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Dean Dill - Remembering a Sleight of Hand Legend

Several circumstances have led to this blog and associated yootoob channel... Severe nicotine withdrawal and the passing of a mentor being of foremost significance. Since this is a web log about coin magic, the latter seems an appropriate subject for a first post.

Will focus on the good here, not the sadness..

Just one finger flinger's experience:

Around 23 years ago I worked in a magic shop in Glendale CA called Russell Lewis' Magic Palace. During its brief existence, The Magic Palace didn't see a ton of customers so there was lots of time to read books and learn tricks to demo, plus an occasional well known heavy hitter like Daryl, Johnny Ace Palmer, Kevin James, or Rudy Coby would come by and shoot the shit; A young magician slacker's dream job..

At the time, legendary underground magician/barber Dean Dill was renting a station at a barbershop across the street. He'd come in and hang out a bit, or I'd go over to his barbershop and watch the latest. Dean just kept frying me over and over. He really embodied what I've come to call the "West Coast Naturalist" style of sleight of hand (not naturist, I think that means performing in the nude..) That is, no fancy magicy movements, and no "telegraphing" of moves ie no guilty conscience. The type of philosophy Dai Vernon, Larry Jennings and a handful others had popularized in cards, Dean brought to coin work. 

Dean Dill was a sleight of hand coach/consultant on the Stephen Frears film The Grifters.

Dean's manner was incredibly unassuming and relaxed, whereas I've always had to fight not to make a weird face or speed up my speech when I'm about to do something sneaky. Not Dean. The actual action and the faked action not only appeared the same, they had the same metaphysical footprint, if that makes any sense. To this day I've never seen anyone as smooth, even, and natural as Dean Dill.

I enjoyed hanging out with Dean and learning as much as possible from him. I wasn't special though, he was incredibly generous to everyone he met and many magicians, both famous and unknown, gravitated to him. Yes there was his incredible skill and magical brain, but beyond that, he was the type of person who took a genuine interest in individuals, and it wasn't some kind of "win friends and influence people" game. He truly was interested in finding out how you were doing and what you were about. A devout Christian, he truly lived by the tenants of that religion, in the sense that he cared deeply for everyone, including those with different perspectives than this. He took the WWJD acronym seriously and really seemed to live by it.

                                              Dean Dill and Rudy Coby. Photo by author.

These qualities are why I kept in touch with Dean long after I got out of magic in the mid 1990s, and would drop in on him every year or three for a haircut and to see the latest jaw-dropper. During that time his shop moved and expanded to accommodate his increased following, and to provide a work-area for him to create and build the effects he'd been developing.

Dean on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, a fine magician in his own right, who would often engage Dean's skills as a magic teacher. Embedded from Rich Hurley's Youtube Channel.

A couple years ago I'd been asked to help conceptualize a few TV show ideas, and one was about magic. Largely out of the loop, I began hanging out at Dean's Shoppe again, camcorder in hand, to get back into that head-space, but also with the possible intention of shooting something around Dean, the Shoppe, and those who hung out there.. After a number of visits, I realized bringing "TV people" into Dean's Shoppe, and life, would be a mistake, and began showing up sans-camcorder, but with a few coins.... 

And so it started again, this thing which another old friend and mentor, Carl Williams, used to say is a "bug that never leaves you." With Dean's encouragement I started trying to come up with new routines and with even more encouragement began performing again. 

So we'll start here; with Dean. If not for him am not sure I'd be writing this, or even be interested in coin magic again..

So long, old friend.