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Richiardi Jr.

Aldo Richiardi Jr. (b.1923-d.1985), also billed under just the family name Richiardi, was born Aldo Izquierdo Colosi in Peru.

Biography

He came from a line of magicians. His father was the magician Ricardo Richiardi and his grandfather was a magician who toured South America and was the first to use the "Richiardi" name. Richiardi began performing as an assistant to his father, but had no intention of becoming the third generation magician. He wanted to become a doctor instead. After his father's death in the United States, he saved up enough money to move back home to Argentina (where most of his father's illusions were stored). He attended military school and studied singing and dancing. He was also an amateur bullfighter.

By 1943, wanting to carry on the family tradition, he began performing as "Richiardi Jr." in Argentina, later billing himself as "the youngest illusionist in the world".

He was a frequent performer on the Ed Sullivan Show and appeared in a number of TV variety shows including "Witness the Impossible" and NBC's "Magic of the Stars." In 1980, he taped a cable TV special "Richiardi's Chamber of Horrors," hosted by Vincent Price.

Some of his signature routines were actually his takes on much older effects. The Rice & Water was always the opener to his show. It was the first trick he ever performed for a LIVE audience at the age of 4 in his father's show. It was his good luck charm. His presentation for the Broom Suspension is still one of the greatest routines in illusion magic. His breathtaking handling during his Aga Levitation is another triumph. One of his most often talked about routines, The Buzz Saw in which he cut his daughter in half with a large circular saw was actually an adaptation of the routine used by his father's former employer Richardine Sr.

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