Making New Friends

In my first post I mentioned aging and its possible impact on the ability to perform sleight-of-hand magic. There's a story about Dai Vernon that has always meant a lot to me. Dai Vernon is generally considered to be the father of modern close-up magic. He was affectionately called "The Professor" by magicians because of his encyclopedic knowledge of magic. Born in 1894, Vernon lived in robust health right up until a few years prior to his death at age 98. He knew everyone who was someone in 20th century magic, including Houdini. He lived the colorful life of an expert magician obsessed with learning and inventing secret moves, and this passion even took him at times into circles of crooked gamblers and cardsharps in an effort to uncover their legendary concealed secrets.

By the way, there's a great book about Vernon's now legendary search to find a gambler, the only guy ostensibly capable of dealing cards directly from the middle of the deck – the "holy grail" of card sleights. The exciting and amazing story of this search is the subject of a book published recently called "The Magician and the Cardsharp," by Karl Johnson, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about the world of gamblers and cardsharps, and likes a hard-to-put-down narrative.

The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist

A bust of Dai Vernon ennobles the waiting area in front of the “Parlor of Prestidigitation” at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. That little niche is devoted to Vernon, and the wall is covered with photos. It wasn’t until I had been a member of the Magic Castle for almost ten years that I realized Vernon’s remains were in a small box resting on a ledge high up above those photographs. What a surprise to realize that although Vernon died the very year I joined the Magic Castle, so I never got to meet him, I had nevertheless performed almost 300 shows in the Parlor within earshot of his ashes!

I opened this blog with reference to a story about Vernon related to aging that has meant a lot to me. One night Vernon was seated at a bar in the Magic Castle next to magician Johnny Thompson. As I understand it, Vernon was already in his 80’s at this point, and he pulled out a couple sheets of legal sized paper filled with a list of names.

“What’s that?” Johnny asked.

“These are friends of mine in magic who have died,” Vernon replied. Certainly, that is one of the hardest things about aging: experiencing the loss of loved ones and friends, watching ones world shrink like a melting polar ice cap, dear bits and pieces cracking and breaking off here and there, leaving one progressively more and more alone.

Hearing this, Johnny offered condolences. Vernon’s response was inspiring.

“It’s okay,” he said, “I keep making new friends.”

There is magic in life when I open my heart to let life happen. And when I do, life continually renews itself, and creates fresh and amazing surprises.

Ciao.