6/15/02

“The Great Thompsoni” Lives up to his name.

The Johnny Thompson lecture exceeded all of my high expectations. I knew this was going to be one not to miss. I had met this living legend in 1987 when I was living in Los Angeles. He was working the Palace of Mystery at the Magic Castle. After his show I had the fortunate opportunity to chat for a while with him. Now 15 years later we had the opportunity to revisit that moment where we spoke of Larry Pringle, Harry Riser and and an era bygone. The Chicago era.
His lecture was as much a history lesson as it was an opportunity to learn tricks. He opened with “Balls in Net” serious modifications were made to the routine when V ernon showed it to Marlo. Variations on the steal. The bevel roll up, Marlo’s modification to Vernon’s pop up move advanced the handling of the routine. He shared with us the idea of wiggling the thumbs overtly to help the motion created to hide the repositioning of the ball. We learned that before it was called a shuttle pass it was simply a palm transfer. The tone of the evening was set early, and my mind was open to the information that was gladly welcome. I had never put those two monumental figures in magic in the same room in my mind. But there it was, a story about Vernon & Marlo jamming out, as they must have many times. Told by a man who knew them both. . . very well.
Some of the other routines that sandwiched the deep texture and color of his stories were as follows: Coins through table (With a Kangaroo Coins theme), Nice Copper/Silver transposition in a spectators hand, Glass vanish at end of routine under newspaper with a subtlety that fooled EVERYONE in the room. A little thing we all missed in T.Nelson Downs “The art of Magic”. It was HOT. His humor and wit were showcased as he had some fun with a guy who was having trouble seeing. This became a running gag, after a technical sleight; he would oblige the guy with an up close and personal demonstration. He performed and taught Coin in the Bottle, The Prowling Joker which employed a wicked touch on the Hindu Shuffle Force as well as demonstrated as a table shuffle force. This was good stuff. Also learned the the double undercut originated as a tabled cut right out of the text of Expert at the Card Table!! How could I have missed that!!?? Where was I the day they taught that!! More fun and amusement with a Coin Date Prediction. The Biddle Trick , Vernon Impersonation routine which had me flashing back to my days at the castle hanging out with the Professor. He finished up with a classic handling of the egg bag. The lecture was well attended and everyone had a great time.
The gang all went to Max & Erma’s and I went to a late night magic jam session with Johnny Thompson, Ken Klosterman & Steve Faris. We met in the Salon de Magie and surrounded by magic and history we made some of our own. The session ended around quarter to five in the morning. I left out of respect. Pam had asked me not to keep him up too late as they had a 3:00PM lecture in Columbus the following day. To find out what the hell we did till 4:45AM keep tuned for Part 2