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Paul Philidor

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"Phylidor"
NationalityBrabantian (Belgium/The Netherlands)
Other namesPaul de Philipsthal
OccupationStage magician
Illustration of a performance by Phylidor, from a 1791 handbill.

Phylidor (17??–1828/9), also spelled "Phylidoor" or "Philidor", also known as "Charles Phyllidoor",[1] "Paul Filidort" and probably the same as Paul de Philipsthal, was a magician and the pioneer of phantasmagoria shows. Phylidor's origins are unclear, as is his exact identity; it is believed that he took his name from François-André Danican Philidor.

Biography

According to a 1789 visitor of a Berlin séance Phylidor was from Brabant (now part of Belgium and The Netherlands) and a nephew of French opera composer and chess master François-André Danican Philidor.[2] He spoke French (at least at a Berlin séance in 1789).[3] In his advertisements he usually presented himself as a physicist.

In newspaper advertisements, announcements and flyers Phylidor sometimes claimed the praise of the royalty of several European courts. In 1786 he claimed to have a privilege of the Menus-Plaisirs of the King of France.[4] From Catherine the Great and her court members he reportedly received 1.000 rubels, a gold tobacco box and a brilliant ring as appreciation for his performance of physics experiments in January 1787.[5] He claimed to have gotten praise of the Dresden court for his new show in 1789.[6] At least once he claimed to be of nobility, when he was registered in Regensburg in 1792 as "Herr Baron Phylidor, Physicus von Wien".[7]

By the time Phylidor came to Berlin in 1789 he was married and had a servant.[6]

Although perceived as a charlatan and a very mediocre magician by enlightened Berliners, in the eyes of others he gained the reputation of an extraordinary man with special powers. He reportedly helped a lady who came to him for advice about clothes that had been stolen from her house: Phylidor said he would make the thief very unhappy for the rest of his life, if the clothes were not returned the next day. On Phylidor's request she told this to all her servants and the next morning the clothes were back in place. Phylidor also made a barber believe that he had removed his head to shave himself, secretly using an imitation of his head made out of wax.[6]

Phylidor probably was a rich man at least in the early 1790s, wealthy enough to own a carriage and to bribe a high official, but may have lost his fortune later on.[8]

From around December 1798 to 1800 Phylidor collaborated on his shows with a business partner who was also advertised to be a physicist.[9][10]

In March 1799 Phylidor had a little feud with Dutch glassblower J. Demmenie, who according to Phylidor had copied his show after Phylidor had used a tent of Demmenie's mother and had worked with his brother in law as an attendant. Phylidor took out an ad in two local newspapers to warn the public against this poor copy of his show.[11] Demmenie replied in the newspapers by calling Phylidor an alien libeller and claiming that the used machinery had been known to physicists since a 100 years and shown by others in the region since six years.[12][13]

Phylidor traveled across Europe, mainly visiting the capitals and larger cities:

Phylidor was very likely the same person as Paul de Philipsthal who lived in the U.K. and performed Phantasmagoria shows from 1801 to 1828.[14][24]

Paul de Philipsthal was granted a British patent for his Phantasmagoria on January 27, 1802.[25]

Paul de Philipsthal died in 1828 or 1829 in Middlesex leaving behind a wife and daughter.[24]

Performances

Phylidor's oldest known performances were presented as "black arts" or "natural magic" and included conjuring tricks and automata.[26] When these weren't received well in Berlin in 1789, he tried to make an impression with the evocation of ghosts.[3]

The idea of séances was in its infancy in the 18th Century, particularly in a public setting.[27] In the early 1770s Johann Georg Schrepfer performed Masonic necromantic rituals and experiments, raising ghosts that were probably created with many hidden techniques including magic lantern projections on smoke.[28] Soon after Schrepfer's death there was a boom of publications either attacking or defending his supposed supernatural abilities, expanding Schrepfer's fame across Europe. Several publications included explanations of techniques he might have used to conjure apparitions, which inspired several people to try to recreate Schrepfer's séances.[14] Cagliostro was thought to have performed similar séances and Phylidor referenced both Schröpfer and Cagliostro in several advertisements.[29]

Phylidor's first séance resulted in the accusation of being a fraud. He was ordered to stop and expelled from Berlin. A few months later he published a statement that he never had conjured up any spirits, but that he showed how people could be deceived by charlatans. He regarded his shows by no means as supernatural, but as an art which had already found praise at the Dresden court.[6]

Philidor used many of Schrepfer's supposed techniques along with conjuring tricks copied from Joseph Pinetti[30] and, making use of the recently invented Argand lamp,[27] produced a show that could more easily be seen by large audiences.

