Salon de Magie: The Klosterman Collection Part II

IS SHE MECHANICAL OR SOUL? Birch, McDonald. Birch’s “Mysterio” Golem Illusion. German, ca. 1930. A false automaton or proto-robot demonstrated by Birch as a supposed mechanical wonder. The humanlike form atop the base filled with moving gears and flashing lights was shown to be empty, and yet once the apparent clockwork mechanism was set into action, the gloved hands extending from the front of the form became animated and the machine apparently became sentient, to a degree. Birch could have “Mysterio” answer questions posed by the audience, have it wave the colored ribbons on the display stand before it in any requested sequence, sound out notes on a small piano or xylophone, and interact in a host of other ways. Brass, wood, cloth, and papier-mâché construction. 26 x 21 x 72”. With a compartmentalized road case for the upper portion of the illusion and cloth cover for the base, and sold together with a variety of accessories including spare gloves, a “winding key,” and later poster advertising Birch’s performance of the effect. A handsome and unusual illusion. See Salon de Magie, page 340. Birch introduced his demonstration of the illusion thusly: “There are stories of strange occurrences in a small European village, somewhere in the region of the German Black Forest, and of a thought-to-be fictional Dr. Frankenstein. Science fiction and space novels tell of androids, humanoids, and mechanical beings. Much research indicated that a doctor, who may have been following the lead of Dr. Frankenstein, experimented with electro-mechanical creatures. In an effort to find the link between brain and body, he was believed to have drawn the soul from a brain and transferred it to the electro-circuitry within an android. It has been said that this is that very machine.”