Paul Curry (August 19, 1917 – February 19, 1986) was the vice-president of the Blue Cross Insurance Company of New York, and a famous amateur magician who became well known in the magic community for inventing highly-original card magic. Many magicians have performed illusions and effects created by Curry.

Doug Henning Douglas James Henning (May 3, 1947 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian magician, illusionist, escape artist and politician. Early life Henning was born in the Fort Garry district of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Henning became interested in magi ...

used Curry's "The Sliding Knot" in one of his TV specials. Curry's most famous creation is Out of This World, a self-working

card trick Card manipulation, commonly known as card magic, is the branch of Magic (illusion), magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especia ...

that he created in 1942, at the age of 25. Curry is the author of a number of books and manuscripts dealing with his many original magical creations. He has also been credited with inventing the

missing square puzzle The missing square puzzle is an optical illusion used in mathematics classes to help students reason about geometrical figures; or rather to teach them not to reason using figures, but to use only textual descriptions and the axioms of geometry. ...

. On 12 March 1977, the Academy of Magical Arts at

The Magic Castle The Magic Castle is a performance venue, restaurant, and clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts for magicians and magic enthusiasts in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. The Academy was started in 1952 by W ...

awarded Paul Curry a "Creative Fellowship" award.

Selected books

*''Paul Curry's Worlds Beyond'' (2002) *''Magician's Magic'' (1965)

References

1917 births 1986 deaths American magicians {{US-entertainer-stub