Disappearing Act
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About Disappearing Act
A magician has his partner lie on a sofa and covers her with a cloth. A monkey appears in her place, then vanishes, and the sofa becomes a wooden crate. The crate disappears and the woman is back. Another pass of the cloth and she is gone again. The magician bows, fetches her from a door at the back of the set, and they bow together.
Cast & crew
More about Disappearing Act
French Wikipedia credits Alice Guy and Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont. The French title is Scène d'escamotage. The negative is listed at 20 meters. It is a trick comedy in black and white, and the film is in the public domain.
Themes
Technique
Each change is a substitution: the woman, a monkey, a crate, and the empty sofa replace one another under the cloth.
Preservation
The one-minute film is in the public domain and a print is known through Gaumont Pathé Archives.
Notes
- The substitutions run sofa, monkey, crate, woman, empty stage, then a joint bow.
- A French filmography note says the magician is the same performer who plays the magnetizer in Guy's Chez le magnétiseur.
Scenes
- The cloth comes off and a monkey is on the sofa.
- The sofa turns into a crate, and the crate vanishes.
- The magician brings his partner out of a door at the back and they bow.
