As We Kicked Off the New Millennium, Readers of This
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s we kicked off the new Amillennium, readers of this magazine cast their ballots to elect the ten most influential magicians of the 20th century. Although there were some sur- prises, few could argue with the top two — Harry Houdini and Dai Vernon. While scores of books have been written about Houdini, David Ben has spent the past five years prepar- ing the first detailed biography of Dai Vernon. What follows is a thumbnail sketch of Vernon’s remarkable life, legacy, and con- tribution to the art of magic. BY DAVID BEN Scene: Ottawa admired performers such as T. Nelson to learn, however, that he might as well have Scene: Ballroom of the Great Year: 1899 Downs, Nate Leipzig, and J. Warren Keane been the teacher. Northern Hotel, Chicago David Frederick Wingfield Verner, born more. He marveled at their ability to enter- In 1915, New York could lay claim to Year: 1922 on June 11, 1894, was raised in the rough- tain audiences with simple props and virtu- several private magic emporiums, the places On February 6, 1922, Vernon and his and-tumble capital of a fledgling country, oso sleight of hand. Coins flitted and flick- where magic secrets were bought, built, and confidant, Sam Margules, attended a ban- Canada, during the adolescence of magic’s ered through Downs’ fingers, while Leipzig sold. Much to Vernon’s chagrin, the propri- quet in honor of Harry Houdini in the Golden Age. It was his father, James Verner, and Keane, ever the gentlemen, entertained etor and staff at Clyde Powers’ shop on Crystal Ballroom of the Great Northern who ignited his interest in secrets. James, a with packs of cards and other small, simple 42nd Street mistook him for a rank amateur. Hotel. That night, Vernon met Houdini, the career civil servant, performed a few simple props. Bigger, Vernon determined, was not Vernon was soon invited into the inner great self-liberator and self-professed “King tricks, tricks learned from his father. Young necessarily better. sanctum, however, having flabbergasted the of Cards.” Vernon fooled him with a card David — Dai Vernon — was swept away. The next epiphany came at the age of 11. shop’s best-posted demonstrators and the trick, not just once but eight times. (Houdini How was it possible, for example, for his Vernon discovered a book — Artifice, Ruse professional clientele, including Dr. James had thrown down the gauntlet that he could father to knock a chalk mark through the and Subterfuge at the Card Table — by S.W. William Elliott. Elliott, a Harvard trained not be fooled by a trick if he had the oppor- surface of an oak table? Discovering the Erdnase. Popularly known as The Expert physician, was recognized by his peers as tunity of seeing it performed three times in secret, Vernon yearned for more. Although at the Card Table, the work taught how to the greatest exponent of sleight of hand a row.) Thereafter, Vernon was known as professional magicians of the Victorian era cheat at cards — masterfully. By the time with playing cards in the world. Vernon the man who fooled Houdini. He returned groused and groaned over the continual pub- he was 12, an age at which most had yet to fooled Elliott and the others with his amal- to New York swimming with ideas and lic exposure of their trade secrets in newspa- learn the values and suits in a deck, Vernon gamation of gambling sleights, estimation, with a slight swagger in his step. The trick: pers, magazines, and books, Vernon was had absorbed its contents. The book became and improvisation. a mini-Ambitious Card routine employing appreciative. He scoured libraries for the his life map. Artistic successes aside, harsh realities a little known gaff — a double-backed secrets sequestered there, discovering works As a teenager, Vernon’s skill with the crashed into his world on more than one playing card. by Professor Hoffmann and others. pasteboards attracted his first patron, a occasion. Without steady work — Vernon In 1922, vaudeville was in full force and At the age of seven, already enthralled by wealthy industrialist with an interest in con- quickly learned that fooling magicians didn’t magicians were featured as specialty acts in the clandestine world of conjuring, Vernon juring named Warren Soper. Soper gave pay the rent — he found himself adrift in an era with an insatiable appetite for live met Howard Thurston, a self-described Vernon access to information, wealth, privi- Manhattan. Eventually, Sam Margules entertainment. Horace Goldin’s Sawing A “master” manipulator of playing cards. lege, and an Edwardian education at Canada’s escorted him to Coney Island. While there, Woman In Two was a worldwide phenome- Invited to the home of a friend whose father pre-eminent preparatory school for