This glass is placed at an angle, and fills up the whole of the front of
the stage, the edges being carefully concealed by curtains. The glass of
course must be of a very large size, and should be of the very best
quality, so that it cannot be seen by the audience. The actor must take
care to place himself in such a position as to counteract the effect
produced by the glass being placed at an angle. At first the cavalier is
seen sitting at a table. After soliloquizing for a time in a very
remorseful manner touching several murders that he has committed, the
ghost of one of his victims gradually appears. This is effected by
gently turning the electric light upon the concealed actor. The murderer
and victim parley for a short time, when the former, being unable to
withstand the reproaches of the ghost any longer, fires a pistol at him
point-blank. The ball of course takes no effect, so the villain draws a
sword, but before it has left its scabbard the spirit of the victim has
vanished with a mocking laugh, or, in other words, the electric light is
suddenly turned off. The management of the light is exceedingly
difficult under these circumstances; the theatre, the stage, and the
portion beneath ought to be lighted in a very careful manner, for if
either is too bright or too dark it mars the whole effect. It must be
remembered, too, that the person performing the part of the spectre and
the real actor above cannot see each other, consequently all their
action has to be carried on by guess-work. The actor below has to walk
along an inclined plane, keeping himself exactly at right angles to it.
Again, the movements of the latter are obliged to be reversed; for the
cavalier already mentioned drew his sword with his left hand in order
that the reflected figure should appear to use the right.
When well arranged, the ghost trick leaves far behind all the efforts of
a similar nature that were obtained by the ancients in the way of
magical illusions. It is also incontestably true, contrary to what some
people have supposed, that they were unable to perform this illusion in
the way we have described, for they were ignorant of the method of
manufacturing and polishing glass plates of sufficient size and
clearness for the purpose.
The production of living but impalpable spectres is thus a completely
modern achievement, as we have already proved, and which has taken its
place amongst the applications of science to stage art, to the total
exclusion of all effects depending for their production on the
old-fashioned phantasmagoria and magic lantern.
THE END.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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