[2][3] Vernon's sleight of hand technique and knowledge, particularly with card tricks and close-up magic, garnered him respect among fellow magicians, and he was a mentor to them.

From 1963, he worked at and lived out his last decades at the Magic Castle, an exclusive specialty nightclub in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Vernon studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, but by World War I he had moved to New York City.

As a young man, Vernon moved to New York City where, in the back room of Clyde Powers's magic shop, he found favor among other magicians of the era, including Dr. James William Elliott, Nate Leipzig, and Harry Kellar.

Americans continually mistook Verner's last name to be the same as the popular ice skater, and eventually, the magician became fed up with correcting people and simply adopted "Vernon" as well.

Harry Houdini (who in his early years billed himself as "The King of Kards") often boasted that if he saw a card trick performed three times in a row he would be able to figure it out.

[5][6] Though respected by professional magicians nationwide due in part to publicity via the magazine The Sphinx, Vernon was essentially a gifted amateur until his 40s.

He occasionally performed magic at nightclubs or on cruise ships to South America and back, and also toured the Philippines as an entertainer during World War II with the United Service Organizations (USO).

He was famously under-credited for much of the work published in Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue's Expert Card Technique,[7] though a later edition included an extra chapter that acknowledges Vernon's contributions.

There, he mentored magicians including Ricky Jay, Persi Diaconis, Doug Henning, Larry Jennings, Bruce Cervon, Michael Ammar, John Carney and Richard Turner.