On Jan. 7, 1921, the audience at London’s Finsbury Park Empire theatre was introduced to what was destined to become the most famous illusion in magic.

People sat spellbound as P.T. Selbit secured his female assistant’s feet and hands to the ends of a box roughly the size of a coffin, closed the lid, and proceeded to saw the box and supposedly the assistant in half. At least that is how onlookers perceived what was happening. But when the saw was withdrawn and the lid opened, the assistant popped up unharmed with Selbit receiving wild applause. Certainly, he deserved credit for bringing the illusion to the stage, although French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, who inspired Erich Weiss to the extent that he adopted the stage name Houdini, had sketched a diagram of the illusion earlier, but never built it.

P.T. Selbit’s real name was Percy Thomas Tibbles, which he didn’t think suited an entertainer, so he spelled it backwards, dropped a “b” and came up with Selbit.

By the time Selbit introduced the “sawing in half” he had already made a name for himself with an illusion he called “spirit paintings.” The early 20th century was the heyday of spiritualism with many people being goaded into the possibility of contact with the “other side” by mediums adept at using magic tricks to demonstrate the presence of spirits. In darkened séance rooms, trumpets mysteriously floated in the air and tables tipped or even levitated.

Like most magicians, Selbit was irritated by fake mediums and staged séances in which he reproduced the spirit phenomena without claiming to be a medium. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who strangely believed in spirits, was convinced that Selbit’s manifestations were genuine because he could not see how they could be performed by earthly means.

Selbit further capitalized on the belief in spirits with his spirit paintings. Audience members were asked to name an artist and magically a painting in the style of the artist appeared on a blank canvas. There is no written record of the illusion’s secret, but there are many chemical methods by which it can be accomplished. For example, an image drawn with dilute phenolphthalein will be revealed when exposed to an alkaline substance.

The magician also had a trick, not exactly up his sleeve, that involved audience members trying to turn over a giant model of a wheel of cheese. They failed because the cheese had a hidden gyroscope inside.

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Just a few months after Selbit introduced his sawing in half, Horace Goldin not only copied, but improved upon it. Goldin, whose real name was Hyman Elias Goldstein, had emigrated with his parents to the U.S. from Russia in 1890 at age 16. After watching a performance by magician Imro Fox, whose classic line was “Marvelous, everything I do is marvelous,” Goldstein was totally captivated.

Under the name Horace Goldin, he soon began performing magic and amazing audiences with rapid-fire illusions, earning the nickname “The Whirlwind Illusionist.” His fame spread to England and Goldin was even invited to give a private show for King Edward VII.

In Goldin’s version of the sawing illusion, the audience could see the assistant’s head and feet sticking out from the box at all times. Then he went a step further, eliminated the box, and instead of a hand saw used a giant motorized circular blade to saw through the body that was in full view of the audience. This was followed by the climax of the act when the two halves of the body were pulled apart with the head and feet still seen to be moving. There was wild applause when the halves were joined together and the assistant was none the worse for wear.

Selbit sued Goldin for patent infringement, but the courts eventually ruled against him, stating that Goldin’s version was significantly different.

The illusion has become a classic and a staple for illusionists. It even caught the attention of Orson Welles, who loved to perform magic, but of course is better known for his film Citizen Kane — which he co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in as the title character — and for his radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds that became famous because it caused some listeners to believe that a Martian invasion was underway.

Welles used an electric “buzz saw” in his “Mercury Wonder Show” performances and added an extra twist. He didn’t saw an unknown assistant in half, he used famous actresses. He originally performed it on his wife Rita Hayworth and then he went on to divide Marlene Dietrich in two. He later did the same to an up-and-coming young actress named Marilyn Monroe.

Harry Blackstone Sr. featured the buzz saw in his act as did his son Harry Blackstone Jr. who first “hypnotized” his assistant so she would not bleed. Peruvian illusionist Richiardi did the opposite. When the saw cut into his assistant’s body, blood and guts spurted out to the horror of the audience, and when the body was separated, the damaged anatomy could be clearly seen so graphically that it seemed something had actually gone wrong. The audience was relieved when she was fully restored to her former self.

David Copperfield upped the illusion another notch when he himself was subjected to the “death saw.” This time the illusion was framed as an escape.

Copperfield was chained down on a table with the whirring blade slowly descending, primed to saw him in half if he could not escape the chains. He could not! The blade was seen to slice through his body and the ordinary looking table, which actually was quite extraordinary. Copperfield’s two halves were then pulled apart with his head and “his” feet seen to be in motion throughout the separation. It was all very theatrical with flashing lights, sparks and the loud buzzing of the saw.

It is hard to imagine that Copperfield’s version of sawing in half could be improved upon. But magicians are very ingenious. Maybe instead of a saw, how about a laser beam à la Goldfinger?

joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca

Joe Schwarcz is director of McGill University’s Office for Science & Society (mcgill.ca/oss). He hosts The Dr. Joe Show on CJAD Radio 800 AM every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.

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