Chinese Magician Automaton

The magic part is simple, the mechanism extremely complex for the entire automaton. The assistant merely disappears when the back of the box rotates and allows a lever mechanism to move her backward, then the screen moves back into place. The "small" assistant is merely hidden in the base of the table until the appropriate time, when she rises up. A series of cams is used to "program" each movement of the magician.

i think i know what happens, the tall lady goes down from the box but there are mirrors underneath so you don't see it and the mini lady just comes up from under the tablecloth.
Am I right?

i think your theory might be correct because notice how the light under the box turns off before he hits the gong

That's what I was thinking.

he should show the tall box empty after the lady vanishes, before she reappears in the cube. The second vanish could involve the cube falling apart rather than a door just opening (Yes, I know they're mechanical dolls)

my guess is that the full size doll standing was attached to the cover which it is lying on when he shows that the girl had dissapeared the cover turn the other way which means we are looking at the back of the cover as for the girl in the box the cover was actually on top of the doll's head which when appeared u can see a bit of paper sticking out if u watch carefully at the head of the doll which is in the doll the doll in the box actually was in the curtain below the box. thats what i think.

The music spoils everything! No magic on it.

AMAZING clockwork.

It's actually electric .. 5 foot tall ... made in the 1920s by Phalibois ...

Wow! I would have sworn it was stop-motion animation worthy of Ray Harryhausen.