Apparently the elephant had vanished otherwise there would have been no unobstructed view. The audience saw through the cabinet and out the hole in the back. Each half of the back door had an oval cutout in the edge, so that when closed, they showed a circular opening in the center. During this time, all Houdini did was open the front curtains. Filled with 5 tons of elephant, the illusion required twelve men to turn the cabinet, which took up seven or eight minutes. After this, the front was then slowly but steadily turned straight toward the audience. The curtains were then drawn shut at Houdini's order, and the two doors were closed at the back. Jennie then strolled on stage, had her sugar with Houdini by the footlights and was moved from there to the front of the cabinet, which she entered. ۬When Houdini spread the "front" curtains and opened the "back" doors they were "faced" toward opposite wings. The downstairs spectators formed a semicircle, balcony patrons had their view of the top of the cabinet cut off, and patrons sitting in front saw a slightly oblong cabinet which was set toward the audience, so that its curtained front end was toward one wing of the stage and the back, was toward the other wing.
 Also, theater's shape made it difficult for most people to look through the Elephant Cabinet. The size of the theater made the cabinet appear much smaller than its actual size. What he described as "about 8 feet high" could not possibly have housed the 5-ton, 8 foot tall elephant. The Hippodrome's size made it easy for Houdini to underestimate the size of his cabinet. Once reopened, the cabinet was empty, the elephant vanished. Once inside the cabinet, the doors and curtains were closed. Houdini began with a cabinet, he described as "about eight feet square, twenty six inches off the floor." All parts of the cabinets where shown to the audience and the elephant was walked inside. The illusion called for only a huge cabinet, an elephant, and a team of twelve, strong men. The Hippodrome featured the world's largest stage as well as a troupe of trained elephants. On January 7th, 1918 Houdini performed his "Vanishing Elephant" illusion at New York's Hippodrome Theater.
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