Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

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Pepka
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Pepka » March 7th, 2017, 5:50 am

It's taken me more than a week to process this. Daryl's passing was very rough on me. Not because we were close friends, we were casual acquaintances....not because I looked up to him, I did. But because that weekend was my first ever visit to The Magic Castle.

I last saw Daryl in August at Magic Live. I bought the reprints of his classic books and we had a drink and talked for a bit. The week before his death, I texted him that I loved the books and I was very excited that he would be performing during my first trip to The Castle. He responded, "Glad you like them and it will be great to see you."

I've been studying magic for almost 25 years, and finally just picked an arbitrary weekend.....Not realizing that it was Oscar weekend, and probably not the best time for your first visit to Hollywood. I spent a few days in SF, then my best friend from high school and I flew to LA. We had rented an apartment just a few blocks from the castle. We had reservations on Saturday night, and Friday were having dinner with 2 of her friends less than a mile from The Castle. I had my phone in my pocket during dinner....and suddenly I got about 15 texts within 3 minutes. I decided to check what was going on....."Are you at The Castle?" "What happened at The Castle" "Are you OK?" Etc. from magicians and layman friends who knew where I was going to be that weekend. I responded to one person who simply said...look at your Facebook feed. The first post that came up was Richard's announcing the death, but no name. My date looked at me and said I turned white. I showed her my phone and she too lost all color.....she asked if I wanted to leave and I said no...but my head and heart weren't part of the dinner conversation any longer. I frantically texted a few friends and within minutes, it had been confirmed by 2 people who were there. I held it together at the restaurant, but when we returned home, I lost it.

The next morning, it was announced that they would re-open, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go. I told my friend that I wanted to take her to a party, not a funeral. She reminded me that I had flown across the country for this and was actually going to inquire about working there. She also said that the magic community should be together. I reluctantly agreed. We got all dressed up and arrived.....I felt horrible. We were early for dinner so we took a tour with one of the Knights of The Castle. When we came to The Parlor, no one said a word, but my date squeezed my hand and said...."Are you OK?" I responded..."I'm not going in there." We had dinner, which was delicious and I was with my best friend of over 25 years...but I felt miserable. I'm not much of a drinker and had originally planned on a glass of wine or cocktail. I don't drink when I'm depressed...so I just had a 7-Up. When I'm the only one who is sober, it doesn't take long for me to get annoyed at all the drinkers. We couldn't get in the close up room as the line was so long, but we did catch Chipper Lowell in The Palace and he was fantastic. I sat with Howard Hamburg for about half an hour and shared moves and stories, and we caught a few performances in the cellar. I did my best to enjoy myself, but I was just heartbroken...for Alison and the girls, for our loss as a community and yes...greedily, for myself. I know the time honored tradition of "The Show Must Go On", but I was really shocked at how everyone around me was having a great time, when this had been reported all over the general media.

I was a bit relieved when the cause was reported as an accident....but now it seems as thought that was not the case. It's a tremendous loss, not just for his family and for the magic community, but for anyone who had ever met him. He was an incredible performer and more importantly, a fine gentleman.

Rest in peace Daryl

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 7th, 2017, 11:55 am

Not an accident.
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Scott Wells » March 9th, 2017, 3:26 pm

In a post I made here in the Buzz column, I mentioned that at the bottom of this week's blog and podcast with Bob Kohler I published the comments made in a conversation between Daryl's widow, Alison, and a Phoenix, AZ magician friend of mine, Jerry Ferguson. Here is the last paragraph of my post in that thread:

"As mentioned, Bob was good friends (and for a short time, business partners) with Daryl. He will be missed by the entire international magic community. But I received a note from Phoenix, AZ magician, Jerry Ferguson, who recently spoke with Daryl's widow, Alison. I received the text of his conversation which I posted at the bottom of this week's blog and corrects a lot of rumors, misstatements and innuendos that surrounded Daryl's death. Please take a few moments to read her comments. You might even want to read them into your magic club meeting's minutes as we did here in Houston this week. And as she requests, please consider visiting Daryl's website at http://daryl.net where your purchases will help offset the funeral expenses since he did not have life insurance. Aloha, old friend."

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 9th, 2017, 3:52 pm

We have already stated the facts here:
1. Daryl was fully dressed.
2. He did not die in a closet, but in the curtained area behind the performance area of the Parlour.
3. He committed suicide, it was not an accident.
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Robert77 » March 9th, 2017, 4:07 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:We have already stated the facts here:
1. Daryl was fully dressed.
2. He did not die in a closet, but in the curtained area behind the performance area of the Parlour.
3. He committed suicide, it was not an accident.


