on the shoulders of giants
Johnny Thompson passed away on earlier this month on March 9th.
I first got started in magic around the time the first David Blaine special aired. The online magic community was still in its relative infancy then – information was not as readily available, and if you wanted to learn magic, really learn the ins and outs of the craft, you had to visit a brick and mortar magic shop.
I was fortunate enough to be in Toronto when I started with its immense talent and history. The local amateurs and professionals alike would gather regularly to discuss secrets and ideas learned only through careful study of some obscure Marlo manuscript or the likes. My first visit to a magic shop landed me The Royal Road to Card Magic, from there on I graduated to LePaul, Buckley, Erdnase, and finally - Vernon. This was the days before online downloads and youtube tutorials. If you wanted to be good, you studied the old books, you met and learned from more seasoned veterans. Information was scarce – and you had to earn it. I still remember emailing Paul Chosse to clarify Racherbaumer’s confusing description of the Miller Cascade, or hunting down Laurie Ireland’s manuscript to find out what the “most diabolically clever” effect Darwin Ortiz wrote about in the Annotated Erdnase is.
It was in this backdrop where I first met Johnny Thompson. I was attending one of his lectures in Toronto as a bright-eyed teenager meeting one of the greats. After the lecture, a few of us bombarded him with questions about the material, Vernon, Erdnase, stories of the Harmonicats, and so on. We left late that evening with our bottom deals a little more refined, our palms a little more invisible, and our minds drunk with new knowledge of some ‘unpublished’ work. The next time he was in town, more of the same ensued. And every time after that. Johnny was always gracious with his knowledge – he didn’t mind that we were a bunch of youngsters who didn’t know any better, he was content to just sit back and teach, watch or simply hang out.
Johnny Thompson was, and still is probably my biggest influence in magic. I could talk about how refined his technique is, or how more than anything, he was one of the last greats who was still a true generalist, but that’s been commented on by far more knowledgeable people than me. In my mind, he will always be remembered for his generosity and kindness of spirit, and now that he has passed, I’m finding out more and more that these experiences weren’t unique to me – it was simply who he was, and everywhere he went, he opened the door for others to shine.
