Wizard’s mother cut in two by De Larno

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33791, 13 March 1975, Page 19

Wizard’s mother cut in two by De Larno

The Christchurch magician, De Larno, brought a new act back with him when he returned from the United States late last year. He gave a very convincing demonstration of it to an audience of hundreds in Cathedral Square at lunchtime yesterday. '

He very neatly “cut” 1 a woman in half with a J high-speed power-saw — • exactly the same timber saw that one would buy in one of the city’s < shops. i

< De Larno said yesterday ( that no modifications had been made to tse saw. Its i 20in blade did not fold into f the handle, or collapse, i Throughout the entire oper- < at ion of minutes, the blade’s 1 teeth could be seen working < furiously at each side of a t flimsy stock set up over the ’ subject to guide the blade r down to within one inch of the trestle upon which the t body lay. £ After a power failure in I the square on Tuesday' which prevented De Larno 1 performing the act, yester- ] day’s effort was performed < in front of a very quiet audience. i A volunteer announcing i herself as the Wizard’s i mother, lay upon the trestle, v had the stock placed around c

her waist, and lay quite still while the motor roared into life above her and descended “through” her. ‘HORRIFYING’ “The audience was dead quiet; some had looked away, others had their eyes closed. At the end a few cheered,” said De Larno. “The act is rather horrifying. The audience can always see the blade working through the stock at either side of the body. They know the blade is not made of rubber, but that it is fast tempered steel and can cut a wrist or hand in half in a matter of seconds. The risk of injury during the act was very remote, and the subject was insured by a cover of up to $30,000. The amount did not apply to the saw act only, but to any person injured on a magician’s stage. If his bluff was called and someone presented him with a standard timber saw to use instead of his own, it would make not the slightest difference to the success of

the act, he said, or to the insurance cover. If an accident occurred it would be either because he had failed to check his equipment properly, or because his subject was incapable of following simple directions. Either of these situations would be avoided. He needed only to do routine checks on his equipment, and it was easy to see whether a subject was capable of following instructions, : The possibility of any accident could be clearly foreseen, he said. The Wizard’s mother dismounted the trestle with less confidence than she mounted it, and De Larno said: “If you see anybody getting on the bus and asking for two halves you’ll know it’s the Wizard’s mother.” Only one other magician in New Zealand is reputed to have the act,. which is slightly different from De Larno’s. De Larno will give no secret’s away; the act cost him SUSSOO.