Pepper's Ghost

 Who has not been scared and at the same time excited by a ghost story or the unexplainable appearance of a seeming apparition. Fascination with ghosts and the afterworld have griped audiences for centuries. Our appetite for such titillation seems insatiable. Ghost shows are nothing new. Writers, magicians, and lanternists have long used a popular fascination with ghosts and apparitions for their advantage. From its earliest inception the magic lantern has employed ghost figures to frighten and to entertain audiences. Some of the very earliest magic lantern images in the last part of the 17^th century were of ghosts and demons.  Calling forth such figures reached a new height in the late 1700s and early 1800s largely due to two showmen and their shows. The Fantasmagorie shows, popularized by Belgian showman Ettiene-Gaspard Robertson and the Phantasmagoria shows of magician Paul de Philipsthal, called forth apparitions on the screen. Their shows ingeniously employed rear projection. The lanternist was hidden from the audience behind the screen. The images would appear in a room darkened on the screen as from nowhere. By moving the lantern, the figure could be made smaller or larger so ghosts would appear and then menacingly approach the audience.  

Each time a new illusion is created we are freshly mesmerized and entertained. Pepper’s Ghost sits within a long tradition of showmen taking advantage of popular fascination with the afterlife. Pepper’s Ghost, named after the honorary director of London’s Royal Polytechnic, John Henry Pepper, was an elaborate theatrical illusion that gave the appearance of a ghost-like figure not only appearing but also moving on a stage. Pepper’s Ghost was first exhibited on Christmas Eve in 1862 during the staging of Charles Dickens’s The Haunted House when, to great acclaim, a ghost appeared on stage next to a man working at his desk. In a period of fifteen months 250,000 people were entertained at the Polytechnic by this show. The popularity of the illusion was so great that imitators were soon employing it elsewhere. Within a few years, the ghost shows had moved out of the polytechnic and into fairgrounds across England. The illusion is still employed today. Anyone who has taken the haunted house ride in Disneyland and found themselves, mid-ride, seated with a ghost have enjoyed Peppers Ghost.

What is Pepper’s Ghost? Here are three prints from my collection, two small woodcuts and a large lithograph visually illustrating how the illusion is created. All three show the basic idea behind the illusion: below the stage there is a lanternist with a magic lantern (to provide a powerful light), and costumed actor. The light against the actor is reflected in an enormous angled mirror that the audience cannot see in the darkened theatre. The reflection seems to appear on the stage.

 

Although there are some differences in each of the prints, all show the same basic “props”:  hidden lantern, dressed actor, angled mirror and the ghost on the stage. Interestingly, each of the three prints shows a different scene on stage, indicating that once perfected the illusion was used in a number of different performances.

And what is the history of Pepper’s Ghost? John Henry Pepper teamed up with Henry Dircks, who had a well thought out idea for projecting a ghost onto a stage to develop and stage the illusion. Soon the pair had a falling out, each claiming the “invention” of the Ghost show. History has attached the name of John Henry Pepper to the illusion.

Finally here is a broadside from my collection advertising “the real” Pepper’s Ghost Show in 1870 given by James Matthews. Matthews, who worked at the Royal Polytechnic as a magician, proclaims his ties both with the Royal Polytechnic and with Pepper. The broadside boldly announces the appearance of PROFESSOR PEPPER”S MARVELOUS GHOST for two nights.

New page of phenakistascopes

Hello everyone! 

We've added a brand new page of Phenakistascopes to the collection's flash gallery! 

Click here to visit the Phenakistascope Gallery 

Enjoy!

