ADVERTISING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 88, 12 April 1912, Page 3

ADVERTISING.

Last week Sydney witnessed an interesting demonstration of advanced advertising methods, and the result was such that in future advertisers will .have to content themselves with means that are less disturbing. It had' been announced for a week that .Jansen, an American conjurer who has been mystifying audiences at th? Criterion, on Thursday, between. 5 o'clock and 5.30, would appear in the vicinity of the Post Office (probably in disguise), and the first person who tapped him on the shoulder with a newspaper published that day, saying, "You are the mysterious Mr Jansen," would receive the sum o,f £5 from him. As a result there was such a crowd in front of the Post Office at 5 o'clock on Thursday that vehicle traffic was almost completely blocked. Hundreds in the crowd, most of them boys, carried folded newspapers i in r-eir hands, and with these papers \ y struck every likely passer-by. '' y pulled old men's beards," says the legraph, "they scrutinised ladies' faces; they jumped on carts and slapped the shirt-sleeved drivers on the shoulder with their papers, crying, 'You're the mysterious Mr Jansen.' A well-known local poet was thought sufficiently mysterious looking to be Mr Jansen, and reecived a bad battering in the hope that he would hand over £5 in return for it." Mr Frank Talbot, one of Jansen's managers, was recognised as connected with the conjuror, and was mobbed. When the attack developed into an assault with newspapers tied on to sticks, he fled. As half-past five approached the "fun" grew so riotous that the police were obliged to take a hand, and put a stop to rough behaviour. All the time Jansen was going about in disguise. He came out of the hotel where he was staying, as a veiled lady, and entered a cab, drove to a jeweller's shop near the corner of George and King Streets, and on the way changed his disguise to that of a Jewish gentleman, somewhat heavily bejewelled. He went into the shop to make a purchase, and did not return to the cab, but disappeared in .another direction. He walked down George Street to the Post Office, an stood near the corner discussing the mysterious Jansen with several others, who were watching the passing crowds. He had altered bis face, but nobody appears to have eyed him with suspicion. After a time he -strolled to a hotel, and adopted still another disguise, afterwards appearing again in the vicinity of the Post Office. He is said to have enjoyed the fun immensely. The management sa'd that Jansen would appear again the next day, but the police forbade it. However, the management got the advertisement and retained the £5, so they cannot have had just ground for complaint.