Ricky Jay

{{Infobox person

| image = Ricky Jay by David Shankbone.jpg

| birth_name = Richard Jay Potash

| name = Ricky Jay

| caption = Jay at the premiere of Redbelt in April 2008

| birth_date = {{birth date|1946|6|26}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|11|24|1946|6|26}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| known_for = Sleight of hand, card tricks, history of magic

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Magician
actor
writer}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Chrisann Verges|2002}}

}}

Richard Jay Potash (June 26, 1946 – November 24, 2018) was an American stage magician, actor, and writer. In a 1993 profile for The New Yorker, Mark Singer called Jay "perhaps the most gifted sleight of hand artist alive".{{Cite magazine

|last = Singer

|first = Mark

|author-link =

|title = Secrets of the Magus

|magazine = New Yorker

|volume = 69

|number = 7

|pages = 54

|date = April 5, 1993

|url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus

|access-date = June 8, 2015

|archive-date = July 11, 2022

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220711010510/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus

|url-status = live

}} In addition to sleight of hand, he was known for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. He also wrote extensively on magic and its history. His acting credits include The Prestige, The Spanish Prisoner, Mystery Men, Heist, Boogie Nights, Tomorrow Never Dies, Heartbreakers, State and Main, House of Games, Magnolia, and Deadwood. In 2015, he was the subject of an episode of PBS's American Masters, the only magician ever profiled in the series.{{Cite news|url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/ricky-jay-about-deceptive-practice/3577/|title=Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice {{!}} About the Film {{!}} American Masters {{!}} PBS|date=December 3, 2014|work=American Masters|access-date=September 18, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=August 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812174607/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/ricky-jay-about-deceptive-practice/3577/|url-status=live}}

Early life

Jay was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Shirley (Katz) and Samuel Potash. A member of a middle-class Jewish family, he grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey.{{Citeweb|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-648647.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022151252/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-648647.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2012|title=Magician With A Lot Up His Sleeve|date=March 7, 1998|access-date=October 16, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/175481/the-greatest-living-magician/|title=The Greatest Living Magician|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=June 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611060100/http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/175481/the-greatest-living-magician/|url-status=dead}} He rarely spoke publicly about his parents, but did share an anecdote: "My father oiled his hair with Brylcreem and brushed his teeth with Colgate", Jay recalled. "He kept his toothpaste in the medicine cabinet and the Brylcreem in a closet about a foot away. Once, when I was ten, I switched the tubes. All you need to know about my father is that after he brushed his teeth with Brylcreem he put the toothpaste in his hair."

During an interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Jay said that possibly "the only kind memory I ever had of my parents" was when they secretly hired one of his idols, magician Al Flosso, to perform at his bar mitzvah.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/11/30/672210854/remembering-master-magician-and-sleight-of-hand-artist-ricky-jay/|title=Remembering Master Magician And Sleight-Of-Hand Artist Ricky Jay|newspaper=npr.org|access-date=November 30, 2018|archive-date=December 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201051233/https://www.npr.org/2018/11/30/672210854/remembering-master-magician-and-sleight-of-hand-artist-ricky-jay/|url-status=live}} Jay's grandfather, Max Katz, was a certified public accountant and amateur magician who introduced Jay to magic.{{cite web|url=http://rickyjay.com/newyorker.htm|title=The World Wide Website of Ricky Jay|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=September 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920100724/http://www.rickyjay.com/newyorker.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://rickyjay.com/hammer_exhibit.pdf|date=2011|title=Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Collection of Ricky Jay|website=RickyJay.com|access-date=August 26, 2019|archive-date=July 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706231930/http://rickyjay.com/hammer_exhibit.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite news| url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0222/6304165a_print.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010126055100/http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0222/6304165a_print.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 26, 2001 | work=Forbes | title=Forbes.com – Magazine Article | first=Adam | last=Bresnick | date=February 22, 1999}}

Career

=Magician=

File:Ricky Jay on The Secret Cabaret.jpg]]

Jay first performed in public at the age of seven, in 1953, when he appeared on the television program Time for Pets.{{cite news | title=Secrets of the Magus | url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus | access-date=November 25, 2018 | archive-date=November 10, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110020039/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus | url-status=live }} He is most likely the youngest magician to perform a full magic act on TV, the first magician to ever play comedy clubs, and probably the first magician to open for a rock and roll band. At New York's Electric Circus in the 1960s, he performed on a bill between Ike and Tina Turner and Timothy Leary, who lectured about LSD.

