THE INTERVIEW: MAGICIAN GLENN BISHOP! (PART 1 OF 3)

Glenn Bishop in performance

on the stage of the "Not For Kids Only" show at "A Taste of Chicago".

Glenn is performing an opening trick called "The Hydrostatic Glass".

Glenn's Mother and Father
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I first discovered Glenn Bishop some months ago when Comedian Extraordinaire Andy Martello was my Guest here on "THE INTERVIEW". Glenn noticed Andy's appearance and quickly mentioned that Andy was a "Class Act" and one of the finest professionals he had ever had the pleasure of working with. This was no "mutual admiration club". Each of these men have paid their dues in a business that is as brutal as it is unforgiving and competitive. I sincerely appreciate it anytime anyone honors me by leaving a comment on my Blog. Many people overlook this as a "given". I don't. And even in my "Part-Time" status (begun here on September 15th), I still make it a point to answer each and every blogger who has commented and follow it up with a personal visit to their site. Out of this habit of mine, I wound up visiting Glenn and noticed something that bothered me (and I don't believe I'm embarrassing Glenn when I say this). I noticed many of his Blogs were nicely written and very interesting...a departure from the norm. But in the Comments section I saw too many "0's". What was happening was obvious. With hundreds of thousands of new Bloggers on the scene every day worldwide, we are seeing single and double-digit Comments. Before my own Blog was built, I am told by Denny Shane that it was not uncommon to have 130 visitors posting! That was a mind-blower to me. "THE INTERVIEW" is but one feature of my Website: www.michaelmanning.tv and I enjoy it because of my love of people! Here was a guy who was overlooked and so I began Blogging with Glenn. We had a meeting of the minds on my work as a broadcast journalist and just how difficult it is to pitch a show when Agents or Entertainment Attorneys are seemingly nowhere to be found. I'm reminded of an interview with Penelope Cruz. She told her story of telephoning the William Morris Agency in Los Angeles. She was seeking representation. They hung up the telephone on her! This is what the world has become, unfortunately. So into this world comes Magician Glenn Bishop--a respite from dark images of war, violence, hatred, and the abusive people we're all fed up with! On that note here is our visit. I hope you'll enjoy it!

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MM: First off Glenn, I consider your Blogsite to be a "gem" that is unfortunately undiscovered (UNTIL NOW!). Perhaps this interview will lead other Bloggers to "discover" a cool new site to explore with a fresh topics on life and living. What is "Bish the Magish" all about? Describe what you do for those who might be introduced to you for the very first time here?

GB: Thanks Michael, let me start off by saying it is an honor to be interviewed by you and it is an honor to call you my friend. True friendships are rare in show business today. It is sad that a lot of show business is too much business and too much cut throat in many of the show business practices of today's show business.

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MM: Thanks, Glenn. LIkewise!

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GB: I will try to keep the answer down to about a million words. For those of you that never met me or my Dad we are a lot like the old time showmen. It is often said that when old time show people talk - Why answer in just 5 words when 15 or 20 words will do? Showmen have a way of saying things larger than life. It is one of the tricks of the trade that is used in advertising and promotion today. Glenn Bishop has many sides and interests. First of all I am a magician and many people in show business say that I am a lot like my Dad. I take that as the highest complement because to me my dad was tops. And the best in the business as an entertainer. The thing I like about magic is that I love entertaining people with magic. I like the reaction when they say "Wow!" or that "Ohhhh!" of the surprise and the magic effect that they experienced when they see me perform a magic trick.

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MM: The reward, the payoff. Fulfillment, yes?

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GB: That is why I do it! Because I like the reaction of the trick that the audience gets. This is also true when doing a stage show or a comedy hypnosis show. The feeling and energy that you get when the audience is loving the show. They like the show and me and I know when I am up on that stage that they like me and are into it. That is what I like about magic, stage hypnotism and show business. But on the other hand as much as I LOVE performing I do not like the business side of show business. Because it is work and I am competing not just with other acts but often all of show business. And most of the time I do not have the budget to get the job done in the right way.

