Fred Roner
(Vienna, Austria: 9th March 1905 - New York, US: 14th December 1993)
Fred Roner, born Alfred Rosner in Vienna, was a professional card magician, who later performed a stage pickpocket act, and eventually became a painter. He was particularly known and lauded for his comedic style of card magic. His highlight as a stage pickpocket was to steal the watch of J. Edgar Hoover, the former director of the FBI. Most likely Roner got his start in pickpocketing from Walter Sealtiel, originally a Berlin card magician who gained success with one of the earliest stage pickpockets acts, who settled in The Netherlands, a country Roner spent a good amount of time in after his Jewish background did not afford him performance opportunities in Austria and Germany.
He was the inventor of the card-to-ballon effect which he created for his nightclub act, but Hamburg dealer Janos Bartl quickly sold an unlicensed version. Jerry Andrus included a move by Roner, called the Roner Change, in his Andrus Deals you In, which was later re-invented by Harry Lorayne.
(For more details on Roner see Richard Hatch's biographical article in You Too Are A Card Magician.)