Prints

Recently I was interviewed by Chris Lane, co-founder of the Philadelphia Print Shop, for his blog, http://antiqueprintsblog.blogspot.com. If you’re interested in maps on antique prints you should visit the blog. I’m not sure when the interview will appear but I found the questions interesting and some weren’t easy to answer. One of the difficult questions was “what were four of my favorite things”, a very tough question for many collectors. I said it was easier for me to mention twenty things, rather than four, but the more I thought about it my longest sustained interest has been in prints, paintings & drawings in which there are magic lanterns and peepshows. I have written about peepshow images in my book, Peeepshows A Visual History. I am fascinated about the frequency in which peepshows and magic lanterns appeared in prints in the 18^th and 19^th century. It is an indication of how popular these devices must have been. Some times they appear in a straight forward representative manner, but just as often artists employed the magic lantern or peepshow as a device to make a political or social message.

I like looking at other collections to find images that I haven’t seen before. Even after more than thirty years collecting I experience the thrill of finding an image that I don’t have and frequently one I didn’t know existed. In the next few months I plan to put more images from my collection up on my site.

I thought I would start with two images that I have added to my collection in the past month. The first is a mezzotint from 1720 by the German artist, Georg Philipp Rugendas. On one level it shows a peepshow in a square. The more you look at the image the stranger it seems. At first I thought the showman must be the hatless man at the side of the peepshow engaged is some conversation with another gentleman. However the more I looked the more it seemed the boy with his left hand out standing near the straps which would have been used to carry the box from square to square is the showman, but he seems a lad himself, which would have been unusual for a showman. You can see there are two lads looking in the box and two who seemed to be fighting over whom shall take a view. Besides this it is difficult to figure out what the man who can be seen in the window is doing and the perspective behind the box is particularly flat. The first building and people across the river seem little more than an arm’s length away and yet there are two men perched on a rock with a looking glass as if they are looking far off in the distance.

The other print, much later and more modest is a colored wood engraving and is a page from a magazine, the details of which I don’t know as yet. The image, however, is one I am very familiar with. It is of a monkey giving a magic lantern show and is entitled Le Singe qui Montre La Lanterne Magique. It is one of the many fables published by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian first at the end of the 18^th century as Florian Fables. The fables were over more than 140 years printed and reprinted The print illustrates the story of the monkey giving a magic lantern show. It seems the monkey was the pet, and probably the companion of the lanternist (showmen often employed pets like monkeys to drum up business when they announced their shows). While the lanternist is away the monkey decides to entertain the other animals on the farm with a lantern show. All the animals gather and he gives a show presenting the stories just as he has heard the showman do. Usually the image shows the animals in rapt attention. The story ends with the recognition that the monkey never lights the lantern, so there are no slides being projected. There are many versions of this story, each artist interpreting the fable somewhat differently.

So if you would like to see some new materials I have just added some more peepshow prints and Florian Fable images on my site.

A Visit to Turin

The spire of Turin’s Mole Antonelliana reaches high into the sky, dwarfing all the low-rise buildings in the area. This beautiful nineteenth century building, long the highest masonry structure in Europe, is the home of Italy’s National Cinema Museum. This incredible space, with five floors of movie memorabilia, is creatively used to display a fabulous collection boasting 7,000 films, 150,000 posters, 140,000 photographic documents, and a stunning pre-cinema collection. There are some of the most beautiful 18^th century peepshows in the world on display. This tour was only the beginning of a weekend meeting of the Magic Lantern Society of Great Britain hosted by the Museum. If there were not enough material to overwhelm one at The Mole, on Sunday morning we were bused out of town to the Royal Palace of Venaria, a former royal residence, for an expanded version of the magic lantern exhibition held earlier in the year at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.

These two exhibitions would be more than enough for anyone interested in pre-cinema material. Still, for me the highlight of the weekend was a show Saturday night at the planetarium, located on a hillside on the outskirts of Turin. We were ushered into the domed viewing hall and when the lights went off Donata Presenti cast scenes from the night time sky on the domed walls of the planetarium with the assistance of a nineteenth century triunial magic lantern and astronomical slides from the Cinema Museum’s collection. We were treated to the movement of planets, the phases of the moon, comets, and constellations. The quality of the slides, the expert manipulation of the triunial and the accompanying music made it a memorable moment. It was followed by a planetarium show, the beauty and power of which caught me by surprise. Using computer graphics, a marvelous digital show filled the room. I felt transported from my seat into the sky after rotating planets hurled in our direction and before I knew it, I felt engulfed by a glorious galaxy close upon us. It was nothing short of spectacular. All these visual fireworks were followed by a lecture, but that was like trying to have a solid main course after tasting a delightful dessert.

