Richard Turner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Richard Edward Turner June 16, 1954 |
| Occupation(s) | Card mechanic, card manipulator |
| Spouse | Kim Turner |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | Official website |
Richard Edward Turner (born June 16, 1954) is an American expert card mechanic who is known for his card trick performances. He was the subject of the documentary Dealt .
Turner was born in San Diego in 1954, which he dubbed "the year of the full deck" (referring to a standard 52-card deck of playing cards, plus the two jokers). At the age of seven, he became infatuated with the television show Maverick . [1] [2]
His eyesight began failing at the age of nine following his recovery from a bout with scarlet fever. [2] The macula of each of Turner's eyes was completely destroyed, preventing forward vision. [1] By the age of thirteen, his vision deteriorated to 20/400; over the years, what little vision Turner possessed gradually deteriorated to the point where he presently can no longer distinguish between a fully lit room and total darkness. [3]
Turner attended a special school for the visually impaired in Santee, California, where he refused to learn Braille. His younger brother, David, had been taking karate lessons for nine months, and invited Turner to accompany him. He began karate lessons in 1971 under the tutelage of Master John Murphy, the United States' founder of Wado-Kai, a Japanese hard-style karate, was good at it, and began training at Gene Fisher's Gym, eventually earning a sixth-degree black belt in Wado-Kai karate. [4]
In 1972, Turner auditioned for a small non-profit San Diego Christian theater operated by television actor Steve Terrell, and he performed for six years with the "Lamb's Players Theatre". Terrell taught Turner how to look people in the eye so that they would not know of his visual impairment. [1]
He was later introduced to stuntman Bobby Yerkes, who taught him to swing on the trapeze, walk a tight rope, and take high falls. [5]
Turner's demonstrations have been featured on television programs, including That's Incredible! , Ripley's Believe It Or Not , The 700 Club , five appearances on Japanese programs, including World Geniuses and on Great Britain's The Paul Daniels Magic Show. He has conducted motivational lectures for international corporations and government agencies and created and performed a family entertainment program for schoolchildren, featuring a comedy routine co-starring his wife as schoolmarm "Miss Guided", his assistant. [6]
Turner performed his 19th-century riverboat gambler's act as "The Cheat" in various venues:
Turner's audiences have included Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Muhammad Ali, and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who joined Turner and his wife at one of their school programs. [8] Turner auditioned for and was hired by his employers without revealing his visual impairment, and he never informs his audiences he is blind.
The United States Playing Card Company employs his services as a "touch analyst" to evaluate the texture, flexibility and cut of dozens of decks of cards each year. [1]
Although semi-retired, Turner appears several weeks a year at The Magic Castle, performs his act and presents lectures to his peers, and performs at private parties at the Buckhorn Saloon & Museum in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. [5] He has also appeared in a Penguin Live lecture where he details some of the work on his award-winning false dealing. [9]
In 2008 he toured as part of a stage show called Hoodwinked with Todd Robbins, Bob Arno and Banachek. [10] [11]
In 2010, Turner was asked by director Terrence Malick to cheat Brad Pitt's character at the blackjack table in the film The Tree of Life . [12]
Screening in theatres in 2024, the documentary Lost In The Shuffle sees Shawn Farquhar explore the centuries old mysteries hidden in a deck of cards, while visiting fellow magicians, including Turner, to explore their favourite card tricks.
Turner is married to Kim Turner ( née Miller). They have a son. [13]
When Turner was eleven years old, he created a puzzle game called Batty, inspired by the game Tower of Hanoi . In May 2011 he released his fourth version. Batty features eleven levels of difficulty, ranging from an uncomplicated Level 3 through the extremely complex Level 11. While a Level 3 can be resolved by an elementary school student in six or seven moves, mastering Level 11 demands far greater mathematical acumen, requiring between 1,023 and 2,047 moves without a single mistake. [14]
A trick deck is a deck of playing cards that has been altered in some way to allow magicians to perform certain card tricks where sleight of hand would be too difficult or impractical.