Richard, there's more to the message than merely those 3 things. I suggested that Scott cross post to here for those who were still seeking closure, so don't blame Scott.

You certainly seem to have a bee in your bonnet this week :(

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 9th, 2017, 6:15 pm

According to Daryl's wife, Daryl suffered horrendous physical abuse as a child at the hands of his mother, and suffered from severe depression, requiring medication throughout the 20 years of their relationship. I am no psychologist, but when I did some research into this issue, I learned that this can scar a child for life and definitely cause chronic depression in adulthood. The child looks to his mother for love and to make him feel safe. When the precise opposite occurs (physical and/or emotional abuse) at a tender and vulnerable age, it is like having a psychological head-on collision; the damage is profound and horrific, and can have far-reaching consequences from which many literally never heal. The hand we are dealt in this world does matter - it matters a lot...

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Jonathan Townsend » March 9th, 2017, 8:24 pm

MagicbyAlfred wrote:... but when I did some research into this issue, I learned that ...
I hope whatever you learned has helped you. We lost the Daryl who would show up with new/fun magic. Whatever took him left a ghost at the Magic Castle and moved Michael Ammar to write that post on FaceBook. Any thoughts on what might help process this loss and walk through a time of grief?
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Tom Gilbert » March 9th, 2017, 9:32 pm

I hope that post by Scott clears a lot of rumors and speculation.

Shortly after they were married, I took Daryl and Alison out to supper before a lecture in Springfield, MA. I'm really glad we decided to go early as I got to spend a good amount of time with them. Couldn't find two nicer or warm people.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 9th, 2017, 9:55 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:... but when I did some research into this issue, I learned that ...
I hope whatever you learned has helped you. We lost the Daryl who would show up with new/fun magic. Whatever took him left a ghost at the Magic Castle and moved Michael Ammar to write that post on FaceBook. Any thoughts on what might help process this loss and walk through a time of grief?


I have. For his wife anyway. Not right now because it so soon. But in a few weeks when the support has diluted, the discussion has died down and the wellwishers have gone on to other things. It is then when people have moved on that reality and loneliness starts to hit. I would recommend a book entitled simply "Widowed" by Dr Joyce Brothers. I believe it will be of significant help.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 9th, 2017, 9:59 pm

What I have learned, Jonathan - both factually about Daryl being abused as a child, and also about the psychological repercussions of such abuse - has helped me to understand how what at first seemed an inexplicable act could have occurred. While there are those of our members who have characterized suicide as an irrational or unreasonable act, the pieces of the puzzle are fitting together now, in the respect that there was, in fact, an underlying reason ultimately leading Daryl to end the intolerable suffering he endured. Suffering that even medication and the passage of decades apparently failed to alleviate. I think most of us are aware that the game of life does not appear to be equally fair to all its participants. For example, I was blessed with two loving parents that made me believe I could accomplish almost anything, and who supported me in every endeavor, and in every way. Others, obviously not so fortunate.

If therein a silver lining to what happened, it is that it has brought us more closely together as a community. I am so happy Richard posted this thread and kept it alive, so people could express their grief and share it together. That alone is healing. Feeling grief is not a bad or negative thing, but rather shows us that, above and beyond any and all of the BS that goes along with life, we are fundamentally loving beings. And implicit in this tragic loss we have suffered is a reminder to love and build up one another - because who knows who will or will not be here tomorrow. I would wager that that is what Daryl would want...
Last edited by MagicbyAlfred on March 9th, 2017, 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 9th, 2017, 10:00 pm

MagicbyAlfred wrote:According to Daryl's wife, Daryl suffered horrendous physical abuse as a child at the hands of his mother, and suffered from severe depression, requiring medication throughout the 20 years of their relationship. I am no psychologist, but when I did some research into this issue, I learned that this can scar a child for life and definitely cause chronic depression in adulthood. The child looks to his mother for love and to make him feel safe. When the precise opposite occurs (physical and/or emotional abuse) at a tender and vulnerable age, it is like having a psychological head-on collision; the damage is profound and horrific, and can have far-reaching consequences from which many literally never heal. The hand we are dealt in this world does matter - it matters a lot...


I can relate to this. I had a very traumatic childhood myself which I have never fully recovered from. It has affected my entire life.

I fought back. I will always fight back. You have to FIGHT for your happiness!
That is why I have survived.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 9th, 2017, 10:51 pm

I don't need anyone to tell me that Daryl was suffering from severe depression for a long period. People who commit suicide almost inevitably are.