During the 1960s and 70s, Jay lived in Ithaca, New York, performing while also intermittently attending the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, but later moved to the Los Angeles area.{{cite web |last1=Singer |first1=Mark |title=Secrets of the Magus |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus |website=New Yorker |date=April 5, 1993 |access-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110020039/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Haine |first1=Peggy |title=He's musician and builder, but don't call him sculptor |url=https://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2016/02/15/hes-musician-and-builder-but-dont-call-him-sculptor/80411806/ |website=Ithaca Journal |access-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-date=September 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920084746/https://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2016/02/15/hes-musician-and-builder-but-dont-call-him-sculptor/80411806/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Githler |first1=Charlie |title=Sui Generis |url=https://www.ithaca.com/opinion/columnists/sui-generis/article_bbd9e904-c227-11e6-a4c9-9f64773be035.html |website=Ithaca Times |date=December 14, 2016 |access-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806191900/https://www.ithaca.com/opinion/columnists/sui-generis/article_bbd9e904-c227-11e6-a4c9-9f64773be035.html |url-status=live }}

He quickly developed a following among magic aficionados, and a reputation for sleight-of-hand feats that baffled even his colleagues. In his 1993 New Yorker profile of Jay, Mark Singer related the following story from playwright David Mamet and theater director Gregory Mosher:

{{blockquote|Some years ago, late one night in the bar of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago, [Jay] was performing magic with a deck of cards. Also present was a friend of Mamet and Mosher's named Christ Nogulich, the director of food and beverage at the hotel. After twenty minutes of disbelief-suspending manipulations, Jay spread the deck face up on the bar counter and asked Nogulich to concentrate on a specific card but not to reveal it. Jay then assembled the deck face down, shuffled, cut it into two piles, and asked Nogulich to point to one of the piles and name his card. "Three of clubs," Nogulich said, and he was then instructed to turn over the top card. He turned over the three of clubs. Mosher, in what could be interpreted as a passive-aggressive act, quietly announced, "Ricky, you know, I also concentrated on a card." After an interval of silence, Jay said, "That's interesting, Gregory, but I only do this for one person at a time." Mosher persisted: "Well, Ricky, I really was thinking of a card." Jay paused, frowned, stared at Mosher, and said, "This is a distinct change of procedure." A longer pause. "All right—what was the card?" "Two of spades." Jay nodded, and gestured toward the other pile, and Mosher turned over its top card. The deuce of spades. A small riot ensued.}}

Three of Jay's one-man shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants, Ricky Jay: On the Stem, and Ricky Jay: A Rogue's Gallery, were directed by Mamet, who also cast Jay in a number of his films.

A collector and historian, Jay was a student and friend of Dai Vernon, whom he called "the greatest living contributor to the magical art." He collected rare books and manuscripts, art, and other artifacts connected to the history of magic, gambling, unusual entertainments, and frauds and confidence games. Jay opposed any public revelations of the techniques of magic.

Jay was formerly listed in the Guinness World Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at {{convert|90|mph}} (the current record is {{convert|216|ft}} by Rick Smith Jr.). He could throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he referred to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" and "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces. In addition, he was able to throw a card into the air like a boomerang and cut it cleanly in half with a pair of "giant scissors" upon its return. In his shows, he often attacked plastic animals with thrown cards in "self defense".

=Actor=

Jay appeared in a number of David Mamet films including House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner and Redbelt; he also appeared in a few episodes of the Mamet-produced TV series The Unit as a C.I.A. recruiter.

Jay played Henry Gupta, a henchman to villain Elliot Carver, in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies; and appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as well as Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.

He joined the cast of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a recurring character and writer for the first season in 2004, playing card sharp Eddie Sawyer. He wrote the episode "Jewel's Boot Is Made for Walking"{{cite episode|title = Jewel's Boot Is Made for Walking|series = Deadwood|series-link = Deadwood (TV series)|credits = Steve Shill (director), Ricky Jay (writer)|network = HBO|airdate = June 6, 2004|season = 1|number = 11}} and left the series at the end of the first season.

=Consultant=

As an expert on magic, gambling, con games and unusual entertainment, Jay was a consultant on Hollywood projects for many years, beginning with his work on Francis Ford Coppola's production of Caleb Deschanel's The Escape Artist.{{cite news|last=Werner|first=Laurie|title=It's Just Magic. Really.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-06-ca-19724-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 2, 1994|access-date=September 27, 2012|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306051503/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-06/entertainment/ca-19724_1_ricky-jay/3|url-status=live}} Other early work included teaching Robert Redford how to manipulate coins for The Natural and working with Douglas Trumbull on his Showscan project New Magic (1983).

