Learning card magic was very important to me as a professional magician, I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful teacher and mentor.

Learning Card Magic With Cy Endfield My Mentor

In 1978, I began to take my studies in learning card magic seriously. I got Stars of Magic and Cy Endfield’s Entertaining Card Magic as a Christmas present from my mother. These two books made a big difference to me and my life.

I loved the Cy Endfield book and made good progress mastering the material. The card magic is first class. One Saturday afternoon when Alan Alan closed his shop, he said to me, “I am taking you to meet someone”, “who” I said, “It’s a surprise”.

Alan and I head down to Old Compton street, and walked into the very popular Valerie’s Patisserie. When we walked in Alan headed straight for an elderly gentleman sat to the far right, he was shuffling a pack of cards. Alan introduced me to Cy Endfield.

This was a very special moment, I was in the presence of a man who would have huge impact on me and my life for many years to come. I was too shy to even say hello, I was in awe of him. All I knew about him was his book and his great card tricks. In time I would come to hold him in high esteem as a movie director of the film Zulu, an inventor, playwright and a brilliant sleight of hand card expert. I was 15 years old when I first met him.

If there is one thing that has made a difference to my magic, it was meeting the authors of the books I enjoyed reading. I was able to see first hand what the techniques and routine should and must look like. Cy Endfield is a classic example of this. He showed me how his techniques could look invisible. I was stunned with his version of “The Diagonal Palm Shift”, his work on The” Hofzinser Change”. His  routines were stunning, “The Escape of the Musketeers”, his sensational “Aces for Connoisseurs”. This last routine is so amazing, even the great Fred Kaps made a feature of it in his work. These routines you will not find on a video, DVD or download. These are routines you will only find in his book which is now difficult to get hold of, yes, it has become a collectors item.

I am grateful to Alan Alan for this introduction because it gave me a baseline barometer for excellence and mastery. I knew what I was now aiming for.

Why be mediocre when there is excellence as an option?

I now find myself at 52 years of age doing for my students what the great masters did for me. I am giving my students the opportunity to experience the same inspiration I had through my seminars and workshops.

I am proud to say that Cy Endfield and I became friends- a friendship that lasted until his death. He was very considerate, kind and inspirational to me.

I am so happy that I was mentioned in his biography ” The Many Lives of Cy Endfield”, by Brian Neve.  I learnt a little more about him and the challenges he faced in h life.

To me, he was a great man and I loved him. To improve your card magic and experience some of the knowledge he shared with me apply to the Vincent Academy here.