"First," he said, "I will show you a Dandy." And putting a fashionable hat rakishly on his head, he fixed himself in position. In an instant a pair of stylish mustaches appeared on his upper lip, and he looked the Dandy all over. He waited a few minutes, until we had taken a good look at him, and then, slowly opening his mouth, the mustaches disappeared down his throat.
Fig. 2.
"Now," he said, "I will give you a representation of Bill Sykes." Changing the dainty hat for a battered stove-pipe, he again fixed himself in position, and instantly he had a black eye, a red nose, and grimy, half-shaven-looking chin and jaws, as represented in Fig. 2. I must confess that he made a rather mild and inoffensive Bill Sykes, but still the transformation was marvellous.
After a few minutes' waiting, as before, the black eye, red nose, and half-grown beard vanished, the hat was removed, and he assumed other characters, as follows: the Sick Man, the Red Indian, the Western Miner, and the Darky.
Fig. 3.
And now I will tell you how he did it, and how you can do it yourself. In the first place, take a good look at Fig. 3, so that you may follow my description. Behind the screens were placed two powerful lights, with reflectors behind them made of tin bent into the shape of a gutter-pipe split open, or a tomato can with the ends knocked out, and ripped down the side—indeed, if you can get no better reflectors, tomato cans will answer the purpose very well. Regular circular reflectors are, of course, the best, if you can procure them, the object being to concentrate as brilliant a light as possible on the face of the performer.
Well, behind the screens, as I said, he had two brilliant lights, which shone directly on his face. The appearance of mustaches, board, and black eye was produced by shadows thrown by pieces of card-board on the desired spot. The grimy appearance of Bill Sykes's face was produced by a half-shadow thrown from a piece of net in a frame. The color of the Red Indian and of Bill Sykes's nose was produced by holding a piece of red glass between the performer and the light. The Sick Man was made to look pallid by using a piece of blue glass in the same way, and the Darky's sable hue by a similar use of glass of the proper color.
