Tony Slydini only selected one protégé: Bill Wisch.

 

Bill Wisch is a 52-year full-time professional sleight-of-hand artist, performer and innovator. He is the only student Slydini ever authorized to lecture his magic on his behalf. Bill is the inventor of over 30 original sleights, winner of multiple awards in magic and is proud of the fact that the majority of the magic he does is of his own creation.

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In 1973, Bill began studying with Tony Slydini in New York City. Slydini is considered by many magicians to be one of the two finest 20th-century performers, teachers, lecturers and creators of artistic sleight-of-hand magic; Dai Vernon is the other. Bill studied with Slydini for 7 years, taking more than 120 lessons during that time. In 1976, Slydini wrote a personal authorization letter to all magic societies and associations in North America, sponsoring Bill to represent him and take his place introducing, demonstrating and marketing his long awaited, two-volume, book sets, "THE BEST OF SLYDINI AND MORE", and "THE MAGICAL WORLD OF SLYDINI", both written by Karl Fulves. These two book sets are considered to be must-read standard classics in magical literature. Bill lectured Slydini's methods and techniques, as well as his own, to thousands of magicians in 74 cities across the US and Canada in 1976 and 1978.

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Over the years practically every magic periodical has featured at least one Bill Wisch article, effect or column.

In September 1984, at the personal request of Dai Vernon, Bill Larsen published a “Special issue” of Genii

Magazine, that, "due to unique content and innovative photographic explanations", became, according to the

publisher, "one of the most requested back-issues in the history of the magazine."

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BIll has since performed thousands of shows for parties, project graduations and corporations and lectured over 600 times all over the United States and Canada. He performs regularly in the New York/New Jersey Tri-State area.