The Slydini Tapes: A Full Account by Bill Wisch

Hi everyone, Bill Wisch here.

Today, September 1, 2022 would have been Slydini’s 122nd birthday. Slydini was none other than simply the greatest close-up magician of the 20th century. I miss him dearly.

This seems like the perfect day, in honor of Tony, to share with you my index of my audio recordings “The Slydini Tapes”. Approximately 38 hours of my personal lessons with Tony are meticulously archived and time stamped in the index that follows. It was during the Covid-19 lockdown that I had the time to catalogue and index them. I felt as if I was a new student again; reliving the memory of learning from Slydini for the first time. The index that follows includes timestamps with relevant overviews of what was covered; the parts highlighted in red are parts that I thought were extra insightful as I reviewed the footage.

These lessons cover the span of 3 years; 1973 through 1975. They catalogue my development as a student and in many instances document how Slydini taught me his routines from the very beginning. It is a treasure trove of priceless insight and history about almost every conceivable topic on Slydini's magic. It was directly after these lessons that Tony asked me to take his place on tour in 1976 and 1978 to introduce his books “The Best of Slydini and More” and “The Magical World of Slydini” both by Karl Fulves.

Over the years, I have reached out to several people looking for an opportunity to share them in some capacity with the magic community. Unfortunately, as of now, that opportunity has yet to come. At present, 7 minutes and 41 seconds of footage have been released to the magic community on my Youtube Channel. I have no idea what I will do with the remainder of the footage, if anything at all. I sincerely hope that a proper opportunity arises that will one day give me the chance to share at least a part of this incredible archive with you.

In the meantime, please know that these tapes are safeguarded and serve as a priceless resource and blessing to me of exclusive knowledge and insight into the titan of magic that was Tony Slydini. Long live Slydini’s magic, and happy birthday to my friend, mentor, and teacher- Slydini.

-Bill

Table of Contents
00:00-02:56 Bill Wisch introduces The Slydini Tapes
02:56-07:55 The Slydini Tapes Complete Index