Sawing a woman in half

The sawed Virgin is a classic, pre- led by magicians Great Illusion.

Illusion

Typically, a woman is put in a box and the box (and thus apparently the woman) cut into two pieces. The box is reassembled, the woman gets out unscathed. There are sawed virgin in many versions, with power saws, circular saws and without box. Sometimes these magic tricks are performed with human volunteers from the audience.

History

This illusion was presented by PT Selbit ( Percy Thomas Tibbles ) early 1921 for the first time. The unprepared wooden box standing on wooden blocks. Even today, the sawed Virgin applicable in this version than the deceptive illusion.

Percy Tibbles the wider public was not known as Horace Goldin with large advertising expense " The Great Divide " brought out in July 1921 in America. He used a completely different method than Selbit. Goldin had only read reports about the screening of the English colleagues. The secret of being stuck behind Selbits deception, did not interest him. His motto was " Give me an effect - and I will find a way to produce it ." Goldin could protect his illusion patent, so that Selbit his invention of illusion in America no longer allowed to perform. Just one year later, this illusion has been demonstrated by more than a hundred illusionists worldwide.

When the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company declared trick in advertisements for Camel cigarettes Goldin, Goldin tried for five years to take legal action against it, but was unsuccessful.

After the secret of sawed in the crate Virgin was unveiled, Goldin came up with an improvement that shocked the London public in July 1931, he sawed an exposed on a board lady with a rotating circular saw.

But again, Goldin had the idea of another given a more spectacular form. The year before Fred Milano Goldin in Berlin granted access to his patent for dividing a person at any time visible in its entirety.

Very spectacular this illusion can be demonstrated when viewers are invited to Mitsägen, and next to the " victim's " body down wooden blocks are also divided.

Method

There are different ways to perform the illusion of sawed virgin.

Box

In the variant shown opposite the audience sees only the front side of the box ( Figure A ) and assumes that the person must be cut according to the diagram (Fig. B). The box, however, is wider than suspected, that the woman inside of the box can put on their legs, while the box is sawn ( Figure C ). For the feet a dummy used.

Another possibility is to have a sag slope ( in the leg half) downward ( also used herein to shoe dummies ). Then a metal plate for the audience is invisible inserted into the center of the chest from behind, so that the woman can be violated under any circumstances. This variant is used mainly in voluntary spectators. So that the whole is not noticeable, the background must be obscured, of course, and the slope have the color black.

Circular saw with saw bench

To this end, a circular saw with pendelartigem attachment for the saw blade and large areas of the saw table is needed. First, the magician demonstrated by the sawing of wood on the condition of the saw. Then a woman wearing a long dress, brought to the saw and sometimes also offset from the Wizard in "Trance ". Then the woman puts on the saw table, the assistant of the magician they fixed with metal buckles on both wrists and both ankles ( with the arms pointing in the direction of head and the legs are spread apart slightly to the side ). After the saw is started again and passed through the abdomen of the woman. Finally, the saw is switched off again, the woman freed from the table and unharmed shown to the public.

The trick is that the woman under her dress wears a special plastic construction that is to pretend her belly. While she is strapped to the table, drops, hidden from the audience, down, thereby also her belly slides a part of the table top to bottom. The plastic construction, however, ensures that the dress of the woman does not collapses. The viewer has the impression that they still lie horizontally on the table. For safety's sake is still pushed a stable steel plate between the plastic construction and her belly to protect their bodies from the saw. If now the saw is started, it intersects only by an inset in the plastic belly notch without touching the woman. Furthermore, due to the X-shaped bondage not come into contact with the saw their extremities. Thus the illusion not blows up, the well should be closed again before the woman is freed from the shackles.

• Magic