Darwin, Gary (1935 - 2019)

Darwin, Gary (1935 - 2019) Born Gary Lee Meador in Denver, Colorado, he was one of the first magicians to perform in Las Vegas in the 1960s. He began performing death-defying acts as "Darewin, the man with thirteen lives." People had trouble pronouncing his real name, so "Darwin" it became. He started the Darwin Magic Club in 1968 which met each Wednesday for fifty years. He also wrote many magic books and produced over two dozen video tapes. Sec 5; Row 32; # 3

GARY DARWIN PHOTO GALLERY
As an athlete in 1959, Gary was awarded the James E. Sullivan award by the national committee for outstanding achievement in the state of Nevada.

Gary Darwin, 83, of Las Vegas, Nevada, died February 9, 2019. He held I.B.M. number 40368 and had been a member since 1985. He was a member of the Order of Merlin (twenty-five years of continuous membership) and a member of Ring 257 (Las Vegas, Nevada). He was also a member of the Society of American Magicians. He held S.A.M. number 25078 and had been a member for 29 years.

Born Gary Lee Meador on September 19th, 1935 in Denver, Colorado, to Russell and Louise Meador, Gary became interested in magic when his grandfather amazed him with the vanishing cigarette. Gary found out about the thumb tip five years later, and eventually wrote several books on the subject becoming the world's leading expert.

By the time Gary was 12 years old the family had moved to San Diego and he was performing his magic for $10 a show. At the age of 15, Tommy Woo became a mentor for Gary. He managed a magic shop in San Diego, and taught Gary the fundamentals of magic.

By the time Gary was 22 the family had relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. Gary became an award-winning athlete winning the state championship for handball (inspired by Houdini) and swimming.

He continued to perform his magic act and was the first magician to appear in an afternoon show in Las Vegas at the Thunderbird Hotel. Because people kept mispronouncing Gary's last name, Meador, he changed it to Darwin.

The newly minted Gary Darwin next performed in a big revue, where there was a cast of more than 100 people at the Desert Inn. He also worked the Hacienda Hotel and the Mint Hotel. His most prestigious appearance was at the Stardust Hotel when he filled in for a few weeks in The Lido de Paris.

In 1964 Gary formed The Darwin Magic Club. They have just celebrated their 54th anniversary and continue to meet once a week on Wednesday night at Tommy Rockers.

Gary has authored 17 books including Darwin's Thumb Tip Miracles, Darwin's 101 Thumb Tip Tricks, Thumb Tip Thinking, Magic Autograph Poster Gallery, Who Invented The Magic, and Darwin's Inexpensive Illusions. His books are on magic, illusions, thumb tips, jokes, artwork, and magic history. He also starred in a number of magic instructional DVDs.

A long time collector, the Darwin Magic Museum is an amazing collection of all things magic. Gary's home is filled with photos, posters, figurines, plates, cups, busts, and anything to do with magic or magicians. His library contains over 10,000 books, many of them autographed. Lance Burton has stated "When working on a new trick my first stop was always at Darwin's library. I gained valuable information there on a wide range of magic including The Card Sword, The Floating Ball, Black Art, The Coin Wand, and Illusions."

On December 5th, 2011 in recognition of his decades as a performer, author, and organizer, the Mayor of Las Vegas proclaimed "Gary Darwin Day" in Las Vegas.

Although he never had children, Gary Darwin is survived by countless students. Through the years he has inspired and taught magic to many students, including Richard Ballen, Maritess Zurbano, Alexandra Lafarge, Taylor Lloyd, Eben Rockmaker, Sami Hoxha, and many more. Gary was very generous with his knowledge and access to his library.

Gary's friends are a who's who of magic. Throughout the years he became friends with Siegfried & Roy, Johnny Thompson, Norm Nielsen, Fielding West, Johnny Paul, Mac King, Jeff McBride, The Amazing Jonathan, Lance Burton, and practically every magician that played Las Vegas in the last 60 years.

His influence on magic, especially in Las Vegas, is incalculable. He was beloved by all who met him and he will be missed. He left strict instructions that there was to be no funeral or memorial service. However he did not say that a "party" was out of the question. One is now being planned to take place at the Darwin Magic Club on May 1st 2019.

