Former Long Beach Mystic, Bill Smith, has been a long time resident on Las Vegas and doesn't consider himself as a creator so much as he is a builder. He has seen a lot of magicians come and go. For ten years, he was a stage hand for Harry Blackstone, Jr. and traveled across the U.S. including his Broadway show. He also has some strong beliefs on building from original plans rather than building rip-offs.
As part of the Las Vegas Chronicles, one of the visits was to the illusion fabrication warehouse of Bill Smith's Magic Ventures where his crew was busy building props for upcoming shows. For more info on Magic Ventures, visit his website at: http://www.magicventures.com/
To hear our chat with Bill Smith, visit: https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwellsmagic/bill-smith
Bill Smith talks about his migration to "Sin City" as magic began to flourish. He talks about magic he has been involved with from Caesar's Magic Kingdom to the current big shows on the Strip. He also talks about working with Stan Allen in the magic shop in Los Angeles and his early attempts at building. Bill started out as a performer and gradually moved into building. He also chats about how he met Harry Blackstone, Jr. and how he starting working for him including a lot of behind-the-scene stories with Harry. Some of Bill's best memories are from his attendance at Abbott's Get Together.
We then have a good discussion about rip-offs of illusions, ethics, rights, YouTube, China, lack of creativity, and more. He now laments the lack of new, original illusions coming on the market today.
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