Happy people who aren't depressed don't kill themselves.

I know full well about his mother, but in deference to Daryl's many siblings, I chose not to publish that information.
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Jonathan Townsend » March 10th, 2017, 11:41 am

We could discuss integrity/despair and how to elicit a condition of cognitive dissonance ...

Back to our shared world of magic : That six way display stuck with me - and in terms of fun magic... been tempted to get that sound transposition trick he offered using squeaky toys.

Of the items he showed - what's your favorite to do? favorite to watch his performance?
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Bill Mullins » March 10th, 2017, 11:44 am

The Auburn CA newspaper has a really nice obituary.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby erdnasephile » March 10th, 2017, 12:43 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:We could discuss integrity/despair and how to elicit a condition of cognitive dissonance ...

Back to our shared world of magic : That six way display stuck with me - and in terms of fun magic... been tempted to get that sound transposition trick he offered using squeaky toys.

Of the items he showed - what's your favorite to do? favorite to watch his performance?


Favorite to do: Anything out of "Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler" (esp. Boomeranging Card of Mystery and Puerto Rican Triumph.) I love doing the Ultimate Ambition Improved finale. Specifically, the level of conviction of the method engenders is enormous, and I think that's the primary reason why the reactions it gets are so far out of proportion to the work involved.

Favorite to watch: Daryl doing his Ambitious Card routine, a modern day classic. (So many ambitious card routines I've seen others do today have been heavily influenced by Daryl's, much like the Vernon C & B routine underlies so many others' C & B routines.)

(Thanks for posting the obituary, Bill. Thanks, also, to Scott for his post. It's taking me some time to process this, and those remembrances help a lot.)

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Leonard Hevia » March 12th, 2017, 10:15 pm

performer wrote:You have to FIGHT for your happiness!


I wholeheartedly agree with that. I think happiness lies at the intersection in the Venn diagram between life's hard realities and our needs and desires.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 13th, 2017, 8:35 am

I suppose I now have to humble myself before you and admit that I have no idea what a Venn Diagram is! I wish I did as it sounds terribly intellectual!

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 13th, 2017, 8:38 am

To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you. There is a little rhyme which describes this philosophy. I don't always practice what I preach but sometimes I do and it has helped me survive.

"Two men looked out from prison bars
One saw mud and the other saw stars"

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 13th, 2017, 7:28 pm

I have looked up the meaning of the Venn Diagram. Alas I am no wiser. I shall try studying nuclear physics instead. I might have better luck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 13th, 2017, 8:23 pm

Performer Wrote: "To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you. There is a little rhyme which describes this philosophy. I don't always practice what I preach but sometimes I do and it has helped me survive."

Wise words, Performer! Another way of looking at it is that we have zero control over the actions of others, but 100% control over our response. So if we ruminate and recriminate and allow ourselves to stew over what other people have said or done (or not done) - something over which we had no control - then we are wasting our time and feeling bad for naught, when we could be practicing a one-hand top palm or something...

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Bill Mullins » March 14th, 2017, 9:51 am

Not really relevant to depression, though.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby jason156 » March 14th, 2017, 10:52 am

MagicbyAlfred wrote:: "To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you.



Yeah .... well that's a load of [censored], and does nothing but blame the victim. Why don't you just tell someone who was raped, "Alright, so you got raped, it's over now, shake it off, don't let it get to you". See how stupid and insensitive that sounds.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 14th, 2017, 11:23 am

jason156 wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:: "To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you.



Yeah .... well that's a load of [censored], and does nothing but blame the victim. Why don't you just tell someone who was raped, "Alright, so you got raped, it's over now, shake it off, don't let it get to you". See how stupid and insensitive that sounds.


Sir, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. My comment was merely an amplification on Performer's comments about one's mental attitude to what happens in life. This thread is not limited to depression, nor is this Forum, as I understand it, so limited that people cannot express their viewpoints on issues broader than the title or topic of a particular thread. Frankly, it is your comment that is "stupid and insensitive," and it is totally illogical, because there is absolutely nothing in my comment suggesting that I blame any victim or believe that someone who was raped should just "shake it off."

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 14th, 2017, 11:24 am

Bill Mullins wrote:Not really relevant to depression, though.


So then give us something that is.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Jack Shalom » March 14th, 2017, 11:24 am

Not [crap] at all.

The ideas in Mark and Alfred's post were articulated by Mr. Shakespeare in Hamlet: "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

In the field of cognitive psychology, the theories of Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck have helped millions with depression.

http://www.webmd.com/depression/feature ... -therapy#1

Daryl's suicide was an awful event; no one is suggesting in the least that he was responsible for what happened. People are suggesting a path that others who suffer from depression might take to help themselves. Nothing wrong with that, and it might well help someone.

