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Steve Spill's Blog5-1-10 Sort-of-famous in Santa MonicaAchieving my lifelong goal of building a theater and having my own show in it made me deliriously happy. More mature. Glowing with inner peace. Sort-of-famous. Since 1998 my theater, Magicopolis, and show, Escape Reality, had been becoming popular all over Santa Monica. 4-23-10 Name DroppingSix people I've always wanted to meet, did, and wasn't disappointed: Richard Branson, John Waters, Stephen King, Bob Dylan, Heidi Fleiss, Norman Lear. 4-2-10 A Cult FollowingWe are lucky that movie stars come to Magicopolis, but unlike the millions who see their films, our show, Escape Reality, has only a cult following. Escape Reality is only seen by a teeny-tiny fraction of the world's movie fans, and only a very small minority of the world's live theater goers. 3-20-10 Sammy Davis, Jr.In 1976 I was 21 and lived in Las Vegas for a few months while working in a short-lived revue show at the Sahara Hotel. Week after week I lost my earnings gambling. I learned my lesson and gave up the habit forever. For years thereafter, whenever working in a gaming venue, if possible, I'd avoid walking through the casino and enter and exit directly from the back of theater. 2-19-10 About TimeSometimes I go to Magicopolis very late at night or early in the morning to rehearse. I don't live by anybody else's clock. If I feel like doing something, I don't care what time it is. I just do it. Unless I absolutely have to be somewhere, time isn't a big factor for me. 1-27-10 A Computer ProblemMy wife Bozena's folks are in their 80's and live Poland. This past Christmas Bo bought her father his first computer and it all started with a lie. When she told him she was getting him a computer, he said "Those things cost too much, I don't want you spending all your money on a big gift." 11-05-09 No Glove, No LoveMy friend, the late Billy McComb is considered a legend in magic, and so is this story he enjoyed telling about one of the tricks he performed. The trick was called "Sands of the Desert" and part of the secret was that each performance of it required multiple condoms. Yes, condoms. 10-18-09 Show & TellSo after the show last night, I'm shaking hands, kissing babies, signing autographs, posing for photos... and a young Snoop Dog look-a-like that's also a magician... who attends my show rather frequently, came up and said to me, "Hey, I wanted to tell you that I'm doing your 'Show & Tell' story and jokes with your card routine, except that I'm using a different name for the guy in the story, and it's working great." 9-10-09 International FunWe had a group at the show from Korea. They didn't speak English. We didn't have a translator that spoke Korean but there was an English speaking audience member who spoke Japanese and a Japanese guy who spoke Japanese and Korean. To add some fun to the show I had a Korean assist me with a trick, my words to him were translated by one guy from English to Japanese, and the Japanese guy who also spoke Korean translated to my Korean helper, then his responses came back to me through Korean, Japanese, and finally English. 8-21-09 Only in LAI was a dinner guest at the home of a wealthy guy I'll call Mr. X. He could not have been more charming and gracious to me. Nowhere in his demeanor nor behavior did I feel that I was talking to a multi-millionaire executive. His affluence comes from owning a law firm, his dream is to make movies. He stuck out his hand and said: 7-16-09 False AlarmI close our evening shows with a Houdini-type-escape, I'm hand-cuffed and chained to a metal table. It appears dangerous when a burning rope snaps before I can escape, releasing a ton of long sharp steel spikes that drop on me. Huge build up, emphasis on the impossibility of it all, dramatic lighting and exciting music. 6-25-09 New YorkAn esteemed Broadway producer phoned me at home and said to me what no magician expects to hear except from a friend who is playing a cruel joke. 6-11-09 It's Against My Religion...A guy had his head in his lap for the entire show. Even though I always improvise, I didn't question it, because the girl with the guy seemed to be emoting a "what's wrong with you baby?" sort of sympathy, which made me think the guy was probably ill. Maybe he ate some bad clams, who knows? 5-29-09 Real MagicA young heavy metal singer, who I didn't recognize, came up to me after the
show and asked if I could teach him magic to enhance his concerts. "I'd
like to do that floating girl thing, like you did, and a bunch of other
stuff." 5-10-09 Favorite TrickDuring a typical post- show conversation I was asked if I have a favorite
trick. Before I could answer the pretty girl's question, there was a power
outage, and all the lights when out. The whole block was affected. Joking
around, I raised my hands and said, "Let there be light," and the power
chose that exact moment to come back on. I dropped my hands, and the
lights went out again. The girl said "Stop it! You're scaring me!" It'll
be tough to top that one. 4-22-09 The NewsEngaged to perform at a retirement party for a local TV news anchor, I found
myself on a small platform in a banquet room at the Viceroy Hotel.
Beforehand, I was instructed to pick a certain young woman to come up and
help me with a trick. Whenever I looked away from her the audience would
roar with laughter. I'd think, "It can't be me!" I hadn't said anything
funny yet. Then I found out she had been flashing the crowd behind my back. 4-7-09 Two Things That Annoy Me When I'm On StageOne: Late arrivals. I hate to see people streaming into the theater 20 or
30 minutes after the show has begun. Everyone has the same excuse, traffic.
Hey it's Santa Monica, plan accordingly. And then add an extra 15 minutes.
