I'm really interested in Jerry Andrus. I saw him at the Magic Castle once, but he was engaged in a conversation with some other people and I didn't have a good way to approach him without seeming rude so I didn't meet him. I saw some of his optical illusion sculptures and they are fantastic! I heard on the Magic Radio show about this really interesting computer keyboard he uses. Does anyone know where his Castle of Chaos is located?

http://www.sandlotscience.com/EyeonIllusions/Andrus.htm

I believe the "castle" is actually his home, in Albany, Oregon.

I've had the pleasure of hanging out with Jerry a couple times, and I can only speculate what it must be like living inside that mind. His ability to see things in ways the rest of us would never think of is truly inspiring. If you want to contact him, he's in the phone book, and I've found him to be very receptive and approachable.

Quinn

Geoff, you may also want to get a set of the Andrus videos titled "A Lifetime of Magic" and sold by Meir Yedid. You can check out Meir's website for more info.
http://www.MYMAGIC.COM
The tapes are really a blast to watch and you can see Jerry in action. BTW, an interesting sidelight about Mr. Andrus, is that he will not lie during the performance of an effect... very unusual approach for a magician, but then, he's one of a kind.

Best thoughts,
John Smetana

Oh John... is it real? He has never lied in his performance ever?

Wow!! I can't imagine it.
However, recently I have been doing the Ultra move to avoid lying.

Michael Lam

To follow up on John's post.

Jerry visited the NY gang around 79. He is indeed a special person. Ever wonder what Mr. Rogers might be like as a magician? Jerry projects a similar feeling of honesty, sincerity and openness. If you get a chance to meet the man, please do. -Jonathan

Jerry does live in Albany, OR. If you get the opportunity to meet or talk to him, please do.

Here is a site that has one of Jerry's optical illusions. It works best when lit from below.

http://www.grand-illusions.com/dragon.htm

Thanks to some great sponsors, (especially the Timid Rabbit and the IBM Ring that meets there)
Mr Andrus was our guest at Michigan Magic Day, 2004 in Kalamazoo MI.
What a wonderful man! His illusions (optical and otherwise) are truly entertaining.
Those of you who have been in and around magic for a good number of years understand what I mean when I say I seldom see things that surprise me, or inspire a sense of wonder. Mr Andrus and his illusions provided me with many of those elusive "magical moments" over the course of that weekend.

(He and my better half also had some very interesting conversations about the psychology of magic, mankind's need for religion, education vs intelligence, and the mind's need to eliminate chaos.)

I recently met Mr. Andrus for the first time (I live in the next town over), and he was indeed a very pleasant, approachable and helpful fellow. It would take a lot of effort, in my opinion, to not immediately like the guy.

I believe that he will be appearing all this weekend (July 16-18) at the Da Vinci Days festival of science and art in Corvallis, Oregon (staffing the Oregonians for Rationality booth). A Google search should turn up the details, if anyone's local enough to attend and wants to see a selection of jaw-droppingly cool illusions.

And yes, his computer keyboard is fascinating.

-- Jake

Jeff Dial, I constructed a Andrus dragon. It´s very funny and really work. Thanks for the link.

I think the most recent Genii magazine has a spread on Jerry Andrus along with pictures of the Castle of Chaos. I gave my copy to a friend who had a product reviewed in it, so I cant be absolutely sure that is where I saw it. But I am pretty sure.

It also had interesting comments about things like when he installed a new toilet and the door opened in, and wouldnt clear the toliet, so he cut a part of the door away to match the contour of the toilet, and the cutaway section was reattached and hinged to spring back once it clears the toilet.

Definitley a mind that looks at things differently and without boundaries.

BroDavid

Jerry Andrus has a book published in Japan of cardboard cut out optical illusions.
The title might be "Wink Magic, Optical Illusion Objects ".And of course the book is in Japanese only. Anyone have any info on this? Thanks, Bruce.

The latest article about Jerry was in the September 2004 issue of Genii magazine. It includes an optical illusion cut out and some of his magic tricks.....Bruce

I need to get something clarified that has been misinterpreted about me, in regards not lying. In real life I do not lie. However, I would lie to protect someone's life, or something like that.
As magicians, you might say that we are often playing the part of an actor.
So, if say “I pass my hand over the wrong card and it turns into the right card,” that is a lie. But I am an actor playing the part as if one card magically turning into another.
But a good example is one time at the Castle when I have just finished my close up show, a lady asked me a question that I could not honestly answer without exposing something. I don't remember, but lets say I had just done the Linking Pins. It ends with three regular pins on the table that they may examine if they wish. Let's say she said, “Was that trick done with regular safety pins?” I would probably say that she can examine the pins. But if she persisted asking if it was done with regular pins, then I would be lying if I said yes. So, I said, Lady, as a magician I am playing the part of an actor and and have a license to lie, I am no longer playing that part and have thus lost the license, and I can not answer your question.

Jerry Andrus

I haven't found references about that computer keyboard. What is it?

Dave

PS: I have seen a post by Jerry himself... what a guest of the forum!!! Welcome!

I believe the keyboard he uses is called a (DVORAK). The name comes from the layout on the keyboard just like a traditional (QWERTY) keyboard. I have the Genii magazine article somewhere that BroDavid mentioned in his last post. I'm not at home at the moment but I'll dig it up to make sure I'm right about this.

His reasoning for using this type of keyboard (if it is indeed the DVORAK) is that when you use this keyboard your fingers won't move as far to type. He even gave an explanation of your fingers moving at such and such miles per hour and compared they two keyboard styles. Another interesting thing the article shows is that his keyboard is fixed onto a treadmill. So he's exercising while he works.

I'll come back to make sure I'm right on this later.

Ron Jaxon

With some practice you can get this to work with both eyes open. Treat the model a bit like an 'auto steriogram' (3D dotty picture thing) so you kind of odnt quite point your eyes at the model, aim for just in front/behind of it, but keep your focus set to the right distance so it looks sharp. This has the rather nice bennifit of not making you look like a mad fool bobbing around with one eye closed.

John, this is not quite true. I saw Jerry Andrus lecture a few days ago (at the International Magic Convention). Someone asked about this and he said that this is a common misconception. In fact he does lie (in that he makes up patter), however he will never lie if asked whether a method is correct (he will say, "Sorry I can't answer that"). As a performer he feels he has the 'right' to lie (if you call making up an entertaining story a lie), but as a person, he has no right to tell somebody that they are wrong if they are not.
Owen

Nice ethics, we could all learn from this

Shameless plug-I have his three vid set VHS on sale in the sales area. It has all of his great ilusions, Zone Zero, Mylar Tube, his great color change for cards and has him demostrating a number of cool optical ilusions...