“Princess Nicotine” ranks as one of the finest trick films ever made in the United States, and was the handiwork of two producers who rank as the leading American exponents of this strange craft—Messrs. J. Stuart Blackton and Albert S. Smith. In its production, all the subterfuges known to the cinematographic trick art were pressed into service, rendering it completely mystifying from beginning to end.

Some years ago these two artists were responsible for a trick-film, “The Haunted Hotel,” which was so puzzling and so cleverly worked out that it was regarded as a masterpiece of cinematographic chicanery. It was a prodigious success; some idea of its widespread popularity may be gathered from the fact that over 150 copies of the subject were disposed of in Europe alone, while its total sales were well over 400 copies; for its success in the land of its origin was quite as marked as that which it scored in the Old World. For a long time it ranked as the finest trick-film the United States had produced, and it precipitated a “boom” in “haunted” subjects. The success of that film, however, threatens to be surpassed by “Princess Nicotine,” which, in addition to being a distinct novelty, is dainty in its conception, fascinating in its theme, and finished in its production.

The story of the play may be briefly related. The scene opens with a young bachelor reclining in an armchair at a table. Before him are scattered the indispensable adjuncts to a bachelor’s comfort—a box of cigars, a tobacco-box, a corncob pipe, a box of matches, a square white bottle standing upon the cigar-box, a bottle of whisky and a syphon of soda-water. In addition, there is a large, round reading-glass with a handle. The bachelor fills his pipe, lights it, leans back and dozes. Suddenly the lid of the tobacco-box is opened and a small fairy, Princess Nicotine, jumps out and falls over the pipe, which arrests her attention and gives her a brilliant idea. Laughingly she returns to the tobacco-box and helps out a second and smaller sprite, whom she leads to the pipe and unfolds her scheme. The fairies are no larger than the man’s hand, and the contrast between their diminutive figures and the bachelor is decidedly grotesque. At first sight one might think the two tiny forms were dolls, but their movements are so graceful, steady, and natural that this idea is quickly abandoned.

The two wee plotters pull out the tobacco, and the smaller fairy jumps into the bowl and is buried beneath a layer of the shredded weed, which is pushed in by Princess Nicotine, who afterwards hides in the tobacco-box.

The bachelor wakes up, and after yawning turns to his pipe once more. To his amazement the tobacco will not light, and he looks at it closely. He starts in amazement and picks up the hand-magnifying glass to examine the contents. He reveals what he sees to the public, for the magnifying-glass is held up as it were before the spectators, who see the elfish face of the fairy peeping from the tobacco and enveloped in wreaths of smoke.

The startled bachelor then inverts the pipe and raps out the contents in true smoker’s fashion upon the table, emptying the fairy in the process. She struggles to her feet from the tobacco débris, and rushes to the tobacco-box, into which she jumps, pulling the lid down after her. Princess Nicotine thrusts her arm out of the box, which the bachelor grasps, but instead of withdrawing the fairy, he seizes a rose, which he proceeds to smell; but he is seized with a violent fit of coughing caused by a cloud of smoke which issues from the flower. He examines the rose through the magnifying glass, this view as it appears to him being held before the audience as before, so that it sees the form of the fairy embedded among the petals, smoking a cigarette. The man drops the rose and rushes out of the room. The rose falls to pieces gradually, the petals accumulating on the table and turning into a cigar. The bachelor re-enters, picks up the cigar, lights it, the smoke rises and whirls round rapidly, and presently rushes into the white bottle. Startled at the extraordinary action of the smoke, the bachelor picks up the bottle, examines it and sees the fairy imprisoned within and vainly endeavouring to escape. The man breaks the bottle, and the fairy is seen standing on the tobacco-box. She picks up a packet of cigarettes, proffers one to the bachelor, and dances before him on the table.

The bachelor commences to tease Princess Nicotine. He lights a match and holds it towards her. She shrinks from it in fear, and in revenge she approaches the match-box, extracts the matches, stacks them in a pile, and lights them. The magnifying-glass is held up as before, and the audience sees the pile of matches burning like a big bonfire. The last scene shows the man, somewhat terrified at the blazing pile on the table, picking up the soda-syphon and endeavouring to quench the outbreak, at the same time deluging himself in the process.

