The Genii Forum

What a great article, but the picture of Jim Morrison doing a Super X is way too cool.

Magic is cool if the Lizard King did it. :)

I'm a huge Morrison fan and have read most of the books about him/The Doors. I don't recall the authors ever mentioning his interest in magic. So that picture and the brief anecdote really blew me away. Great stuff!

John, there are at least two of us that would love to hear more of your stories about the Lizard King.

Thanks for a great article.

Tom

Yreah, I'm curious too. Did Morison ever perform magic anywhere for anyone or was this just for a few photos and a casual interest?

I've read about everything written on Morrison and never saw any reference to an interest in magic. That being said he read everything he got his hands on and was interested in shamasism and as such likely looked at the aspects of that belief and magical applications. He was also interested in theater as an art form and illusion would fall into that.
Steve V

My understanding is that a commercial photographer named Robin Johnson took that picture as a part of a photo shoot for a magazine. The use of a Super X was just a lark and no more thought was given to it.

I've met the photographer who later became a painter and had painted an oil version of the photo she shot all those years ago. She told me the story at that time but I haven't seen the actual photo although she did show me the oil.

I just received a note from John Gaughan, and Dave Dorsetts recollection is essentially correct (and my interpretation of what John said was incorrect). John recalls that the Super-X used was already in Robin Johnsons studio. As already stated, the stack of boxes used at the Hollywood Bowl memorial was Johns, and he was approached by one of the band members.

Sorry for the confusion. (hey man, it was the 70s you know!)

That's still pretty cool. A member of The Doors was into magic.

The picture does add to the mistique of Jim Morrison. My guess is the orginal photo would go high at a Doors memoribila auction.

I know it's for a smaller group, but I would have liked to haven seen some tidbids on the way John builds illusions. Alot of what I have learned was from Tabby Crabb and now that he's sold Tabman Tables, he's just back to doing card magic. :) We don't get together as much as we used to, since he's moved to GA.

Rick:

Wasn't the conclusion from the above posts that there's no evidence that Morrison was into magic, that the illusion was around and they used it for a photo shoot?

Yes, but one of the other members of the Doors was into magic, not Jim, so that's what I thought was cool.

Originally posted by Rick Ruhl:
Yes, but one of the other members of the Doors was into magic, not Jim, so that's what I thought was cool.

Who was that....Ray? How'd you find out about it?

John Gaughn built a stack of boxes illusion for one of the band members (John cannot recall which one). He used it to make his appearance at a memorial held for Jim Morrison at the Hollywood Bowl.

Dustin

That sounds like something Ray would do, not the others.
Steve V

The picture does add to the mistique of Jim Morrison. My guess is the orginal photo would go high at a Doors memoribila auction.

Robin has said she isn't sure she has the legal rights to sell the photo as it was a part of a series paid for (presumably by a record company.)

I believe she said the "floatee" was Jim's wife, Pam Courson (sp?)but either of us could be mis-remembering! :rolleyes:

John says that it was made into a postcard as well, which meansperhapsthousands of them may have been printed. Has anyone bothered to check eBay?

And speaking of mis-remembering (which is happening more & more often :help: ), the photographer's name is Robin THOMAS- not Johnson.

My apologies to Robin for the mistake. I hope she doesn't hold it against me when she displays in my store this November.

I was in awe of Gaughan's decor-- I'm not usually into prop collections --either ancient or modern-- but even _I_ swooned at the photos of Guaghan's collection.

And imagine visiting a real place where modern illusions are built!

And the posters and the floating Kaufmann and automatons and oh what a craftsman Gaughan must be!

Thanks so much for the article, and for publishing the photos.

It was one of my all time favorite articles, by itself a reason to subscribe.

Matthew

I've had the great fortune of visiting John's workshop several times. It is a truly wonderful place for anyone interested in magic and mechanics. I was able to see the Android Clarinetist by van Oeckelen and Antonio Diavolo by Houdin. As a mechanical engineer, I was in awe of his ability to rebuild antique automatons with very little or no documentation about how they worked or even if all the parts were still intact. His grandfather clock, constructed entirely from wood (seen in the photo on page 42) is also an amazing piece of woodworking and mechancial art.

In addition to all of his talents, John is also one of the nicest person I've ever met. Thanks for a great feature story.