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John Hamman
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Brother John Hamman, S.M. (Society of Mary) (September 3 1927 - December 5, 2001) was an American card magician and inventor of many creative card moves. He was called the "Magical Marianist" because of his religious profession as a Marianist. Prior to his retirement in 1995, he taught at St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood, Missouri for over 20 years.
He was stricken with polio in the 1950s and used crutches for many years. He spent hours during his recuperation learning, practicing and inventing card tricks and other magic involving sleight of hand. He eventually became wheelchair bound after a stroke impaired his balance.
Brother John was the only living magic in among the 12 who were honored in 1995 with the first St. Louis Magical Heritage Awards. Brother John. at that time, he stated the key to his success was "The object of magic is misdirection. Audiences are more apt to believe what they hear than what they see, and intelligent people are the easiest to fool because they don't expect me to use some childish gimmick to deceive them. On the other hand, children are hard to fool, because they watch closely and don't listen."
Bro. John created more than 100 card magic tricks including the Hamman Count, the Gemini Count, and popularized the Flustration Count.
Books
- The Card Magic of Bro. John Hamman S.M. (1958) by Paul LePaul.
- Seven Deadly Miracles (1984) by Stephen Minch.
- The Secrets of Brother John Hamman (1989) by Richard Kaufman.