Through the kindness of Messrs. Blackton and Smith I am able to explain how this apparently miraculous picture is produced, and the various tricks employed. In describing the “Little Milliner’s Dream” I have shown how the appearance of a fairy can be produced, by placing the performers fulfilling the rôle at the very back of the stage, a long distance from the camera, whereas the principal actor is caused to carry through his part but a few feet away from the lens. The same effect can be produced by the aid of a mirror placed at the back of the scene; when the players fulfilling the rôles of fairies enact their parts on a stage placed beside the camera, the film records simply their reflection in the mirror, and the impression of extremely small stature is conveyed. By pressing the mirror into service a great saving in stage space is gained.

Two stages are required for the effect: the set stage on which the scene is built up, and on which the bachelor figures, and a temporary stage placed beside the camera, whereon the fairies carry through their parts. The diagram, Fig. 18, shows the setting of the stage. The mirror is placed some distance behind the back-cloth of the stage scene, immediately behind a curtained window, which is really an opening in the back-cloth. As the action takes place at night all is darkness outside the window. The lens is exactly flush with the top of the table in the scene, so that when the reflections of the fairies are caught they appear to be moving upon the top of the table. The mirror at the back of the stage is so disposed as to appear to be the glass in the window of the back-cloth behind the actor, and is arranged so skilfully as to betray no evidence of its existence. The stage set up beside the camera is of such dimensions that it keeps the actresses taking the parts of the two fairies within the limits of the centre of the table; while its floor is marked accurately for other purposes, which will be described later. If the principle adopted for presenting the diminutive players in “The Little Milliner’s Dream” had been followed in this instance instead of using a mirror, the fairies would have had to carry out their work at a point equal to twice the distance between the camera and the mirror to present the same effect. It may be pointed out, in passing, that during the whole play the actor fulfilling the part of the bachelor sees nothing upon the table in front of him beyond the articles placed there for his own comfort.

The rôle of Princess Nicotine was fulfilled by an actress of average height, while her companion was a little girl of about twelve years of age. In addition, certain properties were required, all of which were enlarged facsimiles of objects in daily use. These comprised a cigar-box of huge dimensions capable of permitting the fairies to stand up-right within it; a huge corn-cob pipe, the bowl of which was as big as a barrel; a property match-box containing matches measuring about thirty inches in length, with paper rolled round one end to convey the impression of phosphorus heads; a property packet of cigarettes nearly six feet in height, containing cigarettes thirty-six inches long formed of rolls of paper stuffed with straw, and more straw to represent the tobacco. These properties had to be prepared carefully to scale, while the actresses themselves had to be accomplished performers. The play demanded searching rehearsals, as in a trick picture of this character the slightest slip in the acting destroys the illusion.

The properties were used on the second stage beside the camera operator, and when reflected in the mirror they appeared no larger than the smoker’s companions lying upon the table. Behind the fairies’ stage a back-cloth of black canvas was stretched, so that all their movements were against a black background, and this served to sustain the impression of darkness behind the back-cloth window of the scene, beyond the window in which the mirror was placed.

In addition to these properties stage hands were required at various intervals to complete certain operations, but were concealed out of the sight of the lens of the camera. Their tasks also will be described in due course.

In the opening scene the bachelor uses his own materials lying upon the table. The camera stops, and in the interval their place is taken by the properties, which are placed upon the second stage to produce a reflection in the mirror. When the fairy appears to jump out of the bachelor’s cigar-box on the table she actually steps from the property cigar-box on the second stage, the lid of which is opened by means of a thread pulled by a stage hand concealed behind. The antics of the fairies, which appear to take place on the table before the bachelor, are carried out upon the second stage, beside the camera, the smaller fairy climbing into the property pipe.

When the bachelor wakes up and tries to light his pipe the fairy stage properties are removed from the fairy stage, and those of the bachelor replaced upon the table. Accordingly, the audience see him vainly endeavouring to light his own pipe, which finally he examines with the magnifying-glass. When the scene revealed to the smoker is flashed to the public on the screen in such a way that the audience appear to be looking through the magnifying-glass, they are not looking at the bachelor’s pipe, but at the property one. To produce the effect of magnification the second stage is photographed directly from a short distance instead of by means of the reflection in the mirror. The smoke curling lazily about the smaller fairy and issuing from the pipe is produced by steam, there being a tube carried beneath the table and connected to the bottom of the bowl of the property pipe.

