Richard Jay Potash (June 26, 1946 – November 24, 2018) In addition to sleight of hand, he was known for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. He also wrote extensively on magic and its history. His acting credits include The Prestige, The Spanish Prisoner, Mystery Men, Heist, Boogie Nights, Tomorrow Never Dies, Heartbreakers, State and Main, House of Games, Magnolia, Deadwood and Sneaky Pete. In 2015, he was the subject of an episode of PBS's American Masters, the only magician ever profiled in the series.
Early life
Jay was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Shirley (Katz) and Samuel Potash. He rarely spoke publicly about his parents, but did share an anecdote: "My father oiled his hair with Brylcreem and brushed his teeth with Colgate", Jay recalled. "He kept his toothpaste in the medicine cabinet and the Brylcreem in a closet about a foot away. Once, when I was ten, I switched the tubes. All you need to know about my father is that after he brushed his teeth with Brylcreem he put the toothpaste in his hair." Jay's grandfather, Max Katz, was a certified public accountant and amateur magician who introduced Jay to magic.
Career
Magician
thumb|Appearing on [[The Secret Cabaret]]
Jay first performed in public at the age of seven, in 1953, when he appeared on the television program Time for Pets. He is most likely the youngest magician to perform a full magic act on TV, the first magician to ever play comedy clubs, and probably the first magician to open for a rock and roll band. At New York's Electric Circus in the 1960s, he performed on a bill between Ike and Tina Turner and Timothy Leary, who lectured about LSD.
He quickly developed a following among magic aficionados, and a reputation for sleight-of-hand feats that baffled even his colleagues. In his 1993 New Yorker profile of Jay, Mark Singer related the following story from playwright David Mamet and theater director Gregory Mosher: