Home Fun
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HOME FUN BY CECIL H. BULLIVANT
NEW YORK DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY 214-220 East 23rd St.
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY
Not to produce workers of wonders or exponents of marvelous mysteries; not to launch on an already over-crowded market a host of professional or semi-professional entertainers—but rather to give to those who can find real pleasure in amusing others, such knowledge as shall enable them to transform the lagging winter hours into periods of sheer delight, has this book been written.
While in no sense does it claim to be an exhaustive guide to home amusements, it represents a serious effort to bring within the scope of one volume almost every form of popular home diversion.
The subjects have been dealt with from a simple but perfectly practical point of view. In addition to the different accomplishments being so explained as to be easily comprehended and acquired, the successful presentment of them is made possible at a minimum of expense. The greatest difficulty which formerly faced the amateur entertainer was the heavy cost of production, but even the most expensive form of amusement explained in the following chapters comes well within the modest “pocket-money bounds” of the average boy.
It is hoped that in “Home Fun” will be found much that is entirely new concerning subjects about which little or nothing has hitherto been written. Whereas the paths so well trodden by authorities on entertaining are here more or less passed over, excursions are made into equally fascinating by-ways, an acquaintance with the delights of which cannot fail to win success and widespread approval for the promoter of entertainments at home.
That those who follow the many chapters on subjects so amusing and diverse may obtain from them as great pleasure as he who has compiled them is the sincere wish of the author.
Cecil Henry Bullivant.
Cecil Henry Bullivant
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HOME FUN
PREFATORY NOTE
CONTENTS
Stage Construction and Home-made Scenery
The Drop Curtain
Home-made Scenery
How to Make the “Flats”
Papering
Making a Portable Porch
A Portable Fireplace
A Movable Counter or Sideboard
A Back-Cloth
The Foundation
Lining
“Juvenile” Make-up
“Middle-Age” Make-up
“Old-Age” Make-up
Beards and Mustaches
The Removal of Make-up
How It’s Done
An Inexpensive “Stock in Trade”
The Dresser
Knowledge from Nature
Speaking Impersonations
Temperament
Character and Circumstance
Marvels of Chapeaugraphy
Popular Characters
The Comical End-men
Minstrels’ “Make-up”
From Failure to Success
Coon Songs
Songs and “Gags”
One-Act Dramas
For “Nigger Minstrels”
Introducing Jokes
Stump Speeches
Music for Minstrelsy
True-to-Life Representations
Staging
Penelope and Ulysses
Stage “Props”
An Old Favorite for Indoor Parties
An “Artificial Window”
“A Seaside Scene”
A Portable Tent
Outfit for Highwayman
A Policeman’s Helmet
A Chinaman’s Head Covering
Advertisement Charades
Beanstalk
The “All in All”
An Artist—and a Gentleman
Music and Words
An Accompanist in an Hour
Vamping Chords and their Relative Changes
A Concert at Home
Humorous Songs
General Arrangements
A Great Inventor’s Hopes
Little Water = Low Note
Half-Notes
A Sweet-lipped Friend
Bell-ringing Companies
“Flourishing”
Correct Breathing and Voice Production
Dainty Modern Songs
The Value of a Good Accompanist
Why Singers Often Fail
The Keynote of Success
The Speaking Register
Appropriate Gesture
Methods of a Famous Siffleur
Breathing and Tone
Suitable Solos
The Cuckoo of Society
Sure of Success
Thought-Reading Extraordinary
Fake Ventriloquism
The Three Old Maids
Bunkum Lectures
The Sharp(?)-Shooter
The Ghost
A Practical and Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Valentine Vox
All Born Ventriloquists
The Initial Stages
Breathing Exercises
Automaton—or Man?
