When I first got into magic some 40+ years ago, Earl Edwards's Magic Shop in Norfolk was my home away from home. In the backroom (where only serious magicians were allowed), Earl had publicity photos of magicians he knew all along the walls. One was an autographed photo of Channing Pollock in the days when he had a moustache. Thinking about that photo brought back some memories of hearing the "old-timers" talk about Channing. One of the comments I heard was that Channing was once a stand-in for swashbuckler Errol Flynn. The picture of Channing on page 52 of the May 2006 issue of GENII shows him with the moustache and he does look a lot like Errol Flynn in that picture. As far as I know, none of the articles that came out about Channing after his passing mentioned a stint as a movie stand-in. Everyone knows he became a star in Europe in swashbucklers like "The Sea Musketeers" (where he also sported a moustache). But maybe someone at the Café can provide more information about any connection with Flynn.

BTW, I use the phrase "old-timers" in the paragraph above with all respect, especially since I'm almost as old now as some of them were then.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

I doubt it because didn't Errol Flynn pre-date Channing Pollack by decades? Errol Flynn was a star during the silent movie era (1920s) and 1930s, while Pollack was in his prime in the 50's and 60's.

If you can get ahold of the old book "The World's Greatest Magic" there is a nice article on Pollack in there.

I think you're confusing Erroll Flynn with Douglas Fairbanks. Flynn's swashbuckler movies--such as "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Captain Blood"--were talkies. His movie "The Adventures of Don Juan" was produced in 1948, and from what I understand, Channing was a college student in 1946 when he decided to leave college and move to California to attend the Chavez school. That would have put him in close proximity to Hollywood when Flynn made the Don Juan movie. So he would definitely have been in the right place at the right time. Flynn continued making swashbucklers at least until 1953 when he made "The Master of Ballantrae" and "The Adventures of William Tell." My copy of "The World's Greatest Magic" is in storage, but as I recall there's a picture of Channing in that book from "The Sea Musketeers" where the resemblance to Flynn is very striking.

It could all be coincidence, like his name and the playwright's name. I had thought they were relatives until I read the articles in GENII and Magic. I always thought it was ironic that Channing Pollock the playwright/novelist (The Greatest Story Ever Told) was friends with Fulton Oursler, who translated the classic book "Illustrated Magic" by Ottokar Fischer. I thought that indicated some kind of magic connection between the two men with the same name. But that was definitely "just" synchronicity.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Fulton Oursler did not translate Illustrated Magic. J. Barrows Mussey translated it. J. Barrows Mussey also wrote under the pseudonym Henry Hay. Fulton Oursler was more likely the editor.

Well, It's a little more than coincidence--Channing's parents went to a book signing of the author when his mother was pregnant with the to-be-magician and the author asked them to name the baby after him. And they did.

Until I read about that in an article on Channing in Magic Magazine, I'd always assumed it was just a pseudonym taken from the author.


Nowlin