Geoff was exposed to technology early on.
Geoff’s Dad was an electronics college professor. This is a newspaper photo of him teaching in the classroom. The robot was built by Geoff’s grandfather, who had a fix-it shop, and the internal electronics were added by Geoff’s Dad. The robot was a good student but quite the kiss-up.
From the same newspaper article, this was Geoff’s Dad’s electronics lab.
His Dad wrote books on computer technology and electronics. These are some of the titles. Geoff learned to solder before he could ride a bike. Interestingly, both Geoff and I were playing with hydrochloric acid in elementary school (he used it to etch circuit boards).
His Dad got in the latest computers, which were primitive by today’s standards. This was the first one Geoff played with seriously. It had 4k of memory!
This is the computer Geoff taught himself to program on. It had a whopping 32k of memory. Yes, that is a cassette tape recorder on the left, and you saved your programs and data onto a regular Compact Audio Cassette, the same kind you played music on.
Doc Monte doing his mentalism act. He was a fake psychic and a con man who was Geoff’s mentor.
Geoff with Doc Monte in the background.
This is the newspaper picture for a magic show that annoyed his fellow magicians. It was the largest in the article. He is using a trick called Wonderope, a commercial effect that was completely unusable for a live performance, but he got his money’s worth with this shot. And no, that thing on his neck did not try to fly away.
Some of Geoff’s promotional pieces from his teenage years. He was able to raise his initial fee from when he was 12 quite considerably over time.
Poster for the first Doug Henning live magic special that Geoff snuck into. They did one more live special, but behind the scenes things were chaotic, including an escaped tiger running through the halls of NBC. From then on they were pre-recorded.
Cards signed by Doug Henning and Shimada at Henning’s first television special, Doug Henning’s World of Magic. Geoff really did sneak in, and in the book he explains how.
Geoff in his first theatrical role as a very magical Puck in a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The improvised trick Geoff did for the local paper that got him a very large picture to promote the play.