Article June 5, 1976 Issue

On Sawing the Woman in Half

THOMAS ALAN WALDMAN

What was the matter with me? Other members of the audience "ohed" and "ahed" in wonder and delight. I sat unimpressed and unmoved, feeling out of it—the oddball, so to speak.

Up on stage the young magician had skillfully performed the illusion of sawing his female assistant in half. There, for all to see, was her upper half protruding from a square box, chatting away, while the other half of the box, exhibiting her kicking feet, was being wheeled offstage. Still, all I felt was, "So what?"

The words of Paul to the members of the church in Corinth came to mind: "Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?"^{II Cor. 10:7;} I experienced the common phenomenon identified as déjá vu—the feeling of having been through all this before.