Robert Harbin - The Zig Zag Girl Illusion

Robert Harbin invented one of the most astounding, iconic magical illusions of the 20th Century - The Zig Zag Girl.  Briefly: a cabinet is examined by an audience member. A girl assistant enters the cabinet , with holes for her face, hands, and feet.  The cabinet is tri-sected with stainless steel blades and the girl's middle is slid over to one side.  Then she is restored to normal.  It is one of the most widely copied/pirated illusions. (See article: The American Zig Zag Scandal by Mike Caveney, MAGIC magazine , March 2009).  Only those magicians who purchased Harbin's limited-edition book The Magic of Robert Harbin had permission to build and perform the effect, among them the world class magicians Harry Blackstone Jr., Doug Henning, and Mark Wilson.

Harbin's own presentation of his original illusion remains the best version of it you will see.

Other (authorized) magicians who performed The Zig Zag Girl , included Harry Blackstone Jr., Doug Henning, and Mark Wilson.

Harry Blackstone Jr. performs The Zig Zag Girl Illusion

Doug Henning performs The Zig Zag Girl Illusion in
THE MAGIC SHOW on Broadway, Cort Theater 1974

Collage of Doug Henning illusions performed in THE MAGIC SHOW
(from the Time Magazine article The Magic Boom, July 22, 1974)

Mark Wilson performs the Zig Zag Girl with singer John Denver (Mark Wilson was the magic consultant on a segment of a John Denver television special where Denver and guest star Dick Van Dyke performed magic)