Selbit sawed through the middle of it with a large hand saw. The impression given to the audience was that, because of the restraints and limited room in the box, the assistant's waist must have been in the path of the saw and she would surely have been cut through. Finally the box was opened and the assistant, still with ropes attached, was revealed as unharmed. The impact of the illusion was immense and Selbit became a box office hit. Jim Steinmeyer attributes the success and influence of the illusion not just to Selbit's inventiveness but also to his timing. By 1920 the world was tiring of older styles of magic. The changes to the public psyche wrought by the trauma of the First World War together with rapid social and technological change meant that the time was right for a new and shocking style of magic. The sawing illusion was pivotal in creating the cliché of the pretty female assistant subjected to torture and mutilation by magicians. Before Selbit, male and female assistants had both been used in illusions. In Victorian times the bulky nature of female clothes often precluded the use of a female assistant in illusions which required a performer to get into a confined space. By 1920, fashions had changed and it became not only acceptable but desirable to have a cast of attractive women displaying shapely limbs. Steinmeyer has noted that, "beyond practical concerns, the image of the woman in peril became a specific fashion in entertainment". Other magicians rapidly attempted to emulate and improve upon Selbit's trick. Within months, American magician Horace Goldin presented a version in which the assistant's head, hands and feet were seen in full view throughout the trick. Goldin was aggressive in the use of legal measures to try to prevent anyone from competing with him. When Selbit arrived in America to tour with his sawing illusion he found that Goldin had registered many possible titles for the act with the Vaudeville Managers' Protective Agency. Selbit was thus forced to bill his act as "The Divided Woman", which had less dramatic impact than the idea of sawing through a woman. Selbit tried to sue Goldin for stealing his idea but the action failed when it was ruled that Goldin's illusion was sufficiently different. The sawing illusion went through many developments after Selbit and other performers achieved fame and great commercial