Richiardi Jr.
From Circopedia
Magician
Although Richiardi Jr. (1923-1985) didn’t work in circus, he proved that he could present his mesmerizing illusions in the ring, surrounded by his audience, during one appearance in the long-running French television show La Piste aux Étoiles in 1974, shot at Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver at a time when he was appearing at the legendary Parisian music-hall, the Olympia.
Richiardi Jr. was born Aldo Izquierdo Colosi on November 24, 1923, in Peru. His father, Ricardo (1895–1937), and his grandfather were magicians who had worked under the stage name of Richiardi. Although Aldo was not particularly interested in following in their footsteps (he wanted to become a doctor), he was pressured to do so: enrolled as an assistant to his father at age thirteen, he toured with him in the United States, where Ricardo suddenly passed away of a rare immune disease in 1937.
Aldo, age fourteen, returned with his mother (a flamenco dancer who was Ricardo's assistant) to Argentina, where his family had established residence, and then attended a military school, and studied dancing and singing. In 1943, at age twenty, he finally decided to continue the family tradition: He gathered his late father’s illusions and resumed the family act in Argentina under the name of Richiardi Jr., billing himself as "The Youngest Illusionist in the Word."
Yet, it was not his father’s act anymore: Aldo brought in his charismatic personality and an acute sense of theatricality fueled in part by his dance background. He was an outstanding showman and his show, perfectly choreographed and in which he was surrounded by a bevy of assistants, became an immediate sensation. He elevated classic illusions to another level with a fast-paced staging, in which one amazing illusion followed another at a dizzying speed.
A Sense of The Spectacular
Richiardi had a keen sense of the spectacular—even of the gory spectacular! He traditionally ended his show with a hitherto classic illusion in which he cut his daughter in half with a huge circular saw; but his version of the illusion was quite original: Before presenting it, he told the audience that if they were too sensitive, they could leave the theater at that point; then he invited some spectators on stage to watch the illusion at close range and handed them surgical coats…. The circular saw went into motion and sliced the "victim," splattering blood all around and revealing her bleeding guts. The close-range witnesses were spellbound, and so was the audience, who couldn’t see or understand how it could have been done; the "dead" victim stayed there. Curtain.
Richiardi Jr.’s show quickly became famous all over the world. He was highly successful in the United States, where he appeared twenty-four times on The Ed Sullivan Show, the most appearances by a magician on that celebrated television series. In 1979, he also starred in his own television show, Richiardi's Chamber of Horrors and Illusion, whose host was horror-movie legendary actor, Vincent Price (1911-1993).
Magic historian Tony Hassini said that Richiardi Jr. was "probably the most influential magician of the 20th century." He influenced such magicians as Criss Angel and David Copperfield (who said that Richiardi Jr. was "one of the finest magicians I have ever seen"). He passed away on September 6, 1985, in the Bahamas from complications due to diabetes that led to a leg amputation after an accident in which he had broken his foot, and subsequent infections. His son, Ricardo, has continued the family tradition.
See Also
- Video: Richiardi Jr., magic act, at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris (1974)
Image Gallery
Richiardi Jr, (c.1945)
Richiardi Jr. in Buenos Aires (c.1950)
Richiardi Jr. at New York's Village Gate (1985)
