I just had the opportunity to watch Leap of Faith (1992), possibly for the first time since its release in 1992. In this marvelous film, Steve Martin plays a tent show preacher, using all kinds of tricks to fleece the faithful. The film showcases lots of techniques of interest to magicians and mentalists, including pre-show work, cold reading, use of stooges and second sight, some of which date back to the days of medicine shows. Even watching the crew erect the show tent is a thing of beauty.

Perusing the credits, I spotted something that explained the film's nuanced depiction of deception: Ricky Jay served as "Con and Fraud Consultant" to the production.

For those interested in Ricky's work, we've devoted two pages at Propelled Pasteboards, the throwing card blog, to some of his card-throwing ephemera, which you can see at the following links:

http://throwingcards.blogspot.com/2017/0......jay.html

http://throwingcards.blogspot.com/2017/0......pha.html

Gary Brown