The trick with the canary was worked differently. A live canary, was shown. It was placed in a light paper bag, the mouth tied, and the bag and canary were hung in the center of a target suspended on the stage by wires. After the usual “patter” a rifle was fired at the suspended bag. To make the trick more effective some one in the audience was allowed to shoot at the canary in the bag. As he did so the bag burst into flames, disappeared and, where the target had been, there suddenly appeared a bird cage with a live canary in it.
The trick was worked as follows:
Two canaries were used. Before the trick was performed one was put into a trick cage which, when suspended from the stage with its top toward the audience, seemed to be a target. There was a paper target and bull’s-eye in fact, but it closed up by springs at the proper time, and did not show on top of the cage, which contained a live canary in a secret compartment.
This piece of apparatus was in place before the trick started. The professor put a live canary in a paper bag. That is, he seemed to do so. In reality the canary was safely hidden in a compartment of a table near which the professor stood with the bag. This was sleight-of-hand work. The bag was made of a special kind of paper which would burn instantly, with a flash of fire when ignited, something like flash-light powder.
Professor Rosello appeared to hang the paper bag, inside of which was the canary, in front of the bull’s-eye. As a matter of fact, there was nothing in the paper bag. But it was hung near a little electrical device, from which ran wires back of the rear stage draperies. Behind the curtains Joe was concealed.
When all was ready the professor handed some one in the audience a stage gun that fired no missile—only making a report. The man was told to aim at the paper bag in front of the target, and did so.
“Fire!” called the professor, after some talk in which he professed uneasiness for the safety of the audience.
At the sound of the report the paper bag disappeared in a flash of flame and smoke. The target also disappeared, and there, hanging from its supporting wires, was a bird cage with a live canary in it.
When the gun was fired Joe, behind the scenes, pressed the button of the electrical device. A tiny flame appeared, set fire to the prepared bag, which at once went up in smoke. At the same time Joe pulled a black silk thread connected with the birdcage which, with its top presented to the audience, looked like a target. The target was folded away out of sight, and the bird cage, which was a collapsible one, expanded to its regular shape, the second canary fluttering about as soon as released from the secret compartment where it had been hidden all the while.
Thus was a bird seemingly burned, only to be reincarnated. It was an effective illusion.