Famous Performances and Depictions
A number of performances or depictions of sawing illusions have achieved particular fame or notoriety.
- P.T. Selbit's original performances in London in January 1921 were special because the effect was new and shocking to audiences of the time. Such was the impact of Selbit's creation that, for decades afterwards, other magicians would try to emulate and improve on what he had done, thus affecting the course of stage magic history.
- In 1956, Indian illusionist P. C. Sorcar used a buzzsaw to cut his wife in two during a televised performance. Just when he had divided her the host quickly signed off and the show ended. This caused horrified viewers to believe she had accidentally been killed. In reality, it was a live television broadcast and time had run out.
- Live performances by Peruvian magician Richiardi Jr are often cited as the most horrific presentations of a sawing illusion. Richiardi used a buzzsaw prop similar to that employed by Sorcar but he greatly added to the shock value by incorporating fake blood and entrails, which were sprayed over the stage (and sometimes beyond it) as the saw went to work.
- As a teenager Dorothy Dietrich became "distinguished as the first woman to saw a man in half" as reported in The New York Times, and in an article in the Weekly World News entitled Dorothy Dietrich, The First Lady of Magic. Dietrich continues to do this routine with jigsaws, bowsaws, swords, chainsaws on TV (Tomorrow With Tom Snyder) and with celebrities such as Robert Klein, and in live performances, including at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which she founded.
- The 1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' depicted sawing a woman in half. The NBC Television Network and sponsor Revlon determined the episode was too gory and chose not to air it.
Read more about this topic: Sawing A Woman In Half
Famous quotes containing the words famous, performances and/or depictions:
“Nelson’s famous signal before the Battle of Trafalgar was not: “England expects that every man will be a hero.” It said: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” In 1805 that was enough. It should still be.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Surely, of all creatures we eat, we are most brutal to snails. Helix optera is dug out of the earth where he has been peacefully enjoying his summer sleep, cracked like an egg, and eaten raw, presumably alive. Or boiled in oil. Or roasted in the hot ashes of a wood fire.... If God is a snail, Bosch’s depictions of Hell are going to look like a vicarage tea-party.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)