The Life History Of Card Trick Master Dai Vernon
Dai Vernon is considered by some to be one of the best card trick masters of his time. He was known as the Professor and was famous for making card trick history as the Man Who Fooled Houdini. His life history as a card trick illusionist spanned a period of 90 years and included a love of card tricks that may have bordered on the fanatic. The purpose of this article is to discuss the life of Dai Vernon and his famous career as a magician.
Early Life Of Dai Vernon
Dai Vernon was born under the name David Frederick Wingfield Verner in Ottawa, Canada on June 11th 1894. When his father brought him to a magic show at the tender age of eight, Dai Vernon knew he had found his calling. From that day on, Dai practiced sleight of hand illusions every chance he could get. He had a natural talent and worked hard perfecting his card tricks.
History reports that Dai Vernon, at age 13, received a copy of what is probably the most popular card trick book ever written, ‘Expert at the Card Table’. It wasn’t long before Dai had the whole book memorized. Dai Vernon was also very interested in sports, which got him into Asbury College and later The Royal Military Academy of Canada. Vernon began doing magic shows during college and decided to pick up stakes and head for New York in1913 at the tender age of 19.
An Emerging Magician
Once in New York, Dai Vernon set up residence in the magic circle which was mostly just an area in the back of an old magic shop that had drawn several up-and-coming magicians. It was during this time that the famous event surrounding the card hustler Walter Scott. Scott was brought in and blindfolded. According to card trick history, another gentleman shuffled a deck and asked Scott to deal a game of five-card poker.
He did and somehow his hand contained four aces and a king. No one could figure out how he did it but immediately began spreading the rumor that Scott’s skill rivaled Vernon’s. Oddly enough, Dai Vernon was the only man not present that evening. The tale of Scott’s feat led Vernon to begin traveling the world, seeking out card sharks and hustlers in a quest for sleight of hand card tricks.
The Man Who Fooled Houdini
Although Vernon was popular for his skill at sleight of hand, he really made card trick history the night he met Houdini. Houdini had boasted that he could determine the secret behind any card trick if he saw it three times in a row. Vernon performed his Ambitious Card trick seven times in a row before Houdini was forced to admit that he was stumped, and card trick history was made! From that day on, Vernon used the title The Man Who Fooled Houdini on all of his advertisements.
A Magician To The End
Dai Vernon spent his final three decades on earth mentoring other magicians at the world-renown Magic Castle in L.A. California. Vernon worked with such prominent magicians as Ricky Jay, Persi Diaconis, and Doug Henning. Dai Vernon’s willingness to share his magic skill with others in part earned him the title, The Professor much to Vernon’s distaste. Dai Vernon died in 1992 at the ripe old age of 98, almost nine decades after beginning his love affair with card tricks.
