Ricky Jay

Richard Jay Potash(June 26, 1946 – November 24, 2018)was an American stage magician, actor, and writer. In a 1993 profile forThe New Yorker,Mark Singercalled Jay "perhaps the most giftedsleight of handartist alive ".In addition to sleight of hand, he was known for hiscard tricks,card throwing,memory feats, and stagepatter.He also wrote extensively onmagicand its history. His acting credits includeThe Prestige,The Spanish Prisoner,Mystery Men,Heist,Boogie Nights,Tomorrow Never Dies,Heartbreakers,State and Main,House of Games,Magnolia,andDeadwood.In 2015, he was the subject of an episode ofPBS'sAmerican Masters,the only magician ever profiled in the series.

Ricky Jay
Jay at the premiere ofRedbeltin April 2008
Born	Richard Jay Potash (1946-06-26)June 26, 1946 New York City,U.S.
Died	November 24, 2018(2018-11-24)(aged 72) Los Angeles,California,U.S.
Occupations	Magician actor writer
Known for	Sleight of hand, card tricks, history of magic
Spouse	Chrisann Verges ​ (m.2002)​

Early life

Jay was born in theNew York Cityborough ofBrooklynto Shirley (Katz) and Samuel Potash.A member of a middle-classJewishfamily, he grew up inElizabeth, New Jersey.He rarely spoke publicly about his parents, but did share an anecdote: "My father oiled his hair withBrylcreemand brushed his teeth withColgate",Jay recalled." He kept his toothpaste in the medicine cabinet and the Brylcreem in a closet about a foot away. Once, when I was ten, I switched the tubes. All you need to know about my father is that after he brushed his teeth with Brylcreem he put the toothpaste in his hair. "

During an interview on theNational Public RadioprogramFresh AirwithTerry Gross,Jay said that possibly "the only kind memory I ever had of my parents" was when they secretly hired one of his idols, magicianAl Flosso,to perform at hisbar mitzvah.Jay's grandfather, Max Katz, was acertified public accountantand amateur magician who introduced Jay to magic.

Career

Magician

Appearing onThe Secret Cabaret

Jay first performed in public at the age of seven, in 1953, when he appeared on the television programTime for Pets.He is most likely the youngest magician to perform a full magic act on TV, the first magician to ever play comedy clubs, and probably the first magician to open for a rock and roll band. At New York'sElectric Circusin the 1960s, he performed on a bill betweenIke and Tina TurnerandTimothy Leary,who lectured aboutLSD.

During the 1960s and 70s, Jay lived inIthaca, New York,performing while also intermittently attending theCornell University School of Hotel Administration,but later moved to theLos Angelesarea.

He quickly developed a following among magic aficionados, and a reputation for sleight-of-hand feats that baffled even his colleagues. In his 1993New Yorkerprofile of Jay,Mark Singerrelated the following story from playwrightDavid Mametand theater directorGregory Mosher:

Some years ago, late one night in the bar of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago, [Jay] was performing magic with a deck of cards. Also present was a friend of Mamet and Mosher's named Christ Nogulich, the director of food and beverage at the hotel. After twenty minutes of disbelief-suspending manipulations, Jay spread the deck face up on the bar counter and asked Nogulich to concentrate on a specific card but not to reveal it. Jay then assembled the deck face down, shuffled, cut it into two piles, and asked Nogulich to point to one of the piles and name his card. "Three of clubs," Nogulich said, and he was then instructed to turn over the top card. He turned over the three of clubs. Mosher, in what could be interpreted as a passive-aggressive act, quietly announced, "Ricky, you know, I also concentrated on a card." After an interval of silence, Jay said, "That's interesting, Gregory, but I only do this for one person at a time." Mosher persisted: "Well, Ricky, I really was thinking of a card." Jay paused, frowned, stared at Mosher, and said, "This is a distinct change of procedure." A longer pause. "All right—what was the card?" "Two of spades." Jay nodded, and gestured toward the other pile, and Mosher turned over its top card. The deuce of spades. A small riot ensued.