John Scarne was an American magician and author who was particularly adept at playing card manipulation. He became known as an expert on cards and other games, and authored a number of popular books on cards, gambling, and related topics.
Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. As a child, he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmann's magic show and was determined to equal his work. He eventually became the most famous magician of his time. Thurston's traveling magic show was the biggest one of all; it was so large that it needed eight train cars to transport his road show.
David Frederick Wingfield Verner, better known by his stage names Dai Vernon or The Professor, was a Canadian magician.
Card marking is the process of altering playing cards in a method only apparent to marker or conspirator, such as by bending or adding visible marks to a card. This allows different methods for card sharps to cheat or for magicians to perform magic tricks. To be effective, the distinguishing mark or marks must be visible on the obverse sides of the cards, which are normally uniform.
This is a glossary of conjuring terms used by magicians.
Lee Asher is a close-up magician noted for originating new card tricks and hypnotic sleight of hand moves. He is considered an expert in playing cards, and as a collector is especially known for his work with 52 Plus Joker, the American Playing Card Collectors Club, of which he is the serving President. He has served as a magic consultant for professional magicians such as Greg Frewin.
Joshua Jay is an American magician, author, and lecturer. He has performed in over 100 countries and was awarded top prize at the World Magic Seminar in 1998. He worked with Penn and Teller on the show Fool Us, and he holds a Guinness World Record for card tricks. Jay has performed on shows including Good Morning America and The Today Show. In January 2018, Jay was recognized by the Society of American Magicians for his contribution to the art of magic.
Brother John Charles Hamman S.M. was a close-up magician and Marianist Brother. The tricks he invented are still an integral part of many close-up magician's repertoire. Hamman was world-renowned in the magic community. His initial interest in the art started as a child. As he recuperated from polio, he spent hours learning, practicing and inventing card tricks and other magic involving sleight-of-hand. In many cases, he "reinvented" classic maneuvers or streamlined them. He was a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the Catholic Magicians' Guild and the Society of American Magicians.
Chink-a-chink is a simple close-up magic coin trick in which a variety of small objects, usually four, appear to magically transport themselves from location to location when covered by the performer's hands, until the items end up gathered together in the same place. Variations, especially the Sympathetic Coins, also known as Coins-n-Cards, have been performed since the 1800s. Popular modern variations are Shadow Coins and Matrix. A variation using playing cards as the objects is known as Sympathetic Aces.
Shawn Farquhar is a Canadian magician and illusionist notable for his title as the "Grand Prix World Champion of Magic" from the International Federation of Magic Societies.
Arturo de Ascanio is considered the father of Spanish card magic, referred to by Milbourne Christopher as "the Dai Vernon of Spain."
Richard J. Kaufman is an author, publisher, illustrator, and editor of books and magazines in the field of magic and amateur magicians of noted skill.
Lawrence Grey was an English magician known for his card tricks. He also worked as an occasional actor and is known for voicing Bill the Lizard in Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland.
The Fool is one of the 78 cards in a tarot deck. In tarot card reading, it is one of the 22 Major Arcana, sometimes numbered as 0 or XXII. However, in decks designed for playing traditional tarot card games, it is typically unnumbered, as it is not one of the 21 trump cards and instead serves a unique purpose by itself.
Noel Qualter is an English close up magician, magic creator and magic consultant. He is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle.
Liang-Shun Lim, known professionally as Shin Lim, is a Canadian-American magician, recognized for his use of card manipulation and sleight of hand. He is known for elaborate close-up card magic routines, during which he remains silent with the tricks set to music. He is self-taught, having learned most of his skills from watching YouTube, and has in turn shared some of his own techniques in videos on the site.
Norman Laurence Gilbreath is an American magician and author known for originating the Gilbreath shuffle. He is also known for Gilbreath's conjecture concerning prime numbers.
Bruce Cervon was an American magician who was best known for his close-up magic, both through performance and invention. He published a series of books and helped to create a permanent record of the magic of Dai Vernon through The Vernon Chronicles, and Bruce Cervon's Castle Notebooks.
Woody Aragón, is a Spanish magician.
