Sid Radner's notoriety continued to grow through the 1950s. He was appointed territorial representative to the International Brotherhood of Magicians in 1953. He authored a book, Magic for Fun, which contained over 100 magic tricks. It was initially distributed to two local stores before being rolled out more broadly.
Other books penned by Sid Radner included How to Play Poker and Win and Radner on Dice. He donated his time and skills to charitable endeavors for synagogues, churches, clubs, and health-related organizations.
Television was still in its infancy, and some emcees were major entertainment figures. Mr. Radner appeared on the Dave Garroway's Today Show, the Steve Allen program, and game shows such as Merv Griffin's Play Your Hunch and The Missing Link.
While traveling to his performances and guest appearances, he continued to operate the American Window Cleaning Company, later American Rug, businesses.
For a period in the late 1950s, the Holyoke Transcript published a popular page called the Transcope, which featured notable people or businesses in the community. In 1958, Sid Radner was featured. In the news article section below, you'll see cheat equipment used in card games, bingo, money stackers, and spinning wheels. Some of the items were loaned for lobby displays in local banks.
Sid Radner was at times asked to serve as an expert witness in trials involving high-stakes cheaters. One such case was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he was called upon by the Canadian prosecutor.
In 1962, a Canadian businessman was defrauded of $17,000 in a crooked dice scam. Sid Radner spent a full day on the stand explaining the intricacies of the illegal gamesmanship. Although the prosecution already had a strong case, Mr. Radner's testimony was front-page news in Vancouver and shared throughout Canada. As far as he knows, he may have been the first student of gambling to be allowed as an expert witness in the British Empire Courts, giving testimony in a court case. As part of his trip, he was asked and accepted an invitation to speak to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the subject of illegal games.
Sid Radner's legend continued to grow.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
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