It's hard to believe there was a time when you had to learn sleight-of-hand technique from reading books. Written descriptions of hand positions, with associated line drawings and photographs. Don't be tryin' to learn sleight-of-hand from a book if you're not in a mood to really concentrate.

I loved it. When I had those books propped open with a paper weight, and I had a deck
of cards on a small close-up pad, and I was passionately trying to learn card magic techniques on my own, I had the feeling I was learning something secret, something truly special. I would read some of those “here's-how-you-position-your-fingers-on-the-deck” paragraphs several times, and try over and over again to “get the move right.”

Back then, getting someone who was a true expert to personally show you subtleties of sleight-of-hand, well, that was really valuable. Of course, those “in the know” have always been reluctant to share “the real work” with anyone who is a beginner.

In any case, there I was, studying my copy of “Expert Card Technique,” trying to learn the “strip-out false shuffle.” The drawings in that book are great, and the descriptions are excellent, wonderfully outlined. I got the basics from that book, but I couldn't really “get it right.” Practice as I did, my false shuffle was awkward, not nearly smooth enough, not totally deceptive. I kept at it, of course. But I never really got it working good enough to go into my performances. Instead I relied on false cuts and false running cuts.
The “strip-out shuffle” eluded me.

And then I had a chance to visit personally with Martin Nash, in the small backstage area of the Close-up Room at the Magic Castle. Those were amazing days at the Magic Castle, during the middle to late '70's. Sleight-of-hand was all the rage back then. And the focus on learning “the real work” was the passion of many a great card performer.
I had scored a wonderful full-time gig, performing card-table magic onboard the Delta Queen Steamboats on the Mississippi River. I had created a character/persona I called
"the Last of the Riverboat Gamblers," and I was having great fun and good success as an entertainer onboard those steamboats. But at the time, when it came to sophisticated sleight-of-hand technique, I was working hard to learn what I could. I wasn't part of the “inner circle” at the Magic Castle, but I really loved being up there whenever possible, taking in the excitement and the atmosphere with all of my senses, trying to glean what “inside knowledge” I could.

At that time, Martin Nash was in his heyday. He was working steady at trade show hospitality suites, and shopping malls, and also making appearances internationally. Once, when he agreed to lecture at the Magic Castle, so many magicians showed up,
his lecture had to be moved to a nearby church auditorium to accommodate everyone.
He was awesome that day, and he “killed” in the Close-up Room that week.

I was so delighted and impressed with his performance in the Close-up Room the night
I went to see him, that I decided to go backstage after his show to congratulate him and communicate my praise. I didn't think he would know who I was. And, truth be told, some of my previous efforts to make friendly contact with other magicians of his caliber did not meet with much success. But, the Creator did bless me with a bold nature, and so there
I went, into that really small, dimly lit, paint-peeling-off-the-walls dressing room to congratulate Martin Nash on his amazing skill and the incredible entertainment value of his show. I was prepared to be politely “brushed off.” Instead I found a warm, sincere welcome, and an invitation to sit down and visit. How wonderful and how exciting that was for me.

I was a guy doing a “card cheating card-table act” as best I could, with very simple routines and a large dose of showmanship, and I was getting really good results. But now, here I was, backstage with the guy who was the king of the “card cheating act” at the time. I was faking a second deal, quite deceptively, in my act. Martin was actually doing a second deal, totally deceptively, in his act.

And back there in that room with him, he was not only willing to talk to me. He was in
a talking mood. (I subsequently learned that one thing Martin certainly loved to do, was talk.) What a surprising visit that was. What warmth I felt from him. I remember it like
it was yesterday. It was an encounter of friendship and encouragement, at a time when friendship and encouragement from a performer like him, meant so much to me.

And yes, in the middle of that conversation, in that tiny little room, just the two of us, between shows, I added into our discussion the fact that I was having trouble perfecting the “strip-out shuffle.”
“Let me see you do it,” Martin said very directly. “Show me what you are doing.”
Oh Lord, I thought to myself. Now I've gone and done it. Now I have to show THE Martin Nash, how really bad I am at the false riffle shuffle! Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?!

My concerns were not necessary. He spent several minutes with me, politely, sincerely and playfully helping me learn how to perform a really good, really deceptive strip-thru shuffle. In those minutes I experienced that wonderful feeling all sleight-of-hand magicians live for… the feeling of “getting it.” A combination of intellectual awareness
and physical coordination that just “clicks.” You go from struggling with a technique,
from “not getting it,” to “totally having it.” How exciting that is. That's what Martin
gave me in that little room that night. He gave me the “strip-thru shuffle.” And he
gave me friendship. That was so incredible. A life is made rich by moments like that.

Martin and I were friends ever since that first "encounter," more than 30 years ago. 
And his friendship has been a wonderful experience in my life. And brother, could he
talk when he got going. He certainly had the storyteller's impulse, and he had so many colorful stories to tell. Sometimes he'd call me on the phone just to communicate some little bit of news, and I just learned to put down my work, and settle in for a really long conversation.

When he would call, all these years later, and we would get to talking, somehow I would still be that newly-minted performer, sitting in that little room, backstage at the Magic Castle, delighted to have a chance to visit with Martin Nash.

He was a wonderful person to know.
And he was my really good friend.
And I miss him.