Why are there few kids' shows that feature sawing in half?

[ConsummateVs]

I think the reason why they usually don't show that stuff on kids shows is because young kids might think that the characters really are getting sawed in half. Most preschoolers are too young to realize that it's just a magic trick.

 

[D'Snowth]

Hey, let me bump and eleven year old thread so I can reiterate what I said in the original post.

 

[minor muppetz]

I thought the "sawing people in half" act was done on many kids shows. Though now I'm having trouble thinking of very many.

Of what hasn't been mentioned, it was done on Dinosaurs.

It was mentioned that it was done in the Looney Tunes short Show Biz Bugs, but it was also attempted in the short Merlin the Magic Mouse (though Merlin never actually completes the trick - he mistakenly uses a real sword instead of the magic sword, and after he learns his mistake, the cat "volunteer" finds out he's a mouse and chases after him). I feel like it was done in other WB shorts, but am unsure off-hand.

It was done on Bullwinkle in the Mr. Know-It-All segment "Magic Made Easy (The Hard Way)". Interestingly, this one has Bullwinkle sawing a man in half (he also says it's the least-requested trick - he probably meant the sawing in half part but I can't help but wonder if he was referring to the "sawing a man" part).

I'm trying to remember whether Pee Wee Herman did this trick during his magic show in the Pee Wee's Playhouse episode "Now You See Me, Now You Don't".

Also trying to remember if the trick was done in the special It's Magic Charlie Brown (wow, both of the above-mentioned things that I cant remember whether the trick was done are ones where the star turns invisible with the risk of not turning back to normal). I know it has a similar trick with Peppermint Patty in a box that's cut up into three halves, but that's not exactly the same as sawing a person in half.

 

[salemfan]

I think the reason why they usually don't show that stuff on kids shows is because young kids might think that the characters really are getting sawed in half. Most preschoolers are too young to realize that it's just a magic trick.

You mean if Between the Lions had done an episode in which Lionel is "sawing Cleo in half" with Theo as the announcer and Leona says she can't be part of the show because she "got invited somewhere" when she would really be providing the feet and when Leona "came back", as they tell her it would have been too scary for her, maybe she can be involved with performances like this when she's older, she'd be exhibiting feelings of stiffness from being curled up in the lower half of the box providing the feet, kids in the target age for these shows wouldn't understand why Leona couldn't be there as good as they can understand that when it was Tammy Lionette's turn to receive a Golden Meaty award Cleo said she had to leave because Cleo IS Tammy Lionette? It's obvious even to the target audience that Tammy Lionette is the same character as Cleo.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

Why does this thread even exist!? To quote Simon Belmont from the Robot Chicken Castlevania skit "Maybe it's a fetish" lol

 

[salemfan]

Why does this thread even exist!? To quote Simon Belmont from the Robot Chicken Castlevania skit "Maybe it's a fetish" lol

This thread exists because I was a fan of the sawing in half act after I saw it at a circus in the summer of 1993.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

This thread exists because I was a fan of the sawing in half act after I saw it at a circus in the summer of 1993.

Oh. I'm sorry

 

[salemfan]

If Daniel (the father of Julia from Sesame Street) had Samuel (the brother of Julia from Sesame Street) saw Elena (the mother of Julia from Sesame Street) with Julia providing the feet, because Julia has autism and is sensitive to noises, if a chainsaw was used, Julia would have to wear the ear protectors she wore in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade because of how close the saw blades would be coming to her head (the one providing the feet has their head pretty close to the path of the saw).

 

[salemfan]

Can you please elaborate on what you are talking about?

I am talking about the fact that the box used for the act actually has two halves. The upper half is where the "victim" lies all scrunched up and the lower half is where another person lies hidden even before the box is brought onto the stage, and when the "victim" is placed in the box, the person hiding in the lower half sticks out their feet to make the audience think there's one person in the box, when there are actually two. If I am not mistaken, the person in the lower half who provides the feet would have their head slightly near where the box is sawed in half and therefore near the path of the saw, and because Julia is sensitive to loud noises, she would be bothered by the noise of a chainsaw enough to have to wear the ear protectors that she wore in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Does that answer your question?

 

[YellowYahooey]

I remember there being an episode of the 1982 cartoon version of The Little Rascals (I was nine years old when I first saw it in 1983) in which Spanky was learning how to perform magic and puts on a makeshift magic show performing as the Great Spankini, and one of the acts was he trying to saw a man in half (it was really Buckwheat on one end, and Porky on the other, and both boys were "little kids" as opposed to Spanky, Darla and Alfalfa.

In comic books, there was a Looney Tunes story (from the Whitman Comics series) in which a character was performing the trick of sawing Petunia Pig in half - and she felt minor pain and/or her dress was ruined.

Thankfully, I don't recall that trick being performed on the primetime special It's Magic, Charlie Brown. Snoopy would fail at all of his magic tricks except for the disappearing act - in which he successfully made his owner, Charlie Brown, invisible.

I agree, uncertainty on whether someone could get hurt is the reason why we don't see the "saw a man in half" trick being performed now. Kids these days - and maybe even millennials when they were kids - seem to get creeped out when they see such trick being performed. But I'd like to ask, did The Amazing Mumford ever attempt that trick on Sesame Street?