Who was the first "magician" (illusionist) to perform "Sawing A Lady In Half"?

P.T. Selbit (1881-1938) was an English magician and inventor who is credited with being the first person to perform the illusion of sawing a woman in half, January 17, 1921.

His real name was Percy Thomas Tibbles, born in London. He devised an illusion in which the glamorous lady stretched out in a box, the sides closed, and the box was sawn in half. The lady would then emerge unharmed.

Many variations of the illusion have been produced, in most cases with the lady assistant's head and feet visible at the ends of the box, the box sawn in half, and the two halves separated, then rejoined, and the lady emerging "restored" to one piece. There are transparent box versions, box-LESS versions, even versions involving vertical (lengthwise) sawing.

The South American illusionist Richiardi included in his act a dark version in which a buzz saw appeared to slice through his assistant's abdomen and "blood" would splatter and "entrails" would fly out. Simon Drake also performs dark versions in which the lady is not restored.

To date, however, there is NO RECORDED instance of a lovely lady ever being harmed by having been "sawn in half". "Dante's" (Harry Janssen's) long-time assistant Moi-Yo Miller estimated that "Dante" had sawn her in half at least 11,800 times and had restored her successfully EVERY TIME! She died September 18, 2018 at the age of 104 - in one piece!