There were also a several talks during the weekend. I presented a talk about two nineteenth century philosophical toys: thaumatropes and phenakistascopes. These toys were meant both to educate and to amuse. I used some new animations for the show and have uploaded them onto my site.

Enjoy.

PS: If you should find yourself in Turin and have more time after visiting the Mole the place to go is the Egyptian Museum. The collection, founded in 1824, is quite a treat. My favorites rooms were in the basement and contain an extraordinary collection of statues. If that doesn't tire you out, go to the top floor which houses a large collection of 15-17th. century art, and see if you can find the breathtaking Rembrandt of a lone seated figure hidden in the shadows.

Site Update!

Hello, everyone!

Today, we're premiering the latest flash gallery, this one for turning head illustrations.


Click here to view the turning heads flash gallery!


There are also many new items to see in the Magic Lanterns section:

Professional Lanterns

Figurines

Prints

Programs & Adverts

Enjoy!

Magic Lantern Convention

On May 20-23 the Magic Lantern Society of the United States and Canada held its bi-annual convention in Bloomington at Indiana University. The theme for the convention was the magic lantern and Victorian culture. It was a wonderful meeting full of shows and discussions. The first day began with one of the most intriguing discussions: digitization of lantern material. For some, digitization is primarily a way to share material held in private and public collections in an increasingly web-based society. Digitization will allow for the online study of primary material. It also provides showmen and artists the opportunity to use material to either recreate Victorian entertainment or to adapt material to new forms of visual entertainment.

The papers ranged from a discussion of the use of the magic lantern by missionaries to trying to track the location (and current use) of a series of nineteenth century English pubs illustrated with lantern slides. We learned about the work of two American showmen who toured the country with panoramas and the career of late 19^th century lanternist, George Reed Cromwell, billed by the presenter as, “America’s most famous forgotten Magic Lantern lecturer”.

There were practical talks like what is required to put on a lantern show, and new links established, for example, between the magic lantern and moveable books. There was a terrific exhibit of lantern material at the Lilly Library. There were also a number of lantern shows. For me the highlight of the gathering was a rollicking variety show staged in one of downtown Bloomington’s theatres. More than 500 people attended, and were treated to a series of eight eight-minute shows.

There was singing, the reenactment of the Serpetine Dance with lantern light effects, slides from America’s most famous lantern artist, Joseph Boggs Beale, a showing of La Lanterne Magique, an early movie by Georges Melies , and temperance slides warning of the evils of drink. It was a delightful way to introduce people to different forms of Victorian visual entertainment.

The event made me think I should again put the link to The Magic Lantern Society for those who might be curious, to learn more and possibly join the society:

http://www.magiclanternsociety.org/

I also thought it would be a good time to put some more of my magic lantern material on my site. I am going to upload in the flash galleries some examples of dissolving slides- a technique first introduced in 1839 by Henry Langdon Childe at the Royal Polytechnic in London and used by lanternists for the rest of the century. Dissolves (fades) would be a technique later employed by filmmakers.

I am also going to put up a selection of additional slides used in the lantern. I hope you will enjoy them.

Zoetropes

The Zoetrope is for many the most recognizable optical toy of the 19th century. It is one of the easiest toys to demonstrate to others how persistence of vision works. All you need to do is look through one of the many vertical slits and spin the drum and then, all of a sudden, a succession of static pictures appears to be a band of continuous movement.

This week I am adding a flash gallery of six zoetrope strips, and six bottom discs.

click here to view the Zoetrope strips

click here to view the Zoetrope bottom discs