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Larry Jennings (b.1933-d.1997), born Alfred Lawrence Jennings in Detroit, Michigan. His name was legally changed in the early 1950's by the U.S. Navy to avoid confusion with another sailor of the same name. Larry was known for his close-up card technique and friendship with Dai Vernon.
Biography
Growing up, Larry divided his time between staying with his father in Detroit and his mother in Georgia. Larry joined the United States Navy when was only 16. While in the Navy, a fellow sailor showed Larry a trick and he kept pestering the sailor to teach him. After his discharge, Larry moved to Detroit where he meets and eventually marries a French-Canadian woman named Nina Chauvin who was living in Windsor, Ontario. Larry worked as a combustion engineer.
In 1956, while in Windsor, Ron Wilson moved across the hall from Larry. Ron introduced Larry to the magic of Ed Marlo and Dai Vernon. Larry soon became a member of the Windsor Magic Circle.
In the early 1960s, Larry met Dai Vernon for the first time at a convention in Cleveland. In 1961 at the Columbus MagiFest, Larry then meets fellow cardman Bruce Cervon and they become fast friends.
In 1964, Karrell Fox tells Larry about the Magic Castle. Knowing that Dai Vernon was living in Hollywood, Larry quits his job and moves to California where he gets a job working for Leo Behnke’s father in the plumbing repair business. Larry becomes friends with Dai Vernon and starts to study magic under him.