Ed Marlo (also known as Edward Marlo) (born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, October 10, 1913 – November 7, 1991) was a magician who specialized in

card magic Card manipulation, commonly known as card magic, is the branch of magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especially in close-up, ...

. He referred to himself and others of his specialty as 'cardicians'.

Career

One of the most notable names in card magic, Marlo himself coined the term ''cardician'',Biographies Page KLM
/ref> a term which has since been used for performers who do

exclusively. His first publication in 1938, ''Pasteboard Presto'', merely hinted at the bulk of work which was to follow. The many sleights he created have changed the face of

. One notable example is his snap change, used in

David Blaine David Blaine (born David Blaine White; April 4, 1973) is an American magician, mentalist, and Endurance art, endurance performer. Born in New York City, Blaine became interested in magic at a very young age. He gained prominence in 1997, when h ...

´s ''Street Magic Special''. Marlo was a prolific publisher of card magic, but he was not without controversy. Many of his students found success as creators and performers of magic such as the world-famous Bill Malone. Ed Marlo was also noted for his ever present toupee. Marlo wrote over sixty books and manuscripts, and contributed over 2000 tricks in the field of card magic. He did not limit himself to cards as he also authored works on

coin magic Coin magic is the manipulating of coins to entertain audiences. Money Magic, pp. 175-221. Because coins are small, most coin tricks are considered close-up magic or table magic, as the audience must be close to the performer to see the effects. ...

and dice magic. His most famous works are ''The Cardician'' and ''Revolutionary Card Technique'', the latter of which was originally published as a series but later compiled into one weighty tome. He also wrote a series of private manuscripts that were circulated only among the top card magicians of the era. Titles included ''Riffle Shuffle Systems'', ''Patented False Shuffle'', ''Faro Controlled Miracles'' and others. They are extremely rare and highly sought after. Edward Marlo also authored a number of magazines titled, ''Marlo Magazines''. These items are more like books as each one is more than two hundred pages. They are extremely rare and costly, when they come up for sale. Edward Marlo gave lectures and performed rarely, and only a few times outside of Chicago. Professionally, Edward Marlo was a machinist. He made modifications and configurations to the machines in the shop so that they could produce eight hours of work in less than one hour. Ed kept this information to himself, his boss would believe that progress at the end of each work day was that of eight hours, when in reality it only took one hour, and the other seven hours of every day, Ed Marlo was getting paid to play with his cards. His favourite card was the seven of diamonds. His wife would always make sure a certain amount of sevens of diamonds were in his jacket.

References

*Marlo's work can also be found in ''Expert Card Mysterys'' by Alton Sharpe.

External links

Chicago round table (with Ed Marlo footage)BiographyAndi Gladwin's article on studying Edward Marlo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marlo, Ed 1913 births 1991 deaths American magicians Academy of Magical Arts Literature & Media Fellowship winners

Career

See also

References

External links