Paul Swinford's Birthday

Paul Wesley Swinford (1/29/1931-4/26/2000) Swinford was a protégé of Stuart Judah and is best known for his two books Faro Fantasies (1968) and More Faro Fantasies (1971). He also was a major contributor to Pallbearers Review, Epilogue, and was the Parade editor for the Linking Ring (1974-78). Over a 20-year period he also performed at various restaurants in the Cincinnati area.


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Paul was my friend, my mentor and a great guy. I was 12 or 13 when I started studying with him. My mom used to drop me off at Jeckles in Hyde Park (Cincinnati). I would watch him work the tables, hang out till he got off. He would then enjoy his complimentary meal (he liked the scallops a lot), a glass of wine and then would teach me some tricks. More important, he instilled a certain pride of being a student of the art. We did this almost every monday night for years. After the session he would then drop me off at my moms house. I was buzzing with youthful enthusiasm. More than anything, I loved his stories of Stuart Judah (and he had so many). Incidentally it was Paul's stories about Judah's cigar smoking that got me started all those many years ago. I must have been 15 or 16 when he felt that I was ready to handle the "Judah Notes". It was a cryptic compilation of many of the tricks he performed. It was John Braun (probably Stuart's closest friend) who typed up the manuscript using Judah's original 3 X 5 index cards that he kept hidden in a shoe box his under bed .

Paul was so generous with his knowledge and time. He took the time to teach it right. Instilling values and an appreciation for the written word, Paul was always lending me some book. He was the guy who turned me on to Marlo's Riffle Shuffle Systems.

Ahh those were the days.