Animal Magic
FROM OUR ANIMALS
Contributed by Ill: H. Syril Dusenberry No.—492
Most of us who sit in the soft comfortableness of upholstered opera chairs and watch "The Great Smith" or "Wonderful Professor Jones'' make live rabbits disappear into thin air, hatch full grown fowl from tiny eggs and similar tricks are not inclined to give much thought to the treatment to which the animals concerned are subjected in order to make the tricks possible.
Magicians, using animals, as a rule, are cruel. Perhaps not from choice, but because the nature of the tricks they perform forces them to be so. And the cruelty they perpetrate is of a character not visible from the audience.
The time was when a performer could maltreat and shamefully abuse an animal before an audience without provoking any sentiment, except, possibly, derision at his unsuccessful attempts to make the beast perform ; but be it said to the credit of the present generation of theatre-goers that they are awaking to the rights of animals and their sympathies at any animal exhibition are invariably with the dumb performers and against the whip-holding master. Not only does anything savoring in any degree of cruelty meet with a prompt outburst of disapproval from present clay audiences, but performers who make any use at all of animals in their acts are finding it more and more urgently necessary to demonstrate to spectators that their mute assistants are accorded kind and humane treatment. There is a growing feeling among audiences that healthy, able-bodied men and women should find some other way of earning a living and amusing the public than at the expense of a few unfortunate animals, and the time will surely come when animal acts will be so unpopular that no theatrical manager will book them.
In no department of the theatrical profession, perhaps, is competition so keen as among conjurers. The public has an unsatisfiable desire for strange and startling effects and magicians are constantly striving to excel one another in the sensationalness of their illusions.
Birds, chickens and rabbits are the stock in trade of the conjurer and the abuses practiced upon them are principally those incident to close confinement for long periods, lack of food and water, etc., although there have been cases where it was necessary to kill the animals used in certain tricks in order to accomplish a successful denouement.
One trick which a few years ago was a favorite with magicians, according to a recent issue of the "Animal World," was the vanishing canary and cage. This trick was originally produced with a dummy bird, but in order to make the effect more astounding, conjurers soon began to use a real canary. The cage used for the trick was so constructed that it collapsed into a rod about an inch in diameter, and an elastic cord was fastened to a ring at the top of the cage, the other end being fastened to the performer's back. On touching a spring the whole of the cage collapsed and vanished like a lightning flash up the performer's sleeve. Naturally no bird could live through such treatment, and the dead canary was removed after each performance.
Frequently cruelty is accidental, the result of carelessness on the part of the operator or faulty construction of the apparatus. A magician at a recent performance produced a rabbit from a large bunch of paper ribbon. The rabbit was concealed in a peculiarly constructed bag, and in taking it out the rabbit's leg was caught in the top. The conjurer gave one or two quick tugs, but the rabbit remained fast, half concealed in the ribbon. Finding it impossible to release it by gentle means, he gave the rabbit a sharp pull which caused its leg to break, but freed the animal, which began crying sharply. The audience was delighted, the conjurer explaining that the rabbit was an educated one and was talking to them. The rabbit, however, was voicing its agony, and had to be dispatched (behind the scenes, of course), in order to stop the noise and allow the performance to proceed.
Poorly constructed and badly designed apparatus is responsible for much suffering. In order to preserve secrecy, conjuring apparatus is often made for performers by mechanics who do not know its use, and all such apparatus is usually very crude, often being made from illustrations seen in catalogues. The result is that the devices are made of improper materials, often the trick is incorrectly worked, and much preventable cruelty occurs. The common fault with all cheap, home-made paraphernalia is that it does not allow for the proper accommodation of the animals or birds used.
The trick of producing doves from an empty pan after breaking in a few eggs is well known. With properly made apparatus this trick is less open to objection, as the doves are concealed in a fairly large space in the pan lid. Overzealous performers cut down the size of the lid and therefore reduce the space and overcrowd it. The doves, although they take up very little room, are crouched in a most unnatural position for an hour or so. Amateurs, also, load the pan at home. Then the birds are kept several hours in a cramped position without water and, what is more important, with a scarcity of air.
The rabbit sauce pan is another example. The pan is made on the same principle as the dove pan, but in the trick various ingredients are placed in the pan and set on fire. When the lid is placed on, and a magic pass made, the catch is released and the lid taken off, revealing a live rabbit. Amateurs seldom give sufficient thought to the fact that the pan is made from the thinnest material and the rabbits are often literally roasted. Rabbit boxes and various other apparatus used for their vanishment and production, are usually made by the performers themselves, the consequence being that the humane side of the subject is entirely neglected so long as the apparatus fulfills its requirements. The nest of boxes in which a rabbit is found after being magically vanished, is a mystifying trick, but rabbits have been produced suffocated from the boxes. These are placed one inside another and in the center box the rabbit is found. The air holes are placed in the bottoms of the boxes, but it must be remembered that each box is a different size, and consequently the air-holes are not opposite one another, and some thoughtless performers place the box on a flat table or chair, and therefore exclude all the air. Properly made boxes should be made large enough and supplied with toes on the outer box, and ventilation in the lids. This can be done without detriment to the trick in any way.
Ducks or, to be more correct, drakes, because they do not "talk" and give the trick away, are used largely by Chinese conjurers. These are often packed into a receptacle half full of water, and in most unnatural positions.
Fish also are favorable subjects, and it may interest the public to know that in the very mystifying trick of catching them from the air the gold fish, are packed in damp cottonwool in the handle of the rod. The bait also sometimes conceals a fish, or then, again, artificial fish are used; in this case the globe into which the fish is supposed to be placed has a metal rim highly plated, and from a distance looks like glass. The fish are packed inside this hollow rim on damp wadding. When the fish is supposed to be dropped the middle finger opens the compartments, and the fish drops into the water, and the audience see it swimming, if it is alive.
One writer saw a Chinaman carrying a number of glass bowls, each containing a fish, but with peculiarly marked colors. These he was selling at fifty cents each, representing that the fish were easily trained, and would in a week's time obey the commands of the owner.
He gave a practical demonstration with two of the largest specimens in a bowl. These would obey every command; both would rise to the top or go to the bottom or remain stationary in the center of the globe. Calling one fish by name, he would tell it to sink, whilst the other would rise, and then he would command them to reverse. Many wonderful tricks these were made to do with amazing effect. The spectator saw how the trick was done, but it was only by great pressure that the Chinaman divulged his process.
The two fish were special ones, and each had a fine gold thread looped into the large fin beneath the body. To secure the necessary effects the globe has a small glass ring cemented to the bottom on the inside; a long human hair was attached to the gold loop and led through the glass ring and up again out of the globe and attached to a short piece of bamboo. Skillful and deceptive manipulation was responsible for the rest of the trick.
Much more may be said on animal magic, and many more instances given. Thoughtlessness, badly constructed apparatus, and a desire to create abnormal effects are responsible for these abuses.
Ignorance comes next, and for this the amateur is mostly responsible. The professional conjurer, however, has no excuse ; his act can be mysterious, and all that is wonderful, without resort to weird magical animal performances.
Originally published in the M-U-M in No 32 in New York, September, 1915.
