Greetings family, friends, and neighbors! I hope that you enjoy today's little Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm snippet, and have a pleasant Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend.......Bill 

Character Snippets 

A WILD AND CRAZY GUY 

The Martin family lived in Garden Grove, California just a few miles from Disneyland and eleven year old Steve’s first job was at the newly opened park selling guidebooks to arriving guests. For three 

years beginning in 1955 young Steve would ride his bike to Disneyland on weekends, and daily during school breaks, to mingle with the crowds, hawk the souvenir booklets and hang out with his buddies in the Main Street Magic Shop. With his showmanship personality and after mastering an array of magic 

tricks and illusions Steve landed a job in 1960 at Merlin’s Magic Shop in Fantasyland’s castle courtyard where he developed his engaging comical talents for magic, juggling and creating wacky 

balloon animals. 

Steve took classes in drama and English poetry at Santa Ana College and joined a comedy troupe that performed melodramas at Knott’s Berry Farm when he was eighteen years old earning $2.00 a show for twenty five shows a week. He took the opportunity to fine tune his craft of acting and comedic skills in front of live audiences seated on folding chairs under a tarpaulin roof in Walter Knott’s partially completed replica of the historic Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona. After completing his education at UCLA with a major in Theatre, Steve Martin began an Emmy Award winning career as a writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. He went on in the 1970’s appearing on talk shows, performing “stand up” on The 

Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and hosting Saturday Night Live. He continues to remain active with national comedy tours with fellow comedian Martin Short, creating award winning Netflix 

and Hulu comedy series, and making guest appearances on SNL. 

Merlin’s Magic Shop is long gone from Fantasyland, however eager young cast members still sell rubber chickens, perform magic tricks and create wacky balloon animals at the Magic Shop 

on Main Street, and comedy troupes still present seasonal performances to new generations of park visitors in the Bird Cage Theater…. where a wild and crazy guy got his start. 

-Bill 11/24