When this magician appeared on late night with Johnny Carson, and I saw his act, my jaw dropped.

This Magician is Joseph Gabriel. When Joseph had his show on Broadway I was teaching a group of young kids magic. I had sent a letter to Joseph about my magic group and he replied with an invitation for my magic group to come see his show on Broadway. I took the magic group and seen his show three more times with friends and family.

I know many great magicians that are located on my web site, They are great with magic and their personalities are fantastic, That’s why I have a link for them on my site:

I am currently working on an unofficial page for Joseph Gabriel
To be part of my Links page.

Maro

My vote goes to Channing Pollock. He has the best stage presence of any performer and is still the yardstick by which all other doveworkers are judged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=ITDcQF2n3TI

Thank you, Touchstone, I'm very grateful for that link. Lance Burton, is, and always will be, incredible.

I saw Shimada perform at the Magic Castle. His dove act was flawless. I have Channing Pollock's dove act on video called European Nights. Groundbreaking.
Shimada said that he got his inspiration from this video when he saw it in a theater when he was a teenager.
These two are my picks as the greatest dove workers.

Well, I haven't really seen that many dove workers 'do their stuff', but I ahve managed to catch a few...

I have seen:
James Dimmare
Lance Burton
Rick Thomas

I personally think that James Dimmare is the best dove worker... (or that I have seen)... I saw him on The Worlds Greatest Magic, and he blew me away! With all of the different vanishing and appearing canes, dove appearences and vanishes, and everything that he has worked between all the cracks, my vote would definetly go to him!!!

Two thumbs up to him!
-Vinnie

Although not really remembered for it, Tom Palmer had a fantastic bird act!
Growing up, Shimada was my favorite, but now that I am older and have 3 good friends that perform dove acts, my favorite performer is Gereral Grant/George Saterial/David Oliver.

Tony

Harry Vendryes was the greatest dove worker of all time.
He played the best places around England and all of Europe during the late 1950s and 60s.
Recently, there was a discussion on the genii site about Harry and Channing the two best at that time.
Half of the posters thought Harry was better than Channing.
Two of Harry's steals were flawless, that even magicians who watched him over and over couldn't detect the steals.
Harry retired some years ago, and now lives in Kingston Jamaica.
I correspond with him almost every month---I will be going home to Jamaica in a few months to see Harry and other magic friends.
Richard Lyn.

Greg Frewin is my favourite because of all the creativity in his act. Jason Byrne kicks butt too. I also love Joseph Gabriel's act because of the variety of birds. Dan Sperry has a killer dove act as well as Jonathan David Bass.


P.S but if it wasn't for Lance Burton I wouldn't of started dove magic.

Neil Croswell

I worked with Mercer in the early 90's. It was at Magic Island in Houston, and the director of the stage shows asked me to not do my dove act, which is a huge part of my show. I was following Mercer, and I was only allowed to do magic. Okay, now they tell me that there were no English speaking audience members.

What a mess! Ultimately, Mercer gave me a nice book that he wrote about how to get your birds onto cruise lines and other travel issues. A really nice gesture by a very nice man.

Another friend of mine is considered to be one of the best caricature artists anywhere (by his peers). He used to dabble in magic back in the early 70's, and he mentions Baltazar Fuentes as being one of the best ever. And he's a true afficionado of the better dove acts.

I am enjoying doves more in a motivated act than numbers or difficulty of production. I prefer to see a few doves produced and vanished in a manner that makes sense to the performer's character than just an exhibition of skill and grace.

I am all for not having to vanish all of the doves at the end of the act. It always seems to be a contrived box that is the opposite of the skill that it takes to produce them. I would like to see some acts keep the doves at the end of the show, as a sort of Miser's dream ending.

I looked back through, and did not even see Dick Sheehey (or Shehee, or whatever) listed anywhere. I think he was from Chicago, and when I saw him, it was thirty years ago. He was smooth, very colorful, very flashy, and very energetic. He really stood out in the era of Pollock clones. He deserves some mention, but not as the greatest.

At the end of the day, you have to follow the Pollock / Shimada / Burton lineage, although time will tell which young one will really take it a quantum leap beyond Burton.

