Continuing our series of “The Good, The Bad and the… You Decide” (Part1, Part 2) we are sharing rare performance footage of Robert Harbin.
Harbin (Edward Richard Charles Williams, 1908-1978) was born in South Africa and came to London at the age of twenty. He was a prolific creator and one of the first magicians in the United Kingdom to perform on television. Many of his books are now rare and sought after collectibles. Two of his illusions are now ubiquitous: “The Chair Suspension” and “The Zig Zag Girl”.
Please note, this clip contains no sound.
As is the norm for film from the period, it is not a continuous recording. There are skips and jumps and the viewer is left fill in some of the gaps. But the overall picture is there.
The Chair Suspension is an impossible feat of balance. While the volunteer is not technically floating”, they remain in the air resisting gravity in an impossible configuration. Many performers present the illusion without the use of an assistant. (Or Penn & Teller who present it as a duo.) Here Harbin uses two assistants to help handle the props and assist the audience volunteer.
The Zig Zag Girl progress the concept of “Sawing a Woman in Half” (or “Sawing Through A Woman” depending on whom you ask.) Here the assistant remains standing upright inside the box and is segmented into thirds. The middle third slides out from the box.
Many who perform illusions don’t design their own. They are designed and built by inventors and craftspeople who specialize in them. (Illusions in this context is a term of art referring specifically to large person-sized tricks, many of which involve the whole body of the performer, an assistant or a volunteer.) The chance to watch two of the most famous illusions performed by their inventor is not something you see every day.
As someone who has performed both illusions on stage for years, seeing them performed by their originator offered me new insights.
- David Ben
The Zig Zag Girl is so ubiquitous, in an interview recorded for the Magic Collectors Weekend in 2017, Guest of Honour Micky Hades reported that while standing with Harbin at the side of the road discussing the illusion, a truck drove by with a Zig Zag tied down in the back.