Sawing a woman in half
The best-known stage illusion of the twentieth century, first shown in London in 1921.
Also: bisection illusion, P. T. Selbit, Horace Goldin, cutting a lady in two
In this illusion a magician appears to cut an assistant in two with a saw, and the assistant is shown alive afterward. The English magician P. T. Selbit staged it publicly in London in 1921, and the American Horace Goldin quickly made his own version and toured it widely, which led to a bitter dispute over priority. Orson Welles included a version in his stage and film work, and the illusion has been rewritten countless times. Critics note that it relies on a pattern in which a male performer cuts a female assistant, and that the assistants' skill is often undervalued. Many women, including Adelaide Herrmann and, later, Dorothy Dietrich, have performed their own versions and challenged the pattern.