In the early 1990s, Jay and Michael Weber created a firm, Deceptive Practices, providing "Arcane Knowledge on a Need-to-Know Basis" to film, television and stage productions. By offering both vast historical expertise and creative invention, they were able to provide surprising practical solutions to real production challenges. Among many accomplishments, they designed the wheelchair that hid Gary Sinise's legs in Forrest Gump, the glass that "drinks itself" used by the gorilla in Congo, and an illusion "in which a man climbs to the top of a ladder of light and vanishes in midair" for the Broadway production of Angels in America: Perestroika.{{cite news|last=Werner|first=Laurie|title=It's Just Magic. Really.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-06-ca-19724-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 2, 1994|access-date=September 27, 2012|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306033956/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-06/entertainment/ca-19724_1_ricky-jay|url-status=live}}

Other projects they worked on included The Prestige,{{cite news|title=Conjuring up the magical in movies|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-oct-30-et-rickyjay30-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 30, 2006|first1=Ricky|last1=Jay|first2=Michael|last2=Weber|access-date=September 27, 2012|archive-date=August 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824102408/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/oct/30/entertainment/et-rickyjay30|url-status=live}} The Illusionist, Sneakers, Leap of Faith, Wolf, The Parent Trap, I Love Trouble, The Great Buck Howard, Heartbreakers, and Ocean's Thirteen.

Additionally, he 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, California.{{Cite book |last=Basbanes |first=Nicholas |url=https://archive.org/details/gentlemadnessbib00basb/page/419 |title=A Gentle Madness |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-8050-3653-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gentlemadnessbib00basb/page/419 419] |url-access=registration}}

=Lectures and exhibitions=

Jay authored numerous articles and delivered many lectures and demonstrations on such subjects as conjuring literature, con games, sense perception, and unusual entertainments. Among his presentations:

"Sleight and Shadow", at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Belknap Visitor in the Humanities" lecture on the relationship between magicians and mediums, at Princeton University
"Doing Likewise: Imitation, Emulation, and Mimesis", at the New York Institute of Humanities, hosted by Jonathan Miller.
"Hocus Pocus in Perfection: Four Hundred Years of Conjuring and Conjuring Literature," the Harold Smith Memorial Lecture at Brown University.
"Splendors of Decaying Celluloid", with Errol Morris, Rosamond Purcell and Bill Morrison at the New York Institute for the Humanities.
"The Origins of the Confidence Game", at the conference of Police Against Confidence Crime.
"Chirosophi: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Conjuring Literature," at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
"Fast and Loose: The Techniques and Literature of Cheating", at the William Andrew Clark Memorial Library, UCLA.
"The Mystery of Fasting Impostors," and "The Avant Garde Art of Armless Calligraphers", at Amherst College.
"Sense, Perception, & Nonsense" at the University of Rhode Island Festival of the Arts.
"Illusion as Truth", at the International Design Conference in Aspen (keynote address).
"Prose & Cons: The Early Literature of Cheating", at the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Lecture Series) and the Chicago Humanities Festival.
"Magic & Science", at the TED Conference in Monterey, California.

Jay also lectured at Harvard University, USC, the Grolier Club, the Hammer Museum, Getty Center, and Town Hall Theatre in New York City. In 1999 he guest-curated an exhibit at the Harvard Theater Collection entitled "The Imagery of Illusion: Nineteenth Century Magic and Deception."Harvard University Gazette

Exhibitions of material from his collections have been mounted at the Hammer Museum,"Hokum That Stands the Test of Time," Review by Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, November 15, 2007 the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,"Oddballs, magicians, freaks haunt Ricky Jay's handbill history," by Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle, January 24, 2005. University of California, Davis,{{Cite web |url=http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/in_the_news/full_text/view_clip.lasso?id=56607 |title=UC Davis News & Information :: In the News |access-date=September 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116035111/http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/in_the_news/full_text/view_clip.lasso?id=56607 |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |url-status=dead }} the Christine Burgin Gallery,{{cite web|url=http://www.christineburgin.com/projects/pp_jay.html|title=Ricky Jay - Publications & Editions - Christine Burgin|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=September 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915055644/http://www.christineburgin.com/projects/pp_jay.html|url-status=live}} the Museum of Jurassic Technology,{{cite web|url=http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/rickyjay/rjay.html|title=Rotten Luck|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=October 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017175600/http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/rickyjay/rjay.html|url-status=live}} and UCLA's Clark Library.{{Cite web |url=http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/special/misc/rickyjay.htm |title=UCLA Library Department of Special Collections: Exhibits |access-date=September 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213231158/http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/special/misc/rickyjay.htm |archive-date=February 13, 2012 |url-status=dead }} He loaned material to the Getty Center for their exhibit "Devices of Wonder"{{cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/news/press/qnb02w.html|title=Quarterly News Bulletin, Winter 2001 (Getty Press Release)|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=September 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923225035/http://www.getty.edu/news/press/qnb02w.html|url-status=live}}, the Skirball Museum, the Huntington Library, the Whitney Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibit entitled "Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger's Drawings From the Collection of Ricky Jay" in 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/arts/design/ricky-jay-and-the-met-conjure-big-magic-in-miniature.html|title=Ricky Jay and the Met Conjure Big Magic in Miniature|date=January 17, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=December 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217082257/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/arts/design/ricky-jay-and-the-met-conjure-big-magic-in-miniature.html|url-status=live}}

