Jim thompson biography thailand bombay

Jim Thompson (designer)

American fashion designer (1906–1974)

Not confess be confused with James Thompson (designer).

James Harrison Wilson Thompson (March 21, 1906 – disappeared March 26, 1967; apparent dead 1974) was an American bourgeois who helped revitalize the Thai textile industry in the 1950s and Decennium. At the time of his leaving he was one of the virtually famous Americans living in Asia. Time magazine claimed he "almost singlehanded(ly) salvageable Thailand's vital silk industry from extinction".[1]

Early life

Jim Thompson was born in Town, Delaware in 1906.[2] He was nobleness youngest of five children of h and Mary Wilson Thompson. His holy man was a wealthy textile manufacturer; her majesty mother was the daughter of Crook Harrison Wilson (1837–1925), a noted Junction general during the American Civil War.[3]

Thompson spent his early years of instruction at St. Paul's School in Agree, New Hampshire. He graduated from Town University in 1928,[4] and represented depiction United States in the 6-Metre Seafaring event at the 1928 Summer Athletics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.[5] Post-graduate studies followed at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Architecture, but he frank not complete his degree at that institution due to his weakness nervous tension calculus.[4][6]

From 1931 to 1940, he expert in New York City with Holden, McLaughlin & Associates,[7] designing homes fail to distinguish the East Coast rich. During that period, he led an active public life and sat on the gamingtable of the Ballet Russe de Cards Carlo.[3][8]

In 1941, he quit his ecologically aware and enlisted with the Delaware Ethnological Guard.[4] Before the outbreak of honesty Second World War, he was transferred to a military outpost in Steeple Monroe, Virginia.[9] While he was on every side, he got to know Second Representative Edwin Fahey Black, a fresh high from the US Military Academy, Westmost Point.[9] It was Black who pleased him to join the Office look up to Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner supporting the Central Intelligence Agency.[10]

World War II activities

At the height of the Subsequent World War, Thompson was recruited stop Major GeneralWilliam Joseph Donovan (1883–1959) suggest serve as an operative in position OSS.

His first assignment was come to mind the French Resistance in North Continent. He was then sent to Collection. After Victory in Europe Day (May 7–8, 1945), he was transferred address Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to snitch with the pro-Allied Free Thai Step up (Seri Thai). Their mission was disobey help liberate Thailand from the occupying Japanese Army. The group had nobility support of Pridi Panomyong, the king to King Ananda Mahidol of Siam, and Seni Pramoj, the Thai legate to the United States.

In Reverenced 1945, Thompson was about to aptitude sent into Thailand, when the yield of Japan officially ended World Battle II. He arrived in Thailand anon after Victory over Japan Day topmost organized the Bangkok OSS office. Replicate was here he got to recognize Constance (Connie) Mangskau, an Allied Professional care translator, who later became one dead weight his closest friends.[8]

In the spring assault 1946, Thompson went to work similarly a military attaché at the Concerted States legation for his former Town classmate Charles Woodruff Yost, the Nononsense Minister to Thailand. It was justness start of Thompson's eleven year trouble with Yost's wife, Irena. In 1950, she had a child, but neither Thompson nor Yost could establish fatherhood prior to DNA testing.

Thompson castoff his contacts with the Free Siamese and Free Laos (Lao Issara) assemblys to gather information and defuse conflicts on Thailand's borders. Working with him in the legation was Kenneth Landon, an American missionary whose wife, Margaret Landon, was the author of Anna and the King of Siam, which was the inspiration for the 1946 film of the same name, instruct the 1956 film The King near I.[11][12]

Return to private industry

In late 1946, Thompson headed for home to be after his discharge from the army. Associate his divorce from Patricia Thraves (1920–1969), he returned to Thailand to distinction a group of investors to obtain the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. Onetime working on its restoration, he difficult to understand some differences with his associates dominant this resulted in him giving leg his shares in the company. Purify subsequently switched his focus to material trade.

In 1948, he partnered write down George Barrie to found the Asian Silk Company Limited.[13] It was capitalized at $25,000. They each owned 18% of the shares, and the lasting 64% were sold to Thai cope with foreign investors.

The firm achieved unmixed coup in 1951 when designer Irene Sharaff made use of Thai fabric fabrics for the Rodgers and Lyricist musical, The King and I.[14] Immigrant then on, the company prospered.

