THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1924, Page 13

THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK.

ATTEMPTED AT WEMBLEY. That the Indian rope trick is more than, a mytn remains to ue. proven. Wembley has tailed to prouace u estates the xviornmg Post). Tradition says tnat in India the native magician will throw a rope into the air, that it will remain in a perpendicular position, and that a boy will climb it, that he and the rope wih vanish into thin ‘air, and that his dismemoered body will lall from nowhere to be reassembled undamaged. No one has seen the trick performed. Everyone who has been to India has hearo of it. indirectly; they have been- told of someone who has heard of someone who knew someone who once saw it, but that is as near as they have got.

Hence the announcement that the trick was to be enacted by magician was very attractive to visitors to Wembley. . x The first public performance was to have been given in the Indian Theatre, but first there was private “demon r stratum” to the press. Many Eastern cloths of rich and' dazling hues adorned the stage and roof. An .address, given by the Indian niagician, was not without reference to the psychological and spiritual aspects of Indian genius. 5 Somewhat to the surprise of the audience, he produced a ball of string instead of a rope, and after handing it round for inspection, tossed the*.ball upwards towards the roof, where ’it remained invisible among the hangings, while the end of the string remained in his hands.

This wa s grasped by the climber, who was subjected to mystic passes by the adept, and, having been properly mesmerised, soon began to rise, and disappeared among the hangings above. Then the necromancer held out a sack, and into this, with a succession of thuds, fell an assortment of dummy arms, legs, and other details of the supposed anatomy of the climber. The magician placed the sack with its contents into a chest. The ceremony of covering the chest with a cloth, roping and locking it, wa s rather protracted, but eventually it was reopened, and spectators saw the victim step out, quite ready to repeat the performance for the benefit of the public, who weft eagerly awaiting, their turn. - The unhappy phrt of the performance was that no one was deceived. • The method employed by the magician was all too, obvious. The sequel was that i the 800 people outside who were,.;waiting to witness the “magic” were given I back their money and the “trick” was withdrawn from the programme. The owner of the theatre, in an interview, explained that the magician had proved his ability as a conjurer, and had offered to do the rope trick or forego the money to be paid for it. It had been practised for three months, but the first performance before the press was enough to demonstrate that it must be withdrawn. The story that a man can be made to disappear before the eyes of those who are watching, lie declared, is a. pure fable, although it is 300 years old. Mr. Jasper Maskelyne, of the. family of illusionists, also assorted that the trick as described in, the legend cannot be done. “There is not much we do not know about ‘magic.’ he said, “but we have never yet met the man who has seen the rope trick. A fe»v years ago we offered a reward of TIOOO to anybody who could perform the trick, and n large salary to come and perform it hero. It is still open fo” anybody who can do the rope trick to come lie re at a vorv large salary—but it must be the genuine rope trick as I have described it.”