Ricky Jay

Ricky Jay (born Richard Potash in Brooklyn, New York, 1948) is a Jewish-American actor, professional sleight-of-hand artist, and an expert on the history of magic and entertainment.

Related Topics:
Brooklyn - New York - 1948 - Jewish - American - Sleight-of-hand

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Ricky Jay is widely considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the country, and he is now well-known for his signature card tricks, card throwing, feats of memory, and inimitable stage patter. 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. He has also appeared in films by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights", and in the first season of HBO's "Deadwood" as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.

Related Topics:
David Mamet - Paul Thomas Anderson - Boogie Nights - Deadwood - Card sharp

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When not performing, he collects rare books and artifacts, and he has worked with libraries and museums on their collections, including the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts. He is the author of several books, most recently a collection of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century broadsides entitled Extraordinary Exhibitions: The Wonderful Remains of an Enormous Head, The Whimsiphusicon & Death to the Savage Unitarianshttp://quantucklanepress.com/catalog/book.php?bkID=66. Other titles include Jay's Journal of Anomalies, Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck, Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, and Cards As Weapons.

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Up until recently Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 feet at 90 miles per hour (the current record is 216 feet, by Rick Smith, Jr.). He 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.

Related Topics:
Guinness Book of Records - Feet - Rick Smith, Jr. - Watermelon

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Mr. Jay created a consulting firm called "Deceptive Practices," which provides "Arcane Knowledge on a Need-To-Know Basis." Among his firm's clients are the stage, television, and film industries.

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