Once in a great while, when you dare to strike up a conversation with someone you've admired and respected from afar, you get lucky. I got lucky with Sterling. But then again, I can't think of someone in the bubble-biz who hasn't. When it comes to what's going on, has gone on, or will go on in the world of bubbles ~ Sterling seems to have tried it, read it, seen it, done it, thought it or heard of it. He's not blowing smoke either.
Beyond encyclopedic, he's also rolodexic and philosophic. I hesitate to mention all this for fear he'll be flooded with requests for cyber-friendships, but facts are facts. He's been a greatly appreciated mentor/coach/analyst/sounding-board for me, and with out his help I never could have learned and done half so much with bubbles in such a short time. I'm glad to call him a friend.
I've assembled a smattering of Sterling's press and photos below, enough to give you a sense of what he's like, what he's famous for inventing and just why folks would wolf whistle when he did the skivvy thing. His videos at the bottom of the page will complete the tale. Enjoy!
Wanted: If you have photos, a favorite story or anything to add to enrich this page, please contact me: RIBubbleGuy@yahoo.com & Thanks!
2 movies of Sterling...
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
April 28, 1986
A man and a soap bubble squared off in San Francisco yesterday in a test of nerve that only one of them could win.
It was revenge that bubble expert Sterling Johnson wanted, and he stripped down to his bathing trunks in front of 500 people at the Exploratorium science museum to get it.
The crowd showed up to see if Johnson could do what he failed to do three years ago - walk completely through a soap bubble without breaking it.
The bubble walk-through was the highlight of the Bubble Festival, a two-day celebration of the lowly soap bubble. In 1983, at the first bubble festival, Johnson tried unsuccessfully to walk through bubble after bubble. Yesterday, the experts were predicting another flop.
"It won't work if any part of his body is dry," explained the announcer. "This may look disgusting, but it's all for science."
In the beginning, Johnson's assistant blew a giant bubble with a hula hoop-sized wand and Johnson tried to walk into the middle of it. Forty-five times he tried. Each time, the bubble burst before Johnson could maneuver his entire body inside.
"I knew this wasn't going to work," grumbled a museum official. "It's no surprise."
The crowd, average age 6, was growing restless. Perhaps it was the presence of all the soap and lather -never a big drawing card for persons of that age - and perhaps it was the presence of the ice cream vendor nearby.
He tried that 35 times. All flopped. Already a half-hour had passed and it was time for the next bubble man to take the stage. It looked like it was all over.
"He's doing his final lathering," called out the announcer. "One last attempt."
And then it happened. On the 94th attempt, Johnson clasped his hands together as if he were diving off a springboard and slipped through the filmy walls of the bubble. The bubble remained intact for a fraction of a second, then burst. But it was long enough to make history. The crowd erupted in cheers and Johnson raised his hands in triumph.
"I feel really great," he said later, savoring his victory backstage as his fans gathered around. "But the soap sure makes your eyes sting."
1988 Smithsonian Institution
Inspired by San Francisco’s Exploratorium, science museums across the country are finding a world of lessons in soap bubbles.
Most days, attorney Sterling Johnson concentrates intently on the serious consequences of torts and briefs and statutes. Today, though, he’s attempting a momentous, if apparently silly, first in human history-to step out through the wall of a giant soap bubble without popping it. Here in San Francisco, reporters, TV crews and the audience at the Exploratorium’s Second Ever Bubble Festival all watch as he strips to a swimsuit and cap, then allows himself to be drenched in sticky, slimy, soap solution. "Every follicle has to be wet," he later explains. "Some people ask, ’Don’t you need to clip your toenails?’ but that’s before they’ve learned much about bubbles. Soap film doesn’t know dull or sharp, only wet or dry. If it’s really soaked, you can even stick a knife through a bubble and not pop it."
