Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

THE POLYTECHNIC GHOST

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17460650701433517

1746-0662

Jeremy Brooker,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Abstract The stage illusion Pepper's Ghost is familiar from its use in theatres and fairground booths, and as the starting point for a whole branch of ingenious magical illusions. This article traces its development at London's Royal Polytechnic Institution under the aegis of its Honorary Director, John Henry Pepper. It explores the creative environment and facilities that made the Polytechnic so ideally equipped to nurture Henry Dircks' fledgling invention, and charts its subsequent development there both in ghost lectures and in a unique form of entertainment combining the stage‐based Ghost with screen‐based dissolving views. Notes 1. Bulwer‐Lytton, E. (1862) A Strange Story, Sampson Lowe, London. 2. The Royal Polytechnic Institution was opened in August 1838 to provide the public with (in the words of its prospectus) 'a practical knowledge of the various arts and branches of science connected with Manufactures, Mining Operations and Rural Economy'. The Gallery housed a large exhibition hall, lecture theatres and laboratories. Public attractions included exhibitions, working machines and models, scientific lectures, rides in a diving bell (a major attraction) and, from 1839, demonstrations of photography. In 1841, Richard Beard opened the first photographic studio in Europe on the roof of the building. The Polytechnic became known for its spectacular magic lantern shows, particularly after a new theatre was added in 1848. Despite near disaster following an accident in 1859, the fortunes of the Polytechnic again revived under the flamboyant management of John Henry Pepper, finally closing to the public in the 1880s. The building, in slightly altered form, survives today as part of the University of Westminster, London. 3. The Times, 1 November 1862, p. 1. 4. Wilkie, E. H. (1900) 'Professor Pepper: A memoir', Optical Magic Lantern Journal, vol. 11, p. 72. 5. Pepper, J. H. (1890) The True History of the Ghost and all about Metempsychosis, London; reprinted as The True History of the Ghost, with a new forward by Mervyn Heard, Projection Box, London, 1996, p. 1* According to this account, Pepper was shown the model not by Dircks himself, but by the philosophical instrument makers Horne, Thornthwaite and Wood. 6. According to Dircks, the first performance was to an invited audience on 24 December. See Dircks, H. (1863) The Ghost, Spon, London, p. 5. 7. Unidentified press cutting in R. 82, Royal Polytechnic Institution Archive, University of Westminster, London. (RPI Archive). See also Illustrated London News, 20 December 1856, p. 612. 8. Steinmeyer, J. (2004) Hiding the Elephant, Heinemann, London, pp. 23–25. 9. Dircks, The Ghost, p. 21. 10. Dircks, The Ghost, p. 5. 11. Penny Illustrated Paper, 7 February 1863, p. 84. 12. References to specific productions are taken from the collection of weekly programmes housed in the British Library. Where these are incomplete (1861–1864 and 1877–1881), they have been supplemented from advertising in The Times. 13. Illustrated London News, 10 January 1863, p. 55. 14. Dircks, The Ghost, p. 65. 15. Penny Illustrated Paper, 7 February 1863, p. 91. 16. Wilkie, 'Professor Pepper', p. 72. 17. Pepper, True History, p. 3. 18. Pepper loc cit. 19. Whether audiences were really as baffled by the illusion as Pepper suggests is open to speculation. The illustration discussed above seems to make the workings all too plain, and, according to Wilkie, a working model had already been on display in the Great Hall. Indeed, Dircks had previously published his ideas in The Engineer in October 1858. 20. Dircks, The Ghost, p. 57. 21. The Times, 20 January 1863. 22. The Times, 20 January 1863. 23. The Times, 25 May 1863. 24. Heard, M. (2006) Phantasmagoria: The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern, Projection Box, Hastings, pp. 230–231, notes the similarity between subjects explored at the Polytechnic and Phantasmagoria presentations. 25. Royal Polytechnic Institution (RPI) Programme 1 June 1863. 26. Pepper, True History, p. 3. 27. Wilkie, E. H. (1904) 'Optical illusions', a series of articles from the Optical Lantern and Cinematograph Journal, London.* * Available in The True History of Pepper's Ghost (facsimile CD‐ROM; ISBN 1 903000 10 6), Projection Box, Hastings. 28. The Times, 27 December 1864, p. 8. See Brooker, J. (2005) 'Paganini's Ghost', in Realms of Light, eds R. Crangle, M. Heard, I. van Dooren, Magic Lantern Society, London, p. 149. 29. See Steinmeyer, Hiding the Elephant, pp. 77–90. 30. Daily News (ND) R.82, RPI Archive. 31. Morning Advertiser, 26 December 1861. 32. The Times, 27 December 1862. 33. Elaborate productions combining dissolving views and live action were not without precedent at the Polytechnic. In a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream from 1852, e.g., the painted slides by Mr. Clare 'wrought up the poetry of the Immortal Bard in a most exquisite manner. Nor has he relied solely upon his own conception and skill in placing his illusions before the spectator. Music and dancing help to the perfection of the whole, and these, particularly the former, are of no common order' (press cutting, Theatre Museum, London, dated 7 November 1852). 34. Morning Advertiser, 27 December 1863, p. 3. 35. The Times, 10 November 1866, p. 10. 36. Standard, 3 April 1866, p. 3. 37. Wilkie, 'Professor Pepper', p. 73. 38. Wilkie, 'Optical illusions', p. 43. 39. Punch, 25 September 1880, p. 133. 40. The Hour, 28 December 1875, p. 7. 41. Unidentified cutting in R. 82, RPI Archive. 42. October 1872 ND. R.82, Royal Polytechnic Institution Archive, University of Westminster, London. 43. Wilkie, 'Professor Pepper', p. 74. 44. Wilkie, 'Optical Illusions', p. 76. Wilkie uses a similar description in 'Professor Pepper', p. 72. 45. Pepper, True History, pp. 35–36. 46. Described in detail by Wilkie ('Optical illusions', pp. 76–77, 108–111). 47. Morning Advertiser, 1 August 1879, p. 3. 48. Oxford Museum of the History of Science. 49. City Press, 13 October 1877, p. 6. 50. Morning Advertiser, 25 December 1879, p. 3. 51. The Times, 28 December 1880, p. 4. 52. Followed by his Artificial Clairvoyance; or, Second Sight (1861) and Foster out‐Fostered; or, an Exposé of the Spirit Mediums (1862). 53. Dircks, The Ghost, p. 62. 54. Their first séance was given a short distance from the Polytechnic, at the home of Dion Boucicault, author of The Corsican Brothers, at 326 Regent Street. A useful summary of Silvester's achievements can be found in: Phillips, J. (1998) The Ghost! The Ghost!! The Ghost!!!, Arcady Press, London.* 55. RPI Programme 2 January 1865. 56. RPI Programme 6 January 1868.