Speaking with Still Lips
Two Kinds of Ventriloquism
The Old Woman’s Voice
Ventriloquial Figures
Ventriloquial Figure Manipulation
Voice for “Little Boy”
The “Distant” Voices
“Level” Sounds
The “Floor” Voice
Ventriloquial Imitations
A Dog Fight
The Lion and the Cow
The Complete Entertainment
Magic Memorized
The Dye-Works
The Dissolving Coin
The Watch and Target
Secrets of Handkerchief Manipulation
The One Hand Knot
The Wrist Knot
The Double Bow
The Instantaneous Knots
A Flick Knot
The Disappearing Knot
A Wily Worker of Wonders
The Essential Assistant
The Floating Barrel
The Vanishing Man
Mirror Frauds
Unseeing and Disbelieving
A Paris Illusion
The Sea Nymph
For Home Presentation
The Magic Cupboard
The Mandarin’s Head
“The Head of Mary Queen of Scots”
When Three are a Crowd
The Floating Lady
Houdin’s Mesmerism
The Indian Basket
The Disappearing Princess
How to Make a Haunted House
A Deceitful Member
Approaching the Supernatural
Clothes and Materials
How an Excellent Entertainment may be Given with a Sheet of Paper
How to Master the Principles of the Art
1. The Vertical Fall
2. Inside and Outside Falls
3. The Parallel Fall
4. Falls from Right to Left
5. The Horizontal Pass
6. The Double Vertical Fall
7. The Double Inside Fall
8. The Triple Pass
9. The Triple Over Pass
10. The Shower
11. The Triple Shower
12. The Double Over Fountain
An Exciting Entertainment
Prepared Plates
Further Feats
Balancing
Plate Waltzing
Trick Balancing
The Balancing Pole
The “Forward Walk”
A Novel Entertainment
The First Step
Single and Double Shuffles
Variations of Double Shuffle
The Slide
Hand Shadows
How to Make the Pictures
Figure Shadows
The Disappearing Man
Puppet Shadow Shows
Manipulating the Puppets
The Plumber
A Novel Form of Drawing-Room Entertainment
Simultaneous Drawing
A Figured Face
Smoke Pictures
Topsy-Turveydom
Shadow Drawings
Leyden Jars
Gold Leaf Electroscope
Electrophorus
Discharger
The Magic of Mystery
Amusing Tricks with Simple Apparatus
Piercing a Coin with a Needle
A Match Trick
The Tricolor Glass
Changing Water into Wine
The Eruption of Vesuvius
A Peculiar Candlestick
Making a Paper Fish Swim
Floating Pins and Needles
Joined by Air
Glass Raising Extraordinary
A Novel Glass Emptier
A Striking Siphon Experiment
An Electric Fountain
The Bottle Cannon
Twentieth-Century “Black Art”
Experiments with Chlorine
To While Away Winter Hours
Life Partners
A Light Experiment
The Pyrometer
The Broken Bottle
Compressed Air
The Refractory Cork
The Flying Coin
A Cigarette-smoking Lamp-glass
Water Swinging
A Novel Mirror
A Disappearing Coin
Electrified Paper
Electrified Balloons
Exploding Flour
The Apparently Impossible
Making Coal Gas
Experiments with Carbonic Acid Gas
Camera Knights’ Experiments
Experiment A.—A Fireside Photo
Experiments B.—“Photo-Chemical”
Experiment C.—Blue Print Paper
Experiment D.—To Show the Constituents of White Light
Experiment E.—One Person in Two Places—and Spiritualism
Spirit Photography
Novel Results
Constructing the Stage
A Movable Curtain
Interior Decoration
Home-made Figures
Working the Puppets
Working
A Good “One Man” Show
Comical Effects
A New Form of Entertainment
Other Decorations
How is it Done?
The Indian Sack Trick
Trick Juggling
An Old Form of Entertainment Revived
Secrets of Lightning Transformations
His Highness of the Hump
Packing Up the Show
The Puppets
Working the Figures
The Ghost
Without a Magic Lantern
Exhibiting
Without the Use of Explosives
The Firework Boxers
For Use at Home
Making Mouthpieces
The Microphone
A Galvanometer Adapted
Testing
Message Transmitting
Morse Alphabet
Message
The Mysteries and Marvels of “Under-Sleep”
Weak-willed Subjects not Essential
Auto-Suggestion or Self-Hypnosis
Marvels of the “Sixth” Sense
Keys to Character
Crystal Gazing
Simple Manifestations Best
The Eternal Question
Fun for an Impromptu Party
The Presence of an “Unbeliever”
Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future
The Phalanges
Signs—and Wonders!
Guileless and Good
The Estate “Under the Hat”
Bald-Pated Friends
Phrenologist—and Man!
The Humorous Side of Phrenology
What the Future has in Store
Clubs
Spades
Hearts
Diamonds
A Throw of the Dice
Fortune-Telling by Dominoes
Figured Futurity
Divinations by Tarocs
Process of Divination
Character from Handwriting
The Principal Letters
Misleading Signs
A Word to Grown-Ups
Tea Time
For Christmas Parties
The Clothes-pin Game
Proverbs
The Game of Shadows
Gardeners
Tidings
The Lawyer
Cabbages
The Lover’s Coming
Telegrams
The Fan Fight
Panama Canal
The Longest Line
Musical Buff
Magic Hieroglyphics
The Auction Game
The Whistle
The Blind Brothers
The Poets’ Corner
Jack’s Going Strong
Name Divinations
Wizard Photography
The Missing Ring
Apples and Nuts
Amiable Dog
Tangrams
A Scissor Trick
Blowing through a Bottle
A Safe Bet
Do not touch the Coin
Quis Separabit?
Stick no Bills
A Mighty Voice
A Genuine Match
The Dying Fish
New-laid Eggs
A Will-power Test
The Magic Repeater
The Obliging Banana
The Smoker’s Fancy
The Mysterious Bands
Sold Again
Simple Subtraction
A Tricky String Puzzle
A Sure Eye
“That is the Man”
Needle-Threading Extraordinary
The Magician’s Bite
A Trick in the Sunshine
Light a Cigarette Without Matches
Another String Trick
Try This!
A Steady Hand
Puzzles That Please
Solutions
When Seeing Eyes are Blind
Hills that Don’t Rise
The Stars don’t Twinkle
The Dwarf, the Man, and the Giant
Color Illusions
Successful Systems of Secret Writing
Russian Nihilist Code
The Sphinx
Friend from Foe
“Shakes” and “Passes”
Pass-Words
The “Patteran”
The Wonderful Sense of Touch
Cards
Checkers
Halma
Dominoes
Chess
Round Games
INDEX
Transcriber’s Notes
