Unadulterated féerie, a celebration of painted cardboard sets, stage machinery and mechanical-magic transformations; a swan-song to this genre, so central to the early years of cinematography, a witty and comic magic show from the other end of the 19th century: it was first staged more than Two Hundred Years Ago, on 6 December 1806 in the Théâtre de la Gaîté (Le Théâtre français du XIXe siècle, 2008, p. 270). The film was accompagnied by musician Victor Thiels at its première in the Cirque d’Hiver on December 27, 1907. (Henri Bousquet, Catalogue Pathé 1907, 1908, 1909, 1994, p.49)