By Robert Simonson
30 May 2003

"The Legendary Mizners," the Alva Johnson biography of Wilson and Addison Mizner, the confidence men and all-around rascals who are the subject of the new Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical Bounce, has been reissued in paperback form by Farrar Strauss Giroux.

The Mizners became notorious in the 1920s. Addison was a self-made architect and real estate speculator, who built many fabulous mansions for the rich of Palm Beach. Wilson's focus was more varied. He struck it rich in the Alaskan gold rush, wrote plays, promoted prizefights, sold real estate and sang professionally. Four of his plays ran on Broadway from 1909 to 1913.

Johnston, a 1923 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for reporting, wrote for The New York Times, The Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker. "The Fabulous Mizners" was his best known book. As a biography, it is more whimsical, than strictly academic in tone. The book is graced by illustrations by the noted artist Reginald Marsh. Chapter titles include "The Palm Beach Architect," "The Klondike," "Gentle Larceny," "The Boom" and "The Crash."

Johnston's other books include "The Great Goldwyn" and "The Case of Erle Stanley Gardener." "The Legendary Mizners" was published in 1953, after Johnston had died in 1950. The reissue is priced at $15.

Bounce will open at Chicago's Goodman Theatre on June 30.