Al Flosso

[Guest]

When I was 19, Al Flosso died. Before that event, I used to go to Hornmann Magic on 34th Street every weekend to hang out in Al's shop and buy a trick. Al sounded like a Jewish W.C. Fields and his shop looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Yet Al had some system whereby he could always find whatever you were looking for if he had it in stock. He must have memorized his store.

He said that I did the best coin roll that he had ever seen. Mind you, I just used a single quarter and I could roll it forwards and backwards on each hand. Al must have never seen Presto, who could roll several coins on each hand at a time. But I wasn't about to correct Al; he wouldn't have appreciated it. I still have some of the tricks he sold me. Nothing unique, just that they came from Hornmann Magic and Al Flosso.

He was an incredible character and I still miss him. Does anyone else remember Al Flosso? Every time I used to go down the stairway near Irma at the Magic Castle, I always said hello to his picture that was hanging halfway down those stairs.

Hope you're wowing them with your Miser's Dream act somewhere.