THE INTERVIEW: MAGICIAN GLENN BISHOP! (PART 2 OF 3)

GB: Magic makes it’s big money when it is used with advertising. There are magicians that perform at trade shows. Magic is used to get attention to a trade show booth. Magic on television is used to get attention for commercial advertisements. Like any other kind of TV show. It is the advertising dollars that drive the show, entertainment business. That is, if you can call it the entertainment business today.

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MM: I'm with you on this. Totally. Believe me! It's certainly easy to understand what led you to the business. But I'm curious. What is it that keeps you in the business, Glenn?

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GB: What keeps me in the business is that I love what I do and the fact I can do what I love as a way to earn an income. Plus it helps people in a way. People need to be entertained. We live in a high stress, high energy, rush, rush world. Magicians and entertainers do provide a public service when they do a good show. They give people a break and a moment of wonder, laughter and fun - to me that is giving the gift of magic. And in a way it is sort of a public service.

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MM: Yeah, and a lot of those "Public Service" dollars have been dumped in favor of a total "bottom-line" approach, which is quite a shame in broadcasting. Can you tell us about your recent efforts to get a "Pilot" placed on television?

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GB: Well your partly to blame because in talking with you and through out e-mails I have just taken my old TV stuff out of Moth balls and off the shelf and started to contact some people in TV here in St. Louis and do the research to try to get something magical and positive on the air again.

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MM: Hoo-hah! I inspired that?

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GB: Yes!

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MM: I love it when others identify a reedeeming quality I possess, particularly for some of my uninformed in-laws. But please...continue!

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GB: Sure! Back quite a few years ago I did a cable TV series called “The Magical World of Glenn Bishop" for Channel 6 community network in Elk Grove Village IL. I had our friend Andy Martello on the show two or three times. And a lot of my Chicago magician friends. You inspired me to take these old ideas out of the Moth Balls and start to research ideas to get something going. I would love to produce another show like that only with a big budget and have Andy Martello on the show --- that would be very cool as Andy is one of the best entertainers out there trouping a show today!

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MM: Absolutely. I am an Andy Martello Fan.

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GB: And so am I...But also it would benefit the station to have a show that would be positive that the whole family could watch at the same time. The family audience programming is what is missing today in today’s television networks.

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MM: Yeah, it's very thin, Glenn. You make a good point. Assuming some young guy or girl is reading this interview who has been dreaming about following your path in show business as a Magician, what would you like to say to them?

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GB: Stay in school. Study and with luck - you won’t turn out like me!

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MM: Oh, come on now. You've had a great career so far!

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GB: I have. But if they are serious about being a magician my best advice is not to follow another person’s path. Make their own path. There is an old saying, people that follow the crowd get no further than the crowd. People that follow their own path most often have the better stories and the rewards can often be greater. Learn magic and the secrets and technique, but also learn other important things. Learn business and how to make a business plan. Learn computers, and learn about people and how to build positive relationships that can help THEM and YOU at the same time. Be "A Class Act" because people with class will want to work with a class act and the class people can and will help to open many doors in and out of show business.

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MM: And I consider you one of those Class Acts, Glenn. We touched on this a bit earlier. But what would you specifically like to see changed in the business and on television?

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GB: I would like to see the business people of television take into consideration the viewer. Today it seems that television doesn’t care about it’s viewing audience. In my opinion there is too much "Shock TV". To many hard images, too many hard edged stories both news and fiction on TV today. What I would like to see changed would be to balance the negative hard-edged shock television with some positive programming. Perhaps some TV producer could make a breakthrough with some shows that have a positive effect on the viewing audience.

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[PART 3: OUR FINAL DAY WITH GLENN BISHOP CONCLUDES TOMOROW!]