Over the years his performances were advertised to include "black arts" or "natural magic", pyrotechnics, physics experiments, hydraulics, hydrostatics magnetic-mechanical experiments, mechanical pieces of art (including life-size mechanical figures), optical illusions / optical art (including apparitions of ghosts and absent persons) and catoptrics.

Dutch Republic (December 1785 to March 1786)

Phylidor's first known performance was advertised as "Zwarte Konst" (Black Art) by Charles Phyllidoor, professor, at six in the evening of December 29, 1785 in Middelburg.[1]

A few months later "De heer Phylidoor, professor in de Physique, &c" arrived in Groningen and advertised two "Representations der Zwarte Konst" to take place in the local Concert Zaal. The first would be a presentation at six in the evenings of March 22 and 23, consisting of fireworks in which several animals could be seen and which on command of the audience would display 25 different colors. For the second presentation Phylidor would render a person of the audience unable to move, for as long as pleased him. Subscription to the performances was one Ducat, which was perceived as rather expensive.[4][31]

Berlin (February 8 to March 30, 1789)

Magic shows

Arriving from Russia, Phylidor first performed in Berlin on February 8. The flyer promised "sehenswürdige Magische oder sogenannte Schwarzkunst nachahmende Kunststücke" (great magic tricks that imitate the so-called "black arts"). It would, among other surprises, include the following highlights:

  • Theofrastus Paracelsus; a golden head that made lifelike movement and could answer all questions with certain signs
  • a magic crystal column, circa 2 feet high, from which certain things would jump up on command of the audience
  • der Großsultan; a Ottoman figure that on Phylidor's command would curtsy to the audience and answer questions by movements of his head, understanding questions in German as well as in French
  • a Dutch windmill, with a new sympathetic invention causing its sails to stop and turn according to one's wishes
  • a clock on a crystal column, which would tell whatever time desired by the audience, without anyone touching it
  • from a distance and without touching it, Phylidor would take the life of a bird that was being held by someone in the audience and then resurrect it
  • a magnetic staff would make a round object move around and on command of the audience dance a waltz in the air[26]

When his "Expériences physiques de St. Philidor" or "magical experiments" of the following weeks were perceived as mediocre magic tricks and raised little applause, Phylidor decided to try something else.[2][3]

First failed necromantic session

The room used by Phylidor reminded Von der Reck of this illustration in Christlieb Benedict Funk's Natürliche Magie (1783)

After twelve days of preparation Phylidor invited an audience of 14 men to an evocation of ghosts at 7:00 p.m. on March 30. The 14 distinguished men did not expect to see real ghosts, but intended to amuse themselves by trying to find out how this magician wanted to fool the audience. They agreed to keep their heads clear to witness the evocation as attentively as possible. Royal Theater director Von der Reck was among the 14 men welcomed by Phylidor's wife and a little man that she called "Professor", before being led through small and dark staircases up to the third floor.

Phylidor was dressed in black and led the visitors into a small darkened room with dazzling white walls, in which a rectangular area was fenced off with a construction of slats with a metal hand on each end. In the center of a chalk circle on the floor were a wand and a small lantern on a folded long black cloth. A container with almost burned out coals stood next to it. Phylidor asked the spectators not to speak, move or touch anything since they were surrounded by terrible dangers. He advised them to hold each other's hands and the ones on the end to hold the metal hands in order not to fall over and as a protection against the dangers. Von der Reck asked the man next to him to let go of his hand, because he did not want to get an electric shock. Phylidor then extinguished the lantern, leaving only the very weak light of the coals. Soon thick white odorous smoke started to spread across the room and Phylidor started the ritual. It included some incantations in a dull but commanding voice with the words "Helion, Melion, Tetragrammaton" (as reportedly used by Cagliostro), some French sentences like "Parois. Esprit terrible! Esprit terrible, épargne moi!" and the name of Jehovah mixed in repeatedly. A terrible thunder-like noise filled the room and as Phylidor called out: "Esprit, parois!" (Ghost, appear!), a streak of light appeared on the wall that gradually transformed into the (almost) life-size figure of Voltaire, dressed in white and hovering a foot above the floor. Some spectators complained that this was a very poor apparition and clearly a projection of some transparent picture. Phylidor commanded the spirit to disappear and soon an apparition of Frederick the Great followed. When some visitors complained that the facial features weren't very clear, Phylidor replied that he was surprised that they expected to see this on a ghost. Then Von der Eck confronted Phylidor with the question if it wasn't all just optical illusions. Phylidor threatened with terrible dangers that would be caused by this behavior. Von der Eck and other audience members then demanded to see Phylidor raise the devil, if he would still insist that he really had supernatural powers. He pleaded not to have to do this, but instead to raise the spirit of the deceased father of an Englishman in the audience as they had agreed a few days before. He conjured this apparition, but the image showed a figure in too fashionable an outfit for someone who had died a few years before. In the meantime the smoke had become too irritating and some men called for light and wanted the door to be opened. Phylidor proposed to make King Heinrich IV appear, but couldn't calm his audience and accepted his defeat. Some of the men warned him that it would not end well if he was to perform his deceitful tricks again.[2][3]

