RJ

Ricky Jay has died.  He was perhaps the greatest slight-of-hand artist of his era.





But he was a lot more.

I remember first seeing him on TV decades ago, demonstrating his prowess in throwing playing cards hard and fast enough so that they could penetrate a watermelon.  He also used elaborate, sideshow huckster patter to introduce his tricks.

Throwing cards was, in fact, the subject of his first book, Cards As Weapons.  He was also very much into magic history and related subjects and would publish a number of books on his interests, including the fascinating Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women.  He also regularly lectured on this world, and put parts of his collection on display.

While he never achieved the fame of, say, David Copperfield or Penn & Teller, he had a cult following among insiders. He became a magic consultant on a number of movies, and started appearing in movies and TV himself.

He became a favorite of David Mamet, for instance, and appears in movies such as House Of Games, Things Change, Homicide, The Spanish Prisoner, State And Main and Redbelt.  Mamet also directed Ricky Jay's one-man close-up magic shows, such as Ricky Jay And His 52 Assistants. (I have a friend who was in charge of the wardrobe for the show.  Sorry, she didn't know how he did his tricks.) Another fan was Paul Thomas Anderson, and Jay appears in Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

I once met Jay. It was at the Silent Movie Theatre, not far from where I live.  They were showing a Harry Houdini movie.  I recognized him and introduced myself. I shook his hand.  I don't usually care about shaking hands, but I figured maybe some of the magic would rub off.