Soon after, Martin landed a more exciting role at Merlin’s Magic Shop in Fantasyland, where his love for magic truly found a home. Performing sleight-of-hand tricks for guests helped him hone both his magical skills and comedic timing. Daily interaction with visitors allowed him to develop the showmanship and sense of humor that would later become essential to his entertainment career.

Martin also expanded his talents by learning to juggle and make balloon animals, refining his abilities as a performer. Disneyland provided him with a constant audience to practice in front of, shaping the entertainer he would become. He credited his time there as critical to developing the performance skills and comic timing that defined his career.

He learned juggling from Disneyland’s court jester, Christopher Fair, and was heavily influenced by Wally Boag, the headliner at the Golden Horseshoe. “Wally was the first live performer I ever saw. His style—fresh, sassy, and very clean—had a huge influence on my own comic timing,” Martin said.

Steve also worked with a woman from the South whose favorite saying was “Well, excuse me for living.” Martin later shortened it to the famous, “Well, excuuuuuuse me!” which became a cultural catchphrase.

For Steve Martin, Disneyland wasn’t just a job—it was where his journey as an entertainer truly began.

In 1968, a New York City bar and restaurant on 86th St called Barney Google’s became briefly famous — and notorious — for serving customers in a way that was literally “eye-catching.”

Instead of handing out printed menus, the waitresses at Barney Google’s had the day’s offerings written directly on their bodies in black marker, usually while wearing only bikinis or underwear. This “human menu” gimmick listed food and drink prices right across the torso, so customers had to read the waitresses themselves to decide what to order.

Fun anecdote from Dennis Dunaway (the original Alice Cooper bassist): “Glen Buxton (original Alice Cooper guitarist) and him (Jim Morrison) used to go out drinking a lot. As a matter of fact, they stayed up all night drinking at a Mexican restaurant. Then Jim Morrison flipped out because he remembered he had a photo shoot for the album cover Waiting for the Sun. They had set up a shoot so they could have the sun coming up behind the band. He freaked out because he didn’t have anything to wear, so Glen took his black sweater off and gave it to him and that’s what he’s wearing in that picture.”

Hitchcock entered the film industry in 1920 at age 20, starting as a title card designer for the London branch of the American company Famous Players–Lasky. He quickly became fascinated with all stages of production and worked in multiple departments — including art direction, editing, and assistant directing — gaining an unusually broad knowledge of filmmaking for someone so young. His artistic training (he had studied at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation) helped him excel in visual storytelling, even in silent films.

When Famous Players–Lasky closed its London branch in 1922, Hitchcock joined Gainsborough Pictures. By 1923, he was working as an assistant director and screenwriter for Graham Cutts, learning about pacing, set design, and how to manage a film crew. He made his directorial debut in 1925 with The Pleasure Garden, shot partly in Germany — where he absorbed lessons from German Expressionist cinema, such as dramatic lighting and psychological set design.

By the end of the 1920s, Hitchcock had gone from designing silent-film title cards to being recognized as one of Britain’s most innovative young directors, already showing the visual precision and psychological tension that would make him famous.