Day 1 - The Wilbur Theater

Harold Hawkings sees Idella's hand shoot up and selects her, waving her for come on to the stage. "Now for a gentleman," he says as he scans the audience. He seems about to pick one or two, but changes his mind, eventually settling on an elderly gentleman sitting not too far from Idella. "You, sir, look like a man who has seen much. Come up, if you please."

Once his two volunteers are on the stage, he gives a brief tour, explaining that he got such and such an item from a Chinese merchant in Shanghai, the next one from a bazaar in Morocco, this prop from a fakir in India. When Hawkings reaches for a low, deep box on wheels, he "notices" a vase has been knocked from its surface, and flowers trampled on the floor. Seemingly outraged, he calls for his maid, a worried-looking assistant in a domestic uniform, whom he berates loudly. As punishment, he opens the box and makes her lie in it before closing the lid. Her hands protrude from one end of the box, and Hawkings asks Mr. Wilde to take hold of them; the woman’s ankles protrude from the other end, and the magician asks Idella to grasp them firmly. Then he performs the "sawing a lady in half " illusion, splitting the cabinet in two. He peeks inside the separated ends, visibly blanches, and then moves the two parts so they are cleanly separated. Hawkings then relents, talking about how difficult it is to find good staff and how sorry he is to part with them. He restores the box and produces the maid, unharmed and forgiven. As he thanks Charles and Idella, he gathers up the spilled flowers, folds them into nothing, and produces a fresh bunch for Idella.

The program continues with various illusions and some light comedy. The maid from the first trick returns as his assistant, this time dressed in a fashionable evening gown. Hawkings performs confidently but unremarkably until his penultimate trick.

Two intricately decorated and large upright wooden cabinets are now wheeled on stage. There is enough clearance underneath each box to show that no trapdoor could be used without the audience spotting it. Each has a door, positioned to face opposite wings of the stage. As each door is opened, a dim, eerie glow emanates from the cabinets’ interiors.Hawkings tells a story about the demands of being on long tours and how much he misses his family while abroad. He talks about doing a show every night and the extended travel time to return home from cultured European capitals and the bustling streets of Morocco and Cairo. He jokes about the tedious pastimes required during long sea voyages and the effect that air travel has on his digestion. Then, he explains he has invented a way to return home, instantly, to visit the family and pick up any small items he has forgotten. Hawkings pats one cabinet and walks to the edge of the stage, explaining that all he has to do is to leave one cabinet at home and take the other on tour.

"Then," he declares, "I simply have to do this!" Hawkings runs at one cabinet, leaps, and emerges from the other, with no visible means of traversing the space between. There is clearly not enough of a delay for any subterfuge such as running under the stage.