Are you still baffled by Franz Harary walking through a woman illusion?
How he could possible walk right through his female stage assistant behind the cloth or between two pieces of screens.
This is the first time this stage penetration effect secret is exposed and explained in details.
It is specially written for people who like to know how magic tricks work.
The original post was published back in February 7, 2023.
I have revised and updated it, and included more supporting images to explain it clearer.
Welcome to another post from the Info Ruckus Magic Trick Secrets Revealed series.
There are two versions of this going through a woman stage illusion; one with just a piece of cloth and the other is with two pieces of screens.
After viewing various video clips found online, I think Franz Harary uses slightly different methods over time throughout his years of performing this walking through a woman illusion.
Franz Harary Walking Through A Woman Illusion Secret
Now let’s see how Franz Harary performs this penetration stage trick.
The only way is the woman’s arm has to give way for him to do his supposedly impossible feat.
The trick occurs on the LEFT side of the act.
The LEFT screen, the LEFT arm of the girl between the two screen, the LEFT arm of the stage assistant outside the LEFT screen holding the LEFT arm of the girl in the middle.
The left arm of the woman between the two screens or behind the cloth briefly has to make way for Franz Harary to walk past by her left side.
The assistant on the left who is holding the left arm of the woman, uses her own left arm to simulate the left arm of the woman between the two screens or behind the cloth.
I would elaborate and explain how this switching of arms between the two women is done, together with performance angle and the art of misdirection.
Franz Harary Walks Past By The Woman
Firstly, look at Franz Harary’s legs when he apparently walks through the woman.
From these video clips, you can see Harary is squeezing past the left side of the woman inside the two screens or behind the cloth.
The above image is captured from this clip when Franz Harary’s legs are struggling to get past the left leg of the woman within the screens from 0:13 to 0:19.
This is from another show where Harary’s right leg pushing his way past the woman’s left leg from 2:56 to 3:01.
This video you can clearly see Franz Harary walking past by the left side of the woman from 0:31 to 0:36.
To ease Harary squeezing through the limited space, and also to keep herself in balance, the woman puts one foot forward and other backward.
Now we know illusionist Franz Harary is actually walking past by the left side of the woman inside the screens and behind the cloth.
How Franz Harary Gets Through Woman’s Left Arm
Let’s see how Harary seem to walk through the left arm of the woman, when it is seen extended outside the cloth and through the screen hole.
Furthermore the arm is being held by another stage assistant throughout the performance.
Penetration Illusion With Cloth
The act with the a piece of cloth can be performed directly to the camera and also to a fairly closed up live audience.
Below is the video clip of Franz Harary entertaining some Hard Rock Cafe staff in the corridor.
At the onset of the act, you can see both arms of the woman in the middle are stretched out STRAIGHT and held up by a female assistant on each side.
As I have highlighted earlier, the secret happens at the LEFT arm of the woman in the middle, and the stage assistant on the left holding it.
First Part Of The Secret
This deceptive move is the one that makes this trick possible, and also in his “Split Girl In Half” illusion.
He has to briefly block off the left side of the act.
So that’s why the cloth is purposely handled over to Harary from the left side.
It is to momentarily hide the both female assistants on the left side, as seen in the the video, from 0:06 to 0:10.
This is the moment when the two women switch their arms position.
By the time, Harary drops the cloth down, the woman on the left has already held up her own left arm.
Similarly, when he performs the same act in India.
The bespectacled guy passes the red cloth to Harary from the left side, thus blocking the left arm of the person in the middle, and the other assistant as well.
For a fleeting moment, both guys’ arms are completely hidden away by the cloth.
Again this is the time, both guys quickly switch their arms position.
By the time the cloth has moved inwards, the person on the left is already holding up his own left arm.
This method is also used in Franz Harary’s “Split Girl In Half” illusion.
At 0:50 to 0:55, the man on the left pretends to lift up the cloth at the wrong place, so he can completely hide the girl’s left arm briefly.
At this juncture, the man quickly hold the second girl’s left hand instead, who has already hiding behind the cloth.
At 0:52, when he drops the cloth down, he is actually holding the second girl’s hand.
Psychology Of Franz Harary Stage Illusion
To the general audience, what they see is merely handling a piece of cloth to the magician to do the trick.
This covert move in conjuring tricks is called Misdirection, which is a form of optical illusion.
Optical illusion is a form of psychology; because it is your eyes and your brain that work together to interpret visual stimuli.
