Amongst the magic fraternity and particularly amongst those keenly interested in card magic and card tricks, the question is often aired as to who might be regarded as the greatest exponent of card tricks and sleight of hand in history.  I should like to put the case forward for Richard Cardini. I think many other card magicians would agree with me that ‘The Great Cardini’ as he became known, had a facility and artistry in performance which might never be equalled!

Cardini’s real name was Richard Valentine Pitchford and he was born on November 24, 1895 in a small coal mining town in Wales.  During active service in the First World War, he is said to have honed his skills in card manipulation and learnt many of his card tricks in order to while away the long hours between fighting in the trenches. It is even believed that because of the intense cold and damp conditions, he frequently practised wearing gloves which would explain why in his later masterful card manipulations and card tricks, some of them were performed wearing white gentlemen’s gloves! Pitchford was eventually injured in battle and sent to hospital where he continued to improve his considerable skills.

During his long and successful career, Cardini as he later became known, performed his wonderful sleight of hand and card tricks at many celebrated venues including the London Palladium and he even performed a command performance for the King of England in 1938.

Cardini’s mastery of card magic, card tricks and card manipulation earned him many accolades and in 1958 the New England Magic Society claimed that Cardini was “the greatest exponent of pure sleight of hand the world has ever known!”  This author for one would not disagree especially after seeing the only known footage of Cardini performing his card magic on television, broadcast in 1957 in The Festival of  Magic.

Cardini died on November 13, 1973. Here’s my web page dedicated to the Great Cardini.

Tags: card magic, cardini, festival of magic, london palladium, sleight of hand

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 pm and is filed under card magicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.