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A question from a member drew my attention to Daryl. A quick search showed that this magician have not been discussed much at TM.

Since Daryl began performing professionally in 1968, DARYL he has achieved extraordinary success in Magic. Using awards as a measurement, DARYL earned the gold medal at the FISM 1982 in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1982, and 6 Academy Awards from the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California (no one has earned more). Twice, his peers voted him Close-Up Magician of the Year (1980 and 1981), twice as Parlour Magician of the Year (1986 and 1987), and twice as Lecturer of the Year (1988 and 1992). The list goes on and on with victories in every major competition he has entered.

Let me tell a little personal story that might reflect how this creative magician works.

I met Daryl in Horsens, Denmark maybe around 7 years ago. He gave a workshop and a lecture as part of his world tour. After his lecture I had the honour of having dinner with Daryl together with a small Danish group of magicians. Daryl was very friendly and I remember that I even asked him some pretty basic questions (for example how to do a pressure fan) and he seemed more than happy to teach me the finer details.

There was also one or two people who were not magicians sitting nearby and some of the Danish magicians where entertaining these by repeatedly doing an rather incredible feat (described briefly in Expert Card Technique by Hugard and Braue) where a magician spread out the cards in a fan and asks the spectator to think about any card. Then after the magician has shuffled the cards he asks the spectator to hold the deck and put his hand on the pack and just think that the card raise to top. When the spectator the turn the top card and this is indeed the card he "freely" though of (and never revealed to anyone) the effect as absolutely killing.
[if it not the card the magicain has essentially another serious go before he plum into his multiple outs). I told Daryl, that this effect (I had experienced the first time 5 years earlier) was the single strongest effect I every personally had encountered.

What is interesting that Daryl clearly must have been inspired by this effect (that is VERY difficult to do - definitely at skill level 5) so he invented a commercial version of the effect (with a gimmick) that make it possible for the "ordinary" magician to do the mental force.

Let me emphasize that the mental force NOT is the "obvious" you might have seen on TV commercials where one card just is displayed more than the rest. This mental force is much more subtle and though it is based on psychology, the spectator experience it as if he genuinely have a free choice! It a very strong but also very difficult force and in fact I have only encountered very few magicians who could do it really convincingly (I have used it myself a few times, also with success, but please do not ask me about on the finer details of this force - I am not an expert on this).

By introducing a gimmick Daryl made this effect easy to do, though personally I think the gimmicked effect is MUCH weaker that the real version as most spectators would realise that the only have quite a restricted choice. For the rest of the spectators – not directly involved – Daryl’s version is brilliant.

Anyway, I hope this little story gives you some idea of why Daryl is called the magicians magician.

Great post Soren!

I was once told that Daryl is a 'cheesy hasbeen greaseball' when I recommended his work. And I defended that remark quite strongly.

For me, Daryl's work was amongst some of the first stuff I ever bought on video, ergo, some of the first instructional stuff I 'saw' rather than read.

Thanks, Soren, for pointing something out which many of us take for granted—the reasons WHY certain magicians deserve respect.

It's not because they're super-skilled, or because their stage show is breathtaking.

It's because of their passion, and their own personal dedication to the art.

Too many people also see Daryl as a card magician, and a teacher of old methods. But this is a little misconception, probably brought about by the fact his 'Card Sleights' encyclopedia is one of his most talked about commercial items.

Check out his lecture notes, if you ever get the chance, and you'll see he's actually pretty diverse. Daryl Does Den Haag, for instance, is pretty obscure and diverse, and super creative.

It's always nice to hear positive end encouraging stories about magicians, as in more recent years, it seems magicians like Daryl have been a bit forgotten.

Nice article Soren.

For the record I love Daryl's magic and take great inspiration from the man himself as being a truely entertaining performer. We can all learn a lot just by watching him perform.

Daryl is the consummate professional magician and one of the friendliest guys in magic.

We would all benefit by learning from his example.