Now let’s get back to the trick…
When the cloth is blocking them, the woman in the middle bends in her left elbow, while the assistant on her left, hold up left elbow next to her bent elbow.
It is sort of linking two elbows together, to simulate the middle woman’s forearm.
This is how it looks like without the cloth.
Remember in the beginning the act, before the cloth is brought in, the woman in the middle, both her arms are stretched out STRAIGHT.
Now look carefully at the picture below, when she is covered with the cloth, her left arm is now slightly lowered.
She bends in her left elbow, to let the assistant on her left using her left forearm to simulate hers.
This is the crux of this penetration illusion secret.
The scene below is captured from the video from 0:13 onward.
You can see the assistant on the left uses her right hand to grip the cloth onto her own left forearm, to avoid this part of the secret being exposed.
Next, when Harary raises the sheet of cloth, girl in the middle lowers her bent arm to her side, to give space for him to walk past her, as seen below.
Second Part Of The Secret
He uses the same deceptive move again at the end of the trick.
After magician Harary has walked past through the narrow space between the two girls, he stands there momentarily, moves the cloth to the left side.
Harary uses the cloth to hide the two girls fully for a moment, allowing them to switch back their original arm positions.
Again you can see this same manoeuvre in the performance in India.
To cover up this deceptive move, Franz Harary hands the cloth back to the fourth assistant standing on the left side, to end the act.
He does it one smooth casual act (pausing and passing the cloth to his assistant) which appears natural enough, without raising suspicion from the viewers.
You can see this similar deceptive move of momentarily hiding the two girls when he uses the two screens prop below.
Now, let’s see how internationally acclaimed illusionist Franz Harary perform this trick with two pieces of screens in more details.
Franz Harary Penetration Woman Illusion With Two Screens
Watch this video clip of Franz Harary walking through a girl or woman magic act with the two pieces of screens performed in Macau:
From my observations, the method used for this act with two screens cannot be performed facing directly to the live audience.
With the two screens, Franz Harary uses a slightly different method.
It is because the secret move made by the two girls is not fully concealed or hidden, like with the big piece of cloth version.
That’s is why the video clips of this trick with two panels have to be precisely edited, to avoid the secret being exposed.
Screens Position On Stage
In all the shows using the two pieces of panels, I notice they are placed slightly askew towards the audience.
The two pieces of screens are NOT positioned directly straight on stage facing the audience.
To be precise, the left panel is facing somewhat away from the distant live audience.
Even his own edited video clips, you can see the shot angle is towards the right panel, leaving the left panel slightly away from the camera.
You do not get to fully see the assistant outside the left panel actually holding the forearm of the woman in the middle.
As you can see from the following pictures, the two screens are specially arranged off-center on the stage.
See how the two screens are set at an angle in his Guangzhou in China show.
This is from Franz Harary’s performance in Malaysia, where you could hardly see the female assistant outside the left screen.
The image below is when illusionist Harary performed for TV Singapore back in the 90s.
Panel Border Trims To Conceal Secret Move
To further conceal the secret of the two women switching arms, Harary adds a about 6-inch black color border trim to each screen.
Over time, Harary has modified this screen border trim.
Initially the two black panel border trims were self-attached to the paper-like piece, that is used to block the woman during the act.
The two pictures are from shows during his early years.
Below Harary is affixing paper-like piece edged with black border trims to the screens.
In his later shows, the black color border trim is built into the screen itself.
Then in his latest design, he added two white color lines to these black color border trims.
This is not for aesthetic reason, but to camouflage the rather wide strip of black border trims.
Optically the two white or silver lines can distract your visual attention from seeing these wide black border trims.
This is another feature that has to do with psychology, to trick your visual perception.
Many stage illusion apparatus with deep hiding compartment used this kind of optical illusion.
As a result, the audience would not easily notice the actual wide area.
For instance, it is used in the popular Zig-Zag Girl Illusion cabinet.
So is this Spiker Illusion apparatus.
Now let’s see how Franz Harary walking Through A Woman illusion is done with two screens.
First Part Of Franz Harary Walking Through A Woman Secret
Similar to the cloth version, the assistant outside the left screen has to secretly bend her left elbow to simulate the forearm of the woman between the screens.
She needs to bring her bent left elbow close to the hole on the outside of the screen.
For her to do that, Franz Harary has to the so-called deceptive move.
He briefly blocks the assistant outside the left screen.
Then she let go the forearm of the woman between the screens, and hold up her own forearm.
