- Grandfather
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- Nov 07, 2020
Ricky Jay Quotes
Most Famous Ricky Jay Quotes of All Time!
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- Last Updated on May 30, 2021
- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
I always read what I write out loud, and I did that long before any radio thing. My editor finds that unusual.
- First
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- Nov 07, 2020
Magicians from the nineteenth century threw cards distances, but I think I'm the first one who made a thing about using them as weapons.
- King
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- Nov 07, 2020
My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.
- Magic
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- Nov 07, 2020
I wasn't obsessed by magic. People say, 'How you can you claim you practiced eight hours a day and weren't obsessed?' Well, people go to a job they don't even like for eight hours a day; it's not obsessive if it's something you like.
- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
I was considered a comedy magician. And - how do I put this without sounding egotistical? - it didn't take me long to realize that comedy magicians usually couldn't do comedy or magic.
- Living
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- Nov 07, 2020
Like every art form, there are jealousies and angers and competitiveness in magic. But there's camaraderie among magicians, whether you perform it for a living or you're an enthusiast.
- High
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- Nov 07, 2020
I suppose that if I could only do one thing, a solid card effect would be pretty high on the list. That's the root of it all, sleight-of-hand. It's certainly the thing I feel most comfortable with.
- Magic
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- Nov 07, 2020
For the most part, magic secrets are available on a level that's overwhelming and frightening, and they are very accessible if you do the tiniest bit of digging. But, that said, there's a certain group of individuals, in which I am included, who are very tight about secrets and don't share them with anyone.
- Bad One
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't know what first got me to attack melons. It's not like I ate a bad one and got an upset stomach. It just eventually seemed like the appropriate fruit.
- Guys
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- Nov 07, 2020
One of the best sleight-of-hand guys I know is a plumber.
- Cards
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- Nov 07, 2020
I grew up like Athena - covered with playing cards instead of armor - and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
I'm probably the only kid in history whose parents made him stop taking music lessons. They made me stop studying the accordion.
- Bad
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- Nov 07, 2020
The pain is bad magicians ripping off good ones, doing magic badly, and making a mockery of the art.
- Doing
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- Nov 07, 2020
I started doing radio pieces with no clear, preconceived idea, except that I have a tendency to be theatrical.
- My Life
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- Nov 07, 2020
Writing is the only thing in my life that doesn't get easier. It just doesn't.
- Challenge
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- Nov 07, 2020
Every acting gig isn't the same, every writing job isn't the same, every live performance isn't the same - the challenge is the level of difficulty or ease, and that may vary.
- Magic
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- Nov 07, 2020
Not only do I lie, I take real pleasure in lying, in the transmission of magic effects.
- Fool
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- Nov 07, 2020
To obfuscate the reconstruction of the effect - when a magician is fooled by another magician doing magic. In my career that's not been the major passion, but it's been the passion of a number of my mentors. The crowning achievement for them would be to create magic good enough to fool other magicians.
- Magic
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- Nov 07, 2020
For me, the most exciting thing is to create good magic that's entertaining for an audience, and it would be lovely if a magician was fooled as well.
- Fool
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- Nov 07, 2020
Dai Vernon, the greatest sleight of hand figure in the history of the art, rarely performed. But he invented magic and had an enormous influence on the whole range of sleight of hand. And so often, the magic he was doing was to fool other magicians.
- Business
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- Nov 07, 2020
I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.
- Day
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- Nov 07, 2020
Sitting with a deck of cards in your hand all day is an obsession. Visiting print shops and bookstores and libraries is an obsession. And writing about this is an obsession. I think, in general, most collectors are obsessed. I think the only form of a rationalized greed is when you're collecting something you are supposedly serious about.
- Must
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- Nov 07, 2020
That's one of the ways language evolved, by some very obscure form becoming common usage. And I must say that I'm very intrigued by use of language and slang, and criminal underground terms.
- Lucky
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- Nov 07, 2020
I've been really lucky in terms of film projects with people, terrific actors and also writers and directors that I really respect.
- Know
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- Nov 07, 2020
I think the toughest thing about being an actor in a film is to be with a director who doesn't know what they want. And that can be really, really frustrating.
- More
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- Nov 07, 2020
Theft annoys me more than anything else. The purloining of effects from another magician. Some people think it's massive to steal the secrets of nuclear reactors, but to steal a card move is trivial. They're wrong.
- Dazzling
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- Nov 07, 2020
I love amazing people. I love dazzling them. That's why I think performing magic is one of the greatest things a person can do.
- Food
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- Nov 07, 2020
In the winters, I enrolled in the hotel management program at Cornell University. I naively thought that I knew something about sleight-of-hand, entertainment and food, and that would be all I needed.
- Cocktails
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- Nov 07, 2020
Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder biscuits and the best shrimp cocktails that ever were.
- Like
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- Nov 07, 2020
I'm much more interested in lesser-known eccentrics and characters and performers. Like Matthew Buchinger, who was born in Germany in 1674, had no arms or legs and yet did magic, and had 14 kids, and made the most extraordinary calligraphy.
- About
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- Nov 07, 2020