Walter R. Booth directed this wonderful short film all the way back in 1901...and it's a really remarkable film for many reasons. In some ways, it reminded me of the lovely films of French director/actor/magician Georges Méliès, though "The Waif and the Wizard" has a bit more heart and is more than just simple magic tricks created by turning the camera off and on again.
In this story, a stage magician has a child come up and help him in the act. After the trick is done, however, the child talks to the magician and apparently tells him how bad off his family is...and the child is in tattered clothing. So, the magician makes himself and the boy vanish and they soon appear in the boy's home....and the magician makes food appear to help the starving family.
Unlike Georges Méliès pictures, this one is much more sentimental....not better...just more sentimental and sweet. Well worth seeing and it's amazing how much story they crammed into about 90 seconds of film!