I believe it was Max Maven who said something to the effect that one of the tasks of those who call themselves magicians is to overcome the reason they first got involved with magic. Maybe Max will help clarify that comment. I think it's a very important and profound insight.

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Re: RE: Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Inigo Montoya » March 14th, 2017, 11:32 am

jason156 wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:: "To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you.



Yeah .... well that's a load of [censored], and does nothing but blame the victim. Why don't you just tell someone who was raped, "Alright, so you got raped, it's over now, shake it off, don't let it get to you". See how stupid and insensitive that sounds.


Couldn't agree more. But it needs to go a step further. You don't clear up infections with happy thoughts. You need antibiotics. You don't treat diabetes with happy thoughts. You need insulin..... And you don't treat the DISEASE known as clinical depression by telling someone to think happy thoughts or look on the bright side.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 14th, 2017, 11:37 am

jason156 wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:: "To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you.



Yeah .... well that's a load of [censored], and does nothing but blame the victim. Why don't you just tell someone who was raped, "Alright, so you got raped, it's over now, shake it off, don't let it get to you". See how stupid and insensitive that sounds.


And incidentally, Mr. Jason 156, I just realized that although you claimed to be quoting me, those were not even my words. Nonetheless, I am glad that I had a chance to defend Performer (although he is MORE than capable of doing that for himself). But my rebuke of your comment still stands.

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Re: RE: Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 14th, 2017, 11:43 am

Inigo Montoya wrote:
jason156 wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:: "To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you.



Yeah .... well that's a load of [censored], and does nothing but blame the victim. Why don't you just tell someone who was raped, "Alright, so you got raped, it's over now, shake it off, don't let it get to you". See how stupid and insensitive that sounds.


Couldn't agree more. But it needs to go a step further. You don't clear up infections with happy thoughts. You need antibiotics. You don't treat diabetes with happy thoughts. You need insulin..... And you don't treat the DISEASE known as clinical depression by telling someone to think happy thoughts or look on the bright side.


Once again, that was not my comment, nor my words. In any event, I haven't seen a single comment on here suggesting that you can treat an infection or depression with happy thoughts. But I will say that thinking happy thoughts beats being negative or self-righteous any day of the week.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Bill Mullins » March 14th, 2017, 11:55 am

MagicbyAlfred wrote:
Bill Mullins wrote:Not really relevant to depression, though.


So then give us something that is.


I don't want to argue with you about it, so I'll just let the statement stand as it is. (which isn't really like me . . . )

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 14th, 2017, 11:59 am

I wasn't talking about depression, particularly severe depression. I was talking about stress generally and how to fight it. I do think however, that what I said would be applicable to mild depression which we all succumb to from time to time. And I have another technique for that which may possibly even have helped Darryl to a small degree although probably not to any great extent. But I also learned a long time ago that a little help can also be a lot of help. Alas I have no time to describe it right now but I may perhaps do it a bit later. I can tell after all that some of the posters here are under a bit of stress themselves by their agitated tones.

I really wish I had made my comments on the documentary thread rather than the Darryl one as it was that one that set off my thinking on these matters. However, to make it clear I am NOT talking about Darryl here and my comments are not really relevant to him specifically but to a more broader view of these matters.

And the way you THINK is indeed important. I think it was Emerson who said, "Our life is what our thoughts make it" Common sense I would have thought.
Last edited by performer on March 14th, 2017, 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 14th, 2017, 12:00 pm

Bill Mullins wrote:
MagicbyAlfred wrote:
Bill Mullins wrote:Not really relevant to depression, though.


So then give us something that is.


I don't want to argue with you about it, so I'll just let the statement stand as it is. (which isn't really like me . . . )


But, you see, the statement you're letting stand was argumentative.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Tom Gilbert » March 14th, 2017, 12:12 pm

I see the GoFundMe page is showing 10K of contributions, has the Academy announced a figure?

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby chetday » March 14th, 2017, 2:09 pm

performer wrote:To go into a little more depth on these matters I would say that a person is hurt not so much by what happens as by their opinion of what happens. In other words it is not the situation that is important so much as how you perceive that situation. Your opinion of that situation. And your opinion is up to you. There is a little rhyme which describes this philosophy. I don't always practice what I preach but sometimes I do and it has helped me survive.

