Original Publication Date: September, 1997
I am honored to present “Slydini – The Legacy” to the magic community . This first installment will be a short one, but I promise to give you a variety of remarkable and valuable effects, routines, insights, tips, ideas and approaches in the coming months that will enthrall you with some of the lesser-known genius of this remarkable artist. I was fortunate to be able to study with the master for quite some time and when I say it was intense, I mean it was INTENSE! It is exciting to share this information with you. Both beginners and seasoned pros will find "The Slydini Legacy" of great value. I will share items that were, for the most part, known only to me.
Fortunately, I am able to refer to literally hundreds of notes and many hours of audio tapes that Slydini was so gracious to allow me to acquire. At first, he didn't want any record of his lessons to be recorded and only allowed the taping of patter for various effects and routines. I cheated a bit and used to keep the recorder running so I could remember more later on. He found out about that and at first wasn't very happy, but he knew I was very enthusiastic and mentioned to me that it would be alright to tape future lessons in their entirety. Needless to say, I was very happy and appreciative about that. To my knowledge that was the beginning of Slydini’s allowance to tape sessions on audio tape for any student. Video tapes were never allowed. I asked him about it and he felt it would cheapen the quality and value of the personal attention his students experienced. Slydini had a very close relationship with students he felt were sincere and eager to really learn his magic. He gave up huge sums of money from video tapes just because of his respect and concern for his students…typical Slydini.
I will be covering many things in this series. Many times I have been approached to disclose this material in books or on tape but never felt it proper to do so. With the many disclosures of material by some past students, as well as the supposed "fictitious" disclosures by some Slydini "wanna-be's" (not to mention names), I felt the time would be right for this undertaking, and also feel that if Slydini knew, he would probably give me his blessing.
So, this begins what I hope will be a major source of information and enjoyment for you as a magician. I ask you to refrain from letting this material out. Slydini used to tell me, and his other students, to keep the information exclusive because others aren't of the same interest level and also the value is diminished when the secrets are given away. This is just common sense anyway, so enough about that.
Naturally any questions about The Slydini Legacy will be handled the same as other member services...e-mail...chats...etc. So don't be afraid to ask. Slydini was astonished at the number of questions I always asked him. He used to call me the "question man" (a title I accepted with pride), so the least I can do is be willing to answer any of your questions that I can.
I will attempt to make this series as comprehensive as I can so don't look for quick tricks and a collection of vague and incomplete items. As I said, this opportunity is a long time coming so I plan to take my time and go over everything the proper way.
I owe you, as serious students of the art of magic, the best I can do with regards to this undertaking. It is an honor and privilege to begin "The Slydini Legacy".
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