Documentary film

Jay is the subject of the feature documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, and of a 1995 BBC2 documentary titled Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters, and Ricky Jay.

Death

Jay died on November 24, 2018, at age 72. His attorney Stan Coleman confirmed his death but further details were not immediately released.{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/obituaries-people-news/ricky-jay-dead-dies-magician-boogie-nights-1203035879/|title=Ricky Jay, Master Magician and Actor in 'Deadwood,' 'Boogie Nights,' Dies at 72|last=Saperstein|first=Pat|date=November 25, 2018|work=Variety|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125073929/https://variety.com/2018/film/obituaries-people-news/ricky-jay-dead-dies-magician-boogie-nights-1203035879/|url-status=live}} Later press coverage reported that Jay died of natural causes.{{Cite news|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46333968|title = Ricky Jay, American magician and actor, dies|work = BBC News|date = November 25, 2018|access-date = October 20, 2021|archive-date = October 20, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211020023356/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46333968|url-status = live}}

Credits

=Film=

House of Games (1987) – George / Vegas Man
Things Change (1988) – Mr. Silver
Homicide (1991) – Aaron
Leap of Faith (1992) – Cons and Frauds Consultant
The Spanish Prisoner (1997) – George Lang
Boogie Nights (1997) – Kurt Longjohn
Hacks (1997) – The Hat
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) – Henry Gupta
Mystery Men (1999) – Vic Weems
Magnolia (1999) – Burt Ramsey / Narrator
State and Main (2000) – Jack
Heartbreakers (2001) – Dawson's Auctioneer
Heist (2001) – Don "Pinky" Pincus
Incident at Loch Ness (2004) – Party Guest #5
Last Days (2005) – Detective
The Prestige (2006) – Milton
The Great Buck Howard (2008) – Gil Bellamy
Redbelt (2008) – Marty Brown
The Brothers Bloom (2008) – Narrator (voice)
Intense (2009) – John
The Automatic Hate (2015) – Uncle Josh (final film role)

=Television=

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (October 26, 1970)
Doug Henning's World of Magic II (December 1976)
Saturday Night Live (1977)
The Ricky Jay Magic Show – BBC special (1978)
Dinah! (July 11, 1979)
The John Davidson Show (November 28, 1980)
Simon & Simon – Bird (1983)
The Paul Daniels Magic Show (1985)
Arsenio (1988)
Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women – 1 hour special for American TV (1989)
The Secret Cabaret (two series made by Open Media for Channel 4, UK)
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News (January 10, 1990)
Civil Wars – Lenny NiCastro (November 11, 1991)
Late Show with David Letterman (1994, 2013)
The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky – Hawkes (1995)
Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants – 1 hour version of his Off-Broadway show, taped for HBO (1996)
Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters and Ricky Jay (1996)
American Masters – "Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light" (1996)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1998, 2002)
The X-Files – The Amazing Maleeni / Herman Pinchbeck / Albert Pinchbeck in "The Amazing Maleeni" (2000)
MythBusters – Episode 20, "Exploding Jawbreaker, Static Cannon, Deadly Playing Cards." Jay demonstrated card throwing, and the speed of his throws was clocked. (2003)
Deadwood – Eddie Sawyer (2004), Season 1
Kidnapped – Roger Prince (2006–07)
The Unit – Agent Kern (2007–09)
Lie to Me – Mason Brock (2009)
FlashForward – Man in Warehouse / Ted Flosso (2009–10)
60 Minutes – Interviewed by Morley Safer for segment, "Pigeon Fever"{{cite news|title=Pigeon Fever: Ponzi Schemes Still Thriving|date=February 11, 2010|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pigeon-fever-ponzi-schemes-still-thriving/|work=CBS News|access-date=September 21, 2012|archive-date=May 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530195217/http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-6198863.html|url-status=live}} (2010)
The Simpsons – plays himself in episode "The Great Simpsina" (2011)
Teen Titans Go! – plays voice in Robin's head in episode "The Date" (2013)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (March 31, 2014)
Getting On – Thoracic Surgeon (2014)
Sneaky Pete – T.H. Vignetti (2019)

