“The eyes of the audience focused upon the unfortunate occupant of the seat.
“ ‘Look in your pocket, sir,’ said the Fakir of Ava, in his politest, most persuasive tones. {243}
“ ‘Go on with your show there and let me alone,’ shouted the enraged seat holder.
“ ‘But I pray you, look in your pocket,’ said the Fakir.
“The man obeyed and produced the watch. The trick, called in stage vernacular a ‘life saver,’ made a hit vastly more impressive than the one originally planned but spoiled by the perverseness of the target.”
FIG. 1.—THE CELEBRATED “LEVITATION” MYSTERY.
Kellar’s greatest and most sensational illusion is his “levitation”—raising a person and leaving him suspended in mid-air without any apparent means of support, seemingly defying the law of gravitation. An explanation of this surprising feat is thus described by a writer in the Strand Magazine (London):
“An assistant is introduced, laid upon an ottoman, and then sent off into a hypnotic trance (?). The performer takes an ordinary fan and fans the body while it rises slowly about four feet in the air, where it mysteriously remains for any length of time desired. A large solid steel hoop is given for examination, and after the audience is satisfied as to its genuineness it is passed over the body from head to feet, behind the body and over it again, at once dispelling the idea of wires or any other tangible support being used, the body, as it were, journeying through the hoop each time. The suspended assistant is now fanned from {244} above and gently descends to the ottoman as slowly and gracefully as he rose from it. He is then brought back to his normal state out of the trance, and walks off none the worse for his aerial pose.
