I added the "..." as a way of adding intrigue, at the last minute.
I just got back from a friend's house, where we watched the World Magic Awards. A great show, with some spectacular performances. When I was younger, I used to watch the show just about every year, I was always blown away by the greats of magic, Malone, Ammar, Burton, Maven, and all the memorable magicians from the past. Most of which are still around. Then I didn't watch at all for several years. So I have missed much of the evolution of magic. But Seeing what was then, and what is now, with no in between, maybe I'm seeing more of the whole picture. The question that I pose, do the magicians of today stack up to the magicians of yesterday? Don't think that I am taking credit away from any one that was awarded on the WMA, because they all were wonderful and deserve the recognition that they received. But it does seem like the level of ingenuity and originality has suffered over the years.

I think magic is like other arts, only once in while do you see a real genius arrive on the scene. I don’t know maybe once every 100 years. Its hard to say who they are in magic, since the performance is the art and it's transient.

Even if I agree with you 100 years might be a little much. Over the last hundred years I've seen much more geniuses than one.

In stage magic, we had Thurston, Dante... and now David Copperfield and Lance Burton

Close up has been even more generous with diamonds like Dai Vernon, Arturo Ascanio, Juan Tamariz, Fred Kaps, Tommy Wonder, Gaetan Bloom, David Williamson, Michael Ammar, Daryl Martinez, David Berglas, Al Flosso, Bob Read, Ken Brooke (and many others whom I'm apologizing to for not listing their names: age affects my memory but not the recognition they deserve)

There is only one real way of measuring if a magician is great or not; By seeing how much money he earned by performing magic. Thus David Copperfield is great and the others on your list are not bad.

In your standards, if magic means selling and delivering illusions making people feel better, I would be a greater magician than David Copperfield. You, David and I know that, in generally accepted standards, I am not. So your criteria need to be better defined.
In the Coca Cola can we buy, the juice represents about 5%. The rest is finance marketing distribution, advertisement, packaging, logistics...
If magic is the juice, the price of the full can or the result of the corporation cannot tell whether the juice is good: it only tells that the business is good.

Ask David Copperfield, in private, whether he is more of an entrepreneur in showmanship or more of a magician. The reply should be interesting.

OMG!!!

Tommy,
do not confuse art and business. Copperfield is an exceptional magician and a outstanding businessman. But there are plenty of magicians that have shows that are beautiful. However,they are not great businessmen and they will never achieve the level of Copperfield. That does not mean that they are not amazing.

Dia Vernon is a great example of a sage that never really made it big . . . . but his teachings are heavily imprinted in the fabric of magic.

If you have ever watched Rene Levand you would witness pure art.

Art and business are two different measuring sticks.

YellowJacket