Walter Irving Scott

Walter Irving Scott
Born	(1895-07-01)July 1, 1895 Providence, Rhode Island
Died	May 12, 1995(1995-05-12) (aged 99)
Nationality	American
Other names	The Phantom
Occupation(s)	Musician, cardsharp
Known for	sleight of hand, second dealing, bottom dealing.
Notable work	The Phantom at the Card Table (book)
Spouse(s)	Ermilinda (Emily) Viveiros (wife) Edith Paulson (first wife, divorced – deceased)
Parent(s)	Edward Augustus Scott (father – deceased) Jessie Barnes Smith (mother – deceased)
Relatives	Jesse Scott (brother – deceased) Edward Scott (brother – deceased) Florence Scott (sister – deceased)

Walter Irving Scott (July 1, 1895 – May 12, 1995) was an American musician, cardsharp and amateur magician.

Scott spent his formative years perfecting several difficult sleights of card manipulation in order to work as a cardsharp in card games throughout America. He participated in several different types of swindles and hustles. Eventually turning to a music career he was asked to perform one more demonstration. This single event created a legend within the magic community that continues to this day. He lived out his last years in Rhode Island as a music teacher.

Biography

Early life

Born in Providence, Rhode Island on July 1, 1895, he was the son of an English engineer, Edward Augustus Scott, and his Scottish wife Jessie Barnes Smith. In 1899 Jessie left her husband with her four children, Jesse, Edward, the 4-year-old Walter and his sister Florence.

Aged 17, Scott began to travel the United States. He joined the Providence branch of the National Conjurers Association in December 1919, where he met Eddie McGuire, a fellow magician who became his promoter.

Music career

Scott gave up working with cards in 1924 to focus on his love of music. He played the steel guitar. He had been playing since 1912 and with the increased popularity of Hawaiian bands found more opportunities to play professionally. Teaching himself, with some help from Hawaiian entertainers playing American theaters, he began touring with a band and appearing in Hawaiian shows and a stock theatre company. He enjoyed writing music and wrote his own and that of other band members.

During these years Eddie McGuire had been in correspondence with T. Nelson Downs. He talked at length about the greatest cheat he, or anyone else, had ever come across. This cardsharp was a mysterious player named 'Scott'. These letters raise some questions, such as why in 1922 McGuire was still talking to Downs about 'second dealing' specifics having already met Scott who he had alluded to being an excellent second dealer. Around the time Scott was touring with his band McGuire also wrote Downs telling him that Scott performed his music just for the fun of it. In 1929 he talked of watching Scott hustling other players at a game in Block Island. It is suggested that McGuire was creating the Phantom legend from the very beginning, from getting information on the second deal and feeding it to Scott to maintaining the idea of a 'high class bootlegger' and professional cardsharp.

During this period Scott married his first wife, Edith Paulson. A showgirl at the Oxford Hotel, Worcester. Scott called her 'one of the prettiest girls in all the world". They had spent six years together before getting married. Unfortunately, like his father before him and his brother, he was "playing around", and the marriage did not last long.

The Phantom of the Card table

While Scott occupied himself with his music, McGuire had been boasting to the magicians in New York about his other skills, claiming he knew a card cheater who could beat the lot of them. Eventually Downs asked McGuire to set up a demonstration and it was arranged for June 14, 1930. Scott had nothing to gain from going to New York and made the trip largely as a favour to McGuire. Some of the finest card men of the era had gathered in the home of Al Baker. T. Nelson Downs was there and others included Cardini and Max Holden. Scott proceeded to impress some of the world's most knowledgeable and skilled sleight of hand artists with his supreme skills. He astonished them for the rest of the evening with feats of cardmanship they had only dreamt about. He performed feats of advanced sleights, dealing poker hands, card cheating and repeated these effects again and again, sometimes blindfolded.

In the July 1930 issue of The Sphinx, the most prestigious US conjuring journal, Max Holden stated: "Without a doubt Walter Scott is the cleverest man with a pack of cards in the world."

After performing again for Cardini at his home, where a mysterious photo of 'The Phantom' with his hood still on originated (most likely taken by Cardini himself), the general attitude among the 'New York Inner Circle' was that Walter Scott was the new king of cards. An almost supernaturally skilled cardsman.

After New York

The main person affected with Scott's newfound fame and praise was Dai Vernon. 'The Professor' is still considered one of the greatest card manipulators in the history of conjuring. The young Vernon often spent a lot of time on the road searching for legendary gamblers and cheaters and originators of new sleights or classic moves. He was the one card worker of note not among those for Scott's New York performance. Even his friend Eddie McLaughlin, who was there, spoke of Scott's amazing performance.

In the aftermath of the evening McGuire acted as an intermediary and seems to have taken pleasure in his newfound power over the revered Vernon who wanted an audience with Scott. McGuire had spent the last decade trying to circle with some of the top professionals. He used his money, and his considerable knowledge, to assist other performers and constantly expand his knowledge of magic and secret sleights.

However he was never able to get close to two of the best, Dai Vernon or Sam Horowitz. So McGuire got close to a magician both men admired, Max Malini, and through clever use of his association with Malini got to Horowitz. With his knowledge of Scott, McGuire had leverage and a worth to the top cardmen. For months before the June demonstration he had been giving some notes on Scott's work to Cardini.

In 1931, he released a collection of manuscripts involving aspects of Scott's work which became known as The Phantom of the Card Table. Around thirty copies were released selling for as much as $50 each (approx $500 in today's currency). Through his drip feeding of notes to Horowitz and Cardini he got Vernon to start calling. McGuires replies contained nothing of value and only forced Vernon to keep writing. In the correspondence he prodded Vernon and talked up Scott's achievements and skills. It was a turnaround that McGuire must have enjoyed, now all the secretive magicians were looking to him for answers.

As time passed and secrets slowly leaked McGuire's frustration grew with his fading control. Vernon had dropped the interest in Scott for a while to find 'the center deal' and in 1932 he released the Twenty Dollar Manuscript that contained a blindfolded poker routine and the Vernon Automatic Second Deal.

Later life

In August 1956, aged 61, Scott was the headline act at the New England Magicians Convention, in the only convention lecture he ever gave.

Scott died on May 12, 1995, aged 99.