The Glorious Deception: The Double Life Of William Robinson, Aka Chung Ling Soo, The "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"

by Steinmeyer, Jim

• ISBN13: 9780786715121
• ISBN10: 078671512X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-24
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

In a biography woven from equal parts enchantment and mystery, Jim Steinmeyer unveils the secrets behind the most enigmatic performer in the history of stage magic, Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"a magician whose daring made his contemporary Houdini seem like the boy next door. Soo's infamous and suspicious onstage death in 1918 mystified his fellow magicians: he was shot during a performance of "Defying the Bullets," in which he attempted to catch marked bullets on a porcelain plate. When Soo died, his deceptions began to unravel. It was discovered that he was not Chinese but a fifty-eight-year-old American named William Ellsworth Robinson, a former magicians' assistant and the husband of Olive Robinson. But even William Robinson was not who he appeared to be, for he had kept a second family with a mistress in a fashionable home near London. Here is a look at the rough-and-tumble world of turn-of-the-century entertainments, the West's discovery of Oriental culture, and Soo's strange descent into secrecy as he rose to stardomwritten by the foremost chronicler of magic's history and culture. Due to the scandals surrounding Robinson's death, this is the first time his full story has ever been told. Photographs are included.

Author Biography

Jim Steinmeyer has invented many of the famous illusions used by leading magicians from Ricky Jay to Siegfried and Roy. He created David Copperfield's vanish of the Statue of Liberty. Steinmeyer has also designed magic for six Broadway shows and many other productions, including Mary Poppins, currently playing in London's West End. He is the author of Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear (also available from Carroll and Graf), the Los Angeles Times bestseller, which Teller hailed as "a radiant celebration of the genius, glamour, and gargantuan egos of stage magic." Steinmeyer lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Frankie Glass, an independent television producer. For more information visit jimsteinmeyer.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
The Wood Green Empire	1	(16)
Harry Hill's Saloon	17	(15)
The Palace of Magic	32	(12)
The Great Herrmann	44	(12)
Olive Path	56	(12)
The Black Art	68	(14)
Harry Kellar	82	(16)
Nana Sahib	98	(16)
Abdul Khan	114	(14)
Out of Sight	128	(13)
The Marvelous Bullet Catch	141	(11)
Escape from Sing Sing	152	(12)
Ching Ling Foo	164	(16)
Keith's Union Square	180	(14)
The Folies Bergere	194	(15)
The Alhambra Theater	209	(18)
The Great Lafayette	227	(15)
Defying the Boxers	242	(11)
The London Hippodrome	253	(16)
Tavistock Square	269	(16)
Lonsdale Road	285	(18)
Australia	303	(17)
Edinburgh	320	(16)
Asleep in the Air	336	(16)
The Expanding Die	352	(16)
The World and Its People	368	(16)
The Charmed Bullet	384	(14)
Death by Misadventure	398	(14)
Epilogue	412	(9)
Acknowledgments and Notes	421	(16)
List of Illustrations	437	(4)
Index	441	(12)
About the Author	453