|  Cardician & Magic Historian: RICKY JAY
HIS ORIGINATION AND THE STORY BEGIN.
Raised in New Jersey, but born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1948, Jay came from a magic family where his grandfather mixed with all the day's greats. Jay was onstage by the age of four for the Society of American Magicians. Vernon was in the audience. "I'm sure I was terrible," he said during a brief phone call from his hotel room in Charleston. At the age of 7 he appeared on TV. In the 1970s he'd drifted to Los Angeles doing full magic while spending more that two decades with magicians Charlie Miller and Dai Vernon.
HIS STUDIES;-
Between times, he began studying and writing about the history of conjuring. Jay became a scholar of subterfuge. He loves to discuss old masters with odd sounding names like Johann Nepomuk Hofzinger, Nate Leipzig, Max Malini, and Dai Vernon or George Devol, a 19th century riverboat gambler. He has ammassed a library of 4,000 to 5,000 books.
THROWING PLAYING CARD'S SPEED, 90mph:-
Jay is a renowned sleight-of-hand artist whose one-man show Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants was a critical and popular success, receiving the Lucille Lortel and Obie awards. Jay has broken the record of throwing a PLAYING CARD at 195ft at 90mph in the Guinness Book of World Records.
CAMBRIDGE GUIDE;-
He is a historian in the fields of deception, unusual entertainment, and conjuring and has defined the terms of his art for The Cambridge Guide to American Theater and the forthcoming edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He is the author of the Magic Magic Book, Many Mysteries Unraveled, Cards as Weapons, and the ongoing fine-press quarterly Jay's Journal of Anomalies.
A NEW EDITION;-
A new edition of his acclaimed book, Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, was just published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He has also written and hosted his own television specials for CBS, HBO, A&E, and the BBC and soon to come on Turner Classic Movies.
MR JAY'S ESTABLISHMENT;-
Mr. Jay established the firm "Deceptive Practices," (Arcane knowledge on a need to know basis.) which provides consultation for films, television, and the stage. It has done films such as "Forrest Gump," "Congo," "Sneakers," and "I Love Trouble".
FAMOUS ACTOR IN;-
As an actor, Jay is the most recognizable from his roles in David Mamet's films; House of Games, Things Change, Homicide, and The Spanish Prisoner. He has also appeared in Boogie Nights and the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.
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