1. “Home, Sweet Home.”
2. “Last Rose of Summer.”
3. “Marseillaise.”
4. “The Jewel Song in Faust.”
5. “Walter’s Prize Song.”
101. “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” {195}
OPERAS.
1. “Faust.”
2. “Lohengrin.”
3. “Bohemian Girl.”
4. “Lucia di Lammermoor.”
5. “Carmen.”
120. “Trovatore.”
GREAT WRITERS.
1. Thackeray.
2. Victor Hugo.
3. Dickens.
4. George Eliot.
5. Shakespeare.
101. Dante.
HOW THE SIGNALS ARE CONCEALED.
“The manager reiterates that if only names of international
reputation are given the responses will be correct nine hundred and
ninety-nine times in a thousand. Then he descends from the stage,
and, smiling right and left, inclines his ear to catch the whispered
wishes as he moves slowly up the aisle, generally with his back to
the stage. An auditor whispers to him, ‘Bismarck.’
“Herr Svengali, gesticulating freely but naturally, pressing his
eyes with his fingers for an instant as if going into a momentary
trance—only a second or two, just enough to impress the audience—then
thrusts a hand into the air, wipes the moisture from his face with
his handkerchief or leans toward a spectator, seeking his attention,
when a voice from the stage says, ‘Bismarck.’
“ ‘Right,’ responds the man who whispered that illustrious name. Then
there is a craning of necks and crushing of programmes, all eyes
fixed on the stage, where the impersonator, standing before a cabinet
of costume pigeonholes, with the aid of an assistant has donned wig
and uniform in his lightning change and whirls around disguised as
Bismarck, while the girl at the piano plays ‘The Watch on the Rhine.’
It is all the work of a few seconds and makes a great impression upon
the spectator.
“The next man calls for an opera air, ‘Bohemian Girl,’ and the
piano plays ‘I Dreamt That I Dwelt in Marble Halls,’ etc. Another
man suggests the magic name ‘Sheridan.’ It is echoed aloud from the
stage, while the audience applauds and the girl plays ‘The Star
Spangled Banner.’
“The few experts present pay little attention to the stage. Their
eyes are fixed on the man Svengali in the aisle, noting every move he
makes. It is observed that his numerous gestures, his frequent use of
his handkerchief, the pressure of his {196} fingers on his eyes, as
if to hypnotize his assistant on the stage, are natural movements,
attracting no attention, yet necessary to hide the vital signals in
the cipher code of the show.
“In the programme and show bills it is emphasized that the lady
and gentleman on the stage have their backs to the audience, while
Svengali, down in the aisle, has his back to the stage, making
collusion apparently impossible. This makes a profound impression on
the public.
“A CONFEDERATE BEHIND A SCREEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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