from the archives Buddhist priests blessed Jim Thompson’s Thai house in , 1959. UPM Image # 194079.

Jim Thompson, the Thai Silk King

by alessandro ounger generations may was never colonized, and, though ostensibly

pezzati not know Jim Thompson an ally of Japan during the war, it did not participate in (1906–1967?), but in the the fighting and suffered little damage. Upon his arrival, 1950s and 1960s he was Thompson was immediately enchanted by the country’s famous throughout the unique character and by the city of Bangkok, with its peo- Yworld as Thailand’s “Silk King,” and as ple and their art. He also saw business opportunities. His an arbiter of international taste. Born passion was taken by Thai silk, a local tradition he helped of a wealthy Delaware family, Thompson graduated from revive, creating a demand all over the world. He formed Princeton and attended the University of Pennsylvania School the Thai Silk Company in 1951 and, with a keen sense of Architecture. Though he never completed his degree, he of color and indefatigable salesmanship, became extremely became an architect nonetheless, designing houses as well as successful. His creations became famous—worn by celeb- landscapes and interiors. By his mid-thirties, however, he had rities and socialites—and were even used in the 1956 film grown dissatisfied with his life as a carefree bachelor and had . In addition to silk, Thompson’s passions begun to alienate his family with his increasingly liberal politi- included collecting antiquities from temples and caves cal views. World War II prompted him to quit his job and around the country, and the house he built to display them enlist. He traveled to North Africa, Italy, and France before and entertain his constant stream of guests. That house is now being sent to Thailand. a museum. Penn Museum

4 volume 53, number 1 expedition Penn Museum the victim’sshoulderuntilsheturnedaround…andshrieked. every time she looked his way. Or, when everyone’s attention was diverted he would sneak along the back of chairs and then quietly wait by chuckle maniacal menacing, a giving and her on fixed eyes his keeping by simply evening woman’s poor the ruin would He it. sense would he and birds about phobia a with room the in someone be there Let jokes. practical for taste low a had he that admit must I dinner…And after liquor of nips steal didn’t he that watch to had you and moment; a for even company good leave to hate did he since window open an both heads turning to the welcoming hosts. By and large, Cocky’s party manners were perfect although it was well to see that he was close to level, same the on ones black round little and eyes blue shoulder, his on bird white the jacket, dinner black a in man the room, a into came and defecatedintothegarden. tail his lifted around, turned had he chairs our of out get to us took it time the in but him, after scrambled we lost, be and night the into off that wassuchaparodyofthehundredsdinnerconversationswehadknown… a puppy. and both would flee or go into hysterics if you came close to them. But this bunch of feathers on my shoulder was actually nuzzling me like cages, in canaries and trees, the in singing ones wild birds, of kinds two only were there knew I as far As act. to bird a for way unnatural an his beak over my ear and ran cheek, pressing his head to slowly mine. I wasn’t sure I liked and it. Not that the feathered shoulder caress was unpleasant, but I thought my it to up he…climbed wrist; my on him set and hands both with him lifted Jim arm. my out held gingerly I J Excerpts from“Cockatoo”byElizabethLyons(1980s) Cocky became a great social prize as a guest and was invited all over town. He and Jim looked like a couple out of a Cocteau film as they take to going was he that Horrified window. the to flapped and steps few a ran table, the onto chair the from hopped bird the Suddenly Cockatoo talked a great deal, sometimes clearly verbal phrases in an unknown tongue, but mostly a chuckling, twittering stream of sound Fascinated bythetamenessofsuchalargebird,butlittlefrightenedthosestrongclawsandespeciallythatTurkishscimitarbeak, of reminiscences of her time in Thailand. The following are excerpts from “Cockatoo,” about Jim Thompson’s inseparable companion. called mystery murder unpublished an as such writings, her of number a includes Archives, Museum the in available collection, manuscript Lyons’ Lisa Thailand. in colleagues and friends were lyons (lisa) elizabeth and thompson im www.penn.museum/expedition www.penn.museum/expedition , and a set a and Case, Bangkok The UPM Image # 194077. # Image UPM Cockatoo. companion, frequent his with Thompson Jim 5

In 1967, Thompson disappeared suddenly while visiting friends in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, a mountainous region covered by intrac- table jungle. Search parties set out to look for him—including 325 Malaysian police, British soldiers on leave, 30 aboriginal trackers, and a number of psychics, including Peter Hurkos, who had helped with the Boston Strangler case. Thompson was never found. Many explanations were given for his disappearance, including theories that he was kidnapped by Communists, killed during a CIA mission, or eaten by a tiger. No one could explain, though, why he left the cottage without taking his cigarettes or his pills for gallstone pain. The mystery was compounded after his sister was murdered in her house in Delaware six months later by an unknown assailant.

Elizabeth (Lisa) Lyons appeared on Japanese television to discuss Asian art, 1956. UPM Image # 194047. The discovery of the site of Ban Chiang brought Lyons to the Penn Museum as Assistant Curator of the In 1955, Thompson met Elizabeth Lyons, an art historian Asian Section in 1968, a year after Thompson’s disappear- from Michigan who had studied at Columbia University, ance. She then spent five years (1971–1975) administering the with stints in Paris and Brussels. At the time of their meet- Ford Foundation program in Southeast Asian art and archae- ing, Lyons had been appointed cultural attaché at the U.S. ology. She later returned to the Penn Museum as Keeper State Department, touring an exhibition of modern American of the Asian Section Collections in 1976. She co-curated Art around South and Southeast Asia and acting as a cultural the Buddhism exhibition as it appears today and eventually ambassador in the region. When she originally applied for the donated her own collection, which included some pieces job, she had not been considered a serious candidate, since the given to her by Thompson, to the Museum. Her papers, State Department wanted a man. But as no men applied, it was including her unfinished monograph on Thai painting, a she who was selected. stash of letters from Thompson, and a number of reminis- Lisa Lyons and Jim Thompson became fast friends, and cences from her Thailand days, are now available in the Penn were also briefly lovers. They shared an intense interest in the Museum Archives. art of Southeast Asia. Lyons planned to write a monograph In his letters to Lyons, Thompson writes most of all about on Thai painting, as she continued to lecture for the State traveling around Thailand to collect antiquities and the prob- Department in the ensuing years. She also curated exhibitions, lems arising from the building of his grand house. Though the worked on an archaeological survey of Thailand, and assisted disappearance of the “Thai Silk King” remains shrouded in with the opening of the new National Museum in Bangkok mystery, these records reveal something about his passion for in 1967, as well as in planning provincial museums. It was in Southeast Asian art and the history of his collections. part through the efforts of Thompson and Lyons that art from Southeast Asia is much more highly prized today. alessandro pezzati is the Senior Archivist at the Museum. Penn Museum

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