Aftermath

The morning after Phylidor's failed séance, he was told by the police not to perform his magic again, because it went "against religion and good manners", and he was ordered to leave Berlin.

After Phylidor had left, Von der Eck examined the room and found some evidence that the apparitions were created by rear projection on a transparent screen in the wall. He also found traces of a metal wire that had been attached to the walls, which he thought was intended to ignite some combustible materials to create the illusion of the complete room being on fire.[3]

Vienna (February 1790 to January 1792)

Phylidor had further developed his show when he came to Vienna and claimed to have perfected his ghostly apparitions with a totally new invention. He advertised his show in in March 1790 as "Phantasmorasi, oder natürlicher Geister Erscheinungen" (Phantasmorasi, or natural ghost apparitions), besides very entertaining magnetic-mechanical experiments in his renewed Cabinet of Physics.[29] Spectators would gather in a black-curtained room which resembled a temple. The performance would start with the sound of thunder that would grow louder and louder, accompanied by hail and wind. Lights would extinguish themselves one by one and flames would rise from the lamps before being extinguished and rendering the room in total darkness. Then ghosts of all sizes and shapes would fly around in a circle. The ghosts of famous persons would appear, each in a different way: one would rise from the floor, a second would suddenly be there and one would slowly shape itself from a grey cloud. Another would approach from far away and come so close that one could touch it. Each apparition would take a few steps closer to the audience before disappearing. Spectators would be spared any annoyance of foul tastes or odors and could count on a pleasant experience. The show would start at seven in the evening and last one and a half hour. There would be three public performances a week and private shows for parties up to 24 people could be booked for the remaining days.[32]

Paris (December 1792 to July 1793)

A "Phantasmagorie" by Paul Filidort in Paris was first advertised on December 16, 1792. It was several years into the French Revolution and the audience were particularly open to the idea of seeing their dead heroes.[33] However, with tensions running high and Philidor's shows increasingly making political references it was not long until he found himself in trouble with the authorities. Philidor made references to well-known revolutionaries of the day, making Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Jean-Paul Marat appear as if they were the devil.[34] The series of shows abruptly ended after a few months and Philidor disappeared. According to the memoirs of Madame Tussaud, a "Monsieur Phillipstal" was arrested after the audience of a phanstasmagoria show protested to what they interpreted as a as depiction of the rise of Louis XVI to heaven, caused by a mistake by an assistant who was removing the slide during projection. Phillipsthal's wife would have bribed authorities so he was released from prison. However, this may only be legend as also Robertson is associated with trouble after showing a slide of Louis XVI, which Tussaud might have read in Robertson's Mémoirs (1831-1833) and mixed-up with Philipsthal[35]

Batavian Republic (1798-1800)

In 1798 "Phycisist" Phylidor exhibited his "Large Cabinet of Mechanical and Optical Arts" including ghostly apparitions and life-size mechanical figures in several cities of the Batavian Republic (now a large part of the Netherlands).[36][37] In Rotterdam during the summer of 1799 Phylidor first advertised his peacock automaton, which ate and drank as if it were real. The performance took place in a tent in the Gebakken Pauwesteeg ("Baked Peacock Alley").[38] Returning to Groningen in 1800 "Physici Phylidor & Compn." advertised their totally new wondrous mechanical and optical pieces of art, by candlelight and accompanied by music.[39]

Shows in London

Philidor moved to London under the assumed name of Paul de Philipsthal, continuing his shows. Just as Philidor had been inspired by Schröpfer, his own methods were observed here by Belgian Étienne-Gaspard Robert,[33] who combined what he had seen with his own skills in optics and painting. By refining the performance and the technologies Robert created the first true phantasmagoria show.

In October 1801 Philidor set up a permanent exhibition at the Lyceum Theatre, London.[40] By this time Philidor's shows had moved away from theatrics and into scientific demonstrations, no longer attempting to fool the audience members into believing that the apparitions were real. In an opening speech, Philidor would make it clear that these phantasmagoric images are purely for entertainment. This was in keeping with the growth of the fascination with science at the time[41] and the more widespread availability of magic lanterns. Philidor also displayed and demonstrated a variety of automata and mechanical devices.

