3. A card having been chosen, the pack is presented, just raising the top half to make a place for it, but not looking at the place, or indeed at the hands at all. The card being inserted, before replacing the top half the two middle fingers are inserted just over it, and directly the two halves join, the card is flipped out by the two fingers as in _n_, and brought to the bottom. The cards are immediately ‘ruffled,’ and your point is gained, i.e. you know the exact card chosen. If the chooser demurs to re-inserting the card at the opening you make--

“4. Spread out the pack fanwise before him, spreading them _to your right_, and letting the fingers of your two hands meet underneath the fan. By this means wherever he pushes in his card, you can feel it, and in collapsing the fan into pack form, the fingers are slipped in over the top as in slip No. 3, and the card is flipped out as there set down.

“These demonstrate the active principles of slips, which your own ingenuity will multiply _ad infinitum_. It will be seen that by their means any card chosen and returned to the pack may be at once secured and ascertained, which is the prime object of the card trickster, in whatsoever experiment he may be engaged. Simply a ‘slip,’ combined with any of the following ‘exposures,’ will constitute a trick in itself, far above the comprehension of any one not himself a master of the art.

“Exposures.--These are the methods of ‘exposing’ a card chosen, and returned to the pack. Your own fancy will suggest any quantity of methods, but the following are a few for a start. In fact, almost all card-tricks consist of one sleight, and a more or less complicated exposure.

“1. Slip the chosen card to the top. Let the pack be held by any one (say the chooser of the card) with the face upwards, i.e. so that his card is at the bottom. See that the pack is held well into the hand of the holder, secured by the thumb set rather near the edge of the pack. Now, with your own hand, or let any one else, strike the pack smartly downwards, and all the cards will be knocked out of his hand except the bottom one (his own) which remains staring him in the face, retained by adhesion to his own fingers. Result, natural, but extraordinary.

“2. Slip the chosen card to the top. Take the pack in the right hand, and cover it with the left, as you do so sliding the top (chosen) card sideways till it projects nearly half over the side of the pack. This state of things will be hidden by the left hand, holding the pack endways. On dropping the pack bodily from the left hand at an elevation of about 1½ feet from floor or table, the top (chosen) card will turn as it falls, and lie face upwards on the top of the pack. Result, simple, but startling.

“3. Slip the chosen card to the top. Give the chooser a paper knife, and, holding the pack as at _d_, tell him to cut the pack with it where he likes. Where he cuts, divide the pack, and lift off the top half, doing at the same time slip No. 1, which will bring his card to the top of the lower half. Put down the top half, and observing that you in no way influenced his cut, tell him to take the (now) top card. He will be surprised to find it his own. Result, easy but supernatural.

“Space forbids me to suggest any others, which you can easily work out for yourself. If time and space would allow, it would be easy to fill a volume with card tricks requiring no preparation, apparatus, or accomplices; but as they are all based upon the above sleights, mere repetition would be useless.

“The following selection are very telling and are easily performed.

“1. To tell any card by looking at its back. This is founded on a manipulation, which I have not described above, and which is called the ‘drawback.’ The pack is held in the left hand as at _p_, with the faces downwards. Look at the bottom card, and as you turn the pack down draw down the bottom card with the little finger as at _q_. Asking some one to tell you when to stop, commence drawing back the cards on the top as at _o_. When told to stop, name the bottom card (looked at and drawn back) and drawing out all the intermediate cards, inform the teller that that is the card he stopped at, and in effect on turning up the remaining cards, the card drawn back and named will be at the bottom, and apparently the one at which he stopped. I have done this trick twenty times running without being detected.

“2. Let any one choose a card and get it to the bottom of the pack by slips Nos. 3 or 4. Put down the cards haphazard in three packs, noting at the bottom of which the chosen card is. Ask the chooser in which pack he would imagine his card to be; if he chooses the right one (which is lucky) throw away the other two; if not, place the one he chooses _on_ the right one and throw away the _other_ wrong one. Redivide the cards left into three packs and proceed as before, always retaining the pack _at the bottom of which_ his card is, until only three cards are left, including the right one. If he now chooses the right one it is exceptional luck, though it often so happens: if not, appear to hesitate a moment, and then retaining his own and the one he chooses, throw away the third, and mixing the two left but remembering his own yourself, throw them down, and the chances are even he will choose his own card. If he doesn’t, boldly throw down the one he chooses and turn up the other, which is his own. Casually observe that you in no way influenced his choice, and leave him astonished.

