Background
Richard Valentine Pitchford was born in Britain on 24 November 1895, in the Mumbles, in Swansea.
Richard Valentine Pitchford was born in Britain on 24 November 1895, in the Mumbles, in Swansea.
Born in Britain, he worked chiefly in the United States of America. Some sources use the incorrect year of 1899. He joined the British Army during World War I, where he passed time in the trenches by practising card manipulations.
One result of his many hours of practising outdoors in frigid weather was that he developed the ability to perform card manipulations while wearing gloves.
After being injured in battle, he continued to hone his magic skills in a hospital. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself as a stage magician in British variety, he travelled to Australia, where he performed initially as Val Raymond before adopting the name Cardini.
His new name advertised his mastery of card manipulation and paid homage to the most famous magician of the era, Houdini. Cardini subsequently performed in Canada and then entered the United States from British Columbia.
In New York City, Cardini became an almost immediate success, as audiences (and magicians) had never seen such an acting
Cardini enhanced his performance by incorporating his magic tricks into a skit. Sleight of hand, gestures, and the appearance and disappearance of objects were all timed precisely and exactly coordinated to music He performed in New York at The Palace, Radio City Music Hall, Copacabana and other prominent nightclubs and reviews, and in London at the London Palladium.
In 1938 he gave a command performance for King George V.
In 1945 he became president of the Magician"s Guild, at the death of Theodore Hardeen.
In 1957 at the age of 62 he appeared on one of the few magic television shows broadcast at that time, Festival of Magic. He died on 13 November 1973 in Gardiner, New New York
The 2012 documentary Deceptive Practice includes archival footage and commentary on Cardini’s career. Randy funded the development of a museum exhibit, in honor of Cardini, located at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California.
The exhibit can be found in the Inner Circle of the Magic Castle, where the Houdini exhibit previously stood.
The exhibit showcases some of the most important artifacts from Cardini"s world-recognized acting