After a short break Philidor reopened his show with the wax museum of Marie Tussaud alongside. Tussaud had left France to join up with Philidor, who agreed to allow her to associate with his fame for half of her profits. She would go on to travel Great Britain and Ireland until settling down for a permanent exhibition on Baker Street in 1835.[42]

References

  1. ^ a b c Middelburgsche Courant. 1785-12-29
  2. ^ a b c Erzählung einer neulichen Geisterzitation in Berlin (in German).
  3. ^ a b c d e Von der Reck (1789). Nachricht von der Philidorschen Geisterbeschwörung. pp. 456-.
  4. ^ a b c Groninger Courant (in Dutch). 1786-03-17.
  5. ^ a b Groninger Courant (in Dutch). 1787-01-26.
  6. ^ a b c d e Chronic von Berlin oder Berlinische Merkwürdigkeiten - Volume 5 (in German). 1789.
  7. ^ Regensburgisches Diarium July 24, 1792
  8. ^ Huhtamo, Erkki (Winter 2006). "The Magic Lantern Gazette, Volume 18, Number 4" (PDF). pp. 10–20. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  9. ^ a b Haagsche Courant. 1798-12-19.
  10. ^ a b Groninger Courant. 1800-04-29
  11. ^ Leydse Courant. 1799.03.23
  12. ^ Leydse Courant. 1799.04.05
  13. ^ De nieuwe Haagse Nederlandse Courant. 1799.04.20
  14. ^ a b c d e f Rossell, Deac (2001). The_19_Century_German_Origins_of_the_Phantasmagoria_Show.
  15. ^ Regensburgisches Diarium. 1792-07-24.
  16. ^ Kurfürstlich gnädigst privilegirte Münchner-Zeitung. 1792-07-26.
  17. ^ Staats-Relation der neuesten europäischen Nachrichten und Begebenheiten. 1797-03-03
  18. ^ Oprechte Haarlemse Courant. 1798-06-23
  19. ^ Utrechtse Courant. 1798-07-11
  20. ^ a b Haagsche Courant. 1798-11-14
  21. ^ Leydsche Courant. 1799-03-25
  22. ^ Utrechtse Courant. 1799-07-05
  23. ^ Rotterdamse Courant. 1799-08-27
  24. ^ a b Heard, Mervyn. PHANTASMAGORIA: The Secret History of the Magic Lantern. The Projection Box, 2006, p. 209.
  25. ^ The Repertory of Patent Inventions - Vol. XVI. 1802.
  26. ^ a b Chronic von Berlin oder Berlinische Merkwürdigkeiten - Volume 2 (in German). 1789.
  27. ^ a b Grau, Oliver. Remember the Phantasmagoria! chapter from MediaArtHistories, MIT Press/Leonardo Books, 2007, p. 144
  28. ^ Geffarth, Renko (2007). The Masonic Necromancer: Shifting Identities In The Lives Of Johann Georg Schrepfer. pp. 181–195.
  29. ^ a b Phylidor Phantasmorasi flyer. 1792-03
  30. ^ Heard, Mervyn. PHANTASMAGORIA: The Secret History of the Magic Lantern. The Projection Box, 2006, p. 57.
  31. ^ Groningsche Volksalmanak voor het Jaar 1900
  32. ^ Phylidor Schröpferischen, und Cagliostoischen Geister-Erscheinungen flyer 1790
  33. ^ a b A History Of The Magic Lantern - Page 7 MagicLantern.org.uk. Accessed 31 July 2011.
  34. ^ Long Hoeveler, Diane. Smoke and Mirrors: Internalizing the Magic Lantern Show in Villette. Accessed 11 August 2011.
  35. ^ Huhtamo, Erkki (Winter 2006). "The Magic Lantern Gazette, Volume 18, Number 4" (PDF). pp. 10–20. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  36. ^ Oprechte Haarlemse courant. 1798-06-23.
  37. ^ Utrechtsche courant. 1798-07-11.
  38. ^ Rotterdamse Courant. 1799-08-27.
  39. ^ Groninger Courant. 1800-05-02.
  40. ^ The Lantern of Fear - Page 2 Grand-Illusions.com. Accessed 31 July 2011.
  41. ^ Barber, Theodore X. Phantasmagorical Wonders: The Magic Lantern Ghost Show in Nineteenth-Century America. Film History 3,2 (1989): 73-86. Print.
  42. ^ Heard, Mervyn. PHANTASMAGORIA: The Secret History of the Magic Lantern. The Projection Box, 2006, p. 165.
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