Three of Jay's one-man shows,Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants,Ricky Jay: On the Stem,andRicky Jay: A Rogue's Gallery,were directed by Mamet, who also cast Jay in a number of his films.

A collector and historian, Jay was a student and friend ofDai Vernon,whom he called "the greatest living contributor to the magical art." He collected rare books and manuscripts, art, and other artifacts connected to the history of magic, gambling, unusual entertainments, and frauds and confidence games. Jay opposed any public revelations of the techniques of magic.

Jay was formerly listed in theGuinness World Recordsfor throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) (the current record is 216 feet (66 m) byRick Smith Jr.). He could throw a playing card into awatermelonrind (which he referred to as the "thick,pachydermatousouter melon layer "and" the most prodigious of household fruits ") from ten paces. In addition, he was able to throw a card into the air like a boomerang and cut it cleanly in half with a pair of" giant scissors "upon its return. In his shows, he often attacked plastic animals with thrown cards in" self defense ".

Actor

Jay appeared in a number of David Mamet films includingHouse of Games,The Spanish PrisonerandRedbelt;he also appeared in a few episodes of the Mamet-produced TV seriesThe Unitas a C.I.A. recruiter.

Jay played Henry Gupta, a henchman to villainElliot Carver,in the James Bond filmTomorrow Never Dies;and appeared inPaul Thomas Anderson'sBoogie NightsandMagnolia,as well as Christopher Nolan'sThe Prestige.

He joined the cast of theHBOwestern dramaDeadwoodas a recurring character and writer for the first season in 2004, playing card sharp Eddie Sawyer. He wrote the episode "Jewel's Boot Is Made for Walking"and left the series at the end of the first season.

Consultant

As an expert on magic, gambling, con games and unusual entertainment, Jay was a consultant on Hollywood projects for many years, beginning with his work onFrancis Ford Coppola's production ofCaleb Deschanel'sThe Escape Artist.Other early work included teachingRobert Redfordhow to manipulate coins forThe Naturaland working withDouglas Trumbullon hisShowscanprojectNew Magic(1983).

In the early 1990s, Jay and Michael Weber created a firm, Deceptive Practices, providing "Arcane Knowledge on a Need-to-Know Basis" to film, television and stage productions. By offering both vast historical expertise and creative invention, they were able to provide surprising practical solutions to real production challenges. Among many accomplishments, they designed the wheelchair that "magically" hidGary Sinise's legs inForrest Gump;the glass that "drinks itself" used by the gorilla inCongo;and an illusion "in which a man climbs to the top of a ladder of light and vanishes in midair" for the Broadway production ofAngels in America: Perestroika.

Other projects they worked on includedThe Prestige,The Illusionist,Sneakers,Leap of Faith,Wolf,The Parent Trap,I Love Trouble,The Great Buck Howard,Heartbreakers,andOcean's Thirteen.

Additionally, he worked with libraries and museums on their collections, including the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts and theMuseum of Jurassic TechnologyinCulver City,California.

Lectures and exhibitions

Jay authored numerous articles and delivered many lectures and demonstrations on such subjects as conjuring literature, con games, sense perception, and unusual entertainments. Among his presentations:

• "Sleight and Shadow", at the New YorkMetropolitan Museum of Art
• "Belknap Visitor in the Humanities" lecture on the relationship between magicians and mediums, atPrinceton University
• "Doing Likewise: Imitation, Emulation, and Mimesis", at the New York Institute of Humanities, hosted byJonathan Miller.
• "Hocus Pocus in Perfection: Four Hundred Years of Conjuring and Conjuring Literature," the Harold Smith Memorial Lecture atBrown University.
• "Splendors of Decaying Celluloid", withErrol Morris,Rosamond Purcell andBill Morrisonat the New York Institute for the Humanities.
• "The Origins of the Confidence Game", at the conference of Police Against Confidence Crime.
• "Chirosophi: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Conjuring Literature," at theHenry E. Huntington LibraryinSan Marino, California.
• "Fast and Loose: The Techniques and Literature of Cheating", at the William Andrew Clark Memorial Library,UCLA.
• "The Mystery of Fasting Impostors," and "The Avant Garde Art of Armless Calligraphers", atAmherst College.
• "Sense, Perception, & Nonsense" at theUniversity of Rhode IslandFestival of the Arts.
• "Illusion as Truth", at the International Design Conference in Aspen (keynote address).
• "Prose & Cons: The Early Literature of Cheating", at theNew York Public Library(Pforzheimer Lecture Series) and theChicago Humanities Festival.
• "Magic & Science", at theTED ConferenceinMonterey, California.

Jay also lectured atHarvard University,USC,theGrolier Club,theHammer Museum,Getty Center,andTown Hall Theatrein New York City. In 1999 he guest-curated an exhibit at the Harvard Theater Collection entitled "The Imagery of Illusion: Nineteenth Century Magic and Deception."

Exhibitions of material from his collections have been mounted at the Hammer Museum,theYerba Buena Center for the Arts,University of California, Davis,the Christine Burgin Gallery,theMuseum of Jurassic Technology,and UCLA'sClark Library.He loaned material to the Getty Center for their exhibit "Devices of Wonder"theSkirball Museum,theHuntington Library,theWhitney Museum of Art,and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibit entitled "Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger's Drawings From the Collection of Ricky Jay" in 2016.

Documentary film

Jay is the subject of the feature documentaryDeceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay.

Death

Jay died on November 24, 2018, at age 72. His attorney Stan Coleman confirmed his death but further details were not immediately released.Later press coverage reported that Jay died of natural causes.

Credits

Film

• House of Games(1987) – George / Vegas Man
• Things Change(1988) – Mr. Silver
• Homicide(1991) – Aaron
• Leap of Faith(1992) – Cons and Frauds Consultant
• The Spanish Prisoner(1997) – George Lang
• Boogie Nights(1997) – Kurt Longjohn
• Hacks(1997) – The Hat
• Tomorrow Never Dies(1997) – Henry Gupta
• Mystery Men(1999) – Vic Weems
• Magnolia(1999) – Burt Ramsey / Narrator
• State and Main(2000) – Jack
• Heartbreakers(2001) – Dawson's Auctioneer
• Heist(2001) – Don "Pinky" Pincus
• Incident at Loch Ness(2004) – Party Guest #5
• Last Days(2005) – Detective
• The Prestige(2006) – Milton
• The Great Buck Howard(2008) – Gil Bellamy
• Redbelt(2008) – Marty Brown
• The Brothers Bloom(2008) – Narrator (voice)
• Intense(2009) – John
• The Automatic Hate(2015) – Uncle Josh (final film role)

