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Cliff Green
| Cliff Green | |
 | |
| Born | Clifford T. Green August 4, 1894 Richmond, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Died | May 29, 1969 (age 74) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Categories | Books by Cliff Green |
Cliff Green (b.1894-d.1969) was a professional magician who worked in vaudeville in the early 1900s. He became friends with fellow Canadian Dai Vernon.[1]
Biography
His folks moved to Canada when he was very young and he received his early education in Montreal and Ottawa. Green became interested in magic when at the age of twelve he saw his first magician, Otto Regan.[2]
In 1912, at the age of 16, Green entered vaudeville and played on bills with the Dolly Sisters, Nora Bayes, Milton Berle and George M. Cohan. After Vaudeville declined, he left the theater to become manager of the Davega (sporting goods) Times Square store. It was located near Holden's, Tannens and Robson's, so many magicians would make it a stop on their Saturday afternoon visits to the magic stores.
He did work the occasional club and private dates with magic.[3]
Cliff was known for his original and technically difficult card magic. He created the Interlocked Production of Cards for his vaudeville act in the 1910s and 20s. His original method is explained in his book, Professional Card Magic. The method published in Expert Card Technique under Cliff Green's name is actually the inferior method created by Tenkai, who saw Green perform his original version at a vaudeville date and attempted to copy it.
He was a past president of the Society of American Magicians Parent Assembly in New York City.
Richard Kaufman purchased the copyright to his book Professional Card Magic and is working on a new and more clearly written version, which was originally edited by Howie Schwarzman.
Anecdotes
When the young Green fist met Dai Vernon he asked him "What kind of magic do you do?" Vernon responded by asking him to name any card and then took a pack of cards from his pocket. Vernon turned over the top card of the deck to reveal the named card and replied to the speechless Green, "That's the kind of magic I do. What kind of magic do you do?"
Books
- Professional Card Magic (1961)
References
- ↑ Obit, Linking Ring, August 1969 & Genii 1969 July
- ↑ Magician of the Month by Leslie P. Guest, MUM, August 1961
- ↑ Creative World of Conjuring by John Booth (1990)