“3. Pass or slip the chosen card to the top and make a great show of a false shuffle, i.e. shuffle all the cards, but retain or manipulate the top card so that it is shuffled to the bottom and thence back to the top. Then have the cards cut, and taking them up yourself, slip out the card by slip Nos. 3 or 4, and re-slip it to the top, or avoid the entire cut by means of the pass. Having _convinced_ him that his card is lost _in gurgite vasto_ of the pack, let him count off 8 cards from the top and spread them in any order in a row, face downwards, _but_ keep your eye on and note the position of the first or top card, which is his own. Put away the rest of the pack, and tell him to touch four out of the eight. If he touches his own amongst them, take up and throw away the four untouched, or if he does not touch his own, take up those he touches. Then let him touch two of the four left, and throw away as before, leaving his own one of the two left. Then let him touch one of the two left, and as before leave his own solus. Turn it up, and his astonishment will be unbounded. Your victim will often enable you _always_ to throw away the ones touched, and of course this improves the trick, otherwise it is twenty to one against his noticing that you do not always throw away the same set. If he does, you must trust to providence and let the best liar win.

“4. Choose out the four kings (or any other four similar cards) and divide the pack into two halves, place the cards, a black on the top and a red on the bottom of one half, and a red on the top and a black on the bottom of the other half, so that when the halves are united the two blacks will be in the middle and the two reds on the top, as you reunite them slip in the little finger as at _f_. Make the victim recite aloud the position of the reds and that of the blacks, and repeat it after him so that there is _no_ doubt. Freely expose the faces fanwise (keeping the place) to let him be certain. When this is accomplished make the ‘pass’ so as to reverse the order of things. Expose the pack as reversed, and begging him to be more careful in future repeat the experiment to his utter mystification. If you are really good at ‘passing,’ this trick may be repeated over and over again with great effect.

“5. To change a card without the help of the pack proceed thus: Slip the chosen card to the top, and make a false shuffle. Then take off, apparently only the top one, but really the top two, and hold them up by the edges, so that the top (right) one is completely hidden by the second (wrong) one. Putting the pack quite away behind at some distance from you, bring forward your (double) card in the left hand and show it to the chooser, asking if it is his own. As he will say no, appear confused and let him be quite positive and assertive that it is not his own. Take the (double) card lengthwise and face downwards in the right hand, walk back towards the pack, as you do so draw off the (right) card, leaving the wrong one palmed in the right hand as at _d_. Bring it forward again in the right hand (which in holding, the right will conceal the wrong card), as if to make quite sure, when the chooser will find it to be changed into his own card.

“6. This trick is somewhat similar to the last. Take out the four kings, and spread them out fanwise, _but_ let the second have concealed behind it as in the last trick, two other court cards (court cards are best as being not so noticeable in case of accident). Hold them up, saying, ‘You see I have here the four kings,’ close them up smartly and lay them face downwards on the top of the pack, so that the order is now, 1 king, 2 false ditto, 3 false ditto, 4, 5 and 6 kings. Take off the first (which is real) and apparently unintentionally show its face and place it at the bottom of the pack. Take off the next (false one) _without_ showing it, and place it _into_ the pack near the bottom. Place the next (false one) similarly _into_ the pack near the top. Take off the fourth (real) and apparently unintentionally exposing its face, _commence_ to put it into the middle; when half way, however, change your mind and place it on the top of the pack. Say, ‘Well, these kings are all well separated now, to mix them still further will you kindly cut the pack;’ this operation will of course join all four again in the middle. ‘Ruffle’ the pack and spreading it out fanwise expose them _en masse_ in the centre. If neatly done this is an excellent illusion.”

_Physical Experiments._--There are many illustrations of physical laws which admit of exhibition without the aid of any special apparatus, and which may be made highly instructive. Most of the following examples are borrowed from Max Adeler’s _Curious Company_.