Gary Darwin is a prolific artist using, as he says, "stinky felt tip pens" to draw large and sensational posters of famous magicians from all over the world. While visiting with him recently we sat down and he drew a cartoon of me in less than ten minutes. Others have said that some of his posters were done in the same time span, with the performer sitting for a pen and ink portrait. Although most of his posters (which number nearly three hundred) were copied from photographs, Gary gives each portrait his personal touch. These drawings have graced the Desert Seminars, held annually in his home town of Las Vegas. They have also been published in a handsome volume entitled Magic Autograph Poster Gallery, in 1989. When Gary does these drawings he makes no preliminary pencil sketches - but attacks the paper with a vengeance. Since he has drawn so many portrait posters of others, I felt that one should be done of him. I must confess that I had to use a preliminary pencil sketch before applying the ink - and it took me between thirty to fortyfive minutes to finish my project.

Gary appeared on the cover of The NEW TOPS of April, 1966. His family name of Meador appeared under his photograph and in the story. He later changed his name to Darwin because he wanted a stage name which people could remember. Today, he is so well known as Darwin, he rarely uses the name Gary.

He lives in an attractive home in Las Vegas, with his mother. As could be expected, she runs the house and, as he jokingly says, "I am a visitor in my own house." Well, perhaps this is true, but his house has been thoroughly taken over by magic (among other things) and his mother joins in the effort by decorating and painting plaster figurines of Merlins, rabbits in hats and any other article that is related to the sleight of hand man.

The Darwin collection is housed in three rooms, naturally spilling out into the rest of the house, past the kitchen and into the garage - even to the outside for the cooing birds and the other livestock, including a dog named Dudley.

The first room you are ushered into is the apparatus or magic den. A long room, covered with shelves from floor to ceiling, all filled with every conceivable trick. Alarm clocks, card boxes, pill vases, changing canisters, square circles, various tubes, bottle tricks, skulls, choppers, frames. You name it - he's got it. Standing in the center of this room is the LaWain Chinese Temple Table, usually piled high with several pieces he is currently working with. I asked Gary about this table and he told me that Jack LaWain sold them for $75.00 each some years ago. He paid $125.00 for his and was offered $500.00 recently, an offer he turned down. I asked him if he knew who made the table for LaWain. He said, "No." I proudly proclaimed, "I made that table. Several years ago I made twelve of those tables for the LaWains. When I found out what they were selling them for - I went out to my shop and made one for myself!"

The next room is the library. The legend above the doorway says: The World's Largest Autographed Magic Library, Every time I visit Gary we spend several minutes autographing each others books and I spend time looking at the newest editions that have just come onto the market.

The next room is the study or office which, besides containing a desk, has all kinds of printings and paraphernalia around and on each piece of furniture. On the way to the garage we stop in the kitchen for a bottle of soda (in my case) and for Gary a drink of pure water from a special tap. Gary wants to be sure he is not drinking any kind of treated water. He insists you drink his water after you drink your soda. The garage contains his duplicate posters, pictures, program books, etc.

Gary is an expert with the Thumb Tip, having written three booklets on the subject. He carries his comedy materials in his head. All you have to do is name a subject and he can throw several oneliners on that subject, just like that! Prolific is the word.

Darwin is most well known for his Magic Club which holds sway every Wednesday evening, usually starting at Midnight and lasting until the wee hours of the morning. All of the working and visiting greats assemble here at this hour, along with anyone having an interest in magic. These magicians seek his advice and many of them take lessons from Gary, recognizing his expertise and knowledge in all phases of sleignt of hand and stage magic. The young magician at the bxcalibur mentioned his desire to study under Darwin. And, one of his most famous proteges is Melinda - The First Lady Of Magic, who is making it big in Las Vegas with her illusion show.

When going on the town with him, he will take you to see the Siegfried & Roy complex of buildings; or take you backstage to see and visit with Lance Burton. One time at the Flamingo, we wanted to see just one act, Vince Carmen, and while talking to the man in charge he was recognized as a performer who had appeared at their poolside some years previously. We almost missed the act (which they admitted us free of charge) because of this conversation. To say that he is known around his hometown would be an understatement. To say that he knows his way around magic would be most appropriate and understood. When he signs his autograph he usually writes: "To my old friend in magic, from Gary Darwin." So, we say to him, "To our old friend in magic, Gary Darwin, who we love and respect. This from all of us who have had the opportunity of knowing him and his delightful magic."

While in Las Vegas I met Gary Darwin. I had heard about him and his books for some time. It was a pleasure meeting this magic enthusiast.