And 15 more to park. 3-16-09 Sign LanguageAt the matinee yesterday we had a Japanese tour group with a translator. The show started kinda slow as I waited for my opening remarks to be translated. Then I remembered an old trick I'd used years ago in France. I talked to the audience and the translator translated what I said. "I know you don't speak English, but you don't have to miss out on any of the fun, because I will signal you." 3-05-09 Mother's DayLast year, on Mother's Day, before the show we had a champagne toast for the moms. I told a little anecdote about how my Mom was adamant about Mother's Day gifts. She said she'd refuse them and did. She wanted me to save up the gifts for when she really craved something. I sent her flowers. She was angry. I stopped sending flowers, gifts, and cards. 2-25-09 Free ShowsAs a teen and young adult, I practiced and polished my act at non-pay showcases and hootenanny nights all over Los Angeles. Clubs ran these shows on off nights and people could see me, along with folk singers, angry poets, and comics at the Troubador… The Show Biz, owned by Murray, a guy who became famous for his appearances as the Unknown Comic on TV's The Gong Show… The Palamino, a cowboy hangout… and many other locations that would provide me with an audience. 2-11-09 Ted the MindreaderAround 1970 a fellow teenage magician, Gary Raff, invited me to see a mindreader perform in a Hollywood church basement. Gary and I had our names on the guest list. I waited for Gary outside the church, until the very last moment. When he didn't appear I went to the show alone. I've lost touch with Gary, don't remember why he didn't show up that day, and don't remember the mindreader's name, but I'm calling him Ted, because that may have been his name. 2-05-09 Leave Me AloneA couple decades ago, the Sundance Cruise Line asked if I wanted to work on a ship called the Stardancer. It was twelve one week trips sailing the Mexican Riviera. Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas... Sounded good to me, so they signed me up. 1-25-09 Orson WellesBy sixteen, I put off college permanently. I could not conceive of where the satisfaction lay in any of the so-called professions. Obviously jobs that, as they say, help people, like medicine, have an intrinsic satisfaction, but a little voice inside me said they were not for me. It was lucky that someone invented magic because I loved it, and I didn't fit in anywhere else. 1-12-09 ReunionIn 1982, at the Magic Castle, I met an actor named Joseph Bologna. He said “you have a terrific act, I predict that you’re going to have a big career… and what I’d like to propose to you is…” 1-04-09 Post Matinee SurpriseAbout a half hour before today’s matinee here at Magicopolis, a dull pain developed in my chest and persisted in making itself felt with every breath I took. The pain was dull and tolerable enough for me to do the show, and I was determined to go on, pain or no. 12-15-08 ManiacLast Friday night, during our final bow, a little old man ran toward the stage waving his hands and shouting angrily at the audience to stop applauding. I was ready to jump off the stage and subdue the maniac, when I realized that the little old man was veteran comic Shelley Berman, but he looks like any little old man. 12-8-08 More AsiansMore than once I’ve been the token comedy magician in a big magical revue show. That’s because the headliners are illusionists, and for the most part illusionists are silent performers who use music and choreography as their main form of presentation. Producers like to have a comedy act for variety, and to fill some time in front of the curtain while the big stuff is being set behind it. 12-1-08 CoincidenceMy friend Bob just finished a book about a terrific magician I loaned him, “Trouping with Dante” by Marion Trikosko, and phoned to let me know he enjoyed it. He asked if I could tell him a little about the words , Sim Sala Bim, the title of Dante’s show. Bob asked what the words mean, wanted to know their origin, and so on. I said that I thought they were made up by Dante but was not sure. 11-18-09 Car AccidentI spent a couple years touring in a casino revue called “Spellbound,” my blog entry “Out of Africa” has other memories from the show. Our souvenir program said “…brought to you in part by your local Nissan dealer.” Since Nissan paid for the printing of the programs and provided complimentary cars for us to drive they got a big plug in the middle of the show. 11-05-08 Magic ShopWhen I was ten I discovered Joe Berg’s, a magic shop that was operated only for the initiated, where hidden treasure could be found. Berg’s, located in an upstairs office in Hollywood, had a neat showroom with glass cases, and a back room with parts of hundreds of tricks and instructions on bookshelves, covering the floor, stuffed in boxes, stacked on tables, spilling from suitcases, and steamer trunks. When Joe got to know me, he let me sift through the mess. 10-25-08 CannesLarry Wilson is a successful and funny stage performer who has just landed a super cool assignment that requires him to do close-up sleight-of-hand with cards. Magicians perform under a variety of circumstances, this one is a new area for Larry. I’m giving Larry a crash course on how to do close-up sleight-of-hand with cards. 10-4-08 Hot LegsThis past Saturday night a woman at the bar said, “I brought my girlfriends to see your magic.” I asked if she’d seen the show before, she said, “Don’t you remember me?” I’m sorry, I said, did we meet before? “Well not formally, but we did share a few moments together.” I looked her over, pausing to stare at her lovely legs, which were daintily crossed at the ankles. “Of course I remember you, I’d never forget legs like yours.” It was a lame joke, but the girls giggled, and that was that. 9-28-08 Audience ReactionLast night a woman came up to me at a restaurant, introduced herself, and told me about having a matinee ticket for Escape Reality. For fear of being late, she had rushed to Magicopolis from her dance class without changing out of her leotards. She told me that our “Runaway Bride” bit made her laugh so hard that what she feared might happen did happen. “I peed in my leotards,” she admitted, “and couldn’t stop. I sat through the whole show with water squishing in my Capezios.” 9-10-08 Out of AfricaI was in South Africa for six months appearing in Spellbound, an American magic revue show with twenty showgirls, two illusionists, a leopard, a black panther, two 600 pound Bengal tigers, and a small 30 pound baby tiger. I was the token comedy magician, the only act that talked. The year was 1987. The venue was a casino called The Wild Coast… not unlike an American casino located on an Indian Reservation, Sun International’s newest resort was located in the Transky, a vast Tribal Homeland… there was jungle for miles on the three sides that weren’t Indian Ocean, no city and no airport. Gamblers and vacationers from around the world flew to a big city, like Durban, or Johannesburg, and were bused or taken by limo to The Wild Coast. 8-21-08 BuskingI spent spring 1976 on a coast to coast busking tour Home > Steve Spill > Blog |
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