pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 293
This data as json
path | page | folder | text |
---|---|---|---|
unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 293 | CHAPTER X ROBERT-HOUDIN'S IGNORANCE OF MAGIC AS BETRAYED BY HIS OWN PEN TATEMENTS in Robert-Houdin's various works S on the conjurer's art corroborate my claim that he was not a master-magician, but a clever purloiner X and adapter of the tricks invented and used by his predecessors and contemporaries. Whenever, in these books, he attempts to explain or expose a trick which was not part of his répertoire, he betrays an ignorance which would be impossible in a conjurer versed in the finer and nore subtle branches of his art. Neither do these expla- nations show that he was clever enough as a mechanic to have invented the apparatus which he claimed as his handiwork. He states that practice and still more prac- tice are essential, yet no intelligent performer, amateur or professional, can study my collection of Robert-Houdin programmes, handbills, and press notices without realiz- ing that his répertoire contained little or no trace of what should be the foundation of successful conjuring, sleight- of-hand. Changing his fingers over the various air-holes of the inexhaustible bottle was as near as he ever came to sleight-of-hand, even when he was in the height of his success. According to the press notices he had a pleasing stage presence, and also dressed and set forth his tricks richly, but it must be borne in mind that then, as often to-day, [ 264 ] |