A stage illusion which will compare favorably with the Hindoo tricks is the one known as "Flyto." In this a human being disappears from a large wooden cage which seemingly can conceal no one, and reappears in another cage which is swinging in the air.
THE FIRST CAGE.
The first cage, or "cabinet," as it is called, is about seven feet high from bottom to top, and stands on slight legs, so that the spectator may look under it. It is hexagon in shape, and is made up, front, back, and sides, of doors. These doors are of slats placed about two inches apart, so that the audience can look in and through the entire cabinet. Inside the doors are red curtains on spring rollers. The background of the stage, or flat, is covered with green cloth, and the same material is on the floor of the stage. Outside on the top of the cabinet are four chains uniting in the centre in a ring.
When the cabinet is first brought out the inner curtains are pulled down. The cabinet is run down toward the foot-lights, and turned completely around so that all sides may be seen. It is then pushed well back on the stage, four of the doors are thrown open, and all the curtains are run up. The audience can now see through every part. The curtains are pulled down and the doors are closed.
A girl dressed in a fantastical costume comes on the stage and enters the cabinet. She is hardly inside when the performer again throws open the doors, and a tall man in military dress is seen inside. The girl has gone. The curtains are run up, but nothing is to be seen of the missing girl, and certainly there is no place to conceal her. The military gentleman pulls down the curtains, steps out of the cabinet, closes the door, and with the help of the performer once more rolls the cabinet towards the foot-lights. A rope is let down from the flies, fastened to the ring on top of the cabinet, and the machine is hoisted into the air.
In the mean time the girl, or some one like her, has come down the centre aisle of the theatre and mounted the stage.
THE SECOND CAGE.
A second cabinet, exactly like the first but a trifle smaller, is rolled on the stage, and this the young lady enters. No sooner are the doors closed than the performer cries out, "Where are you?" "Here," comes the answer; the curtains fly up in the swinging cabinet, and there stands the girl. The doors of the second cabinet are opened, but it is empty.