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Dai Vernon was born as David Frederick
Wingfield Verner on June 11, 1894, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He got
the nick name of "Dai" when a typo in a newspaper dubbed
him Dai instead of David. While he was in New York, he got the last
name of Vernon. Most New Yorkers had a hard time pronouncing his last
name correctly. An American dance team Vernon and Irene Castle were
very popular act around this time. So for New Yorkers pronouncing
Dai's last name as Vernon instead of Verner was easier. In disgust
Dai allowed his last name to become Vernon and let it go at that.
Thus, was born the name Dai Vernon.
Harry Houdini boasted that no one could fool
him if he saw a trick three times in a row. In Chicago 1919 Dai
Vernon took Harry up on his challenge. Dai did what is now known as
Ambitious Card eight times, and Harry had no idea how it was done. So
in the 1920s and 30s Dai used the line "He Fooled Houdini"
in his advertisement.
It was later that Dai's friend Garrick
Spencer gave him the title "The Professor." Dai didn't care
for it very much, but Garrick kept calling him that and it stuck.
Dai's willingness to share is expertise with others is probably why
the title stuck.
Dai Vernon became the resident magician at
the Magic Castle. It was
while he was there that he reached his fame as a teacher and mentor
to many magicians. Some of those to learn from Dai Vernon were Jeff
Altman, Michael Ammar, John Carney, Bruce Cervon, Steve Freeman, Ray
Grismer, Larry Jennings, Earl Nelson, David Roth, and Michael Skinner.
To learn more about the life and time of Dai
Vernon get the book "The Vernon Chronicles, Volume 4 - He Fooled
Houdini, Dai Vernon a Magical Life." Edited by Bruce Cervon and
Keith Burns, and published by L&L
Publishing, P.O. Box 100, Tahoma, California 96142.
There are many books about the magic of Dai
Vernon and every one of them is a gem of knowledge. However, if you
really want to learn from the "Professor" find the video
tapes made in Canada by Videonics Ltd. These tapes contain about 12
½ hours of information and teachings from the
"Professor" himself. The insights that cannot be found in
books that the "Professor" shares in these tapes, make the
tapes treasures of magical lore.
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