Francis Amberton was a stage magician when his friend Reuben Hardcastle acquired designs for an early cinema camera and built one. After purchasing celluloid film through the mail, Hardcastle suggested to Amberton that they film Amberton’s popular stage magic routine “The Headsman’s Folly.” In 1908, The Headsman’s Folly became a short silent film wherein Amberton, dressed as a wizard wearing a beard and conical hat with a star on the front, is brought before an executioner who wears a black hood. As the executioner goes to remove the wizard’s manacles, the wizard is suddenly free of them and gives a cheeky look to the camera as he dupes the executioner. The executioner forces the magician’s head down onto a chopping block and raises a big axe, bringing it down and appearing to chop off the wizard’s head, which falls into a basket. The executioner then pulls off his hood revealing that he is the wizard. He pulls the star off his hat and throws it to the ground, disappearing in a puff of smoke.