Written by Patrick Martin

Full Article Published in MAGIC Magazine, August 2001

MAGICAL BEGININGS

On August 16, 1926, a few months before the death of Harry Houdini, one of the most influential magicians of the second half of the 20th century was born in the small, quarry town of Cement, California, 45 miles north east of San Francisco. His father, Robert Burns Pollock, a handsome and likable man of Scottish decent, worked in management for the Portland Cement Company. Two months earlier he and his industrious wife Marjorie took their two young boys, ten-year-old Norman and two-year-old Robert, Jr., along with them to a lecture by the currently popular American theater critic, novelist, and playwright Channing Pollock. While buying one of his books after the talk, they introduced themselves to the author. He told the expectant Marjorie that if the newborn was a boy, they should name him after the talented playwright for luck; a bold request that was taken to heart.

With the Great Depression brought on after the crash of 1929, the company town of Cement abandoned its mineral-depleted quarry. Withering away as a ghost town, the birthplace of magician Channing West Pollock quietly disappeared.

When interest in a topic has been peaked, doors seem to open everywhere as one notices they are surrounded by what they love. Channing, now married to his high school sweetheart Naomi, had just celebrated the first birthday of their baby son, Russell. Naomi's family hailed from Wisconsin, neighbors to a "Larsen family," and had heard about Larsen relations involved in the magic field somewhere in Los Angeles. Her mother wrote a letter of introduction for Channing to meet the attorney William Larsen, Senior. Elated to discover others interested in magic, Channing grew even more surprised when Bill Sr. gave him a magazine solely dedicated to his new passion. In this gift of Genii Magazine, Channing found an ad for something called the Chavez Studio of Magic, "a college of manual dexterity and prestidigitation." He had remembered seeing a Chavez student win a prize at the P.C.A.M. (Pacific Coast Association of Magicians) convention he attended recently in Portland, Oregon. Something about the elegance and simplicity of that manipulative style appealed to Channing more than all the glittering apparatus he had seen others use. With his GI Bill educational grant money soon to run out, Channing quit Sacramento State College, packed up the family, and moved to Hollywood. A fever burned in his soul that could not be quenched.

After studying intensively with Benny and Marion Chavez, Channing became an instructor at the Chavez School. Anxious to spread his wings professionally, Channing found little work in the nightspots of Los Angeles. Once a short USO tour in Alaska with Ray Milland finished, in1952 the Pollocks hitched up a tiny, one-room trailer to his car and headed north up the West Coast. Jobs were rare in San Francisco, so the struggling entertainers moved onto Portland and Seattle. Slowly working more of his signature white doves into the act, Channing dreamed of appearing at the best venues and the big, flashy nightclubs he remembered watching as a boy in the Fred Astair movie musicals. He wanted to be where the fun and glamour was, and it wasn't happening out West. The family moved on to Denver, Colorado and worked their way across the United States, supplementing meager show earnings with magic lessons to interested amateurs.

Their little trailer home was built lightly for summer vacationing and hardly suited for the brutal blizzards and sheets of ice that greeted the Pollocks in Philadelphia. Exhausted from life on the road, nearly broke, and with a growing son, Channing promised Naomi that if their fortunes did not change within the next month, they would pack it in and return to a more stable job back in Sacramento.

Three weeks later, a chance appearance at the 1953 SAM convention in Hartford, Connecticut introduced Channing to the incomparable entertainer Jay Marshall, who was professionally represented by the legendary theatrical agency of Mark Leddy. One of the most influential men in the business, Leddy was the quintessential New York agent, handling the nation's best variety artists. Leddy liked what he saw and booked Channing into the top nightspots of New York.

Channing's masterful work astounded the critics, while his impeccable demeanor and strikingly handsome features charmed the women. Nervous in front of this sophisticated New York audience, to get through his performance, the tall, freckle-faced kid from Sacramento adopted a cool and detached persona. This direct, unsmiling style passed for confidence and became Channing's trademark attitude.

Leddy now put Channing's career into high gear, featuring him in the revues of the country's best showrooms: Steuben's Vienna Room in Boston, Atlanta's Paradise Room, and the Empire Room of the Palmer House in Chicago. When he got a standing ovation at the White House Correspondents' dinner attended by the press, members of the U.S. Congress, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Channing felt he had arrived. After the show, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover joked to the press, "I think we should have him investigated."

EUROPEAN TRIUMPH

Channing's act was popular wherever they played, but with American vaudeville gone and the better nightspots paling beside the ever brightening glow of television, in the Spring of 1955, Mark Leddy decided to send the Pollocks to England and the still thriving variety stages of London. The Lew & Leslie Grade Organization, Europe's most prestigious and powerful theatrical producers, now co-managed Channing's career. Lew Grade had seen Channing the year before in a visit to New York and was eager to bring him to England. They immediately put him into their country's greatest variety theater, the London Palladium. Channing's effortless card work, graceful bird productions, and immaculate style stunned everyone.

Critics showered the newly arrived magician with praise. Robert Wraight wrote, "With film star looks, Pollock is the best conjurer I have ever seen — perhaps the best anyone has ever seen." John Bennet enthused, "His hands are pure magic. I wish I could think of a better word than brilliant, so that I can give this American magician his proper praise."

