Please contact joel@joelschlemowitz.com for booking information.

Due to the COVID pandemic we are currently are mostly accepting bookings for outdoor magic lantern shows. We have started accepting bookings for a few indoor performances, depending on the venue and precautions being taken by the event organizers.

Magic lantern shows and presentations

Elliott and Schlemowitz's Phantasmagoria

A recreation of the late 18th/early 19th century ghost-raising lantern shows of Paul de Philipsthal and Étienne-Gaspard Robertson that were the rage of Paris and London. A pair of frog legs that twitch as static electricity is applied helps to set the mood for something supernatural and macabre (created with a puppet rather than with actual frog legs!). Sequences include “The Bleeding Nun”; the raising of ghosts of famous figures such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Benjamin Franklin; the poet Edward Young seeking a tomb for his departed daughter; the temptation of St Anthony; the Witches' Sabbath.

This magic lantern performance uses a rear-projection screen and a reproduction "fantascope" projector with wheels and wooden track to allow the image to grow larger on screen. A scaled-down version can also be performed, using front-projection, depending on the space considerations of the venue.

The magic lantern slides are recreations, based on the phantasmagoria slide collections in museums and private collections (the 18th and early 19th originals being too rare and valuable for public presentation).

The phantasmagoria ends with a demonstration of the equipment and techniques of the fantascope, opaque projection, and other 18th century magic lantern effects.

Elliott and Schlemowitz's Phantasmagoria requires space behind the screen for the projection equipment and wooden track. It works well out of doors but may be unsuitable for small indoor spaces.

The magic lantern, a Victorian experience

A 19th century magic lantern show, in the style of the time, featuring a mix of stories and visual interludes. 

Slides include a setting of the dramatic poem by Rose Hartwick Thorpe, “Curfew Must Not Ring To-night,” with slides created by Joseph Boggs Beale; 1870s and 1880s comical slip-slides with animated images and visual gags; a grim temperance tale titled “The Bottle”; magic lantern slides on the subject of women and bicycles; a 19th century nautical disaster poem by Felicia Hemans.

The show’s repertoire of slides and scenarios can be exchanged, expanded, or customized, as in the case of repeated bookings with the need for new material. These include circus-related animated slides, dissolving views, a series of French anti-absinthe temperance slides, Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” a Cornwall sea disaster narrative “The Wreckers,” Sir Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth,” and other options.

17th cenutry-themed show

While this show uses 19th century lantern slides, the content is 17th century specific. The show includes an illustrated lecture on the 17th century origins of the magic lantern, Sir Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth,” and Rose Hartwick Thorpe’s “Curfew Must Not Ring To-night.”

18th century-themed show

While this show uses 19th century lantern slides, the content is 18th century specific. This includes the comic poem “John Gilpin,” Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” Revolutionary War images, Wordsworth’s “Paul Revere’s Ride,” the death of George Washington, and Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle.”

Nellie Bly Around the World in 72 Days 

An illustrated lecture with magic lantern slides recounting her 1889-90 around-the-world journey, setting out to beat the 80 days of the fictional Phileas Fogg from the popular Jules Verne novel. Her dispatches were featured in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World.

Presented with 150 original 19th century glass magic lantern slides with views of New York, London, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, Chicago, railroads, steamships, etcetera. Nellie Bly's dramatic account of her race to beat the 80 day record contains many picturesque descriptions of a bygone world, and is an engaging and witty refutation to the skepticism as to whether a woman could make such an intrepid solo journey.

Raree Show

A raree show is a form of peep show taking place in a large portable box, with a round opening for a viewer to peer into. Inside is a painted paper theater. The effect of depth is created by using several planes at different distances on which the scenery appears. The scene is animated by the raree show performer using multiple strings accessible from the outside. Lighting effects are produced by opening and closing openings on the box.

A raree show is performed out of doors in sunlight (which lights the interior of the box). The running time of the show is a little over one min, to allow for viewers to take turns without much waiting. It is suitable for booking as part of an outdoor 18th century or early 19th century event.

Technical information

We have screens of several sizes, projector stands, and other equipment so as to be as self-sufficient as possible. Usually all that is required from the site is AC power for the projector.

In small groups we work without sound amplification. For outdoor shows and larger audiences we have a PA system available.

If the "portable museum" is part of the booking, we will need a table (or tables) for setting up the display of objects.

A video projector will need to be provided by the site if there is to be a PowerPoint lecture in addition to the magic lantern performance. We have a modest one available that is suitable for small-scale shows.