Such stunts are fun but not frivolous. The Exploratorium, after all, is a serious science museum. The starting point of its 650 hands-on exhibits, however, is the simple joy of empirical observation, and since the First Ever Bubble Festival in 1983, Exploratorium halls have been foaming with dozens of lessons ’in chemistry, physics, geometry and mathematics, all from simple soap film. Festival lecturers have saluted the prevalence of bubbles (or at least bubblelike structures) in just about all of nature. One even posited that the Universe itself is composed of megabubbles with all the galaxies gathered on their surfaces. And now, numerous other museums, like the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, and the Louisiana Nature and Science Center in New Orleans, are floating their own bubble Festivals.
Soap molecules are long strings of carbon and hydrogen atoms, one end of which is hydrophobic. As a result, they migrate to the surfaces of the bubble film, thereby pushing the water molecules inside. This reduces both surface tension and evaporation, which is a major enemy of bubbles. Even the weaker molecular bonds of soap solution work to pull it together into the smallest possible volume and surface area. Like other liquids, it wants most to be a drop, but will -because of its relatively weak surface tension-allow itself to be stretched into a film. Still, since the film also seeks a structure with the smallest surface area, namely a sphere, with steady blowing it decides to cooperate and become a round bubble. A tiny rupture explodes into a soapy shower.
Though evaporation destroys bubbles, it, along with drainage due to gravity, also gives them their wide spectrum of colors. Light waves are reflected from both the outside and inside surfaces of a bubble’s skin; as a result they interfere with one another-their crests and troughs get out of sync. With ongoing changes in bubble-wall thickness, a variety of wave interference patterns, and therefore colors, occurs.
At future festivals, performers will no doubt show off an increasingly amazing variety of novelties and tricks. But they all agree it’s the very evanescence of bubbles that draws our attention most". You know you have to focus and look quickly, to appreciate the moment," says Johnson, "In an instant, it’s gone."
Published SF Weekly.com: Wednesday, April 3, 2002
Sterling Johnson is a silver-haired lawyer with a passion for bubbles -- not the kind that burst when wild rabbits attack you during your weekend hike through Sonoma, but the rainbow-hued variety that float on gentle breezes and entice little dogs and children to leap into the air. The Bubblesmith, as Johnson is known throughout the worldwide bubble-blowing community, is unique to his peers because he uses no hoops or tools, only his hands and a not-so- "super secret" bubble formula that he makes available to everyone on his Web site (www.handblownbubbles.com). With a bit of glycerin, some Mr. Bubble, and a smidgen of liquid detergent, Johnson creates ephemeral delights: glistening bubble chains, bubble pyramids, vibrating bubbles, bubbles in bubbles, enormous bubbles, tiny bubbles, and, his specialty, juggling bubbles. His artistry garnered him an appearance on Evening Magazine, as well as features in OMNI, Smithsonian, and Klutz's The Unbelievable Bubble Book. But no one goes to see the Bubblesmith because of his fame; instead, people go because he conjures innocent wonder and aerial fancy. And he is just one of the guests taking part in this month's "Unnatural Acts," a vaudevillian retreat from all that is snide, hosted by longtime clown Doll-ya Hoffman-Kaufman-Stein- Steinberg. "Unnatural Acts" will be held on Saturday, April 6, at the Hemlock Tavern at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10; call 923-0923.
~ from www.speak.com
The only performer who specializes in blowing bubbles using only his hands, Sterling Johnson was trained as an engineer and a lawyer. His bubble blowing to entertain has developed into a full stage show. Sterling is the only person to ever put a bubble inside a bubble inside a bubble on stage without any straws or tubes, and the first person to walk completely through a bubble film. He explains it this way, "When a hand is soapy, you can slide it right into a bubble because the bubbles respond as if your hand is part of them. I had a fantasy of getting entirely soapy and walking into or out of a vey large bubble. I stripped down to my bathing suit and bathing cap, was drenched with detergent, and Richard waved huge bubbles over me as I attempted to walk out through the film. Although the bubble often popped just as my last foot was coming out, I got credit for having succeeded by the end." His favorite bubble story comes from when he was volunteering at a school for severely retarded children when he was in engineering school. He says, "There was an autistic girl who gave very little reaction to anything going on around her. I made some half-sphere bubbles on a soapy formica table top for some of the kids, letting those who were able to play with the bubbles I had made. All of a sudden, the girl's eyes seemed clearer, and she became engaged with the igloo-like bubbles that were in front of her. She played with the them, touched them, and was interested in their popping. Her teacher said it was the only time that had ever happened. It was pretty touching to be present for that." Sterling has appeared in Smithsonian and Omni magazines, and is a featured artist in Klutz's The Unbelievable Bubble Book.
Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA)
November 30, 2004
Lawyers are routinely accused of blowing smoke. Fairfax attorney Sterling Johnson blows bubbles. Johnson practices family law and handles construction contract disputes, both perfectly respectable areas of expertise. But they sound terribly mundane compared to his other occupation: "Bubblesmith."
When he isn't in court, working in his Oakland law office or relaxing at home with his family, he's often on-stage somewhere, entertaining people with his "hand blown bubbles."
Johnson does a classy act. Looking distinguished in black tie and tails, he performs to a sophisticated instrumental track by the acoustic jazz group Oregon.
He rolls up his sleeves, immerses his hands and forearms in bubble solution and shakes away the excess. Touching his thumbs and forefingers together to form a natural wand, he blows soap bubbles that float out over audiences like beach balls. He blows dancing bubbles, invisible bubbles, bubbles inside bubbles. He has blown a bubble inside a bubble inside a bubble.
"He's taken a simple idea - blowing bubbles - and turned it into an art form," says theatrical producer Chuck Eisler of Mill Valley. "Everywhere I've seen him perform, he's captivated everyone."
As many as three times a week, he's hired to perform at variety shows, corporate events, private parties, bubble festivals (yes, there are bubble festivals).
Marin audiences have seen him in shows at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley, and he's become a regular in the semi-underground "new vaudeville" scene, sharing bills with acts like Cherry Bomb, a belly dancer, and Rubber Boy, a contortionist.
"I feel like I ran away and joined the circus without leaving home," he says.
Two summers ago, the National Football League flew him to Tokyo to entertain at an NFL exhibition game. He's blown bubbles at the Exotic Erotic Ball. "I wore a lab coat," he quickly clarifies. "The acts before me and after me wore almost nothing."
As far as he knows, there are only about eight professional bubble blowers in North America. The others use wands, frames, ropes and various devices to conjure their ephemeral creations. He's the only one who specializes in blowing bubbles using his hands.
"It's one of the few things in my life that I can say, 'This is something that I have that's unique to me, that I've made happen,'" he says. "It's special. It's completely mine."
In the process, he learned about the physics of soap bubbles and how light refracts to cause their rainbow colors. He also learned a valuable lesson about impermanence from them, that nothing on this Earth lasts forever.
"Bubbles are just infinitely interesting," he says. "They are very much in the moment. One of the frustrations and the beauties of them is that they are there and gone and you sort of accept that's how life is. They're evanescent."
Using a funnel, Johnson blew bubbles as a hobby for years, taking his soap solution (he mixes Mr. Bubble, Dawn and glycerin in water) to entertain his friends at parties. It was at a party that someone wondered if you could blow bubbles with your hands. He tried it, and, much to his amazement, it worked. "It was stunning to me," he recalls.
In the early 1980s, a Canadian bubble blower named Tom Noddy encouraged him to participate in a bubble festival at San Francisco's Exploratorium.
"I discovered that there were people who make a living blowing bubbles," he says, talking about Noddy and toy maker Louis Pearl of Sebastopol, among a handful of others.
During the festival at the Exploratorium, he became the first person to actually walk through a bubble on stage. (To do it, he had to strip to a bathing suit and drench himself with soap.)
But it wasn't until five years ago, after his wife of 30 years died of cancer, that he turned professional, taking his bubble-blowing to a higher level technically and spiritually.
"In my grief, I asked myself what was important to me," he says. "I said, 'Here I am in my 50s, and what do I really want to do with the rest of my life?' I decided that part of what's important to me is to have fun, and to express parts of myself that I haven't had the chance to express. Bubbles were a way of helping me through a difficult period, and it deepened my experience with them. That was when I decided to call myself a professional instead of an amateur."
He has his own Web site, bubblesmith.com, and the personalized license plate on his car. "Bubl H," says a lot about how he feels about himself at this point in his life.
"There's a way in which practicing law allows me to use my mind, and blowing bubbles allows me to use my heart," he says. "It's a nice combination for me."
Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
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I am a film and video writer/ producer/ director/ cinematographer/ editor. Working through my production company, Point of View Productions, I have made various films and tapes which collectively have won a total of 30 festival awards.
The BUBBLEMAN - Director: Karil Daniels (4:59) - This performance piece features Sterling Johnson, a Bubble Artist, who creates totally original works of whimsical and fascinating bubble art using a simple soap mixture and his hands alone. Images are accompanied by an original music track by Tom Romero.
Festivals: Houston International FilmFestival 2003 (Gold Award), Orinda Film Festival, Brooklyn International Film Festival's KidFest, Yale Women in Film Festival, Golden Wagon Film Festival.
Producer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor. Visit Sterling's website,
Sterling Johnson, Bubblesmith, for more about his unique art form.
I also made a promo/audition film for him - STERLING JOHNSON, BUBBLESMITH.
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Bubble act floats its way to the White House
Oakland Tribune, (CA)
June 16, 2005
OAKLAND Sterling Johnson was shuffling through some legal documents at his home office in Fairfax when his phone rang. Someone who claimed to be calling from the White House invited him to go there and asked for his Social Security number and date of birth. A skeptical Johnson declined to give the requested information, hung up and called information to get the general phone number of the Oval Office. When Johnson called, he learned he was invited to blow bubbles at the annual U.S. congressional picnic held Wednesday evening.
The first lady's social office had invited him, along with jugglers and other performers, to entertain President Bush and Congress members' families on the South Lawn of the White House, said Susan Whitson, Laura Bush's press secretary.
As an attorney, Johnson, 58, handles divorce, child custody and support cases and business contract disputes, mostly in Oakland, where he has lived with his family almost 14 years.
Five years ago, he started earning additional income by blowing bubbles.
It was something he enjoyed as a hobby since he was a teenager, when he discovered during a school science project that he could do wonders with them, he said. Johnson works part time performing at variety shows, corporate events and private parties.
"Bubbles don't pay as much as law," he said.
But he loves both disciplines equally and would not trade one for the other, Johnson said, explaining he would either "burn out" just blowing bubbles or become too "dry" just practicing law.
Two weeks ago, he was in Japan, where he had been invited to perform on television in a competition against other bubble-blowers.
His invitation to the White House could be a "springboard" to publicity, he said.
The event has been a White House tradition almost a decade, a chance for presidents to express appreciation to members of Congress and their families for their service to the nation. It's organized in part by the first lady's office.
Each year, popular artists from around the country are invited to participate. This year's White House barbecue will feature Broadway stars, including Shirley Jones, Harolyn Blackwell and Tom Wopat, on outdoor stages and inside tents starting at 6 p.m., Whitson said.
With close to 40 years of bubble-blowing experience, Johnson is a celebrity in his own right, at least in his field. He can make bubbles within bubbles using nothing but his hands.
"He's the guy who doesn't need any equipment," said Ron Hipschman, Web master at the San Francisco Exploratorium.
Hipschman recalls seeing Johnson during three bubble festivals at the Exploratorium. He said the bubble blowers who came closest to matching his hand-blowing skills were the "minimalists" who used strings or sticks.
"I will have to just wait and see what the wind will let me do," he said.
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Visit the Bubblesmith at his site: www.Bubblesmith.com.
Click Here to see Sterling in Video!
~ NOTICE ~
DON'T MISS!!: If you would like to see a different, and much longer movie of Sterling's live act from years ago, click here ~ Sterling Live! It'll take a while to load as it's 14mb, but since it's on it's own page you can come back and continue browsing these pages while it downloads in the background.