
Ricky Jay’s Magical Secrets (1993) - fmihaila
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus
======
mhartl
This beautifully written _New Yorker_ profile is what first got me hooked on
Ricky Jay. It was clipped for me by a kind coworker at Harvard’s Cabot Science
Library, who thought I’d like it. She was right. I bought and devoured Ricky’s
book _Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women_, and later delighted in his brilliant
show (recorded as an HBO special) _Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants_.

A few years after the profile was published, I got curious about Ricky’s
website, rickyjay.com. I discovered that not only was there nothing on the
site, but the domain itself was unregistered. Concerned that some squatter
might snap it up, I registered it myself.

Over the next few years, I made several attempts to track down Ricky so that I
could give him the domain, to no avail. Then I had a stroke of luck: while
attending a performance of Michael Moschen (whose remarkable “juggling” skills
were featured in the movie _Labyrinth_ ) at UC Irvine, I happened to recognize
Ricky standing in the lobby during intermission. I introduced myself and got
the ball rolling on the domain transfer, which later resulted in the site you
can still see today.

A few years later, Ricky himself was performing at UCI, and my father and I
had the good fortune of joining him onstage for a demonstration of card
control and three-card Monte. After the show, Ricky was kind enough to sign my
copy of _Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women_, as well as give me the card he’d cut
neatly in half with a pair of giant scissors.

A few years after that, I learned that a young woman I was acquainted with
knew Ricky well. When I told her the story of rickyjay.com, she insisted on
setting up a dinner with Ricky and his wife Chrisann. Ricky recognized me from
the Michael Moschen performance, and we ended up having a lovely time talking
about magic, history, and various other subjects.

The last time I saw Ricky, I distinctly recall thinking that he didn’t look
particularly healthy, so when I saw his name trending on Twitter I feared the
worst. Alas, it was the worst. And yet, what a joy Ricky Jay was to all who
knew him and his work. RIP to one of the all-time greats.

~~~
turdnagel
What a great story - probably the only time I've heard of domain "squatting"
(I hesitate to use that word since it has a negative connotation, but) used
for good!

~~~
delish
nyt.com counts, in my opinion. Here's an entertaining history:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/insider/putting-the-
times...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/insider/putting-the-timess-first-
email-address-to-bed.html)

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russellbeattie
If you haven't seen it, the Ricky Jay documentary [1] is very interesting.
Much of what he did was simply pure hard work. Being able to feel an exact
count of cards as he split a deck at any point and the ability to count in his
head, while simultaneously speaking makes much of what he does seem like
magic, but is simply him knowing where all the cards are at all times. Which
seems impossible (i.e. magic), but is simply very, very, very hard.

1\. [http://www.rickyjaymovie.com/](http://www.rickyjaymovie.com/)

~~~
MagicPropmaker
What he did was very, very hard. And he did it very, very well. However, just
because a magician says he's dealing from the middle of the deck, or that he
knows how many cards he's picked up by feel alone doesn't necessarily mean
he's telling the truth. Nevertheless, he was one of the best card handlers
around at the time of his death, second only perhaps to Richard Turner

------
simonbyrne
Interesting side note: his friend Persi Diaconis (mentioned in the article) is
the author of many interesting probability papers, including the proof that "7
riffle shuffles is enough"
([https://statweb.stanford.edu/~cgates/PERSI/papers/aldous86.p...](https://statweb.stanford.edu/~cgates/PERSI/papers/aldous86.pdf))

------
Zelphyr
His death is a true loss to Magic. He was nothing short of an artist in every
sense of the word.

~~~
tptacek
His live show was among the best things I've seen.

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dang
Some previous discussions:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568467](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568467)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5568374](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5568374)

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dharmon
Here's someone who knew him very well's personal tribute:

[http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-loving-tribute-to-
ri...](http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-loving-tribute-to-ricky-
jay.html)

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duxup
I didn't know who Ricky Jay was but ages ago i ran across this youtube video
and was just floored, the whole thing just builds and builds and builds.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ&t=](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ&t=)

~~~
po
Yeah, the audio on this one is mesmerizing.

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hnmonkey
Ricky was in HBO's Deadwood and was fantastic. This guy was just such a good
actor in each of the movies he was in. Then I found out a while back that he
was actually an incredible magician also. He's so much fun to watch...
definitely a big loss for humanity.

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kyoob
A massively inspirational talent. Makes me want to be the best in the world at
something.

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po
There have been a lot of great Ricky Jay videos being shared around after his
death but I feel like this is the one where you really get to see him start to
explain a tiny bit of what he can do.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTgwAqcKm_s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTgwAqcKm_s)

It's a very modern format where he's demonstrating to professional poker
players how easily they're going to get hustled. It's my favorite video of
his.

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viburnum
His books are a hoot too, definitely check them out if you like weird culture.