boys, Vernon recalled seeing a silhouette artist non. Vernon returned to Coney Island and was entertaining Thurston, Vernon fooled Ashbury College. Though a mediocre stu- years before and thought that he, too, might joined a troupe that performed the illusion. the master with a simple card trick drawn dent, Vernon proved himself as a gifted ath- be able to cut exquisite profiles from matte- The troupe traveled to Cuba where Vernon from Thurston’s own publication, Howard lete. When not on the playing field or in black paper. Vernon set up a stall that adver- enjoyed the lifestyle and characters that the Thurston’s Card Tricks. Vernon was both the hockey rink, Vernon spent time studying tised one silhouette for 50 cents, two for 75. island had to offer. When he returned to shocked and reassured by the realization the nuances of sleight of hand. Before long, Vernon came to regard silhou- New York, Vernon connected with Jeanne that there was no correlation between public As The Expert became a larger part of ettes as currency, black pieces of paper that Hayes, a visual artist so petite that she profile and professional prowess. Vernon’s being he began to seek out the men could be transformed into gold. Although formed the lower half (the feet) in the Sawing The following few years brought count- who practiced its principles and worked the his deft touch and artistic sensibility would illusion. After a brief courtship, they married. less other showmen of every description to unique blend of sleights and subtleties it laid eventually earn him the title as one of the To finance the romance Vernon sold a small Ottawa. Vernon gravitated towards the bare. Vernon met gamblers and cheats who great silhouette artists of the 20th century, manuscript titled Secrets, and taught Jeanne magicians, and although he enjoyed the mys- preyed upon the itinerant labor attracted to for Vernon, cutting silhouettes was simply a to cut silhouettes. Together, they led a tique associated with grand illusion, particu- Ottawa’s burgeoning lumber industry. He means to an end, a way of supporting his Bohemian lifestyle that alternated between larly when performed by Harry Kellar, he learned from them finesse points for the shift, exploration, his study of magic and card Manhattan and the Atlantic City boardwalk. the second deal, and the crimp and, more table artifice. As a young, dashing New Yorker in his importantly, he was encouraged to refine his Coney Island generated seasonal income. 20s, handsome and confident, his reputation ever-growing arsenal of techniques. Vernon In the off-season, Vernon toured the coun- grew in the magic world. Whispers of mira- was intrigued by their exotic world, riding try, seeking out the moves and the magic cles emanating from his fingertips continued the rails from town to town in search of that fueled his fire. Cutting silhouettes to circulate through professional circles, games and the taking down of big “fish.” It financed his peregrinations. In 1919, while sometimes creeping into print in the pages sparked his interest in traveling the world in Chicago, he caught wind of an elderly of The Sphinx and other trade journals. and exploring the subculture of gambling, gambler who never lost. Dad Stevens was And yet, as the legend of his work grew, the in all its down-and-dirty glory. the gambler’s name, and Vernon, after exploration of magic and gambling became some effort, tracked him down. Though their his life’s work. Scene: New York City encounter in Chicago was brief, Vernon In 1924, while plying his trade in Year: 1915 would forever regard Stevens the most skill- Atlantic City, Vernon was discovered by Vernon arrived in Manhattan, a hustling, ful and innovative advantage player of the Frances Rockefeller King, the preeminent bustling metropolis that was quickly becom- 20th century. The technique Stevens dis- agent for private theatricals in New York. ing the center of the modern world. There played literally brought tears to Vernon’s King promised Vernon a $5,000 winter he set his sights on another educational eyes; he never imagined that someone could income if he would perform his magic at institution: the Art Students League. He was be so skillful with a pack of cards. Stevens warned, however, by disillusioned artists, could deal seconds, thirds and fourths — [Facing page] David Verner on his third not to turn his avocation into a vocation. flawlessly. His piece-de-resistance, however, birthday. [Top to bottom] Vernon’s wife While gifted in a number of visual mediums, was the Riffle Cull, a technique for covertly Jeanne poses as her husband snips away in Vernon heeded the advice and terminated assembling cards at will under the guise of the back of the Little Blue Bookshop in his tenure at the school. He entered another a series of table shuffles.