The first animated picture ever taken of a performer was shot by R. W. Paul on the roof of the Alhambra Theatre. It was one of myself doing a short trick with rabbits. I produced one from an opera hat, then made it into twins, all alive and kicking. This picture was reproduced in a little device called a Filiscope. The hundreds of pictures which go to make up a film of a cinematograph were printed on paper in the form of a little book, the leaves of which were turned one at a time by a simple mechanical device, the rapidly moving leaves giving the effect of movement. This pocket cinematograph sold by the million.

---

David Devant, My Magic Life, Devon, The Supreme Magic Company, 1931 [1971], p. 74.

The Tom Thumb Filoscope, Derby. Conjuror
The Ephemeral Collector