=Theater=

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1982); produced by Joseph Papp for The New York Shakespeare Festival.
Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants (1994)
Ricky Jay: On The Stem (2002)
Ricky Jay: A Rogue's Gallery (2009)

He also performed on the 2005 BBC Radio adaptation of David Mamet's Faustus.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/pip/s2fve/|title=BBC - Radio 3 - Drama on 3 - Faustus|access-date=October 16, 2016|archive-date=November 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128060558/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/pip/s2fve/|url-status=live}}

=Books=

Jay was the author of eleven books:{{cite news |last1=Gates |first1=Anita |title=Ricky Jay, Gifted Magician, Actor and Author, Is Dead at 70 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/obituaries/ricky-jay-dead.html |access-date=November 25, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 25, 2018 |archive-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181126081317/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/obituaries/ricky-jay-dead.html |url-status=live }}

Cards as Weapons. Image Graphiques (1977). {{ISBN|0882010174}}.
Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. Villard (1986). {{ISBN|0394537505}}.
Many Mysteries Unraveled: Conjuring Literature in America 1786–1874. Antiquarian Society (1990). ASIN B00FFJ0402.
The Magic Magic Book. Whitney Museum Library Associates (1994). ASIN B004ONUJP0.
Jay's Journal of Anomalies. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2001). {{ISBN|0374178674}}.
Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck. Quantuck Lane Press (2002). {{ISBN|0971454817}}.
Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Collection of Ricky Jay. Quantuck Lane Press (2005). {{ISBN|1593720122}}.
Ricky Jay Plays Poker (Audio CD). Sony Legacy (2007). ASIN B000HT2MB4.
Magic: 1400s–1950s (with Mike Caveney, Jim Steinmeyer) Taschen (2009). {{ISBN|383652807X}}.
Celebrations of Curious Characters. McSweeney (2010). {{ISBN|1936365030}}.
Matthias Buchinger: "The Greatest German Living". Siglio (2016).

Charles McGrath called Jay "perhaps the last of the great 19th-century authors." Jay's last book, Matthias Buchinger: "The Greatest German Living", was well-received, called "awe-inspiring" by the Los Angeles Times and "beguiling" by the New York Review of Books.

=Music=

Ricky Jay contributed to several projects in the music world, most notably the 2007 Sony release [https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Jay-Plays-Poker-Book/dp/B000HT2MB4 Ricky Jay Plays Poker], a box set containing a CD of poker-related songs (by Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, Townes Van Zandt, Patsy Cline, Lorne Greene, Howard Da Silva, O. V. Wright, and several others), a DVD featuring Ricky Jay discussing and performing notable feats of card table deception, and a box of Ricky Jay playing cards.

He performed "The Fiddler" with Richard Greene on Hal Willner's sea shanty-compilation Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006), as well as "The Chantey of Noah and his Ark (Old School Song)" on its follow-up Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys (2013).

He appeared in the music video for Bob Dylan's song "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum",{{Cite web |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7340739464434464496 |title=Archived copy |access-date=September 21, 2012 |archive-date=September 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926115551/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7340739464434464496 |url-status=dead }} from the album Love and Theft. During the production of the video, a screwdriver reportedly fell from the rafters and lodged in Jay's hand.Interview in The Believer, May 2012.

He appeared in the video for the Jerry Garcia and David Grisman single "The Thrill Is Gone", available on the DVD of the Grateful Dawg documentary.

References

External links

{{official website}}
[http://www.linkingpage.com Ricky Jay Archive at the Magic Newswire website]
{{IMDb name|419633}}
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/01/24/DDG2GAUEFH1.DTL&hw=ricky+jay&sn=001&sc=1000 San Francisco Chronicle review of "Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides From the Collection of Ricky Jay" during 2005 exhibition]
[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1993/04/05/1993_04_05_054_TNY_CARDS_000362341?currentPage=all "Secrets of the Magus" 1993 New Yorker profile]

{{Academy of Magical Arts Magician of the Year |state=autocollapse}}

Category:1946 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:American magicians

Category:Card magic

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Historians of magic

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:Magic consultants

Category:Obie Award recipients

Category:Sleight of hand

Category:Male actors from Brooklyn