When the scene is flashed back once more, and the bachelor is again seen seated at his table, photographing is resumed of the mirror’s reflected image.

The second stage is cleared again, and we see the man empty the ashes of his pipe upon the table. The débris containing the fairy is again thrown upon the screen in an enlarged form, as if through the magnifying-glass; that is to say, the second stage and its properties are being photographed once more to show the little lady laughing and running among the smoking, half-burnt tobacco. The tobacco is straw and the smoke is steam.

The scene reverts to the table showing the man. By reflection the fairy is observed to jump into her property cigar-box, leaving an arm protruding. This is a property arm built to scale in the same manner as all the other properties used on the fairies’ stage, and when the man seizes it, in reality he grasps the stem of a paper property rose of natural size protruding from the cigar-box standing on his own table. He turns the rose over to smell it, but beneath the table is a stage hand, who puffs a stream of smoke through a flexible pipe connected to the stalk of the rose which the bachelor is holding; the smoke provokes a fit of sneezing and coughing, and the bachelor has recourse to his magnifying-glass to examine the rose. Again the second stage is brought into play, a large property rose lying thereon, revealing the head of the fairy within smoking a cigarette.

Every time the audience is permitted, as it were, to see what the bachelor discovers beneath his magnifying-glass the second stage is photographed direct, the camera being placed about eight feet away. The fact that the properties used are of large dimensions does not strike the public, as they put themselves in the position of the bachelor at the table and look through the magnifying-glass at the articles lying upon the table, which naturally would undergo tremendous magnification. This “flashing” to and fro, as it is called, is so cleverly accomplished that the public does not realise the fact that it is being deceived. Everything that the bachelor handles on the table is of natural size; every duplicate article which the audience sees through the magnifying-glass belongs to the large-sized properties upon the second stage.

In the next scene the bachelor is seen to drop his rose and flee from the room. The rose instantly falls gradually to pieces, petal by petal, each of which runs across the table to roll into and form a cigar. To produce this effect recourse has to be made to the “one turn one picture” movement described in the previous chapter. Each petal is displaced by hand and moved a slight distance by the stage-manager between each exposure. This destruction of the rose and fabrication of the cigar from the petals occupies hours, but it passes across the screen in the course of a few seconds.

When this strange act is completed, and while the camera is not working, a real cigar is substituted on the table for that apparently made from the rose. When the bachelor returns he picks it up and lights it. Thenceforward various tricks, the principle of all of which has been described already, are practised in rapid succession. For instance, the bachelor as he puffs the smoke into the air is astonished to see it whirling rapidly, instead of curling slowly in the usual way. The film is manipulated to produce this effect, as explained in Chapter XX. The actor retains a fixed position, puffing while the operator runs a few feet of film to record the smoke. After development several images on the film—perhaps fifty per cent. of the movement obtained—are cut out, and thereby the smoke is accelerated in its motion so as to become a whirl upon the positive.

While smoking the bachelor is somewhat astonished to see the smoke disobey natural laws by rushing into the square bottle beside him. This illusion is produced by reversal of motion. The operator placed the cap upon the lens and ran the film forward a certain distance, observing the length of its travel on the measuring device. The camera action was reversed, and the film run backwards the length of the unexposed section. The smoke in the bottle was supplied from beneath the table, there being a hole in the base connected to a pipe, through which steam was driven. Naturally the steam flows from the mouth of the bottle, but by turning the film backwards the smoke is made to appear to rush into the bottle. When this incident has been recorded the lens is capped, the film run forward the distance it was reversed, and everything is ready for the next episode.

The bachelor, somewhat puzzled by the behaviour of the smoke, picks up the bottle and looks at it. To his astonishment he sees the fairy within dancing and endeavouring to escape. He picks up his magnifying-glass and examines it closely, and the bottle containing the girl, as seen through the glass, is seen by the audience. The illusion is produced by double exposure, a process fully described already. The bottle was stood against a dark background and photographed. Then the reflected image of the fairy was photographed upon the same film. The stage upon which she acted was marked out, and she had to keep within these limits while making her assumed efforts to escape. Thus the whole of her movements are brought within the area of the image of the bottle already secured upon the film, so that when the latter is developed she appears to be imprisoned within the bottle. If she should step outside the limits during this incident, the reflection would be shown outside the bottle and the illusion would be lost.

