Magical classic: Magicians mark 100 years of sawing people into half

PT SELBIT PUT A WOMAN IN A BOX IN LONDON’S FINSBURY PARK EMPIRE IN 1921 AND SAWED RIGHT THROUGH THE WOOD

He came, he sawed, he conquered. One hundred years ago on Sunday, illusionist PT Selbit put a woman in a box on the stage of London’s Finsbury Park Empire and sawed right through the wood, creating a magical classic.

Now, 100 years on, magicians from around the world will be getting together online this weekend to celebrate the centenary of that landmark performance.

Cut above the rest

“This took off and became the most influential and the most famous illusion, in my opinion, that there’s ever been,” said magician and historian Mike Caveney who is writing a book on the illusion.

“The magician wasn’t doing this trick to an inanimate object. He was doing it to a human being, which raised it up to a whole new level.” In the original version, the saw went through, the box was opened and the person emerged unharmed.

Down the years magicians developed refinements, with the two halves pulled apart. Celebrity magician David Copperfield came up with his own version of The Death Saw where he was the one tied down to a platform as a rotary blade sliced him in two.

Sometimes he actually got injured, Copperfield said in an interview filmed for Sunday’s online event.

“I got cut a few times by the blade because the blade was a little bit off, you know, stages are different every theatre you have,” Copperfield said.

The London-based Magic Circle organisation was due to host the celebrations with a live streamed-event on Sunday.

Reuters The magician initially responsible for this captivating illusion was Englishman Percy Thomas Tibbles who performed under the stage name PT Selbit.