"Two men looked out from prison bars
One saw mud and the other saw stars"

Mark, I'll add to your insight (which is a conclusion I've come to as well at age 69) with a quotation I remind myself of when I start mucking around in the dumps:

"Whatever you accept you go beyond. If you fight it, you're stuck with it." -- Eckhart Tolle

I don't always practice what I preach either, but when the blues start stalking me I've found that I can fend them off by taking a few deep breaths and repeating the above words to myself.

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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 14th, 2017, 4:00 pm

Thank you Chet. And I do wish to add to the platitudes as I know it upsets some of the more excitable and indeed dafter members here and that always gives me great joy. This comes from Sir Winston Churchill. "If you are going through hell, just keep going"

But here is the technique I referred to before. Action seems to follow feeling but in actual practice they go together. If you regulate the action you can indirectly regulate the feeling. I shall try and explain what I mean. If you act happy that is the action. You may not feel like acting happy but I suggest you force yourself to. If you do this the feeling will actually follow. No kidding. Power of suggestion or something I know not what. But what I do know is this WORKS!

You put on a smile or you sing a song or hum a tune. In other words you ACT happy. And believe it or not when you act happy you BECOME happy. Now of course you many say to me, "When I am miserable and depressed the last thing in the world I want to do is smile or hum a tune" Well, bloody well FORCE YOURSELF! I told you already you have to FIGHT for your happiness! I can assure you that within seconds you will start to feel more cheerful. The action affects the feeling.

Now if you don't want to trust me on this perhaps you will listen to one of the most eminent psychologists of his generation, William James. I will very, very, very reluctantly concede he may have been cleverer than me. Mind you, I bet he couldn't do any card tricks in the way that I can. Still this is what he said," The sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness if your cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there"

I would recommend this procedure to all the miserable buggers here that wish to contradict my great wisdom on these matters.

Jack Shalom
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Jack Shalom » March 14th, 2017, 6:50 pm

Depression is real, and buying a new hat or card trick's not going to fix it.

But if you look at the link I posted above, you'll see that cognitive forms of therapy (i.e. reprogramming how you think about the world) has been shown at least as effective as anti-depressants for treatment.

performer
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 14th, 2017, 9:45 pm

I don't think it can be a bad thing to advise people on sensible methods to deal with stress and nervous ailments. I will never apologize for advising people on how to avoid suffering. I have reason to believe there are people here who could make use of it.

performer
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby performer » March 15th, 2017, 7:31 am

I could tell you were drunk! No wonder you are happy!

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erdnasephile
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby erdnasephile » March 15th, 2017, 11:37 am

Daryl used to like to tell the story about how he developed his Triumph display and it started getting around. Subsequently, when he visited NYC for the first time, Darwin Ortiz showed him his very own display, claiming that he (Darwin) learned it from a "Puerto Rican Gambler". Thus, a legend was born.

(Harry Lorayne also mentioned the "Puerto Rican Gambler" as an aside in Quantum Leaps, pg 135)

The one thing that bothers some folks about the Puerto Rican Triumph display is that it looks just a little too neat. Paul Cummins addressed this issue very nicely with his version in FASDIU.

As I mentioned, I've been doing the gosh darn thing for about 30 years to this day, but the one triumph handling that might make me change is So Sato's which is just killer.

Tom Gilbert
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby Tom Gilbert » March 15th, 2017, 12:40 pm

Jason England has a touch with Daryl's Triumph Display that he tipped in his At the Table lecture. As it turns out Daryl was in the front row of that lecture.

Paul Harris and I were discussing some of our first magic and mail order houses. We both came up with Vick Lawston as our first catalog. He also mentioned that it was Daryl's first also, and he (Daryl) had memorized the Pumpernickel poem. Vick had a monkey as a sidekick in the catalog and his name was Pumpernickel, Vick had written a long poem about him that probably took some work to commit to memory. I found a House of 1000 Mysteries catalog and sent it to Daryl, I received an nice letter back from him.

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: Daryl's Death at The Magic Castle

Postby MagicbyAlfred » March 15th, 2017, 4:50 pm

@Erdnasephile: "The one thing that bothers some folks about the Puerto Rican Triumph display is that it looks just a little too neat."

I would presume that those folks are magicians, as opposed to layman. Neat or not, it reinforces what the spectator has just apparently witnessed: cards interspersed and intermingled face-up and face down throughout the deck. I have my doubts as to whether the symmetry of it would ever arouse suspicion in even the most skeptical and/or analytical of spectators, particularly if one does it rather briskly and does not dawdle, giving them time to think about it too much. When I learned of the display, I was thrilled and it made me feel even more confident and enthusiastic about performing the routine. As Daryl might say: It is a convincer "extraordinaire."


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