Local magician dies at 77; internationally renowned
by LILA BRICKLIN
One of the nation’s most accomplished close-up magicians, Cy Keller, 77, died on Sept. 9 at Keystone Hospice in Wyndmoor. He had lived in upper Roxborough before entering the hospice.
A “sleight-of-hand master, a true gentleman and gifted raconteur,” according to Eric Henning, president of the Yogi Magic Club of Baltimore, Keller started doing magic 68 years ago while growing up in Baltimore. An aunt gave him a book about doing card tricks, the beginning of his foray into the world of magic.
“In his slow-moving hands,” said Henning, “cards simply do the impossible, apparently without any intervention. Cy is unforgettable.” When word spread in the magic community about Keller’s battle with Non-Hodgkin’s Disease, he received calls and visits from magicians all over the United States, from those he mentored over the years.
Jeff Altman, a regular on The Late Show with David Letterman, met Keller while a student at Johns Hopkins University and credits Keller with teaching him how to entertain. “That was his gift,” said Altman, “being entertaining, because as you know, 95 percent of close-up magiciaans are boring as plain toast.”
At 15, Keller did his first formal magic show for an audience of 300 at his high school. But later, Keller did not do shows for kids. “Kids have a short attention span, and for many of them, these tricks become a battle of wits. That takes all the fun out of it,” Keller said in an article in the Local two years ago. “I do close-up and platform magic, not illusions.”
John Ekin, who performs magic regularly at Walt Disney World and performed over 30 times at the White House during the last four administrations, said, “Cy opened my eyes to what magic insiders call ‘the real work’ and the many practical uses of the ‘side steal’ in card magic. He is a suave combination of Carey Grant, Hugh Hefner and Charlie Parker — one of the true ‘cool cats.’”
Keller was an English major at Loyola College in Baltimore, and performed magic at Red Cross shows while in the U.S. Navy. For many years, his magic was just an avocation. He credits magic for bringing out his personality. He was a shy kid.
Keller worked for the Great Books Foundation for 12 years facilitating discussion groups all over the East Coast. Former Philadelphia coordinator Joan Dickstein said when she first met Keller in 1960 at the Ben Franklin Hotel, she spotted him by his copy of Moby Dick that he carried “ostentatiously.
“We became friends at once.” Dickstein said. “Cy was a skilled listener. He possessed a wry humor, a gentle curiosity and the ability to recall verbatim key passages from the stories of Sherlock Holmes. And over these many years, thanks to Cy Keller, I learned to appreciate a perfectly prepared martini.”
Keller also had stints as an insurance and menswear salesman and as a documenter at a bank for 14 years. Finally, he started doing magic professionally after work hours, including lecturing at magic clubs in London and Dublin.
Keller’s reputation began to rise in the 1980s when he played at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. After that, Keller, who invented about 50 tricks that now appear in magic magazines, performed at magic conventions and other venues. He had a library collection of more than 500 volumes about magic.
Tim Conover, a professional magician and mentalist who works out of Ponte Verda, Florida, was in his late teens when he met Keller, and remembers his “open approach to sharing with a passionate young magician. It left an indelible impression on my life. His magical technique was flawless,” continued Conover. “His combination of apparent simplicity combined with swift, clear, perfect methods created a magical experience which is difficult to forget. He was a master of prestidigitation.”
In 1984, Keller appeared on People Are Talking in Baltimore with Oprah Winfrey before she went national. Although it is commonly assumed that professional magic was much bigger many decades ago because of people like Harry Houdini and Blackstone (Keller’s boyhood idol), Keller believed that more people do it today than ever before, thanks to the influence of performers like Ricky Jay, Doug Henning, David Blaine and David Copperfield.
“Cy Keller was far and away the best teacher I ever had,” said Tony Sweet, now a nationally known photographer from the Baltimore area. “His lessons to me were of the art of magic. But, within those lessons, I learned the art of visual economy, the art of simplicity and the art of understatement.”
In recent years, Keller performed for many local organizations. He also worked for State Rep. Kathy Maderino (D-194) as a constituent services aid and served as a Democratic committeeman in the 21st Ward. He is survived by his companion of 22 years, Bernice Bricklin; five children, Donald, Richard and Michael Keller, Caroline Clare and Barbara Henriksen; eight grandchildren, Deirdre, Oisin, Julia and Stephen Keller, Erica and Jonathan Clare and Nicholas and Adrianne Henriksen; and one great grandchild, Shayla Mullikin. His daughter-in-law, Louise Thomas Keller and son-in-law, Bill Clare, also survive him. Keller’s son David died in 1970.
Keller is also survived by Shoshana Bricklin and Bert, Brahm and Gene Schultz, Aliza Bricklin and Andrew, Jacob and Rachel Schwab and Lila Bricklin, who wrote this article.
Funeral services were at Mishkan Shalom Synagogue, Roxborough, on Sept. 12.
Donations in Keller’s memory may be made to the Cy Keller Magic of Books Fund c/o The Great Books Foundation, 36 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2300, Chicago, IL 60601-2298.