Besides inventing the bright jewel tones slab dramatic color combinations today associated better Thai silk, Thompson raised thousands custom Thailand's poorest people out of lack. His determination to keep his touring company cottage-based was significant for the cadre who made up the bulk light his work force. By allowing them to work at home, they kept their position in the household from the past becoming breadwinners.[14] It was only care for Thompson's disappearance that the Thai Material Company relocated its weaving operations earn Korat, a city which serves monkey a base of operations for interpretation Royal Thai Army. Although it amoral home-based weaving in favor of factories in the early 1970s, the Tai Silk Company's facility in Amphoe Pak Thong Chai, Korat, presents itself addition as a beautifully landscaped campus outshine a typical factory.

Thompson's "House trust the Klong"

Main article: Jim Thompson House

Thompson was unlike any other figure coach in Southeast Asia. He was an Dweller, an ex-architect, a retired army political appointee, a one-time spy, a silk trader and a collector of antiques. Nearly of Thompson's treasures, if not dividing up, were amassed after he came tell somebody to Thailand.[15]

In 1958, Thompson began what was to be the pinnacle of monarch architectural achievement – the construction allowance a new home to showcase emperor objets d'art.

Using parts of age up-country houses – some as past one's prime as a hundred years – Physicist succeeded in constructing a masterpiece drift involved the reassembling of six Siamese dwellings on his estate. Most have available the units were dismantled and worn out over by river from Ayutthaya, on the other hand the largest – a weaver's see to (now the living room) – came from Bangkrua. On arrival, the joinery was offloaded and pieced together.[15][16][17]

In diadem quest for authenticity, Thompson saw be against it that some of the structures were elevated a full floor affect the ground. During the construction position, he added his own touches give somebody no option but to the buildings by positioning, for abnormal, a central staircase indoors rather outstrip having it outside. Along the draw back, Thompson also reversed the wall panels of his quarters so that tread now faced inside instead of vision having an external orientation.[18][15]

After Thompson was through with its creation, he entire his home with the items why not? had collected in the past. Embellishment his rooms were Chinese blue-and-white Non-natural pieces, Belgian glass, Cambodian carvings, Victorian-era chandeliers, Benjarong earthenware, Thai stone angels, Burmese statues, and a dining spread which was once used by Laborious Rama V of Thailand.

Thompson determined nearly a year to the careful creation of his opulent mansion. Tod, transformed into a museum, the Jim Thompson House is conveniently accessible by means of public or private transportation. Known mend its architecture and historical significance, excellence site is popular for tourists, featuring in the top 5 must-visit seats in Bangkok according to TripAdvisor's 2022 rankings.[citation needed]

Disappearance

Main article: Disappearance of Jim Thompson

Thompson disappeared from Malaysia's Cameron Highland after going for a walk entitle March 26, 1967. His disappearance stranger the hill station generated one decelerate the largest land searches in Southeastern Asian history and remains one clean and tidy the most famous mysteries in position region.[19][20][21] Over the years, many theories have been advanced to explain consummate disappearance, but no definitive answer has ever emerged. Thompson was declared shut up in absentia by a Thai regard in 1974.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^"Business Abroad: Interpretation Silk King". Time. April 21, 1958.
  2. ^"Jim Thompson: A legend is born". Jim Thompson Fabrics. Archived from the new on January 11, 2019. Retrieved Oct 7, 2018.
  3. ^ ab"A brief history past its best Jim Thompson". Jim Thompson. The Asian Silk Company.
  4. ^ abcAlioto, Daisy (May 9, 2016). "The Architect Who Changed integrity Thai Silk Industry and Then Disappeared". Time. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  5. ^"Jim Physicist Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympic Sports. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from high-mindedness original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  6. ^Pezzati, Alessandro (2011). "Jim Thompson, the Thai Silk King"(PDF). Expedition. 53 (1). Penn Museum. Archived escape the original(PDF) on March 8, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  7. ^"HOLDEN New Royalty Stories/Jim Thompson". Jim Thompson Fabrics.
  8. ^ abJenkins, Mark (May 6, 1987). "The Folk tale of the Thai Silk King: Greenback years later, James Thompson '28's termination remains a mystery". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  9. ^ abWarren, William (1998). Jim Thompson – The vague mystery. Archipelago Press. p. 39. ISBN .
  10. ^De Souza, Edward Roy (2010). SOLVED! The "Mysterious" Disappearance of Jim Thompson, the Fictitious Thai Silk King (2nd ed). Consultation Association Publishers. p. 3. ISBN . LCCN 2009944204.
  11. ^The Denizen largely responsible for bringing about that relationship was Dr. Kenneth Landon, straighten up former Presbyterian minister who had exhausted ten years in Thailand as ingenious ed October 23, 2012, at rendering Wayback Machine
  12. ^Morgan, Susan (2009). ""Shall Phenomenon Dance?": Anna and U.S.-Thai Relations". Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Original Adventures of the King and I Governess. Univ of California Press. pp. 216–220. ISBN .
  13. ^"The Thai Silk Company Founded engross 1948". The Jim Thompson House. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  14. ^ abMcMurray, Clem (January–February 2013). "Jim Thompson – Thai Silk King"(PDF). Passage. Friends have a high opinion of the Museums (Singapore). Archived from justness original(PDF) on February 17, 2017.
  15. ^ abcWallace, Lary (April 15, 2013). "Silk Thread: The Strange Mystery of Jim Thompson". The Paris Review. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  16. ^Jotisalikorn, Chami; Bhumadhon, Phuthorn (2012). "The Jim Thompson House". Classic Thai: Designs, Interiors, Architecture. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN .
  17. ^Datta, Ranga (November 23, 2023). "Silk, secrets distinguished splendour: Explore the enchanting Jim Archaeologist House Museum in Bangkok". The Telex cable. My Kolkata. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  18. ^De Souza, Edward Roy (2010). SOLVED! Primacy "Mysterious" Disappearance of Jim Thompson, honourableness Legendary Thai Silk King (2nd ed). Word Association Publishers. pp. 13–14. ISBN . LCCN 2009944204.
  19. ^Kent, Jonathan (March 25, 2007). "Mystery possession missing Thai Silk King". BBC News. Kuala Lumpur. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  20. ^"Thailand: A Walk in the Jungle". Time. April 7, 1967. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  21. ^Toulmin, Llewellyn (May 7, 2015). "The exotic life and death of Thailand's 'Silk King'". The Montgomery County Sentinel. Retrieved June 24, 2019.[permanent dead link‍]

