The Genii Forum

Is-there any reason why John Mendoza has never been on the cover of Genii Magazine?

Obviously the Chief Genii is in a far better position to address this question than I, if in fact, it is a question that has an answer. Furthermore, I presume that the predecessor publishers of Genii are not around or available to attempt to answer the question, once again, if it has one. This said, I am certain that there have been many illustrious talented magicians and creators in our art that have not been on the cover of Genii - just as there are a multitude of music luminaries who never made the cover of Rolling Stone.

John Mendoza is an exceptionally clever magician and magical thinker - although his performing style is not my cup of tea. I use his ingenious streamlined version of "Out of this World," which removes the laborious element of an otherwise phenomenal trick. (I learned it from one of the three "My Best" videos - can't remember which one). It is a real fooler and invariably gets a great reaction.

Very good effect indeed.

The other thing I like about John Mendoza is that he used to write really good reviews of effects both in the old Magic Manuscript and also at the green place. He also wrote great ebay ads for the stuff he sold.
He seems to be less visible in the magic community of late, which is a shame. I wish someone could talk him into doing a convention.

I haven't seen John in years, but for awhile he lived in St. Louis and at one time ran the Devoe Magic Den after Gene Devoe passed on.
John was an incredible technician with cards, coins, etc., but I think his best attribute was his mind. He had the knack for recognizing a good trick and working on it until it shined. He was a no-nonsense guy and very opinionated, but I always appreciated that about him.

John also was a mentor to Chris Kenner when Chris was in his teens. I think Chris would agree that John really helped him develop his own style and discernment. I own all of John's books and can attest to the fact that they are chock-full of good material, audience tested and finished, not pipe dreams.

John had the habit of surreptitiously placing a tape recorder under the table when he performed so that he could record the audiences reactions. He did that because in the moment many magicians think an effect kills when the opposite might be true and sometimes what you think is a throw-away actually garners stronger reactions. The tape gives you all the feedback you need. Nowadays you could record on your phone and even record the video of course.

I would love to see him featured.

Years ago he wrote both reviews and articles on general stuff in Bob Long’s magazine. Always interesting. I think he did some demming too in Bob’s shop. I had some brief correspondence with him back then. Snail mail, of course, this was deep in the last century.

All I recall in slightly more recent times is a major disagreement between him and Donald Wallace at Magic Books By Post.

One other thing John is known for is his willingness to discuss (with any purchaser) anything they might be having questions about from his publications. Obviously the contact information in the older works are null and void, but if you can find him on the web, I'm sure he is still happy to help. I know folks that have had snail mail correspondence with him as well. He was/is very sincere about that.

He buys and sells collectible magic now. Still has great write-ups of the effects.

He's on Facebook, listed as a magician.