In making up these animated GIFs, we've tried to make them look like the effect produced when the slides are projected. However, it isn't always possible or appropriate to give the full effect. These 'friendly' operate separately because it's a three-glass slide. There's one glass with the painted cats, and each of the other glasses has a black-out area which moves up and down as required. In this instance, this animation matches the way the cats are shown on screen.
For this dancing clown we've adapted the slide - an advantage offered by the computer. The original slide has a painted clown - with four legs. the second glass has blacked-out areas, which move across the screen as required, making it slightly less appealing when projected. While the lanternist will be as quick as possible in manipulating the slide, it's not possible to avoid the blackouts being seen as they move - but that's just a 21st-century view of something that was undoubtedly magical in the 19th century!
A sailor pulling on a net? This one has a painted glass and the second glass has a couple of black-out areas. It works well on screen as the blackouts don't have to pass over the picture - and it always gets a good laugh!
The catalogue says "Robinson Crusoe with his parrot, skipping". My usual comment is to say how clever the parrot is, staying in place. I suppose if you were stuck on a desert island, you'd find skipping a useful form of exercise.
There are several variations on skipping slides, all of which work quite effectively. While the figure stays suspended in the air, the blackout glass can be moved quite quickly and our "persistence of vision" helps it work well. The other comment is usually to make it operate very quickly and say that Crusoe did so much skipping, he became an expert - and still the parrot clings on!