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To view past articles or propose a new feature article for the main page, visit the [[MagicPedia_talk:Today%27s_featured_article|discussion page]].
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Previous featured articles are located in [[:Category:Featured Article]]
  
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Proposed candidates are listed in [[:Category:Featured Article Candidate]]
 
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[[File: ChanningPollock1.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ Channing Pollock]]]]
| image                    = Papa_Promotional_2.png
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'''Channing Pollock''' (b.1926–d.2006) was an American magician and film actor born in Sacramento, California.
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| name = Marcelo Contento
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| caption                  = Promotional Photo
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| birth_name                = Marcelo Alejandro Rodolfo Contento
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| birth_day                =  January 19,
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| birth_year                =  1955
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| birth_place              = Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| death_day                =  July 3,
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| death_year                = 2012
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| death_place              = Waltham, Massachusetts
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[[Marcelo Contento]] (1955-2012) was a magician, shadowgrapher, jazz drummer and arranger, and engineer from Argentina. He owned and operated Marcelo Contento Productions (Marcprod), a business manufacturing magic effects, in Watertown, Massachusetts with his eldest sibling and brother, Victor.
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For many years, Marcprod was considered the top producer of Magicians' props and effects in the market. Contento and his brother put together everything by hand. When Contento was diagnosed with a Brain Tumorand, the company slowly lost its' prominence  and eventually was forced to shut down its' workshop in Watertown in 2008.
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== Biography ==
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A charismatic practitioner of his craft and strikingly handsome with an enigmatic stage presence, he was best known for an act in which he would elegantly produce doves out of thin air and he was often billed as "the most beautiful man in the world". He first became interested in magic at the age of 21. He trained at the [[Chavez School of Magic]] in Los Angeles, graduating in 1952. Pollock's early work as a magician was on the nightclub circuit, where his talents were enhanced by his good looks.
  
Born Marcelo Alejandro Rodolfo Contento on January 19th, 1955, to an Italian Physician and a devoted, Italian-born mother, Contento started practicing magic at the age of eight, and at the age of eleven took up drumming after spending some years on the piano and guitar. In his teenage years, he was mentored in magic by the late great [[David Bamberg]] (well-known by his stage name, Fu Manchu), and already playing jazz gigs around Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital.
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He appeared on the [[Ed Sullivan Show]] in 1954 and went on to make several appearances at the London Palladium. By the mid-1950s Pollock was unsurpassed in his field, and he had spawned a great many imitators. But his act was unique, and the excitement in his routine was so tied up with his own personality (he always made a point of never smiling until he was taking his final bow) that copyists were never as good. He appeared at cabaret venues and in special shows all over the world, performing for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Queen Elizabeth II and at the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly. At the height of his career, he was one of America's highest-paid entertainers.
 
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Bamberg taught Contento an art that was then known as "Chinese Shadows" (now more commonly referred to as "[[Shadowgraphy]]" or "Hand Shadows"), which he would carry alongside with him through life and eventually develop and hone into a unique skill and performing routine. One particularly important piece of advice Bamberg gave Contento was to finish school and go to College, regardless of what he wanted to do in life, and Contento did just that. He graduated College with the Argentine equivalent of a Master's in Electromechanical Engineering, and began working as an Engineer in companies around Buenos Aires. Concurrently, he diligently continued to practice and perform Magic and Jazz, at one point playing with then-well-known Argentine Guitarist Oscar Alemán and his troupe.  
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[[Channing Pollock |Read more about Channing Pollock…]]
 
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[[Marcelo Contento|Read more about Marcelo Contento...]]
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Latest revision as of 21:13, 14 April 2024

Previous featured articles are located in Category:Featured Article

Proposed candidates are listed in Category:Featured Article Candidate

Channing Pollock (b.1926–d.2006) was an American magician and film actor born in Sacramento, California.

Biography

A charismatic practitioner of his craft and strikingly handsome with an enigmatic stage presence, he was best known for an act in which he would elegantly produce doves out of thin air and he was often billed as "the most beautiful man in the world". He first became interested in magic at the age of 21. He trained at the Chavez School of Magic in Los Angeles, graduating in 1952. Pollock's early work as a magician was on the nightclub circuit, where his talents were enhanced by his good looks.

He appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1954 and went on to make several appearances at the London Palladium. By the mid-1950s Pollock was unsurpassed in his field, and he had spawned a great many imitators. But his act was unique, and the excitement in his routine was so tied up with his own personality (he always made a point of never smiling until he was taking his final bow) that copyists were never as good. He appeared at cabaret venues and in special shows all over the world, performing for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Queen Elizabeth II and at the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly. At the height of his career, he was one of America's highest-paid entertainers.

Read more about Channing Pollock…