General Cigar
This is a small pavilion, but it has a lot going on. There is a Hall of Magic in which people are made to disappear; spectators watch movies of sports events – including parachute-jumping – filmed from startling angles; a machine blows 12-foot smoke rings 150 feet into the air every 20 seconds.
This view of the General Cigar pavilion is from the edge of the nearby Solar Fountain. The red-and-white striped structure to the right is the smoke ring machine. (CD #10 Set 49 # 24)
While it may have seemed like a good idea, the smoke ring machine failed to live up to expectations. The device rarely worked as planned, and when it did, it was so loud that it disturbed the audience inside the pavilion watching the magic show. The smoke ring machine is best known for the buttons given away at the pavilion, as they intentionally were mis-worded to gain attention. (Set 327 # #3 CD #TBD)
The General Cigar pavilion is best known for the buttons given away, as they intentionally were mis-worded to gain attention.
Magic Show. A magician causes human beings and objects to appear from nowhere, float about and vanish, in this 10-minute show staged three times an hour in the pavilion's theater. Visitors may also puzzle over a "hand machine" - two life-sized hands projecting from strips of metal with nothing behind them, which move and make human gestures.
The high point of the pavilion was the magic show, which was created and narrated by famed magician Mark Wilson. Here another magician prepares to cut a woman in half. Hopefully the trick worked better than the smoke ring machine! (CD #10 Set 49 #27)
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