Arthur Finley

[Guest]

Im looking for some pieces of information about Arthur Finley who was member of the informal inner circle of the New-York guys in the early and middle century with Dai Vernon, Al Baker, Sam Horowitz, Cardini, Nate Leipzig, Thomas Nelson Downs, Dr. Jacob Daley...

I just wondered there is so few material published by (or about) this magician (although he was regarded as a clever artist)! Im looking for biographical elements. What kind of guy was it? When did he die? Was he an amateur or a well established professional? What type of magic did he invent? What said Vernon on this man? Im especially interested in the relationship he had with his contemporaries including Charles Thorton Jordan.

Finley is little known today (compared to all the other guys I just mentioned) and rarely mentioned except for the tent vanish (it seems to be rather a recent attribution (?) by Richard Kaufman [in the Jennings and the Jack Avis books]?), the diagonal palm shift and his work on the dovetail shuffle similar to Jordans ideas. Concerning the tricks or moves for which he is credited in magic literature, I only found:

- John Northern Hilliard, "Greater Magic"
Three Cuts (Arthur Finley)
The Ambitious Card (Vernon, Finley, Horowitz)

- Stephen Minch, "The Vernon Chronicles - The Lost Inner Secrets Vol I"
The Arthur Finley Diagonal Palm Shift

- Stephen Minch, "The Vernon Chronicles - Further Lost Inner Secrets Vol III"
The Finley Diagonal Palm Shift Revisited
Arthur Finley's Remote Control

- Richard Kaufman, "Jennings '67"
Finley Tent Vanish

- Some statements in "Phantoms of the Card Table" by David Britland & Gazzo

I would be very pleased if someone had something to say on the life or magic of this man (and on the Jordan/Finley controversy), here or using my email. Thanks a lot!

Best regards,
Plick.

[NCMarsh]

What a marvelous topic! I've been very curious about Finley myself; his material in the Vernon Chronicles is very interesting. I can't offer any further information, but heartily second the request.

Best,

N.

[Guest]

The most that has been written on Arthur Finley was put in print several years ago by Steve Freeman. This was in Magicol...a magic collectors magazine. One of the recent Vernon issues also mentions Finley briefly.

[pduffie]

Hi Plick

There are 11 Finley items/entries in the Daley Notebooks (see below). It's also interesting that Daley uses two different spellings for his name! Though this could have happened later during transcription.

697. FINLEY'S WEAVE SHUFFLE COVER

698. FINLEY'S AUTOMATIC SPELL

699. FINLEY'S DIAGONAL PALM IN RIGHT HAND

700. FINLEY'S KNIFE CUT LOCATION

701. FINLEY'S EFFECTS (5 tricks)

702. FINLEY'S RIFFLE THINK "O" CARD

703. FINLEY'S CUT TO SLIP ONE CARD

704. FINLEY'S PULL THRU SHUFFLE

705. FINLEY'S BLINDFOLD POKER DEAL FINISH

706. FINDLEY'S RISING CARD THREAD WRINKLE

707. FINDLEY'S BOOK COLOR CHANGE [Tent Vanish]

[Richard Kaufman]

There is more biographical information on Arthur Finley in the excerpt from the David Ben biography of Vernon that appears in the June issue of Genii.
One thing I can tell you is that Finley invented the Double Turnover (NOT the lift, of course, but the idea of doing a turnover back onto the deck is Finley's--credited to him by Vernon).

[Guest]

Originally posted by G. Plants:
The most that has been written on Arthur Finley was put in print several years ago by Steve Freeman. This was in Magicol.

This is perhaps the same article Freeman published in The Linking Ring, Volume 81 Number 8 August 2001. It is four pages and called "Arthur Finley - Known for Being Unknown".

HERE is also not much more than the tent vanish listed...

Denis

[Guest]

From the article published in the August 2001 issue of THE LINKING RING:

"I did publish a brief article in MAGICOL in February 1996, and have since been asked by several people to provide more details. I will do that here in hope that there is a now a wider interest in the man who helped shaped Vernon's fundamental thinking about card magic".

[Guest]

And let us see what is to find in WHALEY's WHO's:

"Finley, Arthur
(USA: fl.1920s-40s) Commercial artist in New York City. Amateur cardman by mid-1920s. One of the 5 original members of the New York "Inner Circle" by 1932. Invented (as pointed out by Busby) the Royal Marriages plot by 1941, the tent vanish sleight by 1941, the Cheek to Cheek method by 1948, & the Tilt Off Load used in Vernon's C&B routine.
[Bat8/46;Wat]"

Reinhard