"If you love magic, this is a book you should own and read."

Book Review
By Matthew Field

Dai Vernon was without question one of the most influential magicians of the twentieth century.  He bridged the gap between the late nineteenth century masters like Nate Leipzig and Max Malini, and those of the early twentieth, including Cardini, Al Baker and others, and established close-up magic as a major force in our art. He was a single-minded person, uninterested in mundane things like earning a living, who would pursue the hint of a gambler’s move to a small town in Kansas.  Offered lucrative employment by Mark Leddy, the agent who made Channing Pollock famous, Vernon turned him down so he could cut silhouettes on his own schedule and while away his evenings with ‘the boys’.

This volume, the first of two planned, is the extraordinary story of ‘The Professor’, so-called even by his wife. The version of this tale which was told in The Vernon Chronicles Vol. 4: He Fooled Houdini by Bruce Cervon and Keith Burns (L&L Publishing, 1992) relied on Vernon’s own recollections, while the present volume has been extensively researched by David Ben, and the negative areas of Vernon’s personality, glossed over in the Chronicles are laid bare here, the better to serve both history and our understanding of the man.

And what a man!  It s difficult to overstate the impact Vernon had on close-up and stage magic.  His own nightclub and stage acts were lauded in the press, and his tricks extolled by the great magicians of his day.

Beyond all this is David Ben’s excellent writing, impeccable research and well-told tale.  Gabe Fajuri’s Squash Publishing has done a fine job in presentation, with many great photos included.  If you love magic, this is a book you should own and read.

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