pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 249
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 249 | CHAPTER VIII THE SUSPENSION TRICK I' N chapters XVI. and XVII. of the American edition of his "Memoirs," Robert-Houdin states that he closed his theatre during the months of July, August, and September, 1847, and devoted his time to producing new tricks for the coming season. He chron- icles as the result of these labors the following additions to his répertoire: "The Crystal Box," "The Fantastic Portfolio," "The Trapeze Tumbler, "The Garde Fran- çaise," "The Origin of Flowers," "The Crystal Balls," "The Inexhaustible Bottle," "The Ethereal Suspension," etc. Had these inventions really been original with the man who claimed them as the result of his own brain-work and handicraft, three years would not have sufficed to bring them to the perfection in which they were presented at that time. It is not always the actual work that makes a trick a success, nor the material from which it is con- structed, but it takes time to plan a new trick; and then after you have worked out the idea, it takes more time to make it practical. The same piece of apparatus may have to be made dozens of times, in as many shapes, before it is presentable. Therefore, when Robert-Houdin claims to have invented and built with his own hands the tricks mentioned in the list given above, it is time to prove the improbability and falsity of his statements. [222] |