Howard Thurston

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18 min. full stage – First public performance of the new illusion act put together by this former skillful card manipulator, and without exception it was the worst I ever witnessed, notwithstanding at a rehearsal the night previous everything seemed to go smoothly. The fall down was occasioned by the fact that everybody, from the most unimportant of the 9 assistants to the principal himself, were extremely nervous. He first lets go some toy balloons escape from a collapsible hat, but either the gas was not strong enough or the balloons too heavy, for they would not ascend. Next he apparently suspends a gilt ball in the air, which is done with compressed air a la that advertising sign in a Broadway window, though the latter does it much better than Thurston. Next he introduces some of his card work, which has no business in the act at all, but is the best thing he does and got the most applause. Then he goes behind a huge plate of glass that has been lowered (and stands obliquely on the stage) during the ball trick, and after some unimportant jugglery with firebrands, apparently produces a plate in the air, which he breaks the pieces falling into the basket. Then he follows by producing 5 eggs and a pullet from the stomach of a darky assistant, which drop into a basket, and are later carried out front and produced. Then there is the production of a large earthen pot, a la Ching, containing a substance that he ignites and which keeps burning for a long time, the flames being forced upward by air at frequent intervals. Then a diminutive fountain is set going at the other side of stage, with colored lights to make water look like some other liquid. There is another dark scene, during which his glass is again lowered, and he then produces what seems to be a statue standing on a pedestal, but the figure is apparently cut-off at the knees. Then the drop is lowered for a couple of minutes, and when it is raised the statue has become a woman of full length figure. Then Thurston has a number of large cans, with gutters leading from one to other, he takes a coconut shell from an assistant, dips water from a pail a couple of times, and then a stream continues to run from the coconut shell into the receptacles. At night the act went better than in the afternoon, but it can never be a big thing. The tricks, for the most part are dwarfed by the great scenic display, and in any event are better fitted for a parlor display than a large stage. The illusions that simply produce “black art” effects in another way, viz., the plate, egg, etc., are the best things. The man’s personality is against him. Instead of moving quickly and with certainty, he is slow and methodical in his movements, due to his training in card tricks for years, and which, while perfectly proper in that work is all wrong in this. No amount of coaching can get him out of this. I will put the act in an unimportant place in the bill and give it opportunity to improve for the week.

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