STAGE MAGIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 150, 22 December 1938, Page 10

STAGE MAGIC

"STILL POPULAR"

NICOLA THE GREAT

"No, the public haven't lost interest in stage magic and I don't think they ever will; it is an institution like Santa Claus and even when we grow old we like to keep the things that have given us fun and happiness," said Mr. W. Nicola, of America, better known, as Nicola the Great, who has returned with his company of supporting artists to play a season in Wellington after an absence of ten years. Mr. Nicola said that although he was aware of the continued popularity of magic shows all over the world he was afraid that he might have suffered the fate of some picture actors of a decade ago who had completely vanished from the memory of theatre goers. However, the splendid reception he had received in Auckland had brushed away his misgivings. "One fascination about watching a magician is'that you always feel that by keeping your wits about' you you may be able to catch him out in some of his tricks," said Mr. Nicola. "That is another reason why I think interest in magic will always be maintained. Nowadays people who go to pictures are .not required to think at all, and I have sometimes said that people go to a magician's performance to reassure themselves that they still have.brains." Magic like any other kind of entertainment had to keep abreast of the times, and magicians were always adding to their repertoire of illusions, but, Mr. Nicola said, there were some outstanding acts associated with his name,, such as the girl in the trunk mystery, which the public expected him to perform and which were included in the programme he was giving in New Zealand. LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES. On every world tour Mr. Nicola and his company have played to audiences that could not speak English. On those occasions either Mr. Nicola learns his patter off by heart in the local tongue or else employs an interpreter. He said that on one occasion he was working with an interpreter in China and noticed that the audience laughed after every trick whether it was amusing or not. Becoming suspicious he secretly. obtained a second interpreter and found that the first interpreter, in addition to translating the patter, was also, from what he could see on the stage, telling the audience how many of the tricks, were done.

Speaking of amateur performers Mr. Nicola said that, practised as a hobby, magic became very fascinating. He had known a judge and several lawyers and doctors who had become quite expert. Amateurs had from time to time originated many clever illusions;

After leaving New Zealand Mr. Nicola proposes to tour Japan and China, provided the hostilities between those two countries do not make a visit impossible, and he will then spend some time in India, and possibly, Africa.