Last Friday, I went to lunch at the Magic Castle in Hollywood with my friend Bob Elisberg, whose blog you should be visiting…but only after you read mine ten times a day. One of my favorite magicians, Richard Turner, was performing.
Richard isn't exactly a magician. He describes himself sometimes as a Card Mechanic — a guy who can fix a card game. He is the best "card cheat" I've ever seen and it's stunning to see in person. You watch him. You study him. You never take your eyes off his hands or the cards. But you can't catch him dealing off the bottom of the deck or out of the middle or whatever he does so you wind up with a pair of threes and he has a surplus of aces. Really amazing.
And, oh yeah: He's blind. What he does would be astounding even if he could see but he can't so…
This video is from (I'm guessing) 15-20 years ago when his vision was a tiny bit better than it is now and he sometimes didn't tell audiences he couldn't always make out the cards. Today, he has to ask his "volunteers" for help making sure that the ones he gathers up after a feat are all face-down. But he can still do everything he did in this performance and then some…