Roll up! Roll up! Come and see the wonderous magic lantern show! Are you looking to bring a little Victorian magic to your historic site? Our magic lantern show will transport your audiences into the wonder of another age. Magic lantern shows were extremely popular in the 19th century. They began as small shows given by travelling performers, projected onto a sheet or wall. They quickly rose to become a phenomenon, where by the use of limelight, they were shown to large audiences in theatres. Lanterns were also available for home entertainment and the well to do might even buy miniature lanterns for their children to play with. It was these first humble moving images that paved the way to the first true movies in the last few years of the 19th century.
Our lantern is an 1890 Pacticon single lens lantern, once used by the Wesleyan Sunday School, probably for educational purposes. Its light source was originally a paraffin lamp, which we still have. It was then converted to an electric projector lamp. We now use a bright LED torch for safety reasons.
We run two different sets of shows. The first contains a potted history of the lantern, followed by a demonstration of our mechanical lantern slides. This will include such slides as the famous ‘Rat eater’, which was immensely popular in the 19th century. It’s hand-painted and operated by a crank. You can see it demonstrated below over a light box.
We also have the amazing chromatrope slide; another type of crank slide with a kaleidoscopic effect. Demonstrated below above a light box. This would have been unlike anything seen before. Displayed on a screen, it would have been mesmerising.
We also have lots of original slipper slides, where a glass slide is pulled over the top of another one to create an effect. Ours include a barber shaving, a man catching butterflies, a chef carrying a pigs head that transforms into a pig carrying a chef’s head and many more. Our finale for this show is the hand-painted Noah’s Ark slipper slide. Sadly, it’s damaged and missing a couple of inches, but enough of it remains to make for a truly spectacular show. You can see it viewed on a light box below. The detail and colours are astonishing.
We also have a story telling show. Many story sets were sold in the 19th century and early 20th century. They were provided with readings to accompany the slide. The language of many of these is rather archaic, so we’ve modernised the language a little. They include such stories as Jack the giant killer, Goldilocks and the three bears (originally just called The Three Bears), and The seven voyages of Sindbad. These are all mainly lithographic printed slides and date to around the turn of the 19th century. We have The Queen of Hearts rhyme, as well as other nursery rhymes (see Hey diddle diddle below). In addition we own some hand-painted slides depicting the tragic tale of Who killed cock robin? You can see some of our slides below.
If you’re interested in a special Christmas version of the lantern show, please contact us.
Happening History 
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