In 1845 there was opened in Paris a theatre which was to play a part in the light and shadow story. It was called for its proprietor and chief performer, Théâtre Robert Houdin. Houdin, after whom Harry Houdini of the 20th century named himself, practiced every kind of trick and wondrous illusion. He used Phantasmagorial effects and the French public flocked to the shows. Towards the end of the century Emile Reynaud took over the Théâtre Robert Houdin and showed the best magic shadow plays prior to the introduction of the motion picture itself.
During the middle of the century, the Polytechnic Institution, at London, attracted large crowds with magic lantern shows. Ghosts were created à la Robertson and the Phantasmagorial methods. Regular entertainment was also provided with such magic lantern stories as Puss in Boots and versions of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and The Tale of the Tub. As many as a half-dozen magic lanterns would be used to create impressive scenes, such as battles.
In our own day attempts have been made to use Phantasmagorial effects to frighten and deceive. An interesting example is contained in the following Associated Press dispatch telling how the Nazis attempted to make the English soldiers believe that Heaven was entreating them to abandon the war:
Paris, Feb. 15 (1940) (AP)—Press accounts from the front sector occupied by the British reported today that Tommies manning an outpost during the night suddenly saw an image of the Virgin Mary appear in the clouds, with her arms outstretched in entreaty.
The commander sent out a patrol, which returned with the information that the Germans were projecting the image from a machine on the ground.
Phantasmagoria is not dead yet. Television may even increase the possibilities of this type of magic shadow diversion.
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DR. PARIS’ TOY
An English physician, Dr. Paris, invents the Thaumatrope, a simple device which creates the illusion of motion by having one part of a picture on one side of a disk and the other on the reverse side—Scientific instrument and child’s plaything.
During the period which followed the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, there appeared, first in London and later in Paris and elsewhere, a small cardboard toy which was at once the plaything of children and a scientific curiosity which illustrated in a startling way the illusion of the persistence of vision. This toy was the Thaumatrope.