UdeMan: Ricky Jay

Do you believe in magic? Ricky Jay is one of the most-revered (some say the all-time greatest) card magicians in the world.

I was in rapture when I saw perform in "On the Stem", his show of card tricks and stories of the days when Broadway was a dodgy, exotic, character-laden neighbourhood.

In astute performances in the HBO series Deadwood and films including The Spanish Prisoner and Magnolia, he plays the world-worn character who always has something up his sleeve.

Jay has a consulting business advising writers and producers on magic effects, and is an historian and writer of magic; his books include "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women", a history of oddities and acts.

Another bit of magic is Jay's physical presence. He could walk right by you on the street, as nondescript as your uncle Max, the accountant. But on stage or screen the word is mesmerizing, a word that refers to an 18th century Viennese physician who hypnotized his patients.

For a look at Ricky Jay doing what he does best in the world, here's the master at work showing us "Four Queens Three Ways".