A quick search showed that this magician have not been discussed much at TM.

the reason for this is much the same as Michael Ammar, Tommy Wonder and other such "old" greats, and is that the youth of today only want quick fix magic and will only try and learn from the "trendy" magicians of today (for example look at how many recommend Born To perform or want to be like Criss Angel) Personally I'm quite happy with this as it means i can perform stuff inspired by the aforementioned giants that seems new to people while everyone else is doing what everyone else does and puts a chosen card inside a ziplock bag or whatever Criss/Blaine/Pearlman/Parker is doing now

Almost 2 years ago I had the pleasure of Daryl and his Wife Alison's company at an evening gala show - see http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic4625.p ... al+society. He's a true gentleman and was very supportive of all the other acts, cheering and applauding like crazy.

and just to reinforce the point i made, you'll notice that noone under 30 has replied to this thread probably all searching the ellusionist website for instant Daryl downloads or trying to find ripped DVDs on limewire etc etc

I have Daryls ACR dvd (original and not ripped off!) and im only 24!

To be brief - It rocks!!!

lozey wrote:I have Daryls ACR dvd (original and not ripped off!) and im only 24!

To be brief - It rocks!!!

your probably the exception

I have the ACR dvd too, as well as well as "Daryl does the full monte".

What the Mog says about young magicians here, i feel is a bit of a generalisation, although it is true in a lot of cases.

Alot of kids start learning magic these days after being dazzled by something on tv (as did i). I didn't have the internet at the time, so a trip to waterstones lead me to "The Royal Road to Card Magic", which is a good start, from which i learned the core basics.

But these days a quick google search for "magic", will lead you to Penguin or Ellusionist, which are plastered with glossy "sexed up" downloads and adverts. But i think theres only so much longevity in these tricks before these people are lead back to material which teaches the basics (at least if they've got more than a fleeting interest in magic).

Back to Daryl though, and from what i've seen he's a fantastically skilled, varied performer. His DVDs are very clear and well taught too.

I'll be the exception to the "no one under 30 has replied to this thread except for lozey" rule.

I have never met Daryl but I do own Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights. It is absolutely wonderful. I have only managed to get through the first few volumes so far, but it is just incredible.

Daryl truly knows what he is doing (at least from what I've seen) and I envy you greatly because you have met him.

On a side note, I am starting to hate all of the new younger magicians because they are giving people who have a true interest in magic at a young age a bad name in the magic community.

~David

The basics are the basic no matter how they are presented. The "insert slight here" is the same if Brad I like a bit of eye make-up Christian teachies them on one of his "sexed up vids" Or Daryl I am from the 70s and like a loud shirt what ever his surname is. Teaching them.

Now to say everyone under 30 is downloading stuff is sladnerish but we shall not get in to such debates. So longs money has been paid and the effects are taught in the right way just go with the teacher you feel you like the most. Mr Smith and Mr Jones teach history. some people perfer Mr Smith others Mr Jones even though they are teaching the same thing. Maybe its a sign we are getting old and dont like these new fangled ways. And anywy RRTCM is on DVD now thats going cause all sorts of problems for you lot who dont like dvds.

I believe you are correct Mr. Dini. However i feel you have missed the point, its that people are diving into things like "Indecent"

the_mog wrote:everyone else is doing what everyone else does and puts a chosen card inside a ziplock bag or whatever Criss/Blaine/Pearlman/Parker is doing now

instead of the slow study of magic as an artform, part of which is learning about and appreciating people like Daryl who have done so much for it.

majortom wrote:I believe you are correct Mr. Dini. However i feel you have missed the point, its that people are diving into things like "Indecent"

the_mog wrote:everyone else is doing what everyone else does and puts a chosen card inside a ziplock bag or whatever Criss/Blaine/Pearlman/Parker is doing now

instead of the slow study of magic as an artform, part of which is learning about and appreciating people like Daryl who have done so much for it.

Ah all is clear. Indecent card ends up in a bag.....But i think magic it goes through flashions. 1800s top hats and all that jazz 1970 flashy props and the likes and now eye liner and being on the street.