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Title: Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2012)
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| Credited cast: | |||
| Ricky Jay | ... | Self | |
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Winston Simone | ... | Self - Ricky Jay's Manager |
| Dick Cavett | ... | Self - Narrator (voice) | |
| David Mamet | ... | Self - Writer & Director | |
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Persi Diaconis | ... | Self - Professor of Statistics and Mathematics, Stanford University |
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Michael Weber | ... | Self - Ricky Jay's Partner |
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Fred Neumann | ... | Self - Deputy Sheriff, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office |
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Suzie Mackenzie | ... | Self - Journalist, The Guardian |
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Chrisann Verges | ... | Self - Ricky Jay's Wife |
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Roy Benson | ... | Self - Magician (archive footage) |
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Francis Carlyle | ... | Self - Magician (voice) (archive footage) |
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Hugh Fitzgerald | ... | Hugh Fitzgerald |
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Al Flosso | ... | Self - Magician (archive footage) |
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Al Hirschfeld | ... | Self - Artist (archive footage) |
| Steve Martin | ... | Self - Comedian (archive footage) | |
Ricky Jay is a world-renowned magician, author, historian and actor (often a mischievous presence in the films of David Mamet and Paul Thomas Anderson) -- and a performer who regularly provokes astonishment from even the most jaded audiences. Deceptive Practice traces Jay's achievements and influences, from his apprenticeship at age 4 with his grandfather, to such now-forgotten legends as Al Flosso, Slydini, Cardini and his primary mentors, Dai Vernon and Charlie Miller. Featuring rare footage from his 1970s TV appearances (doing 3-card Monte with Steve Martin on The Dinah Shore Show) and told in Jay's inimitable voice, this is a remarkable journey inside the secretive world of magic and the small circle of eccentrics who are its perpetual devotees. Written by First Run Features
Just caught this it the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival. Jay is one of the more interesting hybrid entertainers (magician/actor/author) of the last few decades so I welcomed the opportunity to get a peek "inside the box".
The film is aptly titled, as you do get a fascinating look at the influences on Jay's career. Their names alone (Cardini, Slydini, Al Flosso – The Coney Island Fakir) give you some of idea of the characters that Jay surrounded himself with early in his career. Lots of archival footage of these masters at work, along with Jay's early television appearances (including a REALLY early live TV appearance in 1953 performing magic) provide much of the back story as to how Jay got to where he is today.
The greatest influence on Jay may have been his grandfather, Max Katz, an amateur magician who introduced his grandson to the art and some of its great practitioners. His passing, and apparently some significant rift in his familial relationships, lead Jay to strike out on his own and go from "Ricky Potash" to "Ricky Jay." This rift is unexplored in the film and may be one of the "mysteries" the film title references. Also left relatively unexplored is Jay's career as a character actor, though David Mamet is one of several folks interviewed. Mamet has directed several of Jay's one-man shows, but I would have liked to hear more about Jay's work as an actor.
The directors were present at the screening, and I asked them if Jay's personal life was off-limits to discussion. They responded that while he didn't specifically forbid the subject, he didn't make it easy on them either. I also asked if there was a story behind his surname change (from Potash to Jay), and whether it had anything to do with the family rift hinted at by the film. Their somewhat weak response was that was "something that performers often do" and I got the feeling it never occurred to them to research the change or its circumstances. A quick internet search indicates Jay is his middle name. Did they not know that?
As a record of some of the history of magic and its early performers, the film succeeds. As an examination of Jay as something more than a magician, the film leaves us in the dark. That may be just what Jay wanted.
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