Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1902. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... the shadows of A clever pair of hands. I was sitting at a little table in front of a cafe on the Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, when a tall, distinguishedlooking man of clerical aspect sauntered by. His black frock-coat was buttoned up to his chin. Upon his head he wore a somewhat antiquated chimney-pot hat, such as is affected by priests in their promenades abroad, or else by eccentric old gentlemen who are worth millions but who take pleasure in hoaxing the public with a pretense of poverty. "An abbe out for an airing!" I involuntarily exclaimed to my companion, a boulevardier who seemed to know all the celebrities of the French capital, at least by sight. "Ma foi!" he replied, with a comical grimace and a characteristic shrug of the shoulders; "don't you recognize that man? An abbe! O la, la, la, mon ami, that is the famous Trewey--Felicien Trewey, juggler, prestidigitator, pantomimist and professor of the art of ombromanie. He is a true artist, and is now performing at the Concert des Ambassadeurs. His silhouttes of eminent persons are simply wonderful. You must go and see him." "Silhouettes?" I inquired. "Yes, and hand-made, too. Remarkably realistic and clever." I had recently arrived in Paris from London, and had been too busy to visit the theaters. Hand-made shadows I had indulged in when a boy, to amuse the children of the household, but I was at a loss to know how such trivial things could be presented in a theater. I made a special pilgrimage that very night to the Concert des Ambassadeurs and "took in the show," as we Americans phrase it. The art of casting silhouettes of animals, such as the dog, the cat and the rabbit, upon an illuminated wall, is very ancient. We find no mural paintings upon Egyptian temples recording such amusements, but it is mo...
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