The left forearm of the woman between the screens is still outside the hole, either dangling or holding it against the outer side of the screen.
This crucial part of the secret (elbow to elbow) cannot be seen by the audience because that screen is positioned slightly away from their eye view.
Furthermore it is also blocked by the screen border trim.
This same tricky part is also used in his show in Guangzhou, China.
This part of the video clip is not edited away, so you can clearly see both arms of the woman slotted into the holes.
To execute the deceptive move, Harary pauses precisely at the edge of the screen, where he uses his body to briefly block the female assistant outside the left screen from 42:01.
He picks up the cloth from the left screen, walks to the its front edge, pauses under the pretext of presenting the act to the audience.
The sequence appears normal to the audience, without them knowing he is actually up to his trick, so to speak.
This is what they called Misdirection, which I have mentioned above.
From the video you can see the cloth is already draped over the left screen before the act.
First Part Of The Secret Edited Away
The following two video clips are specially edited, so you don’t get to see the first part of secret.
This clip is a show in India, where at the beginning you could see the woman inserting both her arms through the holes of the screens.
Then it is abruptly cut to Harary already with the cloth all ready to do the penetration trick as seen here.
The first part of secret, or as I called it the deceptive move, where Harary has to briefly block the assistant outside the left screen is missing.
He picks up the cloth from the left screen, walks to its front edge, pauses to block the assistant outside the left panel.
Why do I say so?
The clue is at the beginning of the act, you can see the cloth is already draped over the left screen just like in the Guangzhou, China video clip above.
So is this edited video of his show in Macau, where the first part of the secret is also missing.
Again you can see the cloth hanging over the left screen at the beginning of the show.
In this live performance, Harary make use of the revolving stage platform to briefly conceal the two women to secretly switch arms from the audience’s view.
Second Part Of The Secret
Now we know the left forearm outside of the left screen actually belongs to the assistant outside the panel.
The left arm of the woman between the screens is still outside the hole of the left piece.
As soon as Harary has raised the cloth concealing the woman inside the screens, she quickly pulls her left arm out from the hole, to let him go past her.
After Harary has just stepped past her side, she pushes her left arm back into the hole of the screen again.
The size of the hole on the screen is big enough for the girl to pull in and push out her arm comfortably.
Here again he uses what I called the deceptive move.
He pauses momentarily, under the guise of wanting to pass the cloth to the assistant outside the left screen.
This is to allow both women to switch back to their original arms position as how they started off at the beginning of the act.
Again, this is another deceptive use of misdirection in this illusion.
This image is taken from one his past shows.
The picture below you can see Harary briefly uses the cloth and his own body to block off the two women during his show in Macau.
Here is the another one captured from the live show in Guangzhou China.
In this early TV performance from 1:05, Harary uses the paper-like piece to momentarily block the assistant outside the left screen.
As you can see from this clip, after he has attached the paper-like piece to the left screen, he stretches it to the left side and pauses briefly.
It is to block the assistant outside the screen, so she can release the girl’s forearm outside the hole, and hold up her own left arm with her right hand.
From 1:10 onward, the female assistant outside the left screen is actually holding up her own forearm.
For this old TV Singapore show video clip, the second part of the secret where the two women have to secretly switch back their arm position is cut away.
After Harary has apparently goes through the woman, the scene cuts to the applauding studio audience.
The following scene shows the woman between the screens with her two arms stretched out, while the assistants busy pushing out the screens.
Harary’s earlier version of this illusion with screens, he does not use a piece of cloth to hide the second part of the secret.
This is what I think how the women do it.
After Harary has squeezed past the side of the woman between the screens, she pushes her left arm back into the hole.
The assistant outside the left screen still continues simulating the left arm of the girl between the two screens.
To end the act, the assistant let go of her right hand from her forearm, but still hold up her left arm and continue rotating its wrist.
Then she uses her right hand to pull the screen out, and turning it inward (away from the audience).
Her left arm will gradually be blocked by the screen, and the left arm of the woman between the screens which is outside the hole will automatically be lifted up.
To the audience, they see the woman’s arm through the hole at the inner wall of the screen throughout the performance.
The gradual switching or replacing of the arms between these two women is seamless; the distant audience will not notice the switch.
To further convince the audience to believe the left arm is outside the hole during the entire show is hers, she continues keeping her both arms outstretched at the end of the show.
Well, this is how Franz Harary walking through a woman stage illusion is done.