Gary Darwin's Magic Club continues to draw the top magic names in Las Vegas. It meets each Wednesday night from midnight until 4 a.m. at the Continental Hotel Casino Lounge. All visiting magicians are welcomed to stop by and meet others who might be in town such as David Copperfield, Vince Carmen, Johnny Hart, Jimmy Grippo, Steve Baker or anyone else who might drop by.

His two books on Thumb Tip magic are full of practical ideas . . . dozens of them, accomplished with this "on hand" prop. He produces lit matches, smoke, cigarettes, as well as mutilating rubber bands and doing magic with salt, sugar, pepper, bills, coins and just about everything you have never thought of in the world of thumb-tippery.

The books are "THUMB TIP SECRETS" and are numbered "ONE" and "TWO". Everything is illustrated (Gary is an artist).

One year ago Gary Meador made his professional debut at the famed Thunderbird in Las Vegas. He went in under a two-week contract and stayed for eight months! Following this he worked a four month engagement at the Sahara- Tahoe Hotel at Lake Tahoe and at present he is preparing to leave for Europe. The secret of this young man's phenomenal success lies in the axiom of the late Blackstone . . . "Success is work, hard work, plus confidence, and plenty of 'it.'"

Born in Denver, Colorado, on September 19, 1935, his grandfather was the first to amaze him with an amateur assortment of tricks. When Gary was seven a family friend, Professor Lamont, visited the Meador home and plucked a silver dollar from young Gary's ear . . . from that moment on he was hooked on magic. While living in San Diego he became friends with Tommy Woo, local magician and magic dealer. For seven years Woo taught Gary the fine points of manipulation and the classic tricks of magic. Then he witnessed the big Blackstone Show and this convinced him that cards, thimbles, billiard balls and coins were not enough. To be a great magician he would need a few tons of larger equipment. When he was sixteen his family moved to Tucson and he secured a four week night club date at thirty dollars a week . . . he thought that now he was on his way to fame and fortune. Every cent he earned was invested in magic. Soon the family moved to Las Vegas where he witnessed such acts as Chop Chop, Marvin Roy and Channing Pollock. He realized then how unprepared he was and felt that he wasn't even ready to audition for a benefit show.

At nineteen he secured a well-paying position as a warehouseman, lifting heavy boxes from morning until night. This he did for six years. Outside of contributing to the welfare of his family, he continued to invest in magic. That left precious little money for clothes and a car, the young man's status symbol, so our hero turned from socializing to sports when he needed a rest from his magic work.

In the sport field he had great success and proved to be a fine all-around athlete. He won the Las Vegas Most Outstanding Swimmer award five years in a row. He won the City Handball Championship three straight years in a row and the State title twice. On the side he was participating in long-distance runs and was instructing fencing and weight lifting at the City Recreation Department. His biggest thrill came in '59 when he was awarded the James E. Sullivan award by the national committee for outstanding achievement in the state of Nevada. This is the highest tribute that the Amateur Athletic Union pays to an athlete. He met many influential people through the receiving of this award and other sports activities. Indirectly this led to his being employed as a Bellman in one of the plush 'strip' hotels, a job which is ordinarily quite hard to come by.

Most of the Bellmen were married and they began to wonder when Gary was going to settle down as he was then twenty-seven. But his earnings were still being poured into his first love, magic. His library of magical books now numbered over a thousand, and his inventory of props over seven hundred. He met every magician who worked Las Vegas and discovered that if he was to work the big time he'd need an expensive wardrobe and still more costume props. After fifteen years of study and practice he had a vast knowledge of magic but comparatively little performing experience except for local appearances before service clubs and the like.

One day, after three years of lifting hotel guests' luggage, a fellow Bellman told him about an audition which was being held at his hotel. Gary had exactly twelve hours to prepare for a ten minute audition. He decided on the Zombie, Chinese Rings, Cutting a Girl in Sixths, plus some manipulation and also the use of livestock.

As soon as he finished the audition, the producer jumped upon the stage to congratulate him and said that he ". . . had to have him" in the new show. This reception was more than Gary had anticipated so he quit hopping bells and opened at the Thunderbird!

Gary Meador can well be appreciated from many standpoints: As a man; as an athlete; as an entertainer, and as a wonderful example of the ancient Greek-inspired theme: "A Sound Mind Within A Sound Body." He is indeed a credit to fine Art of Magic.