词条 | Zig Zag Girl |
释义 |
The Zig-Zag Girl illusion is a stage illusion akin to the more famous sawing a woman in half illusion. In the Zig-Zag illusion, a magician divides an assistant into thirds, only to have them emerge from the illusion at the end of the performance completely unharmed. Since its invention in 1965 by magician Robert Harbin,[1] it has been hailed as one of the greatest illusions ever invented due to both the apparent impossibility of the trick and the fact that, unlike many illusions, it can be performed while surrounded by spectators and withstand the scrutiny of audience members. Harbin was frustrated by his illusions being pirated by other magicians, and this inspired him to publish the method in his book The Magic of Robert Harbin (1970). The book was limited to 500 copies,[2] and owners of the book were granted permission to build or have built the Zig Zag Girl (or indeed any other of the items in the book). The rights to the book and the Zig Zag illusion were then in time passed to The Magic Circle in the wake of Harbin's death. The concept of dividing a lady assistant into two or three parts was something that Harbin experimented with throughout his career before creating his ultimate divide, the Zig Zag Girl. Evidence of his fascination with this concept of dividing an assistant can be found in his earlier publications; the closest relative to the Zig Zag is the "Little by Little" illusion, which was also explained in The Magic of Robert Harbin. Harbin's original Zig Zag Girl illusion is currently on display in The Magic Circle museum. The effectThe assistant (usually a woman) is placed in an upright cabinet, her face, hands, and left foot visible through openings in the front of the cabinet. Large metal blades are inserted horizontally in the cabinet's midsection, dividing it—and presumably the assistant inside—into thirds. The magician then slides the cabinet's midsection apart from the top and bottom thirds, giving the appearance that the assistant's midsection has been pulled away from the rest of her, giving her a "zig-zag" shape. While divided, a small door on the cabinet's midsection can be opened to examine—even touch—the assistant's body inside, a duty frequently performed by an audience member brought up on stage to help perform the illusion. At the completion of the illusion, the assistant's midsection is slid back into place, the two blades removed, and she steps out of the cabinet unscathed. Further developmentsIn recent years, following exposure of the basic illusion by the Masked Magician, a number of magicians have begun performing variations on the basic illusion. In some, rather than the assistant's face being visible through a hole in the front of the cabinet, their entire head projects out of the cabinet through a hole in its upper surface. In another variation, rather than being divided into three pieces, the assistant is instead divided into five - This variation is commonly referred to as the "Five-Way Zig-Zag". MethodThe method of this trick was explained by the Masked Magician, Valentino, as part of a Fox TV series called Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.[3] The trick hinges on two things: that people will not suspect the woman is key for the trick to work, and that the box is larger than it appears. Details are as follows:
Cultural references
See also
References1. ^{{Cite magazine|last=Buttress|first=Fred|date=March 1984|title=The Magic Circle|url=https://askalexander.org/display/5310/Magic+Circular+Vol+78/71|journal=The Magic Circular|volume=78|issue=844|pages=61|subscription=yes|via=}} 2. ^{{Cite magazine|last=Shaxon|first=Alan|date=February 1992|title=My Recollections of Robert Harbin|url=https://askalexander.org/display/40774/Linking+Ring/62|journal=The Linking Ring|volume=72|issue=2|pages=62|subscription=yes|via=}} 3. ^Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, Fox Television, Original broadcast date: November 24, 1997. 4. ^{{cite book| title= The Zig Zag Girl (Stephens & Mephisto Mystery, No.1)|author=Griffiths, Elly| publisher= Quercus Publishing| date=2014|isbn=978-1848669857}} External links
1 : Magic tricks |
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