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MM: Frustration.

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GB: Exactly, Michael. I find the business side that I must do to entertain the audience often at time very frustrating. So to get to the part I LOVE doing and that is entertaining an audience I go through the frustrations of getting to that audience by putting up with, and trying to do the business within the budget and time I have to get the job done. Besides magic, I also have a family and I have the best wife in the world that puts up with the grind of shows and the odd hours I have to deal with. Plus I have three kids and I am a very active Father and take a very strong view of being a Dad and being there for my kids as much as possible.

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MM: From our recent telephone conversation, and through e-mailing with you, I must say. I really don't know of another Blogger with such strong ties to show business. Can you tell us a bit about growing up in the business with your Mother and Father?

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GB: Well, it was strange and different than the way other kids grew up because my Dad and Mom were on TV a lot while I was growing up. I wasn't born when my Dad did the "Toast of the Town" for Ed Sullivan. The show was later called "The Ed Sullivan Show!"

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MM: My God! We learned about that show in High School Media Class! What time frame are we talking about here?

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GB: I was born in 1956 just four days before my Dads "Billy Bounce and WITI" TV Show (The show ran at 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and featured cartoons on film, including "Little LuLu", George Pal's "Puppetoons", and "Noveltoons", all in color). WITI-TV ran the show from May 21, through December 24, 1956 when it was cancelled. That was five days before Christmas and my Mom worked very hard to get back into shape to do the act again. You have to remember this was live TV and when it ended, it ended.

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MM: How unfortunate. That's a sore point with me about the biz.

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GB: Yeah, and for good reason. I remember we talked about our collective experiences. I can imagine my Dad telling my Mom this news and working very hard to book a magic act in the worst month to book a magic act. Because the next month was January.

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MM: And your Dad was later on The Mike Douglas Show, wasn't he?

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GB: Yes! Years later I did watch my Dad on the Mike Douglas Show several times. In fact every time my Dad and Mom performed on the "The Mike Douglas Show" because it was an afternoon show, we told our grade school principal and they had an assembly and most of the school watched it with us. My family was the talk of the school in those days. And my Dad and Mom also did the Bozo TV Show for WGN many times. I think it was twice a year every year for almost the run of the show. The show lasted about 50 years and my Dad was mentioned with a lot of the other acts on the 50 year anniversary show. So in short, growing up in our house was exciting. There was always that energy of the time before the show. The importance of "getting there to be ready to do the act at the agreed upon time".

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MM: Those are deep roots, Glenn!

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GB: What was strange in my kid years was the fact that my Dad took steps to get talked about in the newspapers and to book television shows. And growing up around all that was a very different experience than the way most other kids grew up.

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MM: Yeah, I'm getting that. Quite interesting! And your Dad handled his own marketing and promotion. That's incredible. You're still a young guy, but what's interesting to me is your perspective on the work ethic and standards of professionalism. And I suppose that my readers would enjoy hearing your perpective about what aspects have changed in show business from your Dad's day to the present?

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GB: The show and the fact that people will be entertained by a Magic Show has changed. People will always be entertained by a good magician. That has not changed at all. What has changed is the way that big business will buy magic and entertainment. In my Dads day there were more entertainment venues to do a magic show like Vaudeville and night clubs that had floor shows. Back then there were night clubs and supper clubs where a man and a woman would go out for an evenings entertainment. The man would put on a tux and the woman would dress in a gown or a cocktail dress. They would go to a night club or a supper club and dine on prime rib and see a floor show. Now almost all of those venues are gone. Today, the night clubs are a lot like in the movie "Studio 54". Loud music, young people drinking and dancing and other things and it is a totally different kind of a world. I have done a lot of close-up magic in many loud dark dance bars and night clubs when I was in Chicago and in other places in the U.S.A.. It is not easy and hardly show business the way my Dad was booked back in his day.

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MM: No, it doesn't sound like it. What a different world!

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[PART 2 OF 3 CONTINUES TOMORROW!]