The Academy of Magical Arts — that's the organization I belong to which operates the Magic Castle as its clubhouse — has released the following statement. It's quite good, though someone got the name of the organization wrong…
The Academy of Magic Arts Mourns the Passing of Daryl
HOLLYWOOD — Feb. 25, 2107 — For Immediate Release — The Academy of Magic Arts (AMA) and the Magic Castle mourn the passing of celebrated magician and AMA family member, Daryl.
Daryl, who was performing at the Magic Castle this week, was found dead on the club's premises on the evening of Friday, Feb. 24, and his death has been ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The magic community mourns the loss of one of our most beloved and talented performers and the AMA's deepest regrets and heart-felt sympathy go out to Daryl's family.
Daryl was a World Champion, first-place FISM Gold medal winning, close-up magician with over 40 years of experience in both performing and selling the finest magic in the world. Daryl performed as a headline act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for seven years fine tuning his already encyclopedic knowledge of magic. Daryl has performed literally thousands of shows for audiences as diverse as the Witch Doctors on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu to the movers and shakers of the political world at the Presidential Ball in Washington, D.C.
Also: Many news sources reported — and this seems to have come from the always-accurate folks at TMZ — that he was found hanging in a closet dressed only in his underwear. Officials at the Castle are saying he was fully dressed.
The Castle has reopened for business-as-almost-usual today and is serving brunch about now. From all reports, the staff there handled the matter with dignity and efficiency, though of course a lot of visitors last night had their visits truncated and were inconvenienced. I am in awe of how well everyone there dealt with the situation.
As I wrote early this morning, I did not know Daryl. I think I saw him perform there a few times and if I'm remembering correctly, he was very good. Beyond that, I feel that one way you show respect for someone like this is to not speculate baselessly on why they did it, what brought them to that decision, etc. I do (sort of) understand why certain people I knew thought that was the proper course of action for them but you never know for sure and certainly not with strangers.
If any good has come out of this incident, it's that on the Magic Castle member forums, members are exchanging phone numbers and saying, "If you ever feel you need someone to talk to…" Not that I'm suggesting it would have prevented what happened last night — maybe it would have, maybe not — but it's good to have someone to talk to, someone who can perhaps offer a clear head when you don't have one.
My good friend, the late Lorenzo Music, used to volunteer one night a week to answer phones at what he called a suicide prevention hotline, always adding that most of the time, the people who called weren't seriously considering that. They just needed someone to talk to who was willing to listen and not judge.
I'll bet he was good at it, especially because desperate callers sometimes recognized his voice. "Hey, you sound like that cat in the cartoons," they'd say, and he'd tell them who he was and it made the calls become very friendly. Also, a couple of times, callers with severe drinking problems were talked into getting professional treatment by Carlton, Your Doorman. That's putting it to good use.