Astinus, interesting choice. Care to explain why Johnny, compared to the others that were mentioned? Johnny is a tremendous performer but I personally never would have put him in the greatest of all time category.

Both Chaning Pollock and Shimmada are great but my favorite dove/bird worker today is Marko Krvo from Finland he has been at Lido de Paris in Paris France for over five years I think and he will open at lidos new Paris Cabaret " Le Taitbout" the frist of May.
Check him out at his webpage http://www.markokarvo.com

Like I said much earlier, I think Channing Pollock was the greatest Dove Worker that ever lived because of his elegance, simplicity and originality. Note, there were no fast or sudden moves which are neccessary nowadays with sl...e tosses and invisable ha....ses. His st...ls were impeccable, one was a st...l from the t...ls, with him standing with his side facing the audience on the same side he made the st...l. I first saw Channing perform on the Ed Sullivan Show on March 7, 1954. Although, I had been doing magic for about two years at the time, that was the moment when I decided that I wanted to get serious about magic. Two years later in Nov. of 1956, when I was 14 years old, I won the Junior, under sixteen, Competition doing a dove act. This took place in Boston at the New England S.A.M. Convention.

I recently learned from my friend Ray Goullet that Cardini also did a dove act late in his career when he was working cruise ships. Did anyone ever see him do birds? Apparently, he was a great fan of dove acts.

Also, I wish I had seen Cantu perform, a pioneer of dove magic, but I was only seven years old when he was killed in a car accident in 1949.

Dave,

I know you look younger holding a baby, but you have to remember seeing Johnny Thompson doing dove magic. (By the way, Lucy and I saw Pam and Johnny two years ago and Johnny got a better deal on hair than you and I did. His is still dark!) What Johnny Thompson can't do well in magic could be listed in match book cover and written with a bold magic marker. He has more talent than ought to be legal. People tend to miss it because he is such a comic to go with it. His work is no joke! It is pure art. Pam is the best actress on the magic stage.

Incidentally, Pam has a great lecture for stage magic assistants. Book it for a convention. She and Lucy give the same advice: own your own magician.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

I worked backstage with Johnny Thompson for a couple of weeks at Magic Island. What that man has invented for dove work is phenomenal. He may be a funnyman, but his dove work is flawless. Everything in his act is there for a reason -- there is not one steal that isn't perfectly motivated.

I do like Lance Burton's act -- who doesn't? But I still put Johnny in first place.

Bill and Bob, don't misunderstand what I said. I absolutely agree that Johnny is an outstanding performer in every field, he just didn't rush into my mind when I read the topic title of "greatest dove worker of all time" compared to Pollock or Shimada.

I tend to agree that it's probably because of his comic approach to magic. His steals are impeccable and presentation is his middle name.

Dave,

We know the choice is too hard to be a fair one. The real bottom line is that we just keep good company.

Live magic is so different from broadcast magic until we have to spread "best" around to just who you can get to see work. Some day it would be nice to have the "dove magic tour" like the golfers have. Those on the tour could see top dove workers all over the world, one after the other. Just think, see an act, climb back on the plane and go see the next act! What a tough life! How would you know when you died? (I suppose it would be when you didn't hear the jet engines.)

There are some really great dove workers out there and I'll never get to see them all. Maybe I should switch to turtle magic? It couldn't be near as humbling. In fact, I don't know a single turtle magician. Then I could write a book: "Come Out Snoring".

Bill, am I too late? (Again?)

Bob

Chenkai is awesome I saw Lance Burton dedicate his show to Chenkai in Vegas at Hacienda hotel he said "Chenkai is one of the masters of Dove act,he inspired me in my F.I.S.M act". Chenkai is very creative now he has a show with a close jacket....is awesome!!!!

Best overall IMO: Channing Polluck
My personal favorite's to watch: Amos Levkovitch, Johnny Thompson & Rick Thomas.

Most studied to date: Tony Clark

MM

I don't know about you guys but Dan Sperry has a good act. I think Burton is top though. Dan Birch is amazing.
I was fortunate to meet Greg Fruen (?) at PCAM 2003. He was a great guy and had an awesome routine. BUT no offence, I slept through his lecture. lol;)
Jason Byrne is amazing. I teach at a magic studio and we show all of our students his act on the internet and tell them if they work hard enough, they can be like him.
I wish I could have seen "Double Vision". I don't know if anyone remembers the act Greg Fruen and Jason Byrne made.

I'm not a dove worker at all. Never have been and never will. I do watch the acts though. After reading alot about dove work I started watching the performers and have seen most of them mentioned. They are all excellent performers with excellent acts.

I have to be honest though, aside from Channing's ground breaking work, most of what I've seen looks fairly similar and just doesn't inspire me. It doesn't amaze my wife either who isn't involved in magic at all.

However, when we both saw Greg Ferwin perform, we both looked at each other and said, "WOW!" That was the freshest act I had seen in years.

I guess the ultimate question is, "would I pay to see it again?" I would definately pass the palm with silver to see Greg.

I would like to see Jason at some time. I haven't seen him.

No offence but when I saw Frewin, I liked his act, actually loved it, but I didn't like his stage character. I dunno what it was about him but... he seemed like "cocky". For example, he showed us his new metimorphis box, and when he changed he was like "YEAH" "ALRIGHT" "WATCH THIS" almost like he was showing off. But on the other hand, his technical skill was spectacular. I'm not suprised hes one of the top dove magicians in the world. But best of all, hes Canadian. How many Canadian magicians have you seem make it that big? (well other than Jason Byrne?)Exactly. Not a lot. GO FREWIN!!!

There are two performance styles in dove magic, smooth and groovy, we would have to put
in Groovy:
Jason Byrne
Greg Ferwin
James Dimmare
in Smooth:
Channing Pollock
Lance Burton

Those are my top selection, all though there is a Dove worker in Mexico named SPIDER, Ive never seen him in a TV special (saw him live) but he is SPECTACULAR, he should definately be on the list, anybody herd of him?

Well sorry toi say guys but in about 5 years you will ba saying Desmond Jorden is the best!! eekkk,

inspire!!

To dj trix, two questions..

1. who is Desmond Jorden?
2. Who inspires you?

I once saw Pollack perform live and was pretty close to the stage...I knew his act...I knew his moves and what he was doing to accomplish the effects...there is one spectacular effect where he throws two doves into the air and they become fire. Most of us know HOW he did this and where they really went....BUT on this day my eyes were glued to his hands and they never went down BELOW his hips...they stopped at his hips...he fired those birds from that level (!!!) and I didn't catch it. Those who know the move know how big the cajones had to be to do that one that way!


Channing Pollack. What a show! His card manipulation kept me out of the card biz...big hands too...the guy seemed to be able to palm two decks front and back...

I recently had the privilege of seeing Dan Sperry perform at the Abbotts convention. "WOW" pure magic. Truly a memorable dove act. This is as smooth as it gets. He's a dove master with a whole lot of style. Receiving a standing ovation for his performance speaks for it's self. Try to catch him. He's one you won't want to miss.

There is an underground guy named Baltazar Fuentes... When he was younger he did a dove act where he produced 13 doves! Not that the number matters but his technique is so different from others. Only one other magician (that he taught) uses his technique. He no longer does this "dove stuff", though; maybe some of you out there have heard of him? Roy

1960's- Channing Pollack
1970's- Shamada
1979-80's-Lance Burton
Today the rest follow

Definitely Channing Pollock, he inspired todays dove workers, and so without him the dove work tady would be years behind, also his stereotypical magicians appearance, imitated by many but rarely pulled off, one of my magical idols definitely

Tom