Television

• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson(October 26, 1970)
• Doug Henning's World of Magic II (December 1976)
• Saturday Night Live(1977)
• The Ricky Jay Magic Show– BBC special (1978)
• Dinah!(July 11, 1979)
• The John Davidson Show(November 28, 1980)
• Simon & Simon– Bird (1983)
• The Paul Daniels Magic Show(1985)
• Arsenio(1988)
• Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women– 1 hour special for American TV (1989)
• The Secret Cabaret(two series made byOpen MediaforChannel 4,UK)
• D.L. Hughley Breaks the News(January 10, 1990)
• Civil Wars– Lenny NiCastro (November 11, 1991)
• Late Show with David Letterman(1994, 2013)
• The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky– Hawkes (1995)
• Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants– 1 hour version of his Off-Broadway show, taped for HBO (1996)
• Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters and Ricky Jay(1996)
• American Masters– "Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light" (1996)
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien(1998, 2002)
• The X-Files– The Amazing Maleeni / Herman Pinchbeck / Albert Pinchbeck in "The Amazing Maleeni"(2000)
• MythBusters– Episode 20, "Exploding Jawbreaker, Static Cannon, Deadly Playing Cards." Jay demonstrated card throwing, and the speed of his throws was clocked. (2003)
• Deadwood– Eddie Sawyer (2004), Season 1
• Kidnapped– Roger Prince (2006–07)
• The Unit– Agent Kern (2007–09)
• Lie to Me– Mason Brock (2009)
• FlashForward– Man in Warehouse / Ted Flosso (2009–10)
• 60 Minutes– Interviewed by Morley Safer for segment, "Pigeon Fever"(2010)
• The Simpsons– plays himself in episode "The Great Simpsina"(2011)
• Teen Titans Go!– plays voice in Robin's head in episode "The Date" (2013)
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon(March 31, 2014)
• Getting On– Thoracic Surgeon (2014)
• Sneaky Pete– T.H. Vignetti (2019)

Theater

• A Midsummer Night's Dream(1982); produced by Joseph Papp for The New York Shakespeare Festival.
• Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants(1994)
• Ricky Jay: On The Stem(2002)
• Ricky Jay: A Rogue's Gallery(2009)

He also performed on the 2005 BBC Radio adaptation of David Mamet'sFaustus.

Books

Jay was the author of eleven books:

• Cards as Weapons.Image Graphiques (1977).ISBN0882010174.
• Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women.Villard (1986).ISBN0394537505.
• Many Mysteries Unraveled: Conjuring Literature in America 1786–1874.Antiquarian Society (1990). ASIN B00FFJ0402.
• The Magic Magic Book.Whitney Museum Library Associates (1994). ASIN B004ONUJP0.
• Jay's Journal of Anomalies.Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2001).ISBN0374178674.
• Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck.Quantuck Lane Press (2002).ISBN0971454817.
• Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Collection of Ricky Jay.Quantuck Lane Press (2005).ISBN1593720122.
• Ricky Jay Plays Poker(Audio CD). Sony Legacy (2007). ASIN B000HT2MB4.
• Magic: 1400s–1950s(with Mike Caveney, Jim Steinmeyer) Taschen (2009).ISBN383652807X.
• Celebrations of Curious Characters.McSweeney (2010).ISBN1936365030.
• Matthias Buchinger: "The Greatest German Living".Siglio (2016).

Charles McGrath called Jay "perhaps the last of the great 19th-century authors." Jay's last book,Matthias Buchinger: "The Greatest German Living",was well-received, called "awe-inspiring" by theLos Angeles Timesand "beguiling" by theNew York Review of Books.

Music

Ricky Jay contributed to several projects in the music world, most notably the 2007 Sony releaseRicky Jay Plays Poker,a box set containing a CD of poker-related songs (byBob Dylan,Robert Johnson,Townes Van Zandt,Patsy Cline,Lorne Greene,Howard Da Silva,O. V. Wright,and several others), a DVD featuring Ricky Jay discussing and performing notable feats of card table deception, and a box of Ricky Jay playing cards.

He performed "The Fiddler" withRichard GreeneonHal Willner'ssea shanty-compilationRogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys(2006), as well as "The Chantey of Noah and his Ark (Old School Song)" on its follow-upSon of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys(2013).

He appeared in the music video for Bob Dylan's song "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum",from the albumLove and Theft.During the production of the video, a screwdriver reportedly fell from the rafters and lodged in Jay's hand.

He appeared in the video for the Jerry Garcia and David Grisman single "The Thrill Is Gone", available on the DVD of theGrateful Dawgdocumentary.

External links

• Official website
• Ricky Jay Archive at the Magic Newswire website
• Ricky JayatIMDb
• San Francisco Chronicle review of "Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides From the Collection of Ricky Jay" during 2005 exhibition
• "Secrets of the Magus" 1993New Yorkerprofile