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John Pomeroy

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John Pomeroy
BornJohn David Pomeroy
April 11, 1938
near Seattle, Washington
DiedJuly 27, 2000 (age 62)

John Pomeroy (1938-2000) was a magician, inventor, craftsman and magic dealer.

Biography

Inspired after he received a small trick from his grandfather and after seeing a performance by Virgil & Julie, he spent in the late 1950s entertaining American troops overseas.

Pomeroy developed a bar act and after getting married to his first wife Donna, played club dates on the West Coast. He built all his own props and designed an act to work trade shows. For four years he promoted the "Magic of Oil Heat" throughout the state of Washington.

One of the first items he created and marketed to magicians was his "Gem Hand Flasher". Its successful sales inspired him to start up the business that would become known as the Gem Magic Manufacturing Company.

In the 1960s, Pomeroy took up bookbinding and restoration. He also began writing a script for a show entitled "White Chrysanthemum" recreating many of the illusions from the Chung Ling Soo show. He eventually abandoned the idea when unable to secure financial backing.

By the 1970s, he was creating more magical props under the banner "Gem Magic," producing custom items in his home workshop.

Following the publication of The Magic of Robert Harbin in 1970, Pomeroy worked with Robert Harbin on improvements for several of the items in the book. The were friends until Harbin's death in 1978.

Other creations of his include the "Gem Dictionary Test", a force book using the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the "Gem Hat Pin", a version of the "Needle Through Arm" which Harry Anderson acclaimed to to be the best version of the trick.

Following Doug Henning's huge success on Broadway in The Magic Show, Pomeroy began writing a magic musical play based on the story of Jack the Ripper called "Bloody Jack". It premiered the summer of 1980 at the Civic Auditorium in Everett, Washington, but never it was not a success.

The last years of his life were spent working on the book about C. Alexander with David Chavet.[1]

Publicity photos with Donna can be seen at the Conjuring Arts exhibit "The Many Faces of Magic."[2][3]

Books

References

  1. John Pomeroy:Renaissance Man by David Chavet, Magic, May, 2001
  2. http://conjuringarts.org/exhibitions/the-many-faces-of-magic/john-pomeroy-donna-fantasy-and-illusion/
  3. http://conjuringarts.org/exhibitions/the-many-faces-of-magic/john-pomeroy-donna/
  • Broken Wand, Linking Ring, October 2000