A medieval torture device.
The magician is quite proud of this antique apparatus and why wouldn't he be?
It's an egg-shaped cage made of forged bands of iron.
It's empty now but knowing the magician this cage won't be empty for long.
He calls in two of his assistants who come bearing a small rack.
They lift the cage from its heavy-duty mount and place it down on the rack. Here
they can remove the hardened steel pins that secure the two halves of the cage.
With the front half of the cage removed we can see how something or someone can
be placed inside.
Here's someone now and she's something.
The girl assumes the position inside the back half of the cage and it looks like
there is barely enough room for her to make the tight squeeze.
Now two male assistants enter as she steadies herself
they replace the front of the cage trapping her inside.
I'm getting uneasy just looking at the situation.
The steel pins are replaced and she struggles to find a comfortable
arrangement.
There isn't one.
The male assistants lift the cage and place it into the heavy mount along with
its beautiful cargo.
What happens next is anyone's guess.
The magician removes the steel pins again and opens the clasps. The two halves
separate but the girl inside isn't going anywhere.
His other assistants now cover the sections of the cage with heavy pieces
of black canvas.
They're careful to stretch the fabric tightly around the cage. Inside you can
bet that the cage is cramped and dark and no place for a lovely lady to spend
an evening alone.
The magician motions for another assistant.
This one comes bearing a razor-sharp crosscut saw.
Just when you thought this device couldn't get any more torturous.
The magician steps behind the cage and you got it!
He begins to saw between the two halves and presumably the girl.
This just isn't her day
It seems like he's having a hard time of it.
She looked like a tough cookie.
Remember she's strapped inside with nowhere to go.
He's made it all the way through and removes the saw.
The assistants regroup.
One takes the saw as the others remove the cameras and there's the beautiful
girl in the iron cage and uncomfortable but unharmed.
So how did the magician make it look like the girl in the cage was sliced
in two? Here are the secrets.
The cage is in fact as sturdy as it appears. It's got to be in order to
safely hold the girl inside.
When she kneels down to climb in she heart is her back to fill the cage and
make it look even harder than it is.
As the halves are secured
she keeps her back arched and the cage looks almost too small to contain her.
but when she bends down we can see that this is only an illusion.
She has more room than we imagined.
Once the cages in its mount the girl has plenty of room to roll over onto her
back in this position.
She's able to slide some of the middle straps away allowing her to drop down
out of the bottom. As he saws the magician uses his skills as a mime to
make it look like he's struggling to cut through flesh and bone.
The reality the girl has rotated onto her back slipped out of the secret metal
bands and lowered herself safely below the path of the saw.
Who says show business isn't glamorous.
Here's a look at her movements without the canvas.
See there are two sections that have been rigged to secretly slide away and
give her enough room to slip down in this provocative position. She's in no
danger of being touched by the saw blade as it appears to cut through the gap in
the cage.
Good thing because this is a real saw and it does cut close.
However the teeth have been filed down to nothing with a power grinder
just to be on the safe side. By the time the assistants remove the fabric the
girl inside has replaced the sliding metal bands, flipped back onto her knees
and waits to once again fill the cage with her loveliness. And those are the
secrets.