# The Dean of Magic, Jay Marshall, dies at the age of 85 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dean-of-magic-jay-marshall-dies-at-the-age-of-85/303377 "2005-05-11T12:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dean-of-magic-jay-marshall-dies-at-the-age-of-85/303377/1 "2005-05-11T12:52:37Z")
From an e-mail I received this AM from Meir Yedid Magic: > [@](#): > > Tue, 10 May 2005 23:29:10 -0400 (EDT) > MyMagic Headline News #77 > Jay Marshall (August 29, 1919 - May 10, 2005) died on Tuesday at the age of 85. Marshall was one of the most loved magicians, ventriloquists, collectors, historians and characters in our field. He is best remembered for the act with his gloved hand puppet Lefty that often received standing ovations. It is impossible to list all or even most of his accomplishments as he lived a very rich and fulfilling life. He has won just about every honor and lifetime achievement award given in our profession. He was a regular on the Ed Sullivan show and was instrumental in supplying the show the many magicians it featured. On Marshall’s 80th birthday “Jay Marshall Day” was proclaimed in the City of Chicago. At his passing he held the lifetime position of Dean of the Society of American Magicians and was the owner of the once premier magic company, Magic Inc. He will surely leave a void in our profession. I don’t know if any of you know of Jay, but he was the consumate magic entertainer. For us magicians, he was the type of person we all aspired to be. His combination of humor, timing and wit entertained hundreds of thousands. He always had a comeback for anything thrown at him. I consider myself fortunate to have met him. His act had me laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. He will be deeply missed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dean-of-magic-jay-marshall-dies-at-the-age-of-85/303377/2 "2005-05-11T14:21:40Z")
Wait, look behind the curtain - there he is! He gotcha one last time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dean-of-magic-jay-marshall-dies-at-the-age-of-85/303377/3 "2005-05-11T18:48:44Z")
This is very sad news. Jay was great. I had the pleasure of seeing him at the 2004 World Magic Convention in Las Vegas. At a late-night event, a number of top magicians took part in a quiz loosely based on ‘The Weakest Link’. Jay agreed to take part, but he also asked everyone to vote him off _before the quiz even began_ so that he wouldn’t have to stand for very long! They all did, with pleasure. Since he wasn’t then taking part in the quiz, Jay offered to tell a joke: “This UPS guy is delivering a package. Knocks at the door. A little girl answers the door. She can’t be more than about nine or ten. She’s wearing smudged lipstick, smoking a cigarette and reeks of bourbon. Behind her, the room looks a mess and there’s loud music playing. The UPs guy says, ‘Are your parents home?’ and the girl says, 'Does it fu\*\*ing _look_ like my parents are home?”. I also saw Jay perform at a Magic Circle show here in London about 30 years ago. He did the ‘Lefty’ routine, and he was superb. He often described himself as ‘one of the better cheaper acts’, but in reality he was one of the best.