Researching Joseph Johnson

He was graduated from USC with a degree in architecture before attending Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He was working for well-known architect Kem Weber when he was hired by David O. Selznick in 1938. He worked as a sketch artist for designs on Gone with the Wind in 1939, and was heavily involved with the creation of the special effects for The Wizard of Oz that same year. He worked on most of Selznick's major productions including Duel in the Sun (1946), The Paradine Case (1947) and Portrait of Jennie (1948), for which he won an Oscar for the visual effects.

A frequent collaborator with Alfred Hitchcock, (Rear Window in 1954 was followed by To Catch a Thief in 1955 which earned him another Academy Award nomination), Johnson was forced to take a break from Hollywood during the McCarthy witch hunts. He returned to his first career of architecture for a year, and worked with many notable architects in the LA area, many of whom having been his classmates at USC. When the McCarthy hysteria of Communism settled down, Johnson returned to Hollywood, earning Oscar nominations for his art direction on The Facts of Life in 1960 and the expensive remake of Mutiny on the Bounty in 1962, and for visual effects on George Stevens's religious epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and the John Sturges thriller Ice Station Zebra in 1968.

He retired in 1971 and died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1990.

He was a nonconformist who was married to Mary Bryers and who worked in Liverpool from 1795 to about 1827. The earliest specific date (from the hallmark in the silver case) known for a watch of his is 1811. He is known to have worked from a factory at 25 Church Street, although census records indicate that his residence was elsewhere in the same street (No. 26 and later (1841 census) No. 49); only No. 25 is named on the movements of his watches. After his death, on 2 March 1827, his wife Mary, son Joseph Johnson and grandsons Joseph Johnson Cashen and Joseph Johnson Norris continued his work until at least 1857.His watches are of high quality and were usually provided with precious metal cases, often in gold; these have often been lost in the course of time, so that many Johnson watches now survive only as uncased movements. Joseph Johnson had a preference for using fully jewelled watch movements. He is credited with inventing several design improvements to the pocket watch and watch movement. His watches were commonly used on U.S. railroads, before the establishment of the U.S. watch industry. In 1816 the United States government chose a chronometer signed by Johnson, No. 508, for a presentation to Commodore Oliver H. Perry in recognition of his action against the British on Lake Erie.

A slow left arm orthodox bowler, his career was stymied by the presence of Hedley Verity in the Yorkshire side, and he found himself behind in the pecking order even when Verity was away on Test duties. After two matches, against Gloucestershire in 1936 and Nottinghamshire in 1938, in which he was given little opportunity to bowl, he did have his day in a remarkable final appearance against Leicestershire in 1939. After not bowling in the first innings at Aylestone Road, Leicester, he took 5 wickets for 16 runs in 11.2 overs, to bowl the home team out for 103 and win the game for Yorkshire. He took two wickets with his last two balls in first-class cricket. Despite a first-class bowling average of 5.40, the onset of World War II ended any chance of him gaining further appearances.

He was less successful as a right-handed tail end batsman, scoring five runs in three innings, although two of these were not out. He also took one catch.

A useful opening batsman in League cricket, he never played again for Yorkshire, but he spent years as a professional with Clackmannan C.C., in Scotland, and was with David Brown Tractors C.C. at Meltham when they won the Yorkshire Council Championship in 1960. He was also their groundsman. Johnson was also a professional footballer with Doncaster Rovers F.C. and Southport F.C.

He was born in South Kirkby in Yorkshire and latterly lived at Netherthong near Holmfirth.

In the 1760s, Johnson established his publishing business, which focused primarily on religious works. He also became friends with Priestley and the artist Henry Fuseli – two relationships that lasted his entire life and brought him much business. In the 1770s and 1780s, Johnson expanded his business, publishing important works in medicine and children's literature as well as the popular poetry of William Cowper and Erasmus Darwin. Throughout his career, Johnson helped shape the thought of his era not only through his publications, but also through his support of innovative writers and thinkers. He fostered the open discussion of new ideas, particularly at his famous weekly dinners, the regular attendees of which became known as the "Johnson Circle".

In the 1790s, Johnson aligned himself with the supporters of the French Revolution, and published an increasing number of political pamphlets in addition to a prominent journal, the Analytical Review, which offered British reformers a voice in the public sphere. In 1799, he was indicted on charges of seditious libel for publishing a pamphlet by the Unitarian minister Gilbert Wakefield. After spending six months in prison, albeit under relatively comfortable conditions, Johnson published fewer political works. In the last decade of his career, Johnson did not seek out many new writers; however, he remained successful by publishing the collected works of authors such as William Shakespeare.

Johnson's friend John Aikin eulogized him as "the father of the booktrade". He has also been called "the most important publisher in England from 1770 until 1810" for his appreciation and promotion of young writers, his emphasis on publishing inexpensive works directed at a growing middle-class readership, and his cultivation and advocacy of women writers at a time when they were viewed with skepticism.

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