"Some people clap,. Some people throw money. Some people just say...WOW!" - Scott Hollingsworth.

Over the 25 years that Houston's Magic Island was open, Scott Hollingsworth served as the House Magician. He was also the Entertainment Director. As such, he booked and coordinated the talent that came through the Island that included the well known and celebrated to the lesser known and forgettable (the latter didn't usually last for the duration of their contracts). During that time, Scotto (as he is known to his friends), provided invaluable advice and stage direction to many of the acts who would listen. Today Scotto offers coaching through his website at: http://www.magicianscoach.com/index.php It is well worth the visit.

But prior to that, Scotto was one of the country's early restaurant magicians and one of the first, if not THE first, to publish a set of lecture notes exclusively for the restaurant magician on the "business" of working restaurants. The year was 1974 and the notes, called "Cashing In With Close Up - Restaurant Magic", included how to move from being a Salesman Entertainer (planning and proper attitude) to the Host Entertainer, to being the Entertainer.

The notes have long been out of print and some of the advice is antiquated, (for example the marketing materials that predated the internet and desktop publishing), but the bulk of the basics are still as solid gold as they were nearly 40 years ago. He has now reprinted and completely updated those notes and added supplemental material that makes this a "must have" for the working and the aspiring restaurant magician.

During a series of recent meetings of our Houston Association of Magicians, Scotto was asked to give us a series of three mini-lectures consisting of about 30 minutes each. The podcast this week features his third and final excerpt from this series. He talks about the secrets of "show business", the importance of networking in getting work at restaurants, how to do it, how to interact with patrons at the restaurant, being prepared for the unexpected, and much more. He also performed a few of his signature effects like his Bermuda Triangle (video below recorded earlier before a live audience) and Ring on String. It is great to hear his professional patter that has been honed to perfection over decades of constant repetition.

A lot of insightful material is packed into this short mini-lecture. As a bonus to this week's podcast, I have a link to three PDF's compliments of Scott Hollingsworth. The first is: Advantages of Having a Restaurant Magician. He refers to this document during this mini-lecture. Click Here to view the document. Secondly is a nice card trick for the birthday person, regardless of age, called Special Moments. Click Here to view that PDF. And finally, he demonstrated a coin trick called Brown and Silver. Click Here to view the instructions for this effect.

If you would like to book Scott Hollingsworth to lecture for your group, then please contact him directly at: Scott@ScottHollingsworth.com If you would like to thank him for giving us this sneak peek at his lecture, then I'm sure he would enjoy hearing from you.

To show your appreciation for Scott's generosity of providing this mini-lecture and two free tricks, please visit his website where you can purchase a set of his lecture notes and more. Please Click Here to visit his online store.

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