Cardini: The Suave Deceiver Preface
John Fisher
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One of the dangers of magic is that its language, the vocabulary of showmanship, is one of superlatives. When you are researching an artist as exceptional as Cardini, the peril of being sucked into a morass of sycophancy becomes even greater. I do not wish this volume to fall into that trap.
Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that he was the most successful British magical performer operating on the international scene during the last one hundred years. When Magic magazine conducted its controversial poll to find the one hundred magicians who had most affected American magic in the twentieth century, Cardini was not surprisingly placed in the final ten. Editor and publisher Stan Allen graciously invited me to pen the words to accompany Cardini’s portrait in the climactic issue of the series. I wrote, “He brought to legerdemain the wit, sophistication, and flawless technique that Astaire conferred upon the dance and, like Fred, remained etched effortlessly on the consciousness of each succeeding generation. Cardini was perfection.”
I prefer the words of one of Cardini’s own idols, T. Nelson Downs, who travelled one hundred miles to see the younger performer when he first arrived in America. In an early letter to Faucett Ross, he wrote, “I’ll give you the secret of Cardini’s success in a few words. He does not do tricks in the sense of the word. His act does not smell of magic and magicians’ props. He’s half finished his act before the audience discovers he’s a magician.” A sad indictment of magic perhaps, but possibly the most astute compliment ever paid to him.
— From John Fisher's preface to Cardini: The Suave Deceiver