A magician takes a large candle extinguisher (a metal cone to be placed over a candle's flame to snuff it out, except this one is about two feet tall) and places it on a table and removes it. Each time he reveals something different on the table.
It's a standard magician's act, performed with gay vivacity by the prestidigitator. The only difference is that at least one of the transformations is achieved by camera trickery. Are the others?
Other stage magicians made the move to film: Gaston Velle, Walter Booth and, best remembered, Georges Melies. A lot of their catalogues included magician's acts and Williamson wanted some for his. this standard performance, although it may hide camera trickery within itself, is the result.