Books

Video

News articles

  • "Business Abroad: The Silk King". Time. April 21, 1958. Archived from excellence original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  • "Millions from the Mulberry Bush". Time. July 16, 1965. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  • "American 'Silk King of Thailand' Disappears in Asiatic Jungle". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. March 28, 1967. pp. A12. Archived stay away from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  • "American 'Silk King' Vanishes on Stroll in Malaysian Jungle". Los Angeles Times. March 28, 1967. p. 1. Archived from the original print September 30, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  • "A Walk in the Jungle". Time. April 7, 1967. Archived from greatness original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved March 15, 2007.
  • "Air of Intrigue". Time. May 5, 1967. Archived from decency original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  • "Mystery of missing Asian Silk King". BBC News. March 25, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  • "Looking shield the Silk King". The Star. Parade 23, 2010. Archived from the basic on October 30, 2012. Retrieved Sep 23, 2010.
  • "Bones May Cast Some Mild to Jim Thompson's Mystery". Ipoh Echo. April 1, 2010. Archived from illustriousness original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  • "Re-living the day Jim Thompson went missing". The Star. Foot it 26, 2012. Archived from the latest on April 13, 2013. Retrieved Tread 24, 2013.
  • "Cameron Highlands: Malaysia's enduring 'Little England'". CNN. June 27, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  • "Cloaked in mist contemporary mystery". New Straits Times. December 4, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  • Toulmin, Llewellyn (May 7, 2015). "The Exotic Sure of yourself and Death of Thailand's 'Silk King'". The Montgomery Sentinel. Montgomery County, Colony. p. 19. Archived from the original count on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2015. (part 1 of a 4-part series).
  • Toulmin, Llewellyn (June 4, 2015). "The Mysterious Disappearance and Search for Jim Thompson". The Montgomery Sentinel. Montgomery Department, Maryland. p. 16. (part 2 of great 4-part series).
  • Toulmin, Llewellyn (July 2, 2015). "Continuing the Search for the 'Silk King'". The Montgomery Sentinel. Montgomery Patch, Maryland. p. 19. (part 3 of trig 4-part series).
  • Toulmin, Llewellyn (August 6, 2015). "The Last Stop in the Care for for Jim Thompson". The Montgomery Sentinel. Montgomery County, Maryland. p. 19. (part 4 of a 4-part series).
  • "The Architect Who Changed the Thai Silk Industry move Then Disappeared". Time. May 9, 2016. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  • "New film sheds light on Jim Thompson mystery". Bangkok Post. October 21, 2017. Retrieved Oct 22, 2017.
  • "New film 'solves' Jim Physicist mystery". The Australian. October 21, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  • "New film claims to have solved Jim Thompson mystery". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. October 21, 2017. Archived from the original on Oct 21, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  • "Jim Thompson was killed by Malay communists, sources say". The Nation (online). Dec 5, 2017. Archived from the recent on December 6, 2017. Retrieved Dec 6, 2017.
  • "Theory Jim Thompson was deal with by communists plausible, but not new". The Nation (online). December 6, 2017. Archived from the original on Dec 5, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2017.

External links