My recollections (from seeing all of these live) were that Pollock made it look the most like raw, powerful magic.....regardless of the fact that lots of cat--- was showing. He was so dramatic, and had amazing presence.

Shimada dared to NOT copy Pollock's Western mannerisms. This will be treated as heresy, I am sure, but he was a little bit jerky (compared to Channing only - velvety smooth compared to the rest of the world) in his moves in his earlier years.

Burton has it all.

It is interesting that Pollock is credited with dove magic as an original. I know of nothing in his history that indicates that he was anything but the actor featuring dove magic in a movie part. Dove magic predates the movies and the discovery of the Western World!

This is not meant to hurt Pollock's image as an actor. He was fabulous. Many great magicians claim that they are actors playing the part of a magician. But this claim for the movie part is like saying that before MTV there was no music! Some of us were there.

Can you name any of the five magicians who taught Pollock that act?

Bob

Well, Jack Kodell was the first magician to have a complete bird act, and the first magician to headline in Las Vegas. He certainly deserves credit for creating the trend.

Channing Pollack
Shimada
Gen Grant
Johnny Thompson (who helped Lance with his act)
Lance Burton
James Dimarre/Tony Clark
Dan Sperry/George Saterial/Rick Thomas
Dan Birch

in that order (IMHO)

Scott

Hey Scott,
Pardon me if I'm wrong but, wasn't Cantu before Kodell in performing a COMPLETE Bird Act. Not the first, however. The answer to that is unkown, as Bob Sanders points out earlier. I'm afraid Bird Acts have been around much longer than anyone can remember!

BTW, Jack Kodell mentioned in his talk at the Miami convention earlier this summer that he was 15 yrs old when offered to play Vegas in the 1940's. He did not even know where Vegas was until he and his father looked it up on a map.

Hey Mike,

I may be wrong myself, but Cantu was discussed in Miami by Jack & John Ekin, however, I believe that Jack was the first to have a total bird act. Before that, there were birds produced, vanished, etc., but never a bird ACT. According to Jack & John, he was the first with an entire act based on birds.

On a side note, I assume that you saw the footage of his act that they showed at the talk in Miami...was that not incredible? It was truly a magical session to hear all of the tales of this great man and to see him in action.

Scott

Hey there guys, My vote is for Rick Thomas as well. He just is so smooth and fun to watch. I am not taking anything away from the list that has already been mentioned. I have to also mention Dave Womach as well as Dan Sperry who have both put their own orginal spin on dove magic. Brian

Hi again Scott,

Thanks for the info. Actually, I was not at the IBM CONV. in Miami this past June but, a few friends were and they relayed what they remembered.

I hate to admit I'm that old but, I saw Jack Kodell do his Parkeet Act on The Ed Sullivan Show when I was a kid. It was truly a wonderful act.

BTW,if you a interested in the history of Dove Magic, I started a topic here in "POLLY WANTS A CRACKER" while in Europe this past summer. That is why I was not able to be at the convention in Miami. Also, I am trying to start a discussion going on various types of historical facts concerning not only Dove Magic but other types of bird magic. I am planning on posting something there today.

Would you mind relaying what Jack & John Ekin discussed at the IBM Conv. in Miami 2006 concerning Cantu under my topic heading here at the Magic Café: The History of Dove Magic ala Channing Pollock, Cantu, etc. Your posting of any other info. concerning the History of Bird Magic would also be greatly appreciated.

Bob Sanders,

Are you going to give us the answer you your query??? (Or, are you just going to let us suffer.)

i.e. WHO ARE THE FIVE MAGICIANS WHO TAUGHT POLLOCK THE ACT?

Thank you,

I posted Mike.

Scott

If I.m not mistaking Cantu Was the first to do a bird act. At the time of Channing Pollock there was another dove worker by the name of Jimmy Raye (James De Saulte )who was concidered to be on the same level as Pollock. He was extremely well known on tha East coast, and no one did bare handed dove productions as well as he did. His multipling candle to dove and his ballon to dove were concidered the best.

My favorite is Lance Burton's routine.