Amazing Story

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 112, 15 May 1939, Page 8

Amazing Story

MAGIC IN WORLD AFFAIRS The fortunes of two little boys was decided one dark day in China’s colourful history just 29 years ago. It was 1911, the Republican army had won every battle and the ancient Royal House of China was about to fall. Li Ho Chang, official astrologer and magician, attached to the Royal household, held the fate of the two young boys in his hands. One, the heir to the throne, which was no more, and the other his only son. The stars told Chang, senr., that both boys were destined to receive great acclaim, although in directly opposite spheres. Chang, junr., was dispatched with all haste to the comparative safety of San Francisco, this did not represent insurmountable difficulties, but the removal of the former heir to the throne was an impossibility, for the Royal family were forbidden to leave the confines of their quarters, while their fate was being decided, of which there was no doubt they would all be beheaded. §o Chang’s father was put to the supreme test of his career, the removal of the Prince from the palace to safety by magic. As official astrologer and magician, Li Ho Chang was a very revered gentleman, for the position was inherited and was one of great honour and importance, so he asked the officers of the army for permission to take two sacred coffers from the palace to the mountains just outside the city so that he could consult the stars. The boy Prince was placed in one of the sacred coffers, but as they passed through the palace gates the soldiers demanded tho sacred coffers to be opened. Chang had been prepared for this, and so he made the Prince disappear within the sacred coffer, so that when the soldiers opened and examined the coffers the Prince appeared not to be there. The soldiers were then satisfied, and Chang managed to get the boy Prince away into the mountains and then into another country, of which he later became Emperor. Chang returned to the house of his forefathers and was later caught and beheaded by the Republicans, because they realised that Chang through his great magic had managed to steal the Prince away. There is the story of two little boys who grew to be world-famous because of the magic of Chang’s father. The boy Prince, through tho magic of Chang, becoming the Emperor of Manchukuo, and Chang, junr., becoming the greatest magician the world has ever known.

In honour of his father, Chang performs on the stage, during the production of “ A Trip to Hades, ’ ’ the very trick which saved the boy Prince. However, instead of a prince being concealed, the magic is performed on Joanna Claire, the lovely American dancer who appears with Chang. “A Trip to Hades’’ will be produced at the Opera House, Palmerston North, next Monday and Tuesday with a special matinee on the Tuesday afternoon. The box plan opens this Wednesday at Collinson and Cunninghame’s.