C. Hampton wrote:I have a hard time believing that money was a contributing factor...honestly. No matter what international convention around the world you looked up Daryl was in their line up. This upcoming tour was going to report him a good amount of cash flow due to his selling skills. I also understand he was in the process of filming some TV specials.
It's not like any of these are a guarantee of wealth.
1. I've booked talent for a magic convention. We didn't pay diddly squat. Most don't.
2. When I first joined our local club, we hosted a lecture by a moderately well-known magician. It was the last lecture in a tour. When he finished that night, the fee we had just paid him and money he had in sales was all the money he had. Period. He was going to sleep in his car, and was wondering about heading to Branson to find work there. (A club member ended up letting him spend the night at his house. We heard later that his wife had made it quite clear that he would
NEVER bring another magician home like that.) I'm sure that Daryl managed his finances better than that, but a lecture tour isn't a license to print money, not by a long shot.
3. See #1. TV show producers don't pay magicians any more than they have to.
I have no idea what his financial situation was like. But event a successful magician, as Daryl certainly seemed to be, is out of a job as soon as every gig is over. Freelance has difficulties that a regular job does not, and it must be vastly more stressful.
I didn't know Daryl, but the few times I met him he was always nice to me, and he always gave a good show -- whether it was a formal performance, or a lecture. I'm sorry for his family, and for him that he thought this was the best thing to do.