Chung Ling Soo

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The Old and New Magic printed 1906

Chung Ling Soo (actually William Ellsworth Robinson ; born April 2, 1861 in New York City , † March 24, 1918 in London ) was an American magician .

In 1880 he gave up his job as a metal fitter and began touring around as Robinson - the Man of Mystery .

In 1887 he entered into a five-year contract as stage master with the magician Harry Kellar . He then ran a magic shop in New York. From 1893 he was stage master and mechanic for the magician Alexander Herrmann . Here he learned show business. After Herrmann's death in 1896, he continued the show with his nephew Leon.

After his release, he built up his own Chinese number and passed himself off as Chinese under the name Chung Ling Soo , based on the famous Ching Ling Foo (1854-1922).

He was married to Suee Seen .

His troop traveled to England, France, Germany, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and India. His most famous trick was the "living target". In 1918 he died in London during a demonstration of the bullet trap because the prepared weapon was handled improperly. It was only after his death that it became public that he was not Chinese.

literature

  • William Ellsworth Robinson (Chung Ling Soo): Spirit Slate Writing And Kindred Phenomena . Munn & Company, New York 1898
  • Val. Andrews: A Gift from Gods. The Story of Chung Ling Soo . Goodcliffe Publications, Alcester Warwicks 1981
  • Will Dexter: The riddle of Chung Ling Soo . Arco, London 1955; New York 1975, ISBN 0668038268
  • Gary R. Frank: Chung Ling Soo. The Man of Mystery . Fantastic Magic Co., Granada Hills, CA, 1988 (OCLC 20992108)
  • Jim Steinmeyer: The glorious deception. The double life of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the "marvelous Chinese conjurer" . Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 2005, ISBN 0-7867-1512-X

Web links

Commons : Chung Ling Soo  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Soo, Chung Ling
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robinson, William Ellsworth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American trick artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1918
Place of death London