I always assumed Dr. Daley was a fictional character for the "Dr. Daley's last trick" plot, but I was recently going through the Jinx magazine and the table of contents had another trick called "Dr. Jacob Daley's cups and balls" (or something). So I was wondering if he was a real person (magician, mathematician, etc.) who created these effects and variations, or was he just a fictional plot center-piece.
As I wrote this, I decided to do some research. Turns out he was a real person. According to Genii Magazine's "Magicpedia", Dr. Daley was a Russian-Born American plastic surgeon. He founded the American Society for Otolaryngology Plastic Surgery (the branch of plastic surgery that deals with restructuring important parts of your inner sinuses, ears, nose, throat, mouth, etc.). But besides that, he was also an amateur magician. He is famous for "Dr. Daley's Last Trick", a creation of Daley's which he showed Dai Vernon prior to Dr. Daley's death. However, that's not all that he did.
I pulled up a list of his creations. He wrote many notebooks and worked in many books and journals. His works and works that are built off of his journals can be found in many places including, and not limited to:
The Phoenix Magazine, The New Phoenix Magazine, Jinx Magazine, Expert Card Technique, Million Dollar Card Secrets, 100% Sankey, Scarne on Cards, Hugard's Magic Monthly, Secrets of So Sato, The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings, Apocalypse, A Full Deck of Impromptu Card Tricks, Card Manipulations, The Card Magic of Paul Le Paul, Secret Agenda, Hidden Agenda, The Dai Vernon Book of Magic, Greater Magic, and of course, Stars of Magic.
What's crazy is that he doesn't just have one or two moves used over and over again, he has literally a huge arsenal of things he published, a lot of basics that we use every day. If you look through that list, there are some classic plot that people use all the time! And he did everything from coins, to ropes, to cards, mentalism, bills, enveloped, cups and balls, everything! Dr. Daley was a huge contributor to magic.
However, I don't see too many people recognizing him for his works other than his very last trick (which gets credited to The Professor, even though Vernon gives him direct credit in the title). To look at a resume of this caliber, you would assume that he would be considered right up there with the likes of Vernon, Anneman, Fulves, etc., especially considering how much work he did with them. He is definitely going to be one of the guys I hunt for while looking for books (especially since there are so many that he was in, so if I pick one, I get a ton of stuff beyond just his works).
Did you guys know about him? If so, did you know about all the stuff he did? And are you more inclined to look through his stuff now? Lemme know what you think.
P.S. This post started with me knowing about the Doctor through his last trick, and then just stumbling across his name in a magazine. It slowly turned into me looking through a ton of his works, some of which I can look through right now, and learning about his magic career.
As I wrote this, I decided to do some research. Turns out he was a real person. According to Genii Magazine's "Magicpedia", Dr. Daley was a Russian-Born American plastic surgeon. He founded the American Society for Otolaryngology Plastic Surgery (the branch of plastic surgery that deals with restructuring important parts of your inner sinuses, ears, nose, throat, mouth, etc.). But besides that, he was also an amateur magician. He is famous for "Dr. Daley's Last Trick", a creation of Daley's which he showed Dai Vernon prior to Dr. Daley's death. However, that's not all that he did.
I pulled up a list of his creations. He wrote many notebooks and worked in many books and journals. His works and works that are built off of his journals can be found in many places including, and not limited to:
The Phoenix Magazine, The New Phoenix Magazine, Jinx Magazine, Expert Card Technique, Million Dollar Card Secrets, 100% Sankey, Scarne on Cards, Hugard's Magic Monthly, Secrets of So Sato, The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings, Apocalypse, A Full Deck of Impromptu Card Tricks, Card Manipulations, The Card Magic of Paul Le Paul, Secret Agenda, Hidden Agenda, The Dai Vernon Book of Magic, Greater Magic, and of course, Stars of Magic.
What's crazy is that he doesn't just have one or two moves used over and over again, he has literally a huge arsenal of things he published, a lot of basics that we use every day. If you look through that list, there are some classic plot that people use all the time! And he did everything from coins, to ropes, to cards, mentalism, bills, enveloped, cups and balls, everything! Dr. Daley was a huge contributor to magic.
However, I don't see too many people recognizing him for his works other than his very last trick (which gets credited to The Professor, even though Vernon gives him direct credit in the title). To look at a resume of this caliber, you would assume that he would be considered right up there with the likes of Vernon, Anneman, Fulves, etc., especially considering how much work he did with them. He is definitely going to be one of the guys I hunt for while looking for books (especially since there are so many that he was in, so if I pick one, I get a ton of stuff beyond just his works).
Did you guys know about him? If so, did you know about all the stuff he did? And are you more inclined to look through his stuff now? Lemme know what you think.
P.S. This post started with me knowing about the Doctor through his last trick, and then just stumbling across his name in a magazine. It slowly turned into me looking through a ton of his works, some of which I can look through right now, and learning about his magic career.
