![]() ![]() Taylor teamed up with his brother, Bud Taylor, and businessman James Hume, and together they created Merlin’s Magic Shop.ĭisney Legend Steve Martin returns to his roots at the Main Street Magic Shop in Disneyland. It’s said that Walt Disney himself approached Merv Taylor in 1955 and asked him to be part of Disneyland. Taylor worked in cutting edge materials such as stainless steel and acrylic Plexiglas (he’s said to be the first to apply these materials to such a craft), and in 1948 he added a retail magic store to his Merv Taylor Magic Company manufacturing shop in North Hollywood. “Taylor is a former Los Angeles schoolteacher who became interested in magic and left his school work to build the largest magic manufacturing plant in the world,” a contemporary news article said. Taylor combined a new passion for stage illusion and his manufacturing expertise to pioneer the making of high-quality stage magician’s props. “Taylor” was Merv Taylor, who had taught art, mechanical drawing, electric shop, and metal craft but in 1940 a magician performing at his school took a broken prop to Merv to fix, which sparked his interest in magic. Not on Main Street, USA, but in Fantasyland, Merlin’s Magic Shop premiered adjacent to Sleeping Beauty Castle on July 17, 1955, under license to a firm called Taylor & Hume. On the opening day of Disneyland, a magic shop opened-but it’s probably not the one that you might think of. In the lexicon of Disney, there is probably no word more often paired with “Disney” than “Magic”-from the earliest short cartoons through the animated features, all the way to the name of a luxurious Disney Cruise Liner, “Disney” has long been associated with conjuring, spells, and enchantments.Īround the world, Disney Parks are in the magic business daily, and within many of those enchanting locales, guests can find special shops and boutiques dedicated to sleight of hand, trickery, and illusion. ![]()
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