One day Pop received a message that Thurston wanted some illusions built and would he come to Thurston’s estate at Whitestone, Long Island.
Thurston was particularly interested in an illusion, originally invented by Selbit and sold to Horace Goldin who in turn sold it to Thurston. Pop went to work on it, and the resulting illusion was the greatest box-office attraction ever invented. It was “Sawing a Woman in Half.” The secret of “Sawing” was the shape of the table and the two boxes sitting on top. The way it was painted added to the optical illusion. Pop perfected that.
Never had so many imitators tried to copy an illusion. The outstanding success intrigued Thurston to the extent that he wanted to have a second Thurston show with Jansen. But there were some other magicians using the name Jansen.
At some time Pop had read Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” and the name Dante appealed to him. Thurston approved of the name change. A contract was signed between them and a new magician was born, known henceforth as “Dante the Magician” using the pronunciation “Dan-tee.”
To build up the interest and excitement over “Sawing a Woman in Half” there would be an ambulance parked in front of the theatre. If it was ever used it was only for women who fainted during the performance, and a few did!
The preparations were so secret, even the stagehands were barred when we were getting Sawing ready.
One time a man made a bet of ten thousand dollars with Pop that two women were in Sawing. At the last minute he backed down. Pop would have won because Bill was the bottom half!
Thurston announced at a meeting of the Society of American Magicians, in 1922, that “he had found a young man who knows more about practical magic than anyone living today” and he named Dante as his successor.
A new type of magic was also created. A Mystery Review. There would be sketches with special scenery to carry out each illusion, special musical arrangements and costumes on a par with top musical shows. A full two and a half hours of magic, no other acts.
It took a year of preparation and thousands of dollars, then the show was ready to open in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was an immediate success.
Thurston took it upon himself to order all the new lithographs for Dante and they had a lot of devils and imps in the designs. Pop didn’t like that. It didn’t project the image he wanted of a wholesome entertaining family show. But I guess he was stuck with it.