THE FLOATING GIRL.
The following illusion is usually performed in connection with an act
of hypnotism, and is very sensational and mystifying. The effect is
as follows:—On the stage is a long, narrow couch with back and ends,
usually upholstered in some dark material. The legs of the couch are
about twelve inches high, and the audience are able to see plainly
underneath the couch. The performer introduces a young lady, and
apparently hypnotizes her. She then lies down upon this couch and
the performer continues to make more passes over her, arranges the
draperies of her dress, and sometimes covers her with a small shawl.
He then takes a position in back of the couch directly over her and
continues his hypnotic passes. To the wonderment of all, she is seen to
rise slowly from the couch to a considerable height. The couch is now
removed by two assistants, and she is apparently suspended in mid-air.
To disprove the agency of any mechanical appliance the performer now
has brought to him a solid wooden hoop, which he passes completely
over, in back, and again over the suspended girl. His two assistants
then bring back the couch, and she slowly sinks back upon the seat of
same. The performer now rouses her from her hypnotic sleep, she rises,
bows to the audience and retires.
I will now explain how this illusion is usually performed. It can
only be performed on a theatre stage or where there is plenty of room
underneath, as this is where the working of the trick takes place.
There is a false seat to the couch, which consists of a board from four
and a half to five feet long and from six to eight inches wide. This
board is upholstered in the same material as the couch, and when laying
on the seat of the couch cannot be noticed. There is a small slot cut
in the back of the couch in the very center, from the top down to the
seat. This slot is hidden by the upholstery so it cannot be noticed by
the audience.
[Illustration: floating girl platform]
I will now call attention to the accompanying cut, by the aid of which
I can better explain this illusion. “A-B” is the board or false seat
which I have described. In this diagram we are supposed to be looking
directly down upon it. At “G” there is firmly connected to this board
a heavy metal coil, as illustrated in the cut. This coil consists of
three metal bars, numbered, respectively, “1, 2 and 3.” This entire
apparatus is in the same horizontal plane as the board “A-B.” The
connection “G” is made through the slot in the back of the couch of
which I spoke, and the back of the couch extends between rod “No. 1”
and the board “A-B,” running out considerably beyond the ends of this
board. It will now be seen if this metal coil is raised upward it will
carry with it the board “A-B.” At “F” there is a small stud, connected
to metal coil either by welding or having the bar bent over. This
little stud is of triangular shape and several inches long, and is at
right angles to the metal coil and perpendicular to the floor. The
smaller cut “F” at the right will make this plain to the reader.
This stud “F” fits firmly into a bar having a triangular opening at
its end. This bar is pushed up through a small trap in the stage from
underneath same. This bar is free to move up and down, but otherwise is
firmly secured underneath stage. Underneath it is a strong screw-jack,
which is capable of raising the complete apparatus above, even with the
additional weight of the young lady reclining on the board “A-B.” The
performer, after the young lady lies down on the seat of the couch,
in reality on the board “A-B,” walks around in back of the couch and
stands close up to bar “No. 3” with his right leg in the space “H.”
The stud “F” is thus in back of his right leg. The small trap in the
floor is now opened and the bar is pushed up in back of the performer’s
leg and connected with the stud “F.” The bar being painted black would
not be noticeable against the performer’s black trousers and shoes
should it come into view. It is, in fact, hidden from view by the
performer’s right leg. All the performer has now to do is to remain
in this position, and heighten the effect by his spectacular play,
such as hypnotic passes directed toward the young lady. His assistants
underneath the stage merely raise the young lady by screwing up the
jack, or raising her by whatever appliance may be used. When she comes
to a position above the top of the couch the couch may be removed by
two assistants of the performer. Of course, it will be understood that
the dress and draperies of the girl will completely hide the board and
the apparatus in back of same.
Now, for passing the solid wooden hoop over the suspended girl. To do
this the performer takes the hoop in his left hand, passes it over the
end marked “A” of the board and down between rods “No. 1” and “No. 2,”
the hoop assuming the position of that in the diagram marked “D.” It is
now carried forward by the performer’s right hand and off at the end
of board “B.” The hoop is now turned around and assumes the position
“C.” The whole hoop is now passed in back of the girl, running between
rods “No. 2” and “No. 3.” When it reaches the end of the board “A” it
is again passed over the girl and board and assumes the position marked
“E.” It may now be completely withdrawn from off of the end marked “B.”
The performer may now reverse the motion of the hoop by starting it at
“B” if he chooses.
The foregoing is somewhat difficult to explain, but if the reader will
bend a piece of wire into the shape as above and take a small ring and
follow these directions he will see how this is accomplished.
The position which the legs of the couch occupy are marked off on
the floor, so that when the couch is returned it will be in the same
position as at first, and thus the little bar “G” slips through the
slot in back of couch when the girl is again lowered. This slot may be
cut diagonally through back and then cannot be seen. When the board
“A-B” comes to rest on the seat of couch the bar which passes up
through the hole in the floor is now withdrawn through the floor and
the trap closed. The performer then walks around to the front of the
couch and apparently awakens his subject.
Some performers have a different connection with the rod from under the
floor, having a thread cut on the end which screws into the coil at
“F.” This may be a more secure fastening, but it takes longer to insert
and remove.
I wish to call attention to the fact that this little diagram, which is
made very roughly, is not drawn to scale, being more to illustrate the
course of the hoop than for any other purpose. The small semi-circular
space “H” has a diameter of about a foot, and the performer stands in
this, the semi-circular hoop encircling his leg. The apparatus may
be raised up as high as performer’s waist or even higher, and the
hoop will then be encircling his body, while the rod connected to “F”
running through the floor will be hidden by the performer.
This illusion was first performed by having the girl lie on a couch
or upon a board supported by two wooden horses, quite close to the
rear curtain of the stage, and instead of having the connection made
underneath the floor a rod was passed through a slot in the back
curtain which connected to the metal coil. The end of the rod in back
of the curtain was firmly fitted into a heavy block which slid up
and down in a perpendicular frame. This block, by means of ropes and
pulleys, could be raised or lowered by the assistants in back of stage.
Without a doubt, however, the method of performing this illusion now,
where the performer stands over the girl in the center or even in the
front part of stage, is very much better and more mystifying in every
way.