The Genii Forum

From the February 2005 issue of GENII:

Jamy Ian Swiss flew in from New York just to surprise Johnny. Jamy is writing a book on the work of Johnny Thompson.

Johnny Thompson is one of the true masters of our craft and Jamy Ian Swiss is one of the best writers in magic. Without a doubt in my mind, I predict that the forthcoming book will be something wonderful.

I'm hoping that the book will, in addition to the magic, include a significant biographical component and an assortment of Johnny's recollections and experiences over the years.

From the September 2003 issue of MAGIC:

MAGIC: Are there any projects that you wish could have come together, but never make it to the production stage?

LOUIS FALANGA: There's one. The week of 9/11, Johnny Thompson was coming up to Tahoe with Lance Burton to shoot this material that no one has ever seen, stuff that he learned from Charlie Miller, Dai Vernon, and other greats. Lance was going to host the videos. I met with everyone at the 'MAGIC Live!' convention to confirm the schedule. Then boom! - 9/11 happened and the video never got shot. It's one of those moments that may never happen agaian. I still have hopes to shoot the material, but with everyone's schedule as hectic as it is, who knows?

Hopefully some of the material that Louis Falanga referred to in the MAGIC interview will be included in the forthcoming book.

I had the good fortune of meeting Johnny and Pam Thompson when they visited Australia several years ago. They're both wonderful people - warm, friendly, and very down-to-earth.

I thought Eugene Burger was writing this book?

Swiss is indeed writing the book and Thompson is self publishing.

I believed him, Richard. Just wondered what happened to Eugene. Maybe I was mistaken but I thought I read that in Genii a couple years ago.

Look forward to the book either way. Johnny Thompson is one of my very favorite performers.

Is there any news on this book?

It's supposed to come out next year. Last time I saw John and asked him about it, he said that everything was done except the anecdotal material.

Thank you very much for the update - I will be looking forward to this

Any updates on his book? Is it still scheduled for 2014? Who will be the publisher?

Thanks,
Robert

Self published in 2015 is my guess


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I spoke to John last night about the book at the Magic Inc convention wrap party and he told me they were almost finished. He didn't mention a timeline, but I didn't get the idea it was too far off. By the way, we are a week away from John's 80th birthday!

Any news on the release of the Johnny Thompson book?? Thanks, Robert


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They're still working on it.

Thanks, Richard! Does that mean we can still expect it to be released this year? Last year someone said "they're almost done" - whatever that means in publishing terms...

I really don't know. Last I heard was proofing was stilll going on, and photos had to be taken. Don't think layout has started yet (and it's going to be a very large book, so that will take time). I'd say it's a minimum of 6 months away.

Any news about this project to share?

Haven't seen John lately so I don't know.

Thanks Richard. But who could know?

This guy should know.

I saw him running around pre-show at the Penn & Teller on Bway opening, rushing to get some last minute things in order.