To top their London triumph, the Pollocks were asked to appear at the Victoria Palace for a Royal Command Performance before her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. Along with lavishly staged production numbers from the musical Kismet, the flashy dance troupes Joker's Wild and the Moscow State Folk Dance Company, the bill glittered with all the biggest stars performing in England at that time. The Crazy Gang, George Jessel and Benny Hill added comedy, while Johnny Ray, Diana Dors, and Lena Horne belted out songs. When Channing concluded his magical artistry by instantly vanishing a large cage full of birds, the audience exploded into applause, and the Pollocks were requested to join a select group of performers to meet the Queen.

Harry Stanley wrote in the Gen Magazine, " ...he has produced more favorable comment than any other single magician since Cardini. If you are within a few hundred miles of where he is showing, make sure you get there, even if you have to pawn your socks to do so! You will see beautiful magic... beautifully done by a fine, handsome young man with a million dollar personality."

In 1957 the Magic Circle awarded Channing the Silver Wand and Honorary Life Membership, making him the first foreign professional magician to be admitted as a member of the Inner Magic Circle.

SCREEN STAR

Wherever Channing went, admiring fans urged that, with his charm and looks, he ought to be in the movies. He finally agreed to be filmed by Italian director Alessandro Blasetti in an imaginary tour starring the best variety performers working the clubs on the continent. When the movie Europe by Night appeared in 1958, the history of magic changed. For the first time people all over the world could enjoy Channing's unique artistry. His flawless production of doves and the slow-motion appearance of card fans left audiences breathless and applauding the screen when he finished. His refined masculinity attracted both sexes, and his image became an icon for the suave, cool, and masterful magician.

Bolstered by his astonishing appearance in Europe by Night, Channing's career took a major turn as he starred in such European adventure films as The Sea Musketeers, The Red Sheik, Rocambole, and the film noire classic of Georges Franju, Judex. Living a true "dolce vita" fantasy in Rome, Channing opened an exclusive clothing, perfume, and accessories boutique on the fashionable Via Veneto, modestly named Prince Channing.

When the movie boon in Rome eventually faded, Channing, now married to the English model Josie Boulton, returned to the United States and bought a horse ranch in the Hidden Hills area of Los Angeles, California. As an actor in Hollywood, Channing appeared in episodes of several popular television series. He was Carter the Gambler in Bonanza and Kit Carson to Rip Torn's John Freemont and Carol O'Connor's John Sutter in The Great Adventure. In a part specially written for him on the series Daniel Boone, Channing played traveling magician "Fletcher the Flamboyant," who is captured by Seminole Indian warrior Leonard Nimoy. After a quick dove production, Fletcher becomes the tribe's new spiritual leader. Insane with power, he then tries to stir up all the surrounding Indian tribes to war against the white settlers and regain lost land. Fess Parker and Ed Ames, as Daniel Boone and Mingo, come to the rescue. Channing's tricks are foiled and he learns the lesson of humility.

GENTLEMAN FARMER

Channing Pollock toured with the Liberace show and appeared on another Hollywood Palace television program, an Andy Williams Christmas special, and again on Ed Sullivan's variety show. By now, his marriage to Josie had dissolved and he met a warm and spiritual new partner, socialite and fashion entrepreneur Corinne Shoong. Faced with the decision of staying with Cori or returning to the road with Liberace for a tour of Europe, Channing let his heart guide him. In 1969, at the age of 43, Channing West Pollock retired as an actor and professional magician to pursue a new and even more magical life with Cori.

As a young man, Channing Pollock dreamed to be where the fun and glamour were. Finally realizing that everyone expected him to furnish the fun and glamour, Pollock knew it was time for change. Cori and Channing moved from the hectic world of Hollywood to a more relaxed and natural lifestyle in Northern California. He now had the time to pursue his other passions of philosophy, gourmet cooking, and geology. Channing and Cori established one of the first organic farms in Northern California, which provided exotic lettuces and baby vegetables to San Francisco's most exclusive restaurants. Continuing to master his own culinary techniques, Channing also studied water dowsing and oil exploration to become an authority in the formation of the earth and the mapping of California's rich mineral deposits.

Channing Pollock enjoyed a career unparalleled in the history of magic. His seven-minute act, with seven doves and seven decks of cards, rose to its penultimate perfection in seven years. Pollock's elegant style and innovative methods influenced the work of almost every sleight-of-hand artist and major stage magician that followed. During a visit with Doug Henning in 1971, Channing advised him to "put a message in his magic." This blossomed into Henning's lighter, more spirited "wonder of it all" approach. Each now among Channing's most treasured friends, in their early careers Siegfried, David Copperfield and, of course, Lance Burton, all created sensational dove and card routines, embellishing them with their own masterful touches. Seeing Pollock's debonair performance in the film Judex further encouraged a young Copperfield to develop his cooler, more romantic edge.

Having spawned thousands of disciples, Channing Pollock's dove work and immaculate card manipulation remain the standard. Brilliantly interweaving original and flawless technique with a riveting stage presence, Channing Pollock forged an image of the sophisticated, modern day magician that continues to inspire and shape the art of magic.

Patrick Martin, a professional magician from San Francisco, has been a close friend to the Pollock family for more than 20 years. Channing Pollock and Patrick Martin worked together on a number of creative projects that included theatrical productions, developing flexibility and power exercise techniques for performers, and presenting two European lectures in 1989 on the art of magic. Patrick Martin is currently writing a biography of Channing Pollock detailing his magic, philosophy and lifework.

Patrick Martin closes with a favorite quote of his mentor and friend: "Be as wise as a serpent, and as gentle as a dove."