RICKY JAY

'Ricky Jay' (b. 1948) is an American professional sleight-of-hand artist, actor, and author. He is considered an expert on the history of magic and oddball, unusual entertainment.

Contents

Performer

Selected filmography

Televised performances

Feature films

Books

Consultant

References

External links

Performer

He was born 'Richard Jay Potash' in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish-American family. Ricky Jay is considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the United States. He is notable for his signature card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter.^[1] At least two of his shows, ''Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants'' and ''On the Stem'', were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has also appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's ''Boogie Nights'' and ''Magnolia'', as well as ''The Prestige'' and season one of HBO's ''Deadwood'' as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.
Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (the current record is 216 ft, by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces.

Selected filmography

Televised performances

★ ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (October 26, 1970)

★ ''Saturday Night Live'' (1977)

★ ''Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women'' - 1 hour special for American TV (1989)

★ ''Simon Drake's Secret Cabaret (UK)''

★ ''Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants'' - 1 hour version of his Off-Broadway show, taped for HBO (1996)

★ ''X Files - The Amazing Maleeni '' (2000)

★ ''Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters and Ricky Jay'' (1996)

★ ''MythBusters'' - Episode 20, "Exploding Jawbreaker, Static Cannon, Deadly Playing Cards." Ricky demonstrated card throwing, and the speed of his throws was clocked (2003)

★ ''Deadwood'' (2004)

★ ''Tales From The Crypt'' (Unknown)

★ ''The Unit'' (2007)

Feature films

★ ''House of Games'' (1987)

★ ''Things Change'' (1988)

★ ''Homicide'' (1991)

★ ''The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995) (TV)

★ ''The Spanish Prisoner'' (1997)

★ ''Boogie Nights'' (1997)

★ ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' (1997)

★ ''Magnolia'' (1999)

★ ''Mystery Men'' (1999)

★ ''State and Main'' (2000)

★ ''Heist'' (2001)

★ ''Heartbreakers'' (2001)

★ ''Incident at Loch Ness'' (2004)

★ ''Last Days'' (2005)

★ ''The Prestige'' (2006)

Books

When not performing, Ricky Jay collects rare books and artifacts. He is the author of several books:

★ ''Extraordinary Exhibitions: The Wonderful Remains of an Enormous Head, The Whimsiphusicon & Death to the Savage Unitarians'' - a collection of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century broadsides [1]

★ ''Jay's Journal of Anomalies''

★ ''Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck''

★ ''Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women''

★ ''Cards As Weapons''

★ Ricky Jay Plays Poker

Consultant

Mr. Jay created a consulting firm, Deceptive Practices, which provides "arcane knowledge on a need-to-know basis." His firm's clients are often within the stage, television, and film industries. He has worked with libraries and museums on their collections, including the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts and the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, CA.

References

1.

External links

★ Official website

★ Ricky Jay Archive at the Magic Newswire website

★ Ricky Jay Plays Poker

★

★ Quantuck Lane Press

★ San Francisco Chronicle review of "Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides From the Collection of Ricky Jay" during 2005 exhibition