The One Man Orchestra

Edison summary: The prince of black art pictures. The conjuror appears upon the stage and by waving his hand, causes eight chairs to appear in rapid succession. A trombone then appears instantly and mysteriously in his own hands. He seats himself in the first chair and begins playing the trombone, when suddenly in the second chair there appears an exact counterpart of himself playing a drum. This apparition is repeated rapidly and successfully until the entire eight chairs are occupied by a musician, each being an exact counterpart of the other, forming a full orchestra. They play upon their different instruments very vigorously. The conjurer, who is seated in the first chair, arises, and causes them to disappear in rapid succession, and as he is about to step from the stage, he finds his way blocked by an enormous fan, which has arisen in the background. He immediately turns, bows to the audience, an opening appears in the stage and he vanishes through it, instantly reappearing as if dropping from the scenery above, and immediately his feet touch the stage, he disappears again in a cloud of smoke. This is one of the most puzzling of all the black art pictures.
       Méliès summary : A marvelous subject, full of tricks, disappearing and dissolving effects. The object is to produce a band of seven individual musicians, each playing a different instrument, from one man. This is done in a startling manner, all seven musicians being exact likenesses of one another, and their grimaces and contortions while mastering the music is most amusing to witness. Something novel.
       Lubin summary: A musician attempts to amuse his audience, but fails. He resorts to magic and causes three chairs to appear on each side of him, making seven in all. Seating himself on the end chair he apparently leaves his body there but passes on to each succeeding chair, until all seven are occupied by the same person. They then proceed to play music, lead by the middle man. Finally they cease to play and disappear as mysteriously as they appeared. This picture is full of rich magical effects and warranted to please the most critical. The photography is beautiful.