A BRIGHT SHOW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27058, 18 April 1949, Page 6

A BRIGHT SHOW

THE GREAT FRANQUIN MASTER OF HYPNOTICS There may have been unbelievers and sceptics among the packed audience at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday night when The Great Franquin opened his Dunedin season. They may have changed their minds after the final curtain, and gone home with the firm conviction that there really was something in hypnotism and mesmerism after all; or they may have still thought it was all so much hocus-pocus. Whatever the beliefs, there can be no denying the fact that the show vvas bright entertainment—mirth-provoking mainly because of the silly antics provided for the mass entertainment by the group of innocents who gave themselves up to the master of ceremonies on the stage for the evening. Suavity and a ready wit are two assets The Great Franquin can number among his capabilities, and judging by one of his initial .’ turns,” he may possess a remarkable memory, but it was in his mass hypnotic feats that he held the attention of his audience, and incidentally provided the amusement. Billed as a master of memory, of lightning calculation, mind reading and thought transference, Franquin held some of these attributes ;ljack as additional fare for later audiences. Whatever his method, the act in which he called for the names of 50 articles from the audience, got someone to write them all on a blackboard against numbers, and then, having had them once called over to him, rattled them all off like the ABC, was clever. The Great Franquin then called for volunteers to submit to his hypnotic power. He gathered over 30 on the stage, put them through a swift “ hypnotic test ” as he termed it, and finally started the show with 20 victihis. He seated them in a semi-circle, and put them off to sleep. Some were not as responsive as they might have been, however, and refused to stay asleep, with the result as time passed that the semi-circle became smaller, and he finished the evening with 12 subjects. One or two of these developed a bad habit of waking up at the wrong time, but the others appeared to be genuinely under the influence of the “ master’s ” hypnotic spell. He had them shutting off the morning alarm and supping cocktails at a party, among other strange stage behaviour. Some of their antics, if not elegant, were humorous. Perhaps the brightest of them all was the occasion when he invited his subjects to commence the work of the day. One woman did the washing and another' served sweets, while such activities as cutting steaks in a butchery, polishing spoons in a factory, and writing out accounts in an office corresponded with some of the antics of the sleepers, as explained by them to Franquin. The Great Franquin finished the evening well, when, with a .twist of mesmeric influence, he gave thanks to each participant as he or she left the stage. Some he stuck to the wall by the hands, others he halted as though caught by the toe, while one charming young woman was told she would come back on to the stage when about to descend the steps and stroke his cheek—and she did it.