The man breaks the bottle with a hammer, and the released fairy is seen standing upon the cigar-box. The “stop motion” has been requisitioned to produce this effect, the camera being stopped when the bottle is broken to enable the fairy to assume her position upon the property cigar-box on the second stage, the box and bottle on the table in the meantime having been removed. Gratified at her release, the fairy stoops down and draws out a packet of cigarettes—the property package concealed behind her property cigar-box on the second stage—and withdrawing one of the cigarettes she offers it to the bachelor. Although the cigarette she holds is three feet long, the reflection in the mirror representing her standing apparently on the table, brings the cigarette down to the natural size. The bachelor holds out his hand to receive it, and at this point the “stop” is called to enable the bachelor to place a real cigarette in the position of the property one, the stage-manager informing the actor when the real article covers the reflection, because the actor himself can see nothing. The property cigarette is withdrawn, and the camera resumes. The bachelor places the cigarette in his mouth, and as the audience cannot detect the “stop” it appears as if he had taken the cigarette from the fairy.

The smoker lights the cigarette and takes a fiendish delight in blowing the smoke at his diminutive companion, meanwhile coquetting with her. The little lady resents the smoke; and as the bachelor again takes up the magnifying-glass the public apparently looks through it at her plight. The fairy is surrounded with cigarette smoke, coughing and sneezing and shaking her fist furiously at the bachelor, who is out of the picture, because in this instance, as before, the actual scene is photographed direct, and not its reflection in the mirror.

The magnifying-glass is laid down and the audience sees the bachelor strike a match, from which his tiny visitor shrinks in fear. The man laughs heartily at her discomfiture. The fairy is bent upon revenge, and steals stealthily towards the match-box. The bachelor follows the fairy’s operations through the magnifying-glass, and the scene is flashed to the spectators. They see the infuriated fairy tearing out the matches and stacking them into a pile. Of course she is handling the property matches, which, as I have already said, are good-sized sticks. She strikes a match and fires the pile upon her stage.

The scene is flashed back to the table, but in the meantime the real matches have been taken out of the smoker’s box and arranged in a pile, which is burning upon the table, so that they appear to have been fired by the fairy. The bachelor picks up the syphon of soda-water and directs a stream upon the burning mass of matches. A final glimpse of the fairy is given through the magnifying-glass as a stream of water, this time from a hose, plays upon the blazing property pile, and she falls over and disappears.

The preparation of a film of this character involves the utmost care in stage management, so that there may be no disconcerting interruptions in the continuity of the action. The greatest difficulty is to obtain exact overlapping of the reflected and the real articles upon the bachelor’s table; moreover, as the actor cannot see anything, but has to act to an imaginary diminutive person on the table, his every action has to be guided by the producer. The actresses must be faultless in their movements. A film of this description requires days to prepare, especially since it entails resort almost to every subterfuge known to trick cinematography.

It will be observed that the work resolves itself into two essential parts—the photographing of the bachelor in his sitting-room when in company with the fairies, as shown by the mirror reflections, and the photographing of the fairies and their properties. Whenever the latter have to be taken, the idea of looking through the magnifying-glass is adopted, and is artfully conveyed by the circular mask of the picture. The magnification explains the apparently abnormal proportions of the articles used; but the public do not realise them as properties because they have been watching the little ladies on the table. Naturally, when the magnifying-glass is turned upon them, the audience thinks that the fairies and their attributes have been enlarged proportionately, whereas, as a matter of fact, they are not enlarged at all, but are photographed direct from a distance of only a few feet. In such a film as this the producer, having sketched out the work and arranged the scenes, photographs all the incidents pertaining to the reflection one after the other, and subsequently photographs the views apparently taken through the magnifying-glass upon either the same or another stage. The trick effects, such as the conversion of the rose into the cigar and so forth, are taken at other times. When the numerous strips of film are developed the various sections are sorted out and placed in rotation, to be connected up to form one continuous subject showing the natural progress of the play.

Such is the story of the production of one of the prettiest and apparently most miraculous trick-films that has ever been seen. It should be said that such charming and mystifying productions as “Princess Nicotine” appear only at very long intervals, but their rarity is compensated fully by their fascination and novelty, which, it may be pointed out, is a salient feature of the productions of the Vitagraph Company in this particular field.