Designer: P.T. Selbit
Selbit created the Bathing Girls Illusion for outdoor parties and other outdoor events that can allowed for surrounded performances. The illusion was a clear adaption of Okito's "Checker Cabinet" but it was built for producing six girls instead of being used merely as a switching device. The size of the cabinet according to an eye witness who examined it was approximately 8 feet long, 6 feet high, and 2 feet deep and was raised on short legs although it's difficult to imagine the cabinet being only 2 feet deep. Both the front and back of the cabinet had 3 doors each.1
Each compartment was shown empty and then the doors closed and quickly opened again in the same manner producing a girl out of each of the individual doors. The doors were then closed and immediately opened at the same time to produce another girl in each of the 3 spaces for a total of 6 girls.1
This was the first illusion where Selbit broke his more common rule of using girls in voluminous clothing, and he dressed them in the new one-piece bathing suits with thigh-length "drawers" and a belted frock.1
Sources
- Lewis, Eric C., and Peter Warlock. P.T. Selbit: Magical Innovator. Magical Publications, Pasadena, 1989 (Magical